Ella Schmit shines in Iowa women’s wrestling For Her Duals title

IOWA CITY — Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit was given a brand-new task as one of Iowa women’s wrestling seniors. In her final competition weekend of her career, she was asked to wrestle at 160 pounds on Sunday.

Typically, Schmit competes at 138. Of Iowa’s four duals, Schmidt won two at the heightened weight class — including a pin in her very last bout.

“It was so cool,” Schmit said. “The butcher was the first move I ever learned, so to wrap it all up with the butcher at the end like that was very fitting. And I do like to pin, too.”

The pin helped seal the For Her Duals title, celebrating the victory with an emotional hug with assistant coach Tonya Verbeek.

“My coaches just have been so great,” Schmit said. “Especially Tonya. We’ve been so close, and she’s been in my ear all day feeding me good things — things I need to hear when I’m in situation like this.”

In a competition named for the slogan of the program, Iowa reigned victorious in the inaugural For Her Duals and hoisted the title after picking up wins over Ursinius, No. 17 William Jewell, No. 2 McKendree and William Penn — the NAIA champion of the tournament.

The Sunday tournament closed out the Hawkeyes’ regular season, with NCAA Regionals beginning Feb. 20.

Iowa’s usual go-to wrestler at 160 pounds is Kennedy Blades. However, Blades had just competed in Croatia as a member of Team USA for the 2026 Zagreb Open. The Hawkeyes’ other options in the weight class where unavailable for various reasons. That left head coach Clarissa Chun with the choice to slide Schmit in.

Knowing Iowa needed someone to step up, Schmit approached Chun and volunteered herself.

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“We’re so grateful for our women that were willing to step in and step up for our team,” Chun said. “I think that’s a special moment for our student-athletes to do that for the team.”

The Hawkeyes had already competed in the Grand Valley Open on Saturday, too, where Schmit competed in her standard 138 weight class. Iowa’s Ava Bayless also stepped up a weight class, moving from her normal 110 pounds to 117, and Hawkeyes like Kylie Welker, Reese Larramendy, Bella Williams and Katjaa Osteen had completed up to eight matches over the last two days.

But they all chose to participate in the event, named in honor of the program’s mantra that was created four years ago. Now the inaugural victors, Iowa turns to another first in two weeks: the chance at the first-ever NCAA sanctioned national title.

“It’s like the season went by so fast,” Chun said. “We're gonna allow our whole team to get some rest and recovery and not jump right away to the next thing yet ... and then get back to work.”

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