GVSU edges No. 1 Iowa, finishes 3-0 at Throwdown on the Yorktown

Grand Valley State’s lead nearly disappeared, but the Lakers held on for the biggest win of the young season.

No. 4 GVSU edged top-ranked Iowa 22-20 on Sunday to finish 3-0 at the third Throwdown on the Yorktown at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Lakers built a 21-6 lead through six bouts, then held off an Iowa rally over the final four weights. Iowa, ranked No. 1 in the HerMat NCAA dual meet rankings, outscored GVSU 14-1 over the last four bouts but ran out of room.

It was just the second dual loss in Iowa program history. The first came last season at the NWCA National Duals, where North Central upset the two-time defending National Duals champions 23-21 to end Iowa’s undefeated season. North Central went on to beat McKendree 21-18 for the National Duals title.

Rankings cited below are from this week’s HerMat rankings.

The win capped an unbeaten weekend for GVSU, which edged No. 5 Presbyterian 23-20 and defeated Delaware State 27-18 on Saturday. Iowa finished 2-1 after beating Delaware State 32-10 and Presbyterian 38-6 on Day 1.

The Lakers did it the same way they did on Saturday. For the third straight dual, GVSU won just five of 10 bouts. Three of those wins came by fall or forfeit, worth five team points each, and that was just enough to offset Iowa’s fall and two technical superiorities.

The dual may have been decided in the first bout. No. 4 Katey Valdez of GVSU led Iowa’s Sterling Dias 4-1 with just over 30 seconds left at 103 pounds. Dias then scored a takedown and a turn in the final 15 seconds to take a 5-4 lead. Valdez answered with an exposure in the closing moments and secured the fall just as the match ended, at 6:00. A Dias decision would have swung the dual to Iowa.

At 110 pounds, GVSU freshman Julia Horger, ranked No. 8, controlled Iowa’s Isabella Gonzales, ranked No. 6, in a 7-0 decision. Gonzales got in deep on shots several times, but Horger’s defense held up each time, and she pulled away late. Horger went 2-0 at the event with wins over two top-eight wrestlers. She scored a 10-0 technical superiority over Presbyterian’s Chloe Dearwester, ranked No. 3, on Saturday.

Iowa’s Brianna Gonzalez, ranked No. 2 at 117 pounds, got the Hawkeyes on the board. She built a 7-0 lead over GVSU’s Ana Malovich before pinning her in 4:32. Gonzalez finished the weekend 3-0 with two falls.

GVSU then took control in the middle of the lineup. At 124 pounds, Lutz picked up a critical win over Hiller. Lutz led 10-4 with just over a minute left before Hiller, who has a judo background, scored with a four-point feet-to-back throw to cut the deficit to 10-8. Lutz pushed her lead back to 12-8, and Hiller scored late, but Lutz held on for a 12-10 win. It was a big bounce-back for the freshman, who dropped an 11-0 technical superiority to Presbyterian’s Jenna Anderson, ranked No. 11 at 117 pounds, on Saturday.

At 131 pounds, Naima Ghaffar came back from an 8-0 deficit to pin Iowa’s Emily Frost. Frost, who won the 131-pound title at the Luther Hill Open last weekend, scored a takedown and then used a lace to pick up multiple turns. Ghaffar answered with back-to-back takedowns to make it 8-4, then scored another takedown and pinned Frost in 2:16. Ghaffar went 3-0 with three falls on the weekend, and Valdez did the same.

GVSU’s No. 14 Jordyn Fouse then won by forfeit at 138 pounds, giving the Lakers a 21-6 lead with four bouts left.

That’s when Iowa’s upper weights went to work. At 145 pounds, Reese Larramendy, ranked No. 2, a two-time national finalist and the 2024 national champion, scored the first point off the activity clock against GVSU’s Alexis Lazar. Larramendy added two step-out points to go up 3-0. Lazar cut the deficit to 3-2 with 40 seconds left, and it stayed that way until the closing seconds, when Larramendy threw Lazar to her back for four points and a 7-2 win. Lazar’s points earned GVSU a team point, its last of the dual, and pushed the Lakers to 22.

No. 1 Brooklyn Hays blanked GVSU’s Noelle Gaffney 5-0 at 160 pounds. Gaffney had beaten Presbyterian’s May Cuyler, a two-time All-American ranked No. 6 at 160 pounds, 8-3 on Saturday.

Kylie Welker, the No. 1 wrestler at 180 pounds and the NCAA pound-for-pound No. 1, cruised to an 11-0 technical superiority over GVSU’s Madison Ward in 1:35. Welker spent a total of 2:58 on the mat in three bouts over the weekend, all of them technical superiorities.

No. 6 Naomi Simon closed the dual with a 10-0 technical superiority over GVSU’s Aaliyah Grandberry at 207 pounds, but it was too little, too late. The win was worth four team points, leaving Iowa two points short.

Under classification scoring, the single points scored in losses mattered again. Hiller’s points in her loss at 124 pounds earned Iowa a team point, and Lazar’s points at 145 pounds did the same for GVSU. GVSU won a three-point dual on Saturday and a two-point dual on Sunday.

Iowa again competed without No. 1 Val Solorio (103), No. 1 Everest Leydecker (124) and No. 5 Karlee Brooks (131). GVSU was also without No. 1 Sabrina Nauss (207), No. 5 Elleni Johnson (160) and No. 14 Alyssa Favara (180). No. 4 Margaret Buurma, who went 0-2 on Saturday, did not wrestle, so the possible Larramendy-Buurma matchup at 145 pounds never happened.

In the final dual of the event, Presbyterian defeated Delaware State 33-12 to finish 1-2 on the weekend. Delaware State went 0-3.

The biggest result came at 138 pounds, where Presbyterian’s Kassey Daugherty, ranked No. 9 at 131 pounds, handed Delaware State’s Willow White her first loss of the season. Daugherty blanked White, the No. 10 wrestler at 138 pounds, 3-0. White had gone 2-0 against ranked opponents on Saturday, beating Iowa’s Lilly Luft, ranked No. 2, and GVSU’s Fouse.

Presbyterian won eight of 10 bouts, five by fall. Zoe Griffith pinned Delaware State’s Louise Juitt, ranked No. 9 at 145 pounds, in 2:16, giving Griffith three falls on the weekend. No. 3 Chloe Dearwester pinned No. 20 Ariah Mervilus in 1:29 at 110 pounds, and No. 11 Jenna Anderson edged No. 7 Icart Galumette 10-7 at 117 pounds. No. 5 Maria Aiono topped No. 8 Deionna Borders 8-1 at 207 pounds to finish 2-0. Delaware State’s Sydney Branch pinned Presbyterian’s Annalise Maralit, ranked No. 17 at 103 pounds, in 1:52, and Sophia Slaughter scored a 12-2 technical superiority over Camdyn Elliot at 124 pounds.

Grand Valley State 22, Iowa 20
103: No. 4 Katey Valdez (Grand Valley State) pinned Sterling Dias (Iowa), 6:00
110: No. 8 Julia Horger (Grand Valley State) dec. No. 6 Isabella Gonzales (Iowa), 7-0
117: No. 2 Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) pinned Ana Malovich (Grand Valley State), 4:32
124: Noelani Lutz (Grand Valley State) dec. Harlee Hiller (Iowa), 12-10
131: Naima Ghaffar (Grand Valley State) pinned Emily Frost (Iowa), 2:16
138: No. 14 Jordyn Fouse (Grand Valley State) won by forfeit
145: No. 2 Reese Larramendy (Iowa) dec. Alexis Lazar (Grand Valley State), 7-2
160: No. 1 Brooklyn Hays (Iowa) dec. Noelle Gaffney (Grand Valley State), 5-0
180: No. 1 Kylie Welker (Iowa) tech. Madison Ward (Grand Valley State), 11-0 1:35
207: No. 6 Naomi Simon (Iowa) tech. Aaliyah Grandberry (Grand Valley State), 10-0 4:21

Presbyterian 33, Delaware State 12
103: Sydney Branch (Delaware State) pinned No. 17 Annalise Maralit (Presbyterian), 1:52
110: No. 3 Chloe Dearwester (Presbyterian) pinned No. 20 Ariah Mervilus (Delaware State), 1:29
117: No. 11 Jenna Anderson (Presbyterian) dec. No. 7 Icart Galumette (Delaware State), 10-7
124: Sophia Slaughter (Delaware State) tech. Camdyn Elliot (Presbyterian), 12-2 6:00
131: No. 7 (124) Alyssa Mahan (Presbyterian) pinned Naima Rodriguez (Delaware State), 3:13
138: No. 9 (131) Kassey Daugherty (Presbyterian) dec. No. 10 Willow White (Delaware State), 3-0
145: Zoe Griffith (Presbyterian) pinned No. 9 Louise Juitt (Delaware State), 2:16
160: No. 6 (145) Maddie Kubicki (Presbyterian) pinned Haylie Briscoe (Delaware State), 1:27
180: Isabella Gretzinger (Presbyterian) dec. Azariyah Johnson (Delaware State), 8-1
207: No. 5 Maria Aiono (Presbyterian) dec. No. 8 Deionna Borders (Delaware State), 8-1