5 NCAA Weekend Takeaways

The NCAA women’s wrestling season got underway this weekend with a busy slate of open tournaments and a marquee dual. Delaware State turned heads in Pennsylvania, Iowa State’s future program got its first taste of the rivalry with Iowa and Grand Valley State’s young talent shined in Kansas and Ohio. King also made a statement with a road win over the two-time defending NAIA national champion, while Iowa’s Naomi Simon rolled to a title at the Luther Hill Open.

Below are five takeaways from the NCAA’s opening weekend.

Delaware State making waves in second season

Delaware State is making noise in just its second season. The first HBCU to add NCAA Division I women’s wrestling, the Hornets sent two wrestlers to the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships last March, Icart Galumette and Louise Juitt, and placed 27th with 8.5 points. If Sunday’s East Stroudsburg Open in Pennsylvania is any indication, that finish should climb this season. The Hornets crowned three champions and matched No. 6 Lehigh with six finalists. No. 9 Juitt led the way at 145 pounds, going 5-0 with four falls and a technical superiority. Freshman Willow White claimed the 138-pound title, highlighted by a 10-0 technical superiority over No. 11 Ragan Retell of East Stroudsburg in 55 seconds. Fellow freshman Deionna Borders captured the crown at 207 pounds, defeating No. 7 Josephine Larson of Sacred Heart 6-1. No. 12 Galumette, NJCAA national champion Ariah Mervilus and Haylie Briscoe also reached the finals, with Galumette adding a 58-second pin of No. 8 Maddie Ripley of Western New England. Delaware State went 7-8 against Lehigh, which finished sixth at NCAAs last season. Head coach Kenya Sloan has done a great job developing her wrestlers, and the Hornets look like a program on the rise.

Iowa-Iowa State women’s wrestling rivalry underway

The Iowa-Iowa State rivalry has made its way to women’s wrestling. Iowa State’s women’s program doesn’t begin official competition until next season, but nine Cyclones competed unattached at the Luther Hill Open on Sunday in Indianola, Iowa, where they shared brackets with No. 1 Iowa. The Hawkeyes held the upper hand in the first meetings, as Iowa State went 2-7 against Iowa. Iowa’s Emily Frost was tough at 131 pounds, beating Cyclones Kailey Benson 8-0 in the semifinals and Gabriella Gomez by 12-0 technical superiority in the finals. Iowa State’s two wins both carried weight. Persaeus Gomez pinned Iowa’s Carley Ceshker, who later beat two No. 4-ranked wrestlers en route to third at 138 pounds. Greta Brus edged Iowa’s Nora Akpan 4-3 at 145 pounds, though Akpan won the rematch 7-0. The Cyclones went 25-9 in contested bouts with eight ranked wins, including Brooklyn Perez’s pin of No. 4 Jacinda Espinosa of Lindenwood. They did it without four NAIA national champions: two-time champions Jumoke Adekoye, Esther Kolawole and Christianah Ogunsanya, along with Piper Fowler. With those four in the lineup, plus some other highly accomplished wrestlers who did not compete in Indianola, this rivalry should get much more competitive.

Future is bright at Grand Valley State

Grand Valley State’s freshmen look like the real deal. At the Tiffin Open on Sunday in Tiffin, Ohio, the 11 Laker freshmen who competed went 45-15 with six ranked wins and eight placers. Julia Horger went 5-0 to claim the 110-pound title, opening with a 10-0 technical superiority over NAIA No. 8 Reagan Thomas of Lindsey Wilson and topping McKendree’s No. 6 Heather Crull 9-4 for the crown. Madilyn Peach, ranked No. 10 at 131 pounds, reached the 138-pound finals, earning a 13-2 technical superiority over NAIA No. 7 Ruth Jimenez of Cumberlands before falling 13-11 to McKendree’s Caley Graber. Isabella Crompton placed third at 117, losing only to McKendree’s No. 1 Yu Sakamoto, while Naima Ghaffar notched two ranked technical superiorities en route to fifth at 131. Katey Valdez, another young star for the Lakers, shined two days earlier at the Falcon Open in Park City, Kansas. The McKendree transfer, ranked No. 4 in the HerMat NCAA rankings, wrestled unattached and rolled to the Elite 103 title. She went 3-0 against three NAIA-ranked opponents, spent just 3:50 on the mat and capped her day by pinning No. 3 Alexsys Jacquez of Saint Mary in 1:22.

King in national title picture

King looks ready to make a run on the national stage. The Tornado opened the season with a convincing 27-12 road win over two-time defending NAIA national champion Life University on Sunday in Marietta, Georgia. King, ranked No. 6 in the HerMat NCAA dual meet rankings, won eight of 10 bouts against a Life U lineup loaded with ranked wrestlers, and six of those wins came against NAIA-ranked opponents. No. 4 Virginia Foard delivered the most lopsided result, a 9-1 decision over NAIA No. 2 Janida Garcia, while No. 2 Stella Steigler earned the dual’s only early finish with an 11-0 technical superiority over NAIA No. 10 Faith Bane in 2:54. No. 8 Zoey Lints topped NAIA No. 6 Christina Jaen 13-8, and No. 15 Amelia Murphy blanked NAIA No. 12 Alyssa Quezaire 4-0. King’s depth showed, too, as unranked Isabella Lorenzana edged NAIA No. 6 Madeline Welch 8-6 and Isis France outlasted NAIA No. 20 Netavia Wickson 14-10. After finishing seventh at NCAAs last season, the Tornado has the firepower and depth to push for a spot among the nation’s elite teams this season.

Simon is a title threat whatever weight class she wrestles

Naomi Simon was dominant at the Luther Hill Open. Iowa’s Simon, ranked No. 6 at 207 pounds, went 5-0 at 180 pounds to claim the title, winning four bouts by fall and the last by technical superiority. No opponent went the distance. After pinning her first three opponents in a combined 3:15, Simon pinned teammate Brooklyn Hays, the No. 1 wrestler at 160 pounds, in 5:05. In the finals, she earned a 14-4 technical superiority over No. 3 Isabella Renfro of Fort Hays State in 2:58. A Decorah, Iowa, native, Simon went undefeated in high school while winning four state titles, and she earned a bronze medal at the 2024 U20 World Championships. She placed third at the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships as a freshman before competing unattached last season. Simon is ranked at 207 pounds because Iowa also has Kylie Welker, a three-time national champion and the pound-for-pound No. 1, at 180 pounds. That gives the Hawkeyes options. Iowa could move Welker up to 207 pounds, where she would be the favorite, and slot Simon in at 180. Wherever she lands, Simon will be a factor in the national title race.