By Tanner Lafever
USA Wrestling

As of this typing, there are 122 days until another monumental piece of women’s college wrestling history gets made – the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships. 

But before we start thinking too much about the end of the journey – March 6-7 at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa – let’s enjoy the ride first. 

And so, allow me to introduce your first Women’s College Notebook of the 2025-26 season. 

I’m thrilled to be tasked with this role, among others, as part of USA Wrestling’s coverage of the women’s college landscape this year. 

We’ve got an incredible four-plus months of wrestling ahead of us (both NCAA and NAIA), and I hope you’ll join me here each week as a part of your experience of it all. 

Now, with that preamble out of the way…on to the weekend that was!

NWCA All-Star Classic delivers rematches, big moves and one major upset 

In a busy opening weekend around the country, there were no better matchups nor grander stage than at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey – home of the NWCA All-Star Classic. 

A four-match women’s card pitted top-tier athletes from the NCAA and NAIA divisions against one another. And while only half of those eight women could emerge victorious Saturday night, all of us as wrestling fans were ‘winners’ for having gotten to watch them compete. 

First up, at 138 pounds, returning national champions Katie Lange (Grand Valley State) and Zaynah McBryde (Life University) squared off in a contrast of styles/statures. 

Ultimately, Lange (#1 in the NCAA) used her length to get the best of McBryde (#1 in NAIA) – pilling up multiple takedowns in an 11-3 decision. 

Not long after, another McBryde, Latifah – one of three standout sisters (national champions all) for the Running Eagles – took the mat in New Jersey. 

Her opponent – NCAA #1 Bella Mir (North Central) – was a familiar one, as the two had traded pins in 2022-23 while Mir was attending the University of Iowa. 

This matchup was also unique in that Mir bumped up from 145 pounds to take on McBryde (NAIA’s #1 at 160). 

Unlike prior meetings, nobody was put on their back this time around. And in the end, it was Mir who prevailed (2-2 on criteria) thanks to a reattack score late in the first period.

Life’s third and final athlete competing at the All-Star Classic (the most of any program, men or women) was NAIA #2 Salyna Shotwell. 

Facing the always dangerous Sage Mortimer (Grand Valley State) – the NCAA #2 at 117 pounds – Shotwell nearly sprung the upset over the returning national champion (at 110). 

But after winning one upper body exchange to take a 2-2 lead on criteria, Shotwell found herself on the losing end of another as Mortimer (a 2024 U23 World champ) ripped a headlock with 0:40 remaining to pull back in front for good.

A 6-2 decision was the final score. 

If Shotwell/Mortimer was the most exciting bout of the women’s card, then this last one was its most notable upset. 

The matchup – NAIA #1 Esther Kolawole (William Penn) vs. NCAA #2 Reese Larramendy (Iowa) at 145 pounds. 

A 2024 Olympian for her native Nigeria, Kolawole entered this fresh off a U23 World bronze medal (her second in as many years). That followed the Senior World Championships in September, during which she narrowly missed out on (another) bronze medal. 

But as it turned out, the Hawkeye, Larramendy, was up to the task – even after Kolawole scored an early takedown. 

Larramendy – a 2024 national champion and 2025 third-place finisher – used savvy and smarts to win several positions on the edge. That, combined with some excellent defense, was enough to hold off her hard-charging opponent as the clock ran out.

Ironically, Kolawole (William Penn) and Larramendy (Iowa) attend school barely 84 miles from one another in central Iowa. 

On this occasion, it was Larramendy who returned to the Hawkeye State with bragging rights from a matchup that hopefully won’t be the last between these two great athletes.

Lehigh makes varsity debut 

In a historic season for women’s college wrestling, every weekend presents an opportunity for Lehigh to make history of its own. 

The first-year varsity program did just that on Sunday, as 18 Mountain Hawks made their debut at the East Stroudsburg Open. 

By day’s end, seven different Lehigh athletes had earned top-four finishes, including a trio of finalists – Abbi Cooper (117), Kryssceah Ravenelle (138) and Genevieve An (180). 

And it was Cooper – a freshman from California – who stood atop the podium as the program’s first official champion at a college event.

According to Lehigh, Cooper (who won all five matches via bonus points) is believed to have recorded “the first official Lehigh victory” with a 0:17 technical fall win over Pitt-Johnstown’s Tamara Humphries. 

As a first-year program, the Mountain Hawks don’t appear in any of the NCAA team/individual rankings just yet. But you can expect that to change in the weeks and months to come. 

Head coach Brazel Marquez has plenty of talent on her roster – as evidenced by Lehigh’s team title at the ESU Open. 

And it’ll only increase as young stars like Audrey Jimenez and Aubre Krazer join their fellow U20 World team member – Cooper – and the rest of their teammates in the lineup as the season progresses.

NCAA trophy contenders descend upon Midwest opens 

Some of last weekend’s most notable results came at the Pointer Women’s Open (Steven’s Point, Wisconsin) and Luther Hill Open (Indianola, Iowa). 

And it’s probably no coincidence that’s also where three of the top four teams in the NCAA Women’s Coaches Poll elected to begin their 2025-26 season(s). 

In the Badger State, both #3 North Central (NCC) and #4 Grand Valley State (GVSU) were among a strong field of teams in attendance. 

Last year’s second and fourth-place NCWWC finishers quickly grew reacquainted with one another, too. 

At 103 pounds, #5 Rayana Sahagun (GVSU) defeated #3 Madison Avila (NCC) in a 3-2 championship bout. That immediately followed another ranked win for Sahagun, 4-1 over #6 Genesis Ramirez (Aurora) in the semifinals. 

Up a few weights at 124, the tables turned in North Central’s favor. 

There, freshman Riley Rayome pinned #4 Aspen Blasko (GVSU) – overcoming a 4-0 deficit in the process. 

The back-and-forth continued at 160, as #3 Elleni Johnson (GVSU) pinned North Central’s Taylor Graveman in the final. 

Graveman – a 2025 All-American at 138 pounds – was part of a loaded bracket that included two other top-seven-ranked wrestlers in addition to Johnson. 

And at 207, North Central’s Caroline Ward had an excellent 2025-26 debut. 

The junior defeated a pair of ranked heavyweights en route to a title – the latter being her own teammate, #7 Dasia Yearby. 

Elsewhere in America’s heartland, two-time defending national champion Iowa began its bid for a three-peat. 

The #1 Hawkeyes sent a strong, though incomplete, contingent to the Luther Hill Open, where they came away with four individual titles. 

One of those was at arguably the weight of the tournament, 103 pounds. 

In a bracket that included a pair of returning Iowa All-Americans (#2 Rianne Murphy and Sterling Dias), it was #10 Emme Hicks (Simpson) and Hawkeye sophomore Valarie Solorio who met in the final. 

To get there, Hicks scored a sizable upset – throwing Murphy to her back for the fall after trailing 6-0 in the first period. Meanwhile, in the opposite semifinal Solorio used a pair of four-point moves to earn an 11-1 win over Dias. 

Solorio would prevail (8-0) in the subsequent bout between the two surprise finalists. 

Regardless of that outcome, both wrestlers will likely vault up the next set of national rankings if they maintain their early form.