A passion for improvement still burns inside two Iowa superstars

Last year’s Iowa women’s wrestling team had a trio of teammates that might very well never be topped in the history of the sport.

And they wrestled back-to-back-to-back in a ferocious Hawkeye lineup.

Macey Kilty – 145.

Kennedy Blades – 160.

Kylie Welker – 180.

Each of them is a multi-time Olympic and/or Senior World Championship medalist.

Their combined record during the 2024-25 season?

80-0 with 64 technical falls and 11 pins – making for a preposterous 93.8 percent bonus point rate.

A year later – and with a brand-new season less than 48 hours away – two of the three (Blades/Welker) remain.

Both are ready (and expecting) to dominate once again, yet neither is remotely satisfied with the lofty level they’ve already reached in the sport.

And that’s a scary thought for whomever stands takes the mat against them this winter…

Welker’s work continues

The greatest athletes don’t judge themselves strictly on wins and losses.

They judge themselves on their own internal gauge of what they believe they can/should accomplish in any given moment.

Kylie Welker is one of those athletes.

Great minds think alike!

20 years apart these two have very similar mindsets#TheBaderShow@marksbader@kylie_welker @SteveMocco pic.twitter.com/BvhCzgDVKS

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) October 30, 2025

Asked about her recent U23 World Championships performance – in which she stormed to a gold medal with four technical falls in four matches – the 21-year-old has a hard time letting go of the only match (a 16-6 semifinal win) in which she allowed points to be scored against her.

“I was actually really frustrated after that match,” says Welker.

“I kind of internally set a goal that I didn’t want to get scored on at the World Championships…(and) obviously that didn’t happen after that match.”

“Just a couple of mistakes and in my mind I’m like, I should have done this, I should have done that.”

Despite Iowa associate head coach Gary Mayabb’s best efforts, his star pupil couldn’t help her thirst for perfection – even in victory.

“Coach (Mayabb) was like, you need to realize that you had a great day today,” recalls Welker. “And I’m just like, ‘Yeah, I guess.’”

But then again, maybe it’s that perfectionist mindset that (when channeled properly) has contributed to Welker losing just three competitive matches since April of 2024.

The latter two defeats came at the last two Senior World Championships – and against an eventual gold and silver medalist respectively.

But it’s the first loss – at the US Olympic Trials – which hasn’t stopped fueling her fire ever since.

“It still burns to this day,” says Welker.

“Not achieving that (Olympic) goal when that was my ultimate goal that year…and then coming back, getting a bronze (World) medal…and then this year again.”

“I got a bronze medal last year, but this year I was expecting myself to win it. So, it’s like falling short again, and it’s just more fuel to the fire.”

“I think it’s just going to continue to build and keeping building all the way through L.A. (the 2028 Olympics.”

The person and mentor who brought Welker to Iowa City in the first place also recognizes that same end goal in the distance – as well as the work it’ll take to reach it.

“She (Welker) wants to continue to get better,” says Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun.

“She’s not satisfied with just a college National Championship or a Senior World bronze medal, U23 gold medal. She wants that consistent ‘I want to be on top, eyes on L.A. in 2028.’”

“Kylie, she’s still growing. There are still areas for her to continue to work on, whether it’s technically, tactically, mentally, emotionally.”

“She’s just one that loves wrestling so much that she wants to get better, so she’s going to continue to grow and develop.”

Blades breeds confidence after rare setback

Just as losing represents an exceedingly rare reality for Kylie Welker, so too, it does for Kennedy Blades.

The 2024 Olympic silver medalist hadn’t lost since that final in Paris…until she ran into Japan’s Ami Ishii during September’s Senior World Championships.

In a highly anticipated quarterfinal between Blades and the 2024 World Champion, Ishii dominated en route to a 12-1 technical fall (the same score by which she’d defeated Kylie Welker at Worlds the year prior).

Asked about the loss at Iowa’s Media Day this morning, Blades reflected upon the entire World Championship experience – her first at the Senior level:

“I did change weight classes (from the Olympics), so the girls were a lot different. They were faster, smaller, more technical. And unfortunately, I lost to the Japanese girl, but I learned a lot.”

Another rarity for Blades, the loss sent her to repechage (the consolation bracket) – which she quickly turned into a positive.

“I was so happy to still wrestle for a bronze medal because sometimes when you lose, you’re out,” says the 22-year-old Chicago native.

“And so, I really took the things that I learned from that match and was able to come back and beat the Turkish girl and take bronze.”

(That Turkish opponent happens to be a 2023 World champion, BTW.)

As for the foe who bested her, Blades is already craving a rematch.

“I’m super excited to wrestle (her) again in the future – hopefully sometime soon. And you know, the results will definitely be different.”

“I’m still training, I’m learning new things, and it’s just great to see that I’m at a high level, but I’m not at the peak of where I could be because I’m still not a World champ or an Olympic champ – so there’s definitely room to grow.”

Worth the price of admission

When Blades and Welker aren’t competing overseas against elite international foes, the ‘next best thing’ is oftentimes the work they get in the Iowa practice room – against each other.

“Kylie’s an amazing partner,” says Blades. “She’s an awesome wrestler…and the fact that she’s a little bigger than me – it’s perfect for her to work on her speed, technique, strength, and it’s great for me to work on my strength and stuff like that.”

“It’s perfect to compete against her, train with her…and just be able to push each other.”

“Me, Macey and Kylie – we’re at different weights, but we’re all very close together. So, it’s just perfect that we can use each other to help each other and win World and Olympic titles.”

Meanwhile, Clarissa Chun gets the luxury of not only having both Blades/Welker in her Iowa lineup, but sometimes just sitting back and watching her two stars make each other better.

“When I can have two back-to-back superpower national champions, world medalist, Olympic medalist, back-to-back on our lineup, that’s always a great thing,” says Chun.

“They both push each other in the room. We’ve had match simulations the last few weeks (and) we put them together quite often to go against each other.”

“Sometimes people are like, they would pay the price of admission to come see them scrap, right?”

“Having the two (of them) in the room together only helps themselves (and) each other elevate in an environment where they’re continuously trying to get better.”

Two of the best wrestlers in the world making each other better every day?

I think the Hawkeyes might be onto something here, folks.

And with 2024 national champion Reese Larramendy (145) and four-time national runner-up Jaycee Foeller (207) flanking either side of them, this year’s Iowa team will have another potent 1-2-3 punch in the back half of its lineup in some form or fashion.

But it all starts with the two superstars – both of whom are already great, and both of whom are only getting better thanks to one another.