Ten storylines to watch in NCAA wrestling

The second season of NCAA women’s wrestling as a championship sport is almost here. Last March, McKendree edged Iowa 171-166 to win the team title at the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa. North Central, Grand Valley State and Presbyterian rounded out the top five.

HerMat released its NCAA preseason rankings on Tuesday, including individual rankings in all 10 weight classes, tournament and dual meet team rankings and a top 10 pound-for-pound list. The rankings point to another two-team race at the top, with several programs capable of crashing the party.

Here are 10 storylines to watch heading into the 2026-27 NCAA wrestling season.

Iowa begins the season at No. 1

Iowa opens the 2026-27 season ranked No. 1 in both the HerMat tournament rankings and dual meet rankings. Under the guidance of head coach Clarissa Chun, Iowa has four No. 1-ranked wrestlers: Val Solorio (103), Everest Leydecker (124), Brooklyn Hays (160) and Kylie Welker (180). Solorio won an NCAA title last March at 103 pounds, while Leydecker is the most decorated true freshman in the country. Hays, a 2024 Senior Pan American champion, competed at Final X in 2025 and has made multiple age-group world teams. She joins the Hawkeyes after earning All-America honors at Augsburg. Three other Hawkeyes are ranked No. 2: Brianna Gonzalez (117), Lilly Luft (138) and Reese Larramendy (145). Gonzalez and Luft both earned All-America honors last season, while Larramendy reached the NCAA finals with a 33-0 record before capturing a U23 world bronze medal this fall. Iowa has a ranked wrestler in all 10 weight classes, and every one of them is ranked seventh or higher. On paper, the Hawkeyes are the team to beat. Iowa has a deep and talented roster. There is expected to be several hotly-contested lineup battles.

Defending champion McKendree is right behind

Defending national champion McKendree opens the season ranked No. 2 in both the tournament and dual meet rankings. The Bearcats, led by head coach Alexio Garcia, crowned three champions and 10 All-Americans last March. This season, three McKendree wrestlers are ranked No. 1. Yu Sakamoto (117) is a returning NCAA champion. Haylie Jaffe (138) is a past national finalist who placed third last season. Adaugo Nwachukwu (145), a three-time NAIA national champion, joins the McKendree lineup after claiming a silver medal at the U23 World Championships. McKendree also has three wrestlers ranked No. 2: Gabriele Tedesco (103), Alexandra Szkotnicki (131) and Destiny Rodriguez (180), a returning NCAA finalist. Two-time national champion Tristan Kelly is expected to return to the McKendree lineup at some point this season. Until she does, Sandy Guerrero will wrestle in her place. Guerrero, ranked No. 8 at 207 pounds, won a 2024 NCWWC national title for New Jersey City University. Like Iowa, McKendree has a ranked wrestler in every weight class.

North Central could get stronger in the second semester

North Central, Presbyterian and Grand Valley State round out the top five teams in the tournament rankings. North Central placed third at last season’s NCAAs and opens the season ranked No. 3 in both the tournament and dual meet rankings. The Cardinals have a ranked wrestler in every weight class, led by No. 2 Riley Rayome (124), a returning NCAA finalist at 117 pounds. Kaelani Shufeldt (110), Jael Miller (180) and Caroline Ward (207) are each ranked No. 4. Brianne Graves, who won a Midlands title last season, is ranked No. 5 at 103 pounds. What makes North Central especially intriguing is what the lineup could look like after the holiday break. Multiple-time national finalist Claire DiCugno is expected to return in the second semester. DiCugno, a 2024 national champion at King, placed second at 138 pounds last March. Bella Mir, who pinned Larramendy to win the NCAA title at 145 pounds, might return as well at 160 pounds, depending on her MMA fight schedule. If both DiCugno and Mir are in the lineup in March, North Central will be a serious threat to the top two.

Presbyterian is deep

Presbyterian, ranked No. 4 in the tournament rankings and No. 5 in the dual meet rankings, placed fifth at last season’s NCAAs with six All-Americans. The Blue Hose, coached by Brian Vutianitis, don’t have a No. 1-ranked wrestler, but they do have a ranked wrestler in all 10 weight classes. Chloe Dearwester (110) and Maddie Kubicki (145) are each ranked No. 3. Kubicki has placed fourth, sixth and fourth at nationals over the past three seasons. Jenna Anderson (117), Carina Giangeruso (138) and Maria Aiono (207) are each ranked No. 5, while May Cuyler (160), Alyssa Mahan (124) and Kassey Daugherty (131) are ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. A strong case can be made that Presbyterian has the most balanced lineup outside of the top two.

Grand Valley State has the top-ranked 207-pounder and plenty of new faces

Grand Valley State, ranked No. 5 in the tournament rankings and No. 4 in the dual meet rankings, placed fourth at last season’s NCAAs with seven All-Americans. The Lakers, led by head coach Jake Short, have a top-ranked wrestler in Sabrina Nauss at 207 pounds. Nauss reached the NCAA finals last March, falling to Kelly. With Kelly out of the McKendree lineup for now, Nauss enters the season as the top-ranked 207-pounder. Aspen Blasko (124), a two-time All-American, is ranked No. 3, while Margaret Buurma (145) is ranked No. 5 after earning All-America honors as a freshman. Grand Valley State also has a talented freshman class that should make waves, plus a pair of transfers who bolster the lineup. Katey Valdez, a top recruit out of Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, redshirted at McKendree last season before transferring to Grand Valley State. She opens the season ranked No. 4 at 103 pounds. Alyssa Favara, a standout at Lock Haven, is ranked No. 14 at 180 pounds in her first season in the Grand Valley State lineup. The Lakers have a ranked wrestler in all 10 weight classes. Look for this young lineup to improve as the season progresses.

Lehigh has a pair of No. 1-ranked wrestlers

Lehigh is ranked No. 6 in the tournament rankings and No. 7 in the dual meet rankings. The Mountain Hawks, who placed sixth at the NCAAs last season, have a pair of No. 1-ranked wrestlers in Audrey Jimenez (110) and Aubre Krazer (131). Jimenez, a six-time age-group world medalist, won the NCAA title at 110 pounds last March, pinning Grand Valley State’s Sage Mortimer in the finals. Krazer went 24-1 and placed third as a freshman. Abbi Cooper (117), a returning All-American, is ranked No. 6. Lehigh also has several talented newcomers looking to make a mark. Alex Alli, a U23 national champion who placed third at the 2026 U.S. Open, opens her college career ranked No. 4 at 160 pounds. Lehigh, coached by Brazel Marquez, brought in 14 newcomers this offseason, and several are competing for starting spots. If those newcomers develop quickly, the Mountain Hawks could climb in the team rankings.

King is a team on the rise

King went from unranked in the preseason a year ago to a seventh-place finish at the NCAAs. The Tornado, in their second season under head coach Bret Frey, open this season ranked No. 7 in the tournament rankings and No. 6 in the dual meet rankings. King has eight ranked wrestlers, led by Stella Steigler, who is ranked No. 2 at 160 pounds behind Hays. Four-time beach wrestling Eliana Bommarito is ranked No. 3 at 207 pounds, while Virginia Foard is ranked No. 4 at 124 pounds. Kat Hingano (180), Ruby Julien-Newsom (131) and Zoey Lints (145) are ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. King doesn’t have the star power of the teams ahead of it, but it has the depth to be a factor in the team race. Don’t be surprised if the Tornado move up as the season progresses.

Leydecker leads a talented group of true freshmen

Leydecker is the biggest freshman star in the country. The Iowa newcomer is a two-time U20 world champion who made the U.S. senior world team at age 18. She also won bronze at the U23 World Championships earlier this month. Leydecker opens her college career ranked No. 1 at 124 pounds and No. 4 in the pound-for-pound rankings. She isn’t the only true freshman in the rankings. Lehigh’s Stevie Joyce Martin, a California state champion who was ranked No. 1 in the nation at 120 pounds as a high school senior, is ranked No. 5 at 124 pounds. Grand Valley State’s Madilyn Peach, a Wisconsin state champion from Milton High School, is ranked No. 10 at 131 pounds. Simpson’s Isabel Kaplan, a 2026 Fargo runner-up at 110 pounds, is ranked No. 10 at 110 pounds, while Northern Michigan’s Lillee Denson, a 2026 Fargo champion at 100 pounds, is ranked No. 14 at 103 pounds. West Liberty’s Aubrey Bartkowiak, a Fargo champion from Indiana, is ranked No. 20 at 207 pounds. Expect more true freshmen to emerge as the season progresses.

Xochitl Mota-Pettis expected to return in January

One of the most accomplished wrestlers in the country is missing from the preseason rankings for now. Returning national champion Xochitl Mota-Pettis will not compete for Quincy in the first semester, but she is expected to return in January and will likely wrestle at 131 pounds. Mota-Pettis won the 124-pound title at the inaugural NCAAs in her first semester with the Hawks, becoming the first national champion in Quincy history. She did it while wrestling with a torn labrum. Her senior-level resume includes a 2023 Pan American title, a 2023 U.S. Open title and two trips to the U.S. Olympic Trials. A move to 131 pounds would put her in a weight class with No. 1 Krazer, No. 2 Szkotnicki and No. 3 Cassia Zammit of West Liberty. Expect 131 pounds to be one of the most talked-about weight classes in the country once she returns.

Welker tops the pound-for-pound rankings

Welker is ranked No. 1 in HerMat’s top 10 pound-for-pound rankings. The Iowa star is a two-time senior world bronze medalist and became the first American to win three U23 world titles earlier this month in Las Vegas, where she did not surrender a point. Nwachukwu is ranked No. 2, and Jimenez is No. 3. Iowa dominates the list with six wrestlers: Welker, Leydecker (No. 4), Larramendy (No. 6), Hays (No. 7), Gonzalez (No. 9) and Solorio (No. 10). McKendree has two wrestlers in the top 10 with Nwachukwu and Sakamoto (No. 5), while Lehigh also has two with Jimenez and Krazer (No. 8). Interestingly, all 10 wrestlers on the list are ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in their respective weight classes. The battle for the top spot on the list will likely come down to Welker and Nwachukwu, both three-time national champions. Stay tuned.