Takedown Report

10 Big Things That Happened At The NWCA National Duals

The NWCA National Duals wrapped up Saturday in Cedar Falls with a series of drama-packed championship showdowns, highlighted by Iowa’s down-to-the-wire win
North Central coach Joe Norton says he’ll lose sleep over the 109-pound match between Jaslynn Gallegos and Iowa’s Ava Bayless during the National Duals finals. Gallegos, the 2023 NCWWC (NCAA) champion at 116 pounds got the nod over teammate Kendra Ryan — even though Ryan teched Bayless at US Nationals a few weeks prior. 
Bayless trailed with 30 seconds remaining when she secured a takedown and a caution and one when Gallegos shuffled out of bounds while her back was exposed. The Cardinal star could have won the match with a takedown but, as Norton learned later, Gallegos thought she was winning 5-5 on criteria. 
Iowa won the dual 21-20 even though North Central won six of 10 matches. “We want to have 109 back,” Norton said. “We should win that match but we didn’t. Our women wrestled so great. You’re upset that you lost the dual but it’s hard to be upset with the women when they wrestled that well.” 
Second-seeded Iowa showed its resolve against the top seed. Sterling Dias (101 pounds) defeated the 2023 NCWWC champion Maddie Avila 11-0, Marlynne Deede (155 pounds) secured a fall over London Houston, and Kylie Welker (170 pounds) won the match of the tournament: an 11-3 victory over three-time NCWWC champion Yelena Makoyed who returned for her final semester of eligibility. 
More importantly, Iowa earned a team point in every match — even the losses. Freestyle doesn’t use traditional college folkstyle scoring, so a technical point during a loss means one point for your team. And that’s what ultimately decided the dual. North Central’s Traeh Haynes won 6-1 over Iowa’s Jaycee Foeller in the final match. An activity clock point was awarded to Foeller late in the second period. North Central would have won if the dual was 20-20 since the Cardinals won more matches (6-4).
A single match point ultimately made the difference, and it was enough to give Iowa a National Duals title inside the UNI-Dome during its inaugural season. “Every point mattered,” Iowa coach Clarissa Chun said. “Without that point from Jaycee’s match, it would have been flipped. Wrestling is hard. Sometimes wrestling is unforgiving. Our women know how to take care of business. “You fight the whole six minutes. That’s what they’re told. Our team is amazing.” 
— Kyle Klingman

Life Ends Grand View’s Incredible NAIA Dual Run

For the past 13 years, Grand View has enjoyed the grandest view in all of college wrestling when it comes to dual meet success. The Vikings won 116 consecutive duals — the longest streak in college wrestling history — before they lost in November of 2022 against Iowa State.  Against NAIA competition, the Vikings entered Saturday afternoon with 162 consecutive wins and hadn’t lost since 2011.  Omi Acosta and Cole Manion had been on both sides of Grand View’s dominance — as competitors for the Vikings and adversaries who watched the Vikings ran their National Duals title streak to 11. 
On Saturday, however, Acosta’s Life University program — with Manion captaining the ship in Cedar Falls — took down Grand View 24-17 in the NAIA championship dual.  Life won six bouts against the Vikings, including five of the first seven to seize control. In that stretch, the Running Eagles picked up a first-period fall from Jaden New at 165, a technical fall from Thaddeus Long at 133 and a major decision from national champ Brevin Balmeceda at 157.  “We have nothing but respect for those guys over there,” Manion said. “They’re a great program. A lot of our coaching staff wrestled there, and I think it’s a special thing to have two programs — one where everybody graduated from and the graduates — where we’re kind of head and shoulders above everybody competing against each other. I think that’s a special thing and I’ve got nothing but love and respect for those guys over there. (Grand View) coach (Nick) Mitchell, coach (Paul) Reedy, those guys were mentors to me and I loved my time there and I really enjoyed it but now it’s focusing on ourselves and trying to figure out how good we can be.” 
— Andy Hamilton

Three Reigning NAIA Champs Tumble Saturday

The clincher for Life came at 197, where Demarco Lee knocked off returning national champion Owen Braungardt 4-2 to put the title dual out of reach. It was the third instance of the day in which a reigning NAIA national champion went down. … story at … Flowrestling.org/10-big-things-that-happened-at-the-nwca-national-duals

January 17, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized