Brooks, Alli among top pre-seeds as collegians head to Bill Farrell

Some of the top women’s college wrestlers in the country will test themselves against Olympic and world-level competition on Friday at the 2026 Bill Farrell Memorial International in New York City.

The women’s freestyle competition begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday. The event will feature more than 400 athletes from 31 countries in women’s freestyle, men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. The U.S. has 273 athletes entered across the three Olympic disciplines, and 134 international competitors are currently in the field.

There is plenty at stake. U.S. athletes who finish in the top three at the Bill Farrell will automatically qualify for the 2027 World Team Trials Tournament for Olympic weights, April 20-25, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nineteen wrestlers ranked in this week’s HerMat rankings are on the women’s freestyle entry list, including 17 from the NCAA and two from the NAIA. No NJCAA-ranked wrestlers are entered. King leads the way with four ranked wrestlers, while Colorado Mesa and Eastern each have three. Several unranked collegians are also entered, and Lehigh has the most collegians in the field with five. Nine collegians are seeded, and two of them are No. 1 seeds. One of them, NCAA champion Xochitl Mota-Pettis of Quincy, isn’t ranked because she won’t compete for the Hawks until next semester.

Rankings cited below are from this week’s HerMat rankings. Collegiate weights are listed in pounds, while the Bill Farrell is contested in kilograms under international rules.

Here is a weight-by-weight look at the collegians to watch. Note: Entries subject to change.

50 kilograms: Two ranked NCAA wrestlers from the 110-pound rankings are in a deep bracket: Colorado Mesa’s Adriana Gomez, ranked No. 5, and McKendree’s Heather Crull, ranked No. 9. Neither is seeded. Katie Gomez is the top seed, followed by Erin Golston, Alexis Miller and Jaclyn Bouzakis.

53 kilograms: No weight class at the Bill Farrell has more ranked collegians than this one, and no collegian has a tougher road. Sarah Hildebrandt, the 2024 Olympic champion, is the No. 1 seed, and Japan’s Konami Ono is seeded second. Emmanuel (Georgia) standout Karissa Turnwall, ranked No. 3 at 117 pounds, is the No. 3 seed, and Iowa’s Taylor Whiting is seeded fifth. Grand View’s Cailin Campbell, ranked No. 2 at 117 pounds in the NAIA and No. 10 in the NAIA pound-for-pound rankings, is also entered. So are Lehigh’s Abbi Cooper, ranked No. 5 at 117 pounds, and a pair of Eastern wrestlers: Savannah Witt, ranked No. 6 at 124 pounds, and Josey Wehr, ranked No. 20 at 117 pounds. Ranked wrestlers from different divisions could meet here, with Campbell potentially crossing paths with Turnwall or Cooper.

55 kilograms: Iowa’s Karlee Brooks, ranked No. 5 at 131 pounds, is the top seed. Brooks is missing this weekend’s Throwdown on the Yorktown in South Carolina to compete in New York City. King’s Virginia Foard, ranked No. 4 at 124 pounds, is the No. 2 seed, so the two NCAA standouts are on track for a potential final. Tonya Flournoy is seeded third, and Alisha Paradise is the No. 4 seed. Lehigh’s Alexa Ciliotta is also entered.

57 kilograms: Quincy’s Xochitl Mota-Pettis is the No. 3 seed. Mota-Pettis won the 124-pound title at the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships last March. She isn’t competing for Quincy this semester, but she is expected to return to the Hawks next semester. Her senior-level resume includes a 2023 Pan American title and a 2023 U.S. Open title. Amanda Martinez is the top seed, and Canada’s Laurence Beauregard is seeded second. Two ranked wrestlers from the 131-pound rankings are also entered: King’s Ruby Julien-Newsom, ranked No. 8, and Bridgeport’s Lindsey Rywolt, ranked No. 12.

59 kilograms: Mount Union’s Abigail Mozden, ranked No. 4 at 131 pounds, is the lone ranked collegian and is unseeded. Amani Jones is the top seed, and Michaela Beck is seeded second.

62 kilograms: Eastern’s Zoey Haines, ranked No. 5 at 145 pounds, and Colorado Mesa’s Jaclyn Dehney, ranked No. 9 at 138 pounds, are the ranked collegians in this bracket. Neither is seeded. Macey Kilty is the top seed, and North Central’s Claire DiCugno is seeded second. Alara Boyd, SaVannah Cosme and Hanna Errthum round out the seeds. Lehigh’s Morgan Lucio is also entered.

65 kilograms: King’s Zoey Lints, ranked No. 10 at 145 pounds, is the lone ranked collegian. Emma Bruntil is the top seed, and Nina Makem is seeded second.

68 kilograms: Two collegians are seeded. Grand Valley State’s Noelle Gaffney is the No. 5 seed. Doane’s Skylar Hattendorf, ranked No. 4 at 160 pounds in the NAIA, is seeded sixth. Colorado Mesa’s Gretchen Donally, ranked No. 11 at 145 pounds, and Mercyhurst’s Lydia Krauss are unseeded. Kaylynn Albrecht is the top seed, and Skylar Grote is seeded second. This is the deepest seeded bracket at the event, with eight seeds, including four Canadians.

72 kilograms: Lehigh’s Alex Alli, ranked No. 4 at 160 pounds, is the top seed in a six-wrestler bracket. Madison Sandquist is the No. 2 seed, followed by Aireka Steigler and Kasandra Villarreal.

76 kilograms: King’s Kat Hingano, ranked No. 7 at 180 pounds, and Lehigh’s Cameron Millsapps are unseeded. Canada’s Vianne Rouleau is the top seed, and Canada’s Shauna Kuebeck is seeded second. Joye Levendusky and Kalila Shrive are the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.

Action at the Bill Farrell Memorial International will be streamed live on FloWrestling. Brackets and match-by-match results will be available on USA Bracketing.