Takedown Report

NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships

The Complete National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships Preview
Get ready for this weekend’s National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships by checking wrestlers and weights to watch and a look at the team race.
Mar 6, 2024 by Derek Levendusky
The moment wrestling fans have been waiting for is here. For the first time in the history of NCAA women’s wrestling, Iowa will compete at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships.  On Friday and Saturday, the best NCAA women will converge upon the Alliant Energy PowerHouse Arena in Cedar Rapids with team trophies and national titles on the line.
North Central not only looks to defend its first national title, the Cardinals look to flip the script on their 21-20 loss in the finals of National Duals against Iowa. Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s competition.
Wrestlers to Watch
McKendree’s Shelby Moore (123 pounds) 
Since the calendar turned to 2024, McKendree freshman Shelby Moore has beaten a collection of high-caliber opponents, including North Central’s Amani Jones, the #2 seed heading into Cedar Rapids. After a remarkable high school career, where she doubled up at Fargo in 2021, the freshman has put herself in a prime spot to win her first college national title.
North Central’s Yele Aycock (136 pounds) 
North Central’s returning national finalist is seeded #1 and is the heavy favorite heading to Nationals. It would be her first title in her third trip to the event. She did not place in 2022 and lost in the finals last year to King’s Ana Luciano.
North Central’s Alara Boyd and Iowa’s Reese Larramendy (143 pounds) 
Upsets happen, but if seeds hold, top-seeded Boyd of McKendree and #2-seeded Larramendy of Iowa are on a collision course to meet in the national finals this weekend. Two-time national champion Emma Bruntil’s return was short-lived, as she lost in the regional final to Larramendy and scratched from the NCWWC. That leaves Iowa’s Ella Schmit … story at … Flowrestling.org/Complete-national-collegiate-womens-wrestling-championships-preview
And …

HAWKEYES CROWN 6 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS AND TAKE HOME THE TEAM TITLE
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The second-ranked University of Iowa women’s wrestling team finished the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Tournament with six champions and 12 All-Americans. The Hawkeyes brought home the team title with 204 total points. At 101, the Hawkeye pair of No. 1 Emilie Gonzalez and No. 2 Sterling Dias faced off in the championship bout. The two fought all the way to the end, keeping it a close matchup the whole six minutes. In the end, Gonzalez came out on top with a 4-0 decision, earning the first national title for the program.
Second-ranked Ava Bayless followed, also keeping a close match against Lock Haven’s No. 4 Kaelani Shufeldt. The redshirt freshman brought home her first title after defeating Shufeldt via decision, 2-, at 109. Hawkeyes met again for an all-Iowa finals match at 116, with No. 3 Brianna Gonzalez facing No. 4 Felicity Taylor. With a tough battle back and forth, Taylor capped off her senior season with the title, defeating Gonzalez via decision, 9-2. At 143, second-ranked Reese Larramendy came out hot in her match against King’s No. 6 Aine Drury, picking up the first pin for Iowa in the finals. After running through the tournament finishing every match with a tech. fall, the redshirt freshman decided to finish her season with a fall in 4:10 over Drury. Defending National Champion, Marlynne Deede captured her second title, and first as a Hawkeye. At 155, the top-ranked senior took the, 9-3, decision over No. 2 Cheyenne Bowman of King. … story at … Hawkeyesports.com/Hawkeyes-crown-6-national-champions-take-home-the-team-title
And …

Welker beats Makoyed in last match, as Iowa edges North Central to win its first NCWWC team title
Mar. 9, 2024, 11:58 PM (ET) by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – In its first national championship as a varsity program, with its top star winning in the final match of the evening, the University of Iowa won its first National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships team title, edging returning champion North Central before a loud and excited local crowd. Trailing by 17 points going into the finals round, Coach Clarissa Chun’s Hawkeyes needed nearly a perfect final round to make up the difference.
Organizers decided to make the 170-pound finals the last match of the finals, where Iowa star Kylie Welker, the No. 1 seed, battled second seeded Yelena Makoyed of North Central, a three-time NCWWC champion and the USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year. As if in a movie script, the team title went down to that last match. The winner would also clinch the team title for their school. Welker got on a roll early, jumping to a 6-0 lead, putting Makoyed in danger of being pinned. In the second period, Welker popped a hip toss for four points and held Makoyed on her back for most of the period. Makoyed battled herself free, but Welker had secured a 10-0 technical fall. A North Central challenge was denied, making the final score 11-0. With the win by Welker, Iowa won the team title with 204 points, … story at … Themat.com/Welker-beats-makoyed-in-last-match-as-iowa-edges-north-central-to-win-its-first-ncwwc-team-title
And …

Iowa Wrestling Clinches Women’s Title During Final Match
Iowa narrowly defeated North Central in the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships.
Mar 9, 2024 by Kyle Klingman
It wasn’t easy, but the University of Iowa won the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships during its inaugural year. North Central, a Division III team from Naperville, Illinois, almost beat one of the world’s most legendary college wrestling programs in a team battle for the ages.
The Cardinals had a 17.5-point lead entering the finals, but Iowa had nine finalists compared to North Central’s three, with two matches being Hawkeye vs. Hawkeye. New Jersey City’s Sandy Guerrero secured a “win” for North Central by pinning Iowa’s Jaycee Foeller in the first period.
Then Iowa started to roll. 
101: Emilie Gonzelez defeated teammate Sterling Dias, 4-0. 
109: Ava Bayless won a war of attrition over Kaelani Shufeldt of Lock Haven, 2-1.
116: Spillville, Iowa, native Felicity Taylor bested teammate Brianna Gonzalez, 9-2, to go out on top during her senior campaign.
North Central got one back at 123 when Amani Jones defeated King’s Virginia Foard, but Jones’s teammate, Yele Aycock, lost in the 136-pound finals.
Iowa concluded the tournament with a fall from Resse Larremendy at 143 and a 9-3 decision by returning champion Marlynne Deede at 155.
The thrilling finale was everything that fans had hoped for. It featured Kylie Welker from Iowa and Yelena Makoyed from North Central — the two best college wrestlers in the country representing their respective teams. The final match was the deciding factor for the team championship.
Makoyed was the returning three-time NCWWC champion at 170 pounds who used her COVID year. Welker is a freshman phenom who reached the 2020 Olympic Trials final as a teenager. Both have qualified for the final Olympic Trials in April. … story at … Flowrestling.org/Iowa-wrestling-clinches-womens-title-during-final-match

March 19, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized