By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

Helen Maroulis (Scottsdale, Ariz./Titan Mercury WC) has been named the 2025 USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year. This is the second time Maroulis has won the prestigious award.

At the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, Maroulis joined an exclusive club of only seven individuals in USA Wrestling history to win at least four World titles. She became the third woman to achieve the feat, joining six-time World champion Adeline Gray and four-time World champion Tricia Saunders, who was the first woman to be inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011, on the list.

Maroulis finished her time in Zagreb with four impressive victories, three of which came by pin. She did not surrender a single match point until the finals, where she defeated North Korea’s Il Sim Son, 3-2, with a match-winning inside trip takedown coming with six seconds left on the clock.

The Rockville, Md., native has collected eight medals at the Senior World Championships—four gold, two silver and three bronze. She also owns a U.S. record three Olympic medals—gold from the 2016 Rio Games and bronze at both the 2020 Tokyo Games and 2024 Paris Games. She was the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, and the first to win multiple Olympic medals.

Other outings for Maroulis in 2025 include a gold medal at the Budapest Ranking Series event and a series sweep at Final X to qualify for her 12th U.S. Senior World Team.

She is a three-time Pan American champion, three-time U20 World medalist, six-time U.S. Open champion and a four-time WCWA women’s college national champion. Maroulis was named the USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year in 2016.

Maroulis was recognized as the 2025 USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year award recipient at 2026 Final X, presented by Kerberos Capital Management, held at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year Award Winners 

2025 – Helen Maroulis, Scottsdale, Ariz., Titan Mercury WC

2024 – Sarah Hildebrandt, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC/USOPTC

2023 – Amit Elor, Colorado Springs, Colo., Titan Mercury WC/New York City RTC

2022 – Amit Elor, Walnut Creek, Calif., Titan Mercury WC/New York City RTC

2021 — Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Colorado Springs, Colo., Titan Mercury WC

2020 — No award (COVID-19)

2019 — Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Colorado Springs, Colo., Titan Mercury WC

2018 — Sarah Hildebrandt, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC/OTC

2017 — Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Colorado Springs, Colo., Titan Mercury WC

2016 — Helen Maroulis, New York, N.Y., Sunkist Kids

2015 — Adeline Gray, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC

2014 — Adeline Gray, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC

2013 — Alyssa Lampe, Colorado Springs, Colo., Sunkist Kids

2012 — Clarissa Chun, Colorado Springs, Colo., Sunkist Kids

2011 — Ali Bernard, New Ulm, Minn., Gator WC

2010 — Elena Pirozhkova, Colorado Springs, Colo., Gator WC

2009 — Deanna Rix, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC

2008 — Randi Miller, Colorado Springs, Colo., Gator WC

2007 — Kristie Marano, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC

2006 — Kristie Marano, Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC

2005 — Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. U.S. Army

2004 — Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa., Sunkist Kids

2003 — Patricia Miranda, Colorado Springs, Colo., Dave Schultz WC

2002 — Kristie Marano, Albany, N.Y., ATWA

2001 — Toccara Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio, Sunkist Kids

2000 — Kristie Marano, Albany, N.Y., ATWA

1999 — Tricia Saunders, Phoenix, Ariz., Sunkist Kids

1998 — Kristie Stenglein, Albany, N.Y., ATWA

1997 — Sandra Bacher, San Jose, Calif., Dave Schultz WC

1996 — Tricia Saunders, Phoenix, Ariz., Sunkist Kids

1995 — Vickie Zummo, Hamburg, N.J., New York AC

1994 — Shannon Williams, Ontario, Calif., Sunkist Kids

1993 — Tricia Saunders, Phoenix, Ariz., Sunkist Kids