Grand View women's wrestling team records first dual victory in program history

It’s been a year of firsts for the Grand View women’s wrestling team.

Some were simple. Head coach Angelo Crinzi — yes, the first — announced his first signee in April, Keagan King, from South Central Calhoun. In September, he announced his first assistant, Arelys Valles. Then came the first team meeting, first practice, all that.

Over the last month, though, the firsts have gotten a little bigger.

The Vikings went to their first competition, the Waldorf Open, on Nov. 9. Freshman Hannah Michael, from LaPorte City, secured the program’s first win, a technical fall. Junior Alaura Couch, a California native, recorded the first pin. Chariton grad Emma Cochran became the first to win a tournament title, going 3-0 to win at 109 pounds.

On Thursday night, the Grand View women authored another part of their historic first chapter. The Vikings beat Central Methodist, 29-17, at Sisam Arena for their first-ever dual-meet victory.

“One down,” Crinzi said. “The girls went out and they fought hard, and that’s all we ask for, to go out and give 100 percent. But this also gives us things we can work on.”

These are mere baby steps from where Crinzi hopes to take this program.

Grand View is just the second women’s college wrestling program in the state, joining Waldorf, which began in 2010. Many others have since followed — Iowa Wesleyan, William Penn and, recently, Indian Hills announced that they're adding women’s programs.

Troy Plummer, Grand View’s athletic director, announced the addition of the women’s program in January. He said then that they would use the old wrestling room once occupied by Nick Mitchell’s incredibly-successful men’s program.

Two months later, he announced the hire of Crinzi, who wrestled for Mitchell before jumping into coaching. Crinzi’s office is near Mitchell’s on the Grand View campus. He often goes to Mitchell with questions about building a program.

Mitchell, of course, built the men’s program from the ground up, and has guided them to unprecedented success. Last season, the Vikings won their eighth-straight NAIA national title, the second-longest consecutive championship streak for any wrestling program at any level (Iowa won nine Division I crowns from 1978-86).

On Thursday, Crinzi watched as Mitchell’s team beat Central Methodist, 56-0, for its 79th-straight dual win. That’s the longest-active winning streak for any level of college wrestling, and the second-longest ever (State University of New York in Delhi owns the longest ever, at 92).

He joked about maybe bugging Mitchell a little too much, but he always appreciates the help.

“I like to pick his mind and see what his thoughts are on certain things,” Crinzi said. “He’s a good man to have help out sometimes.

“It does take a lot of patience, because we are starting from the ground up. There’s not really a lot of women’s wrestling in the state of Iowa, so we’re bringing in a lot of girls from out of state. But we’re enjoying it and working hard for it.”

Grand View is one of 29 NAIA women’s wrestling programs, which was granted invitational status ahead of the 2018-19 season, giving them their own national championship at season’s end. Of that total, five began this season.

An additional 36 programs compete in the Women’s College Wrestling Association, nine of which were added this season.

The growing number of women’s collegiate programs will only help the high school numbers, too.

The National Federation of State High School Associations reported that 21,124 girls wrestled nationwide at the high school level in 2018-19, a massive uptick from the 6,025 that were reported a decade ago.

Iowa’s growth has been well-documented. Nearly 200 girls wrestled last season, and the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association hosted a girls’ state tournament at Waverly-Shell Rock in January.

Even more, three Iowa girls — Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit, Glenwood’s Abby McIntyre and Iowa Valley’s Millie Peach — earned All-American honors at the 16U national championships this past summer.

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All of that momentum led Plummer to add the women’s program. Both he and Crinzi believe the growing popularity, as well as Grand View’s reputation as a wrestling school, will help the program blossom. Already, there are 18 women on the roster, including eight from Iowa.

But this season of firsts, Crinzi added, has been enjoyable.

And so, on Thursday night, the Vikings hosted Central Methodist, another first-year program. Plummer suggested that maybe 700 people packed Sisam to watch both the men’s and women’s teams. They got pretty rowdy, too. The women gave them good reason.

Grand View ultimately won six of 10 matches. Isabela Gonzalez, a Texas native, won by technical fall at 130 pounds. Kayli Barrett, from Oklahoma, secured a first-period pin at 136. Hunter Robinson, another Texan, also recorded a technical fall at 170. 

“I’m proud of the way I wrestled,” Gonzalez said. “There was a lot of hype tonight. We’re creating history. We’re the first, and that’s really cool.”

The other three wins were by forfeit — Michael accepted one at 101; another Iowa native, Chloe Krebsbach, accepted the second, at 109; and Kylei Gray, from Indiana, accepted the third at 155.

Cochran competed at 116, but lost to Giovanna Loza, 6-6 on criteria (women's college programs wrestle freestyle, the Olympic discipline that closely resembles folkstyle, the men's collegiate version). Johnston native Kiya Jones lost by fall to Madelyn Navarro at 191, the dual's final bout.

“This was so exciting,” said Michael, who also won the first match at the girls' state tournament at Waverly in January. “Even though I didn’t wrestle, I was nervous — like I was shaking — just for everybody else who did wrestle. I was cheering my lungs out.

“Being the first to win, that means something and I’ll keep that close to my heart. But I have big goals. I would like to be the first national champ, to be honest with you. Always set high goals, put in the work and see how far that hard work can take you.”

Crinzi likes the direction his program is headed, but he has a tough act to follow. He received a reminder when the men’s team wrapped up their dual in 36 minutes thanks to six pins, two technical falls and one forfeit (to be fair, Central Methodist's men's team is also a first-year program).

What’s more, each of their eight championship banners are on the walls inside Sisam. Perhaps his team will add one of their own some day. The first steps toward that goal are being taken this season.

Thursday night was a big one, the program’s first dual victory. He hopes it’s the first of many.

“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Crinzi said. “But this is a little bit of history right here. It’s good for the state, and good for women’s wrestling in general.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

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