Wrestling: 3 Iowa girls earn All-American status at 16U national championships

Over the next five days, Iowa high school wrestling's talented youngsters will get a chance to cement themselves nationally among their peers.

The 16U and Junior national championships began this past weekend and run all week inside the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota. Many of the country’s best prep wrestlers and most sought-after recruits will take the mats to vie for national titles and All-American honors.

Many of Iowa’s best wrestlers — eighth-graders becoming freshmen this fall, current high-schoolers, and recent graduates, both male and female — will also be in action. On Sunday, Iowa’s 16U women's freestyle team wrapped up its competition, and did so in historic fashion.

Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit, Glenwood’s Abby McIntyre, and Iowa Valley’s Millie Peach added their names to the state's 16U/Cadet women’s freestyle All-American list. All three finished in the top four at their respective weights — Schmit took fourth at 100 pounds, McIntyre finished fourth at 138, and Peach placed third at 200.

Iowa having three 16U/Cadet women’s freestyle All-Americans ties for the most in state history, matching the same output as 2011. That year, Jasmine Bailey, Katie Stevens and Cassy Herkelman all made the podium. Bailey took fourth at 101 pounds, Stevens was eighth at 108, and Herkelman fifth at 115.

There was a significant drop off after that summer, as just six Iowa 16U/Cadet girls won All-American honors between 2012 and 2018. Even though both Herkelman and Ballard graduate Rachel Watters both won national titles in that span, there were two years — 2014 and 2017 — were zero Iowa girls made the podium.

Iowa had only produced nine total 16U/Cadet women’s freestyle All-Americans entering the week, in other words, a low number for a state with a rich wrestling history. California led the way with 123, followed by Texas (57) and Washington (50).

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That's what makes the weekend’s results so encouraging. Only seven Iowa girls competed in the 16U national tournament, so nearly half bring home hardware is a sign of the state's steady growth in girls' wrestling.

Schmit, a freshman, went 4-2 with two pins and a pair of hard-fought wrestleback victories. She dropped her quarterfinal match to Utah’s Sage Mortimer, the No. 2-ranked wrestler nationally at 100 pounds who went on to win the title. Schmit nearly pinned California’s Karina Vang for third place, but didn’t get the call and lost 8-5.

McIntyre, a sophomore, went 5-2 with two pins and two victories by technical fall. In all five wins, she outscored her opponents 42-8. Her two losses were Missouri’s Esther Han — in the quarters and for third place.

Peach, a champion at the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association state tournament in January, went 3-1 with three pins to place third. Her only loss was in the semifinals to Oklahoma’s Olivia Brown, who’s ranked No. 1 nationally and won the weight this weekend.

Their efforts led Team Iowa to 16 points, good for ninth in the overall team standings — its highest finish ever. Back in January, Peach talked of how important recent success is for the future of the sport in Iowa.

“This is us making history,” Peach, a sophomore, said then. “This just doesn’t happen very often. This is really cool. I have younger sisters, and I’m hoping this leads to them having women’s wrestling sanctioned by the time they get to high school.”

Hopefully this weekend’s performance is a step toward something bigger.

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

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16U Women’s Freestyle National Championships

Team Iowa All-Americans

Ella Schmit, Bettendorf

– 4th Place, 100 pounds

Abby McIntyre, Glenwood

– 4th Place, 138 pounds

Millie Peach, Iowa Valley

– 3rd Place, 200 pounds