Iowa women win Soldier Salute with five champions, runner-up Life has three champions
CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Soldier Salute women’s division featured the No. 1 ranked teams in the NCAA and the NAIA, and both teams had excellent performances.
Led by five individual champions, NCAA No. 1 Iowa finished with 215.5 points. NAIA No. 1 Life was second with 199 points, led by three champions. NAIA No. 7 Indiana Tech was third with 71.5 points. Individual champions for Iowa included Brianna Gonzalez (117), Cadence Diduch (138), Macey Kilty (145), Kennedy Blades (160) and Kylie Welker (180).
Two of the finals were all-Iowa battles, both won by World-level stars. At 145 pounds, two-time Senior World medalist Macey Kilty defeated 2024 NCWWC national champion Reese Larramendy, 8-1. At 180 pounds, 2024 World bronze medalist Kylie Welker, who was also a 2024 NCWWC champion, stopped freshman Naomi Simon in a 10-0 technical fall.
The Outstanding Wrestler in the women’s division was 2024 Olympic silver medalist Blades, who scored a 13-3 technical fall over Latifah McBryde of Life, a two-time NAIA Nationals runner-up. Gonzalez, a 2024 NCWWC runner-up, defeated Life’s Salyna Shotwell in the finals, 6-0. Diduch, a freshman, stopped Texas Wesleyan’s Samantha Baragan, 8-6.
Champions for Life were Anaya Falcon (110), Sarah Savidge (131) and Savannah Isaac (207). Savidge was a 2024 NAIA runner-up, while Falcon and Isaac are freshmen. Falcon defeated 2024 NCWWC nationals champion Ava Bayless of Iowa in the finals, scoring a stunning 16-5 technical fall. Savidge was equally dominant in her finals, blitzing Iowa’s Emily Frost in a 10-0 technical fall. Isaac stopped 2024 NCWWC runner-up Jaycee Foeller of Iowa, 2-1.
The other two champions were not affiliated with a college program. Unattached Jaclyn Bouzakis, a high school star who attends Wyoming Seminary, scored a 10-0 technical fall over Katherine Hernandez of Life at 103 pounds. Mateah Roehl, who competes for the Askren Wrestling Academy and was an All-American at North Central, won the 124-pound title … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/december/30/iowa-women-win-soldier-salute-with-five-champions-runner-up-life-has-three-champions
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After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
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