Iowa women's wrestlers win 5 individual titles in debut competition at Missouri Valley Open

Des Moines Register

A small portion of the Iowa women's wrestling program made its highly anticipated debut this weekend — and the early returns look incredibly promising.

Seven Hawkeye women's wrestlers competed at the prestigious Missouri Valley Open on Friday and Saturday. Although they all wrestled unattached — the first official season for the Iowa women is scheduled for 2023-24 — it marked the first collegiate competition where they all represented the University of Iowa.

And they all put on a show.

Five of the seven won individual titles: Sterling Dias at 101 pounds, Nyla Valencia at 109, Felicity Taylor at 116, Nanea Estrella at 136, and Reese Larramendy at 143. The other two, Emilie and Brianna Gonzalez, took second to their teammates: Emilie lost to Dias, 3-1, in the 101 finals; Brianna lost to Valencia, 6-5, in the 109 finals.

All told, the seven Iowa women's wrestlers finished with a 36-2 combined record over the two-day event. When they weren't wrestling each other, the Hawkeyes went 34-0 against the competition with 25 technical falls and 2 pins and collectively outscored their opponents by a staggering 330-35.

Felicity Taylor was one of five Iowa women's wrestlers who won titles at the Missouri Valley Open this weekend.

It becomes even more impressive when you consider that the Missouri Valley Open is widely regarded as one of the toughest in-season tournaments in women's collegiate wrestling.

There were 495 wrestlers from 45 different teams, including McKendree, last year's NCAA women's team champs; Campbellsville, last year's NAIA women's team champs; and Indian Hills, last year's junior-college women's team champs. Among the entrants were as many as 10 past age-level world team members, plus numerous national champs and All-Americans.

This was an opportunity for the Iowa women to get an honest assessment about how they stack up against some of the best in women's college wrestling. Turns out, all those highly touted recruits that head coach Clarissa Chun has brought to Iowa City are really good.

Dias went 5-0 with four shutout technical falls to win at 101 pounds, and beat two NAIA All-Americans along the way. Valencia outscored her five opponents 42-7 en route to gold at 109, including a 6-2 semifinal win over Iowa Wesleyan's Mia Palumbo, a returning NAIA national finalist. Emilie and Brianna Gonzalez both beat All-Americans to meet their teammates in the finals.

Taylor went 6-0 with three technical falls and two pins, notching wins over a U.S. Open place-winner, a pair of top-four finishers at the Under-20 world team trials last spring, and an NAIA All-American. Estrella outscored her six opponents 59-3 and beat a U20 world team trials finalist and an NCAA finalist. Larramendy beat three All-Americans and a Senior-level U.S. Open finalist on her way to six wins by a combined 63-13.

Nyla Valencia was one of five Iowa women's wrestlers who won titles at the Missouri Valley Open this weekend.

More Hawkeye wrestling:5 takeaways from Iowa's wins over Sacred Heart and Buffalo

The overall performance was both parts impressive and yet not incredibly surprising, considering the sterling credentials these wrestlers. To name a few:

Dias is a two-time Cadet world bronze medalist and Junior national champ.
Valencia was on the U23 world team this past summer.
Both Gonzalez sisters are Junior national champs.
Taylor was also on the U23 world team, won the U.S. Open, and finished second in USA Wrestling's Senior world team trials process to an eventual world champ.
Larramendy took fifth at the U20 world championships.
Estrella won the U.S. Open last spring after taking second at the NAIA national championships.

But what this program-opening performance does do, more than anything, is raise the stakes for next season when these women represent the Hawkeyes for real. In addition to the seven that competed this weekend, there are others who did not that will add more firepower to Chun's first Iowa lineup — like Kylie Welker, Sam Calkins, Ella Schmit, and many more.

So this weekend's performance was another thrilling step forward for the Hawkeye women, even if all the results go on the books as unofficial and unattached. It's also a spark in the continued excitement that's building around this program, and yet another hint that shows these women are ready to win big, win early, and win often.

More Iowa women's wrestling:Lilly Luft, a two-time state champion from Charles City, commits to the Hawkeyes

Iowa women's wrestling results from Missouri Valley Open

Sterling Dias, 101 pounds

Match 1: 11-0 tech fall over Jennesis Martinez (Colorado Mesa)
Match 2: 10-0 tech fall over Sage Beltran (Missouri Valley)
Quarterfinals: 10-0 tech fall over Emma Cochran (Grand View)
Semifinals: 10-0 tech fall over Ira Navarro (University of Providence)
Finals: 3-1 over Emilie Gonzalez (Iowa)

Emilie Gonzalez, 101 pounds

Match 1: 6-4 decision over Erin Hikiji (University of Providence)
Match 2: 10-0 tech fall over Hannah Michael (Grand View)
Quarterfinals: 12-2 tech fall over Alaina Sunlin (Iowa Wesleyan)
Semifinals: 10-0 tech fall over Alyssa Quezaire (Missouri Baptist)
Finals: 3-1 loss to Sterling Dias (Iowa)

Nyla Valencia, 109 pounds

Match 1: 10-0 tech fall over Laura Lincoln (Missouri Valley)
Match 2: 10-0 tech fall over Korigan Wilkey (Indiana Tech)
Quarterfinals: 10-0 tech fall over Pauline Granados (McKendree)
Semifinals: 6-2 over Mia Palumbo (Iowa Wesleyan)
Finals: 6-5 over Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa)

Brianna Gonzalez, 109 pounds

Match 1: 10-0 tech fall over Kali Christy (University of Saint Mary)
Match 2: 12-2 tech fall over Jenavi Alejandro (Tiffin)
Quarterfinals: 8-4 over Natalie Reyna-Rodriguez (Southern Oregon)
Semifinals: 10-0 tech fall over Emma Baertlein (Unattached)
Finals: 6-5 loss to Nyla Valencia (Iowa)

Felicity Taylor, 116 pounds

Match 1: 11-0 tech fall over Shea Reisel (Campbellsville)
Match 2: Winner by fall (1:44) over Chloe Krebsbach (Grand View)
Match 3: 14-0 tech fall over Elvie Villa (McKendree)
Quarterfinals: 6-3 over Hannah Hall (Central Methodist)
Semifinals: 10-0 tech fall over Juliana Diaz (Missouri Baptist)
Finals: Winner by fall (2:26) over Ashley Gooman (University of Providence)

Nanea Estrella, 136 pounds

Match 1: 12-0 tech fall over Oliva Flores (Friends University)
Match 2: 12-0 tech fall over Jolynn Harris (McKendree)
Match 3: 12-0 tech fall over Kira Phillipa (Texas Woman's University)
Quarterfinals: 10-0 tech fall over Aliyah Yates (Cumberlands)
Semifinals: 10-0 tech fall over Claire DiCugno (Unattached)
Finals: 3-3 over Nina Makem (Augsburg)

Reese Larramendy, 143 pounds

Match 1: 11-0 tech fall over Ashlee Palimo'o (Midland)
Match 2: 10-0 tech fall over Sidney Ramos (Tiffin)
Match 3: 10-0 tech fall over Madison Diaz (Grand View)
Quarterfinals: 5-4 over Katie Lange (Augsburg)
Semifinals: 12-4 over Mea Mohler (Texas Wesleyan)
Finals: 15-5 tech fall over Alexis Gomez (Grand View)

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