Iowa’s presence at NCWWC leaves others optimistic about growth of women’s wrestling

CEDAR RAPIDS — Travis Mercado was on the edge of his seat as he saw Iowa’s Ava Bayless take just 56 seconds to pin Colorado Mesa University’s Isabella Morales.

In that moment, as Mercado then crouched on the corner of a mat at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, the Colorado Mesa coach did not appear to be the biggest beneficiary of Iowa’s recent addition of women’s wrestling.

But Mercado is quick to say that it is “really awesome” to have Iowa as part of the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, which is taking place this weekend at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

That’s because having Iowa — a team from a Division I Power Five conference — sponsor women’s wrestling “has put so many more eyes on our sport, Mercado said.

“There’s 10,000 more eyes on women’s wrestling now,” Mercado said. “They might be University of Iowa athletics fans, and they’re going to come here this weekend, and they’re going to get to watch Samara Chavez wrestle. They’re going to get to watch Kendra Ryan wrestle. And be like, ‘I like her. I’m an Iowa fan, but I like her.’

“Now you have a new fan for life. They’re going to start following King, and they’re going to follow North Central.”

The 10,000 number that Mercado used may initially seem a tad optimistic when looking at the less-than-half-full Alliant Energy PowerHouse, which has a capacity of 9,000.

But Iowa boasted attendance numbers of 8,207 and 6,775 at its two home meets in its inaugural 2023-24 season, and that does not include those who have watched Iowa via livestreamed broadcasts.

Mercado is not the only opposing coach who has embraced Iowa’s addition of women’s wrestling as an intercollegiate sport.

Joe Norton, the coach of reigning NCWWC champion North Central College, believes the added competition has been “great for our team.”

“Winning last year and bringing back almost the whole team, it was like, ‘No, there’s still another mountain to climb,’” Norton said.

North Central presents the biggest threat to the Hawkeyes’ hopes of a NCWWC team title this year. But as North Central’s upperclassman-heavy roster turns over in future years, it may be harder to keep up with Iowa.

North Central, as a Division III program, cannot offer athletic scholarships. Iowa, on the other hand, resides in the resource-rich Big Ten. Along with offering scholarships, Iowa will soon open a state-of-the-art wrestling facility.

“Maybe they are going to have some things that you don’t have, and you got to go wrestle on the same mat,” Norton said. “That’s something that we can choose to view one of two ways, and we taught our team to embrace that challenge.”

That leaves the coaches hoping for more Power Five schools to follow Iowa’s footsteps, even if that means possibly being on the wrong side of some future pins.

“Hopefully another Power Five conference school adds, and it adds 10,000 more eyes down the road,” Mercado said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.