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Iowa ranked #1 in first NCAA Women's Coaches Poll for 2025-26

by: Tanner Lafever10/17/25TannerLafever
Reese Larramendy
2024 NCWWC champion Reese Larramendy joins nine of her Iowa teammates in the national rankings for the #1 Hawkeyes. (Photo Credit: University of Iowa Athletics)

On Thursday afternoon, the world officially learned what most had long presumed about the 2025-26 Iowa women’s wrestling team.

The two-time reigning national team/dual champions will start the forthcoming season ranked #1 in the country.

The news comes courtesy of this season’s first NCAA Women’s Coaches Poll – a season which will conclude in five months with the first-ever NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships, hosted just down the road from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa’s top preseason billing comes as no surprise, resting on the backs of a ranked wrestler at all 10 weight classes.

It’s the only team to hold that distinction at present – though fellow top-five rank-ees McKendree (seven), North Central (nine), Grand Valley State (eight) and Presbyterian (seven) each have plenty of firepower themselves.

This year’s initial rankings – with the Hawkeyes on top as opposed to a perplexing second (see 2024) – also saved me the trouble of explaining some of the quirks of the women’s ranking system again.

Though as a refresher, neither true freshmen nor wrestlers without previous NCAA matches are eligible to be ranked – even if they happen to be, let’s say, a World/Olympic silver medalist.

With that in mind, be prepared for these rankings (and the projected NCAA points tied to them) to change substantially once the season begins – for both the Hawkeyes and other teams.

But we’ll begin with where things stand at present. And at present, Iowa boasts top-to-bottom depth that no other team can match.

10 for 10

I already mentioned that a Hawkeye is ranked at every single weight class entering the 2025-26 season.

Here’s how that looks in ascending order:

  • (103 pounds) – #2 Rianne Murphy
  • (110 pounds) – #1 Ava Bayless
  • (117 pounds) – #4 Brianna Gonzalez
  • (124 pounds) – #5 Cali Leng
  • (131 pounds) – #9 Skye Realin
  • (138 pounds) – #5 Lilly Luft
  • (145 pounds) – #2 Reese Larramendy
  • (160 pounds) – #1 Kennedy Blades
  • (180 pounds) – #1 Kylie Welker
  • (207 pounds) – #2 Jaycee Foeller

**The complete list of individual rankings can be found at THIS LINK**

And yet, for as impressive as that lineup is from 103 through 207, I could make a strong argument that as many as five of those spots will be filled by a different Hawkeye come the postseason.

That’s not me hedging against hypothetical injuries, either.

Rather, it’s entirely possible that all ten of these wrestlers have healthy, excellent seasons – but one of their teammates at the same weight just proves to be that much better.

Such is life for this loaded squad that Clarissa Chun has deftly constructed since being named head coach in 2021.

Biggest challengers

I just spent several paragraphs extolling the talent and depth in Iowa room.

But having said that, make no mistake – the Hawkeyes will be challenged in a major fashion once again this season.

#2 McKendree (88) and #3 North Central (84) both sit within 25 projected NCAA team points of Iowa’s 109.

And while the Hawkeyes certainly have the potential for upward mobility from several of their current rankings, so too do the Bearcats and Cardinals respectively.

Both teams have high-powered freshmen/transfers waiting in the wings – some of which are yet to be included in the national rankings.

#4 Grand Valley State (77) also returns its top firepower, plus adds some more, following a fourth-place finish in its debut season.

Meanwhile, a program like Lehigh might as well not even exist if you only look at this preseason poll.

The Mountain Hawks open their inaugural varsity campaign without a single ranked wrestler. And yet, they could easily have as many as three individual NCAA title contenders – all of whom wrestled in medal matches at the recent U20 World Championships.

Iowa returns two individual champions from a year ago – the same as Grand Valley State (MI).

The Hawkeyes have eight athletes on their current roster who’ve previously won and/or wrestled in a national title bout. North Central (IL) has six, and McKendree (IL) has five.

Two more national champions also return who compete for schools other than the five powerhouses I’ve been lauding.

So yeah, if you were under the impression Iowa was going to breeze its way to a third-consecutive title (of the team or dual variety) – think again.

The competition will be steep, and it’s chomping at the bit to get another crack at the Hawkeyes.

Keep an eye out

If you missed the other major piece of Iowa women’s wrestling news that dropped today, we’ve finally got an official schedule for the fast-approaching season.

I’ll be detailing the 2025-26 slate in full in a coming article, just as I did for the men’s schedule not too long ago.

I’ll also have a U23 World Championships preview publishing early new week.

A pair of Hawkeyes – Brianna Gonzalez and Kylie Welker – will be a part of Team USA competing in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Besides that, stay tuned to Hawkeye Report for continued Iowa wrestling coverage of all sorts.

The college season is barely two weeks away, and there’ll be no shortage of storylines to keep folks occupied all the way through the NCAA Championships next March (and beyond).

Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll catch up with you guys again real soon.

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