Doing things the hard way — Hawkeye women go 3–0 at Desert Duals to remain undefeated despite short-handed squad.
Talk about rolling the dice while you’re in Vegas…
The top-ranked Iowa women’s wrestling team found itself (largely out of necessity) in quite the high-stakes ‘game of chance’ on the Strip this past Sunday.
In town for the annual Desert Duals, the Hawkeyes arrived to take on a trio of opponents — including a pair ranked in the top eight of the latest NWCA Coaches Poll.
And while that in itself was hardly some colossal endeavor given the fact that Iowa has already run roughshod over a quartet of similarly ranked foes in the early going of its inaugural season on the mat, this occasion would present a much greater degree of difficulty in order to achieve.
That’s because this past weekend just so happened to align with the 2023 Senior Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas.
With the 2024 Paris Olympics on the horizon this USA Wrestling event serves as one of the primary qualifying opportunities for the upcoming Olympic Trials to be staged next April. And when you’re a high-level program like Iowa that means a number of your athletes will be itching to test themselves against the best that this country has to offer.
In total, eight Hawkeyes made the trek to Fort Worth alongside head coach Clarissa Chun and assistant coach Tonya Verbeek, and by Sunday afternoon both Marlynne Deede and Rose Cassioppi had qualified for April’s Olympic Trials at 76 kilograms.
Of course, eight Hawkeyes present in Texas meant eight Hawkeyes unavailable in Vegas. But that wasn’t all…
In total, just seven of the 28 wrestlers on Iowa’s current roster would take the mat in Sin City — a whopping three short of the minimum required to fulfill the ten weight classes contested in an NCAA dual. This means that should their opponent field a complete lineup the Hawkeyes would essentially be forced to accept a 0–15 deficit to begin each dual as the result of a trio of forfeits.
The tally of the athletes not present is almost comical to look at, and even more so when you consider the final outcome from Sunday’s competition:
- Iowa was without seven(!) different wrestlers currently ranked in the top three of their respective weight classes — including three #1’s, three #2’s and a #3.
- Also absent for the Hawkeyes were sixth-ranked Esther Han (136 pounds), two-time NCAA/NAIA national finalist at 191 pounds, Jaycee Foeller (redshirting), a pair of bona fide title contenders and former USA World Team representatives — Nyla Valencia and Bella Mir — who’ve yet to take the mat this season, plus the aforementioned Olympic Trials qualifier Cassioppi.
One could conceivably field a national championship caliber lineup with just the athletes Iowa was missing, which, to state the obvious, left the team at a considerable disadvantage as competition got underway at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino on Sunday morning.
But apparently the Hawkeyes who were in attendance never got the memo.
An opening round victory over Adams State (34–11) was routine enough, with Iowa winning all four of the contested bouts via bonus points (including three by fall).
Next up however, was a far greater challenge in #4 Colorado Mesa — albeit down a couple regular starters of its own.
Iowa trailed by as many as seven points on two separate occasions during the dual (3–10 and 10–17), but ultimately pulled away late for the 24–20 victory courtesy of pins at both 143 and 170 pounds (by #2 Ella Schmit and #3 Haley Ward respectively), along with a 10–0 tech. fall at 155 pounds by Reese Larramendy (ranked #1 at 143).
This set the stage for Iowa’s third and final contest, and what would prove to be its most precarious of the west coast trip — a match up with #8 Simon Fraser University.
Simon Fraser (SFU) is unique in that it’s the lone Canadian school with NCAA membership. It also has a proud tradition of excellence in women’s college wrestling.
So, it shouldn’t have come as much surprise that the 2023–24 edition of the Red Leafs would come loaded for bear with a balanced lineup littered with ranked wrestlers and previous All-Americans.
Following an opening bout pin (1:00) at 101 pounds by #2 Sterling Dias, the Hawkeyes wouldn’t taste victory again for quite some time. Back-to-back forfeits at 109 and 116 pounds left the score at 5–10 in favor of SFU before a pair of shutout tech. falls at 123 (#8 Victoria Seal over unranked Ava Rose) and 130 (#7 Marquesis Haintz over #10 Emily Frost) made it a 5–18 hole.
A third and final Iowa forfeit at 136 pounds would push SFU’s lead to 18 (5–23) with just four weights remaining in the dual.
***For those unfamiliar with the team scoring system for freestyle wrestling a pin, forfeit or disqualification is worth five points to the winning team and zero to the losing team.
A win via tech. fall (10 or more points) is worth four points to the winner and either zero or one to the loser — a shutout defeat earns zero team points, while scoring at least one point during the match earns your team one point of its own.
The same zero/one-point rules apply for the loser of a regular decision (decided by nine or fewer points) in which the winner also earns three points for their team.***
All of this is to say that down 18 with only four bouts to go — leaving a maximum of 20 points available to be gained — Iowa was in serious jeopardy of losing the program’s first ever dual (shorthanded circumstances be damned).
I’ll spare you the minute tie breaker details from the NCWWC Rule Book, but simply put, the Hawkeyes needed to ‘pitch’ a near-perfect game in order to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Not only did Iowa need to win each of the remaining matches, but if more than one of the Simon Fraser wrestlers were to earn a team point of their own Iowa would lose. Even a singular team point could put things out of reach.
So, what happened next?
At 143 pounds Schmit scored a quick takedown and promptly stuck her opponent in under 30 seconds.
10–23, Simon Fraser.
Then Larramendy (again bumping up a weight from 143) took out 10th-ranked 155-pounder Paige Maher via 10–0 tech. fall.
14–23, Simon Fraser.
Next up, Haley Ward. After taking her opponent feet-to-back for a 4–0 lead she methodically worked to secure a pin only for Mikaela Trolland (SFU) to narrowly avoid both shoulder blades touching the mat. Undeterred, Ward quickly secured another advantageous hold and was able to whip Trolland over for the fall in 1:49.
19–23, Simon Fraser.
That left 7th-ranked true freshman 191-pounder Alivia White needing to record either a pin or a shut-out tech. fall in order for the Hawkeyes to complete the comeback and take the dual. No other outcome would suffice.
The other big problem was that her opponent — #4 Julia Richey — was the same foe whom White had been comprehensively beaten by (12–0) just one month prior in the Missouri Valley Open finals.
Things looked even bleaker after Richey secured the match’s opening takedown, leaving a pin by White as the lone remaining path to victory for her team.
And wouldn’t you know it, with a little over 30 seconds left in the first period that’s exactly what she did.
White found an upper body tie to her liking and patiently worked her way into position before committing to a throw that sent Richey to her back. From there the Hawkeye took a half-minute or so to methodically secure both the fall (2:25) and the dual.
24–23, Iowa.
From the brink of defeat the Hawkeyes had scored 19 of a possible 20 team points all while ceding zero to their eighth-ranked opponents.
Call it clutch. Call it gutsy. Call it whatever you want.
A hilariously shorthanded squad had every reason in the world to simply chalk Sunday up as a ‘loss’ that sure, might show up on its record, but contextually speaking was of little-to-no reflection upon who Iowa truly is as a team.
Yet instead, seven young women under the guidance of associate head coach Gary Mayabb collectively said, ‘Forget who isn’t here,’ and went out and got the job done anyway.
National titles for this season may not be won until the calendar officially turns to 2024, but at the very least it sure seems like these Hawkeyes possess the sort of mindset and resiliency necessary in order to reach those championship heights when the time comes.
See it for yourself
If you’re interested in watching the latter two of Iowa’s duals from this past weekend — including the dramatic finale — you can find them here courtesy of a stream through tournament host Wartburg College’s ‘Knight Vision.’
Knock the name if you’d like, but the video works just fine and the action on the mat is more than worth about an hour of your time.
Iowa’s dual with Colorado Mesa begins right around the 4 hour, 50 minute mark, with Simon Fraser following shortly thereafter.
Looking forward
The next competition for the Hawkeye women will take place from December 29–30th in Coralville, Iowa at the second annual Soldier Salute tournament. Tickets can be purchased through the tournament website and the event will also be streamed live on B1G+.