Four Grand View wrestlers earn All-American status at NAIA women's national championships

The Grand View women's wrestling program added a few exciting milestones to the program's short history this weekend.

The Lady Vikings competed at their first NAIA women's wrestling national championship tournament in Jamestown, North Dakota. The event ran Friday and Saturday, and by the end, Grand View added some hardware to its trophy case.

Four Viking wrestlers earned All-American honors: Andrea Schlabach finished third at 136 pounds; Hunter Robinson took fourth at 170; Emma Cochran, a Chariton native, took fifth at 109; and Alaura Couch took seventh at 101. They are the first four All-Americans in program history.

Those four, as well as the other eight Viking wrestlers who qualified, helped Grand View to a top-10 team finish. Campbellsville, with 10 total All-Americans and five finalists, ran away with the team title. Life University finished comfortably in second. Wayland Baptist, Oklahoma City and Southern Oregon rounded out the top five.

Grand View might have a ways to go before competing with the likes of Campbellsville and Life, both well-established NAIA women's wrestling programs. But what the Lady Vikings accomplished this weekend can be added to their now-lengthy list of program firsts they've accumulated over the last two years.

The addition of the program was announced in Jan. 2019 — literally 26 months ago. Angelo Crinzi, a former Viking wrestler under head coach Nick Mitchell, was hired as the women's coach two months later. 

Then came the on-the-mat results: the first win, the first pin, the first gold medal, all at the first competition. Then the first dual victory, 29-17 over Central Methodist in Nov. 2019, just 11 months after the program was born.

Crinzi and Company added to that list this season.

Grand View climbed to No. 2 in the NAIA team poll at one point this year. Illinois native Alexis Gomez (the sister of former Iowa State wrestler Austin Gomez) became the first in program history to earn the No. 1 individual ranking, at 155 pounds. The Lady Vikings also won the Heart of America Conference team title, with five individual champs.

Then came this past weekend's results, the latest line in the program's all-important first chapter. Both Cochran and Couch reached the quarterfinals before winning in the wrestlebacks to reach the podium. Schlabach and Robinson both made the semifinal round before losing, but rallied for top-four finishes.

More firsts remain available heading into next season — like the first top-five team finish, first team title, first individual national finalist, first individual national champ. That will likely be Crinzi's message heading into the offseason, both to returning wrestlers and the many high-level recruits that will join the program next season.

But the groundwork has been established for the Grand View women to continued its rapid ascent. It's been an exciting first 26 months in program history. Based on the team's early returns, the next 26 might be even better.

Waldorf's Dzasezeva earns AA honor

Waldorf, Iowa's first women's wrestling program (established in 2010), also had an All-American at the NAIA national tournament over the weekend.

Diana Dzasezeva finished sixth at 130 pounds. She posted a 5-3 overall record between Friday and Saturday, a run that included four-straight wrestleback wins to reach the top-six.

Iowans at the D-II national tournament

A pair of Upper Iowa wrestlers and another Iowa native finished on the podium at the NCAA Division II national championships in St. Louis on Saturday.

Tate Murty and Zach Ryg both earned All-American honors for the Peacocks. Murty finished sixth at 141 pounds, winning twice after a first-round loss to reach the top-six. Ryg, a Central Springs grad, finished third at 197, battling back after a semifinal loss.

Another wrestler with Iowa ties, Matt Malcom, finished fifth at 165 pounds for Nebraska-Kearney. Malcom, a Glenwood graduate, was the 2019 Division II national champ at 157. He reached the semifinals before losing this weekend.

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