Iowa crowns 5 champs at Missouri Valley Open

Iowa’s depth carried over to Saturday in Marshall, Missouri.

The top-ranked Hawkeyes crowned five champions at the Missouri Valley Open at Burns Athletic Center, winning titles at 103, 117, 145, 160 and 207 pounds. Iowa put six wrestlers in the finals and had 14 placers, all with just 16 wrestlers entered and without six ranked starters, including NCAA pound-for-pound No. 1 Kylie Welker. A year ago, the Hawkeyes won three titles here.

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

Brooklyn Hays showed why she’s the nation’s No. 1 wrestler at 160 pounds. She dominated an all-Iowa final against teammate Cadence Diduch, winning by technical superiority, 10-0. Hays scored three takedowns in the first period, then added another takedown, an activity clock point and a step out in the second period to close out the bout.

Hays, who is also ranked No. 10 pound-for-pound, went 6-0 on the weekend. She beat unattached Darby Weidl 4-1 in the semifinals after teching Bellevue’s Hailey Sutton (NAIA No. 8), pinning Friends’ Alexis Means (NAIA No. 7) and teching Adams State’s Alison Evans on Friday. Diduch, who placed fourth at 145 pounds here last year, reached the final with a 5-2 win over Fort Hays State’s Kiley Dillow, avenging a 6-4 loss in the Luther Hill Open quarterfinals.

Brianna Gonzalez, the NCAA No. 2 at 117 pounds, won both of her Saturday bouts by fall. In the finals, she scored two first-period takedowns to lead Cumberlands’ Shammilka Miranda Diaz (NAIA No. 5) 4-0 at the break. A takedown in the first minute of the second period pushed her lead to 8-0. Gonzalez added another takedown a short time later before turning Miranda Diaz and securing the fall at 5:40.

The title came after a big semifinal win. Gonzalez pinned two-time NAIA national champion Mia Palumbo of the Cyclone RTC at the 6:00 mark, two weeks after Palumbo pinned Gonzalez in the Luther Hill Open finals. Gonzalez, ranked No. 8 pound-for-pound, also teched Providence’s Alyssa Randles, the NAIA No. 2 at 124 pounds, in the quarterfinals.

Naomi Simon, the NCAA No. 6 at 207 pounds, scored the final five points to beat Avila’s Haley Ward, the NAIA No. 2, 5-1. Ward scored the first point of the match off the activity clock and led 1-0 at the break. Simon turned it up in the second period. Her own activity clock point gave her a 1-1 lead on criteria, and another activity clock point and a step out put her up 3-1. She added a late takedown to seal the title.

Simon, a natural 180-pounder who placed third at 180 here last year, pinned all four of her opponents on the way to the finals. Her semifinal fall came in 1:06 over Grand View’s Martha Hinneh, the NAIA No. 4. Ward, who placed fifth here a year ago, reached the final with a 4-0 shutout of Texas Woman’s Kitana Leafaatoto (NCAA No. 17).

At 103 pounds, Madison Nieuwenhuis beat Fresno State’s Jocelynn Benitez 7-2. After a scoreless first minute, Nieuwenhuis found her offense and scored five points in the first period to lead 5-0. The two traded takedowns in the second period. Nieuwenhuis, the Luther Hill Open champion, posted three straight technical superiorities over ranked wrestlers on Friday and pinned Fort Hays State’s Jaidyn Alvarado in 5:17 in the semifinals. Benitez edged Iowa’s Sterling Dias 4-2 in the other semifinal.

Iowa freshman Nora Akpan won the title at 145 pounds, rallying past Iowa State signee Landri Von Gonten 8-6. Von Gonten jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Akpan scored a feet-to-back takedown in the first period and led 4-3 at the break. A pair of second-period takedowns put her up 8-3. Von Gonten rallied late with a step out and a takedown but ran out of time.

Akpan reached the final with a 10-1 win over Adams State’s Angella Van Valkenburg. Von Gonten, a high school senior at The Woodlands College Park in Texas, was one of the stories of the weekend. She beat three NAIA-ranked wrestlers on Friday, then teched Missouri Valley’s Breanne Gibbs 18-6 in the semifinals.

Iowa State, which begins NCAA competition next season, crowned a pair of champions of its own. Avy Perez beat Oklahoma City’s Avery Jansing, the NAIA No. 1 at 110 pounds and No. 5 pound-for-pound, 2-1. Perez countered an early attack and converted it into a takedown for a 2-0 lead. Jansing got in on multiple deep shots throughout the match, but Perez showed off incredible defense to prevent scores and held on for the one-point win.

Perez also avenged a loss in the semifinals, beating Iowa’s Isabella Gonzales, the NCAA No. 7, 3-1. Gonzales had teched Perez 12-1 in the Luther Hill Open quarterfinals two weeks ago. Jansing reached the final by teching Texas Wesleyan’s Emily Beltran (NAIA No. 5) in 39 seconds.

At 138 pounds, Iowa State’s Brooklyn Perez beat three-time NAIA All-American Samantha Barragan, wrestling unattached, by technical superiority, 16-6. Perez raced out to an 8-0 lead and appeared to be on the brink of a first-period technical superiority, but Barragan battled back to cut the deficit to three at one point and trailed 10-6 at the break. It was all Perez in the second period, as she added three more takedowns to end the bout.

Brooklyn Perez beat Adams State’s Corrie Williams (NCAA No. 14) 11-4 in the semifinals, while Barragan pinned Quincy’s Maddy Barton (NCAA No. 13) in 2:42. Iowa State also got a third-place finish from Greta Brus at 145 pounds and a fifth-place finish from Gabby Gomez at 131.

Fort Hays State had a strong showing of its own, with two finalists and six placers. Both of the Tigers’ finalists came up short against ranked opponents.

Simon Fraser’s Agnia Krakovska, the NCAA No. 10 at 124 pounds, won by technical superiority over Fort Hays State’s Leiannah Landreth, 11-1. Krakovska led 2-1 early before she broke it wide open. She scored a takedown and a step out, then a four-point feet-to-back takedown late in the first period to go up 9-1. She closed it out early in the second period with a takedown. Krakovska, who placed seventh at 131 pounds here last year, teched Iowa’s Harlee Hiller in 1:02 in the semifinals. Landreth pinned Iowa’s Cali Leng in 41 seconds in the other semifinal, her second fall over Leng this season.

At 131 pounds, Lindsey Wilson’s Jeila Ramos, the NAIA No. 1, held on to beat Fort Hays State’s Regina Stoeser 5-4 in an extremely competitive final. Ramos raced out to a 4-0 lead with a takedown and a gut wrench. Stoeser chipped away and eventually made it 4-4 with just over 30 seconds remaining, though Ramos still led on criteria. Late in the match, Stoeser nearly scored the go-ahead point on a step out, but Ramos fought it off. An unsuccessful challenge by Fort Hays State added another point for Ramos.

It was the third one-point win of the weekend for Ramos, who placed fourth here last year. Stoeser beat unattached Rachel Garcia 9-6 in the semifinals. Alvarado (fifth at 103), Kyrstan Perez (sixth at 110), Dillow (fifth at 160) and Isabella Renfro (fifth at 180) also placed for Fort Hays State.

No wrestler repeated as champion this year, and the biggest reason why came at 180 pounds. Western Colorado’s Mary Snider stunned Renfro, the defending champion and the NCAA No. 3, by technical superiority, 17-7, in the semifinals. Snider then pinned the OSU Cowgirl Wrestling Club’s Caitlyn Davis, a past NAIA national champion, in 3:52 in a battle of club wrestlers in the finals. Snider controlled the action throughout and built an 8-2 lead in the second period before turning Davis for the fall.

Davis reached the finals by teching Cumberlands’ Saiheron Preciado-Meza (NAIA No. 9) 11-0. Renfro finished fifth after Simon Fraser’s Rupinder Johal (NCAA No. 12) edged her 2-1 in the consolation semifinals. Johal went on to place third.

Colorado high school standout Justice Gutierrez, wrestling unattached, placed third at 103 pounds after her 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Dias. She won four straight bouts on the backside, pinning Saint Mary’s Alexsys Jacquez (NAIA No. 3) and Alvarado and teching Adams State’s Mia Siqueiros (NCAA No. 16) and Chadron State’s Mana Chanthasone, the latter in the third-place match.

Hinneh bounced back to place third at 207 pounds with a 3-1 win over Leafaatoto. At 117 pounds, the Cyclone RTC’s Palumbo edged Iowa freshman Taylor Whiting 2-1 for third, a day after Palumbo beat her 10-6 in the quarterfinals. The OSU Cowgirl Wrestling Club’s Kaiulani Garcia won eight straight bouts on the backside at 160 pounds, including a 10-0 technical superiority over Dillow in the consolation semifinals, before Weidl beat her 8-2 for third.

Finals Results

103: Madison Nieuwenhuis (Iowa) dec. Jocelynn Benitez (Fresno State), 7-2
110: Avy Perez (Iowa State) dec. No. 1 (NAIA) Avery Jansing (Oklahoma City), 2-1
117: No. 2 (NCAA) Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) pinned No. 5 (NAIA) Shammilka Miranda Diaz (Cumberlands), 5:40
124: No. 10 (NCAA) Agnia Krakovska (Simon Fraser) tech. Leiannah Landreth (Fort Hays State), 11-1 3:21
131: No. 1 (NAIA) Jeila Ramos (Lindsey Wilson) dec. Regina Stoeser (Fort Hays State), 5-4
138: Brooklyn Perez (Iowa State) tech. Samantha Barragan (Unattached), 16-6 4:06
145: Nora Akpan (Iowa) dec. Landri Von Gonten (Unattached), 8-6
160: No. 1 (NCAA) Brooklyn Hays (Iowa) tech. Cadence Diduch (Iowa), 10-0 5:39
180: Mary Snider (Western Colorado) pinned Caitlyn Davis (OSU Cowgirl Wrestling Club), 3:52
207: No. 6 (NCAA) Naomi Simon (Iowa) dec. No. 2 (NAIA) Haley Ward (Avila), 5-1

Semifinal Results

103:
Jocelynn Benitez (Fresno State) dec. Sterling Dias (Iowa), 4-2
Madison Nieuwenhuis (Iowa) pinned Jaidyn Alvarado (Fort Hays State), 5:17

110:
No. 1 (NAIA) Avery Jansing (Oklahoma City) tech. No. 5 (NAIA) Emily Beltran (Texas Wesleyan), 10-0 0:39
Avy Perez (Iowa State) dec. No. 7 (NCAA) Isabella Gonzales (Iowa), 3-1

117:
No. 2 (NCAA) Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) pinned Mia Palumbo (Cyclone RTC), 6:00
No. 5 (NAIA) Shammilka Miranda Diaz (Cumberlands) won by medical forfeit over No. 5 (NCAA) Alex Waitsman (William Jewell)

124:
Leiannah Landreth (Fort Hays State) pinned Cali Leng (Iowa), 0:41
No. 10 (NCAA) Agnia Krakovska (Simon Fraser) tech. Harlee Hiller (Iowa), 10-0 1:02

131:
Regina Stoeser (Fort Hays State) dec. Rachel Garcia (Unattached), 9-6
No. 1 (NAIA) Jeila Ramos (Lindsey Wilson) by inj. def. over No. 14 (NAIA) Olivia Messerly (Campbellsville), 3:00

138:
Brooklyn Perez (Iowa State) dec. No. 14 (NCAA) Corrie Williams (Adams State), 11-4
Samantha Barragan (Unattached) pinned No. 13 (NCAA) Maddy Barton (Quincy), 2:42

145:
Landri Von Gonten (Unattached) tech. Breanne Gibbs (Missouri Valley), 18-6 5:46
Nora Akpan (Iowa) dec. Angella Van Valkenburg (Adams State), 10-1

160:
Cadence Diduch (Iowa) dec. Kiley Dillow (Fort Hays State), 5-2
No. 1 (NCAA) Brooklyn Hays (Iowa) dec. Darby Weidl (Unattached), 4-1

180:
Caitlyn Davis (OSU Cowgirl Wrestling Club) tech. No. 9 (NAIA) Saiheron Preciado-Meza (Cumberlands), 11-0 3:35
Mary Snider (Western Colorado) tech. No. 3 (NCAA) Isabella Renfro (Fort Hays State), 17-7 5:44

207:
No. 2 (NAIA) Haley Ward (Avila) dec. No. 17 (NCAA) Kitana Leafaatoto (Texas Woman’s), 4-0
No. 6 (NCAA) Naomi Simon (Iowa) pinned No. 4 (NAIA) Martha Hinneh (Grand View), 1:06