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Iowa women crown three champs, seven medalists at US Open

by: Tanner Lafever04/28/25TannerLafever
US Open team photo
It was a week filled with medalists and champions for Iowa women's wrestling at the 2025 US Open. (Photo Credit: Kylie Welker's Instagram)

Contrary to an occurrence familiar to many visitors of Las Vegas – the Iowa women’s wrestling program won big last week.

In town for the 2025 US Open, all 11 Hawkeye participants won at least ‘a hand’ during their stay. Several others are headed home with sizable winnings. And better still, three of them took down ‘The House’ and grabbed the ultimate prize.

After a long weekend in Vegas (is there any other kind?), Brianna Gonzalez (53kg), Kennedy Blades (68kg) and Kylie Welker (72kg) each had a hefty piece of extra carry-on luggage accompanying them back to Iowa City – a just reward for their individual titles.

They now join a fourth Hawkeye – Macey Kilty – sitting in Final X later this summer (June 14). Win a best-of-three series there and a spot at the 2025 World Championships belongs to them.

So yeah, you could say it was a pretty successful weekend for (Clarissa) “Chun’s Eleven”:

Make no mistake though, the performance of these Iowa athletes was no ‘game of chance.’

So, let’s dig into how it happened – starting with perhaps the most surprising and impressive performance of them all.

You’d better Bri-lieve it

There are numerous paths to winning a US Open title, some roads easier than others.

And then there’s the route that Brianna Gonzalez just traversed to stand atop the podium.

Seeded sixth in a strong field at 53 kilograms, Gonzalez knocked off each of the top three seeds on her way to first-place honors.

The first of them – #3 Katie Gomez – won a US Open title back in 2023. She’s also a two-time age-level World medalist who defeated Gonzalez 10-0 at last April’s Olympic Trials.

This time the Hawkeye dictated the action. Gonzalez converted a first-period single leg with Gomez on the activity clock to take a 3-0 lead. From there it was smart, positional wrestling, as she held the margin through the final whistle – never allowing Gomez to broach a serious scoring opportunity.

Next up, the #2 seed – reigning U23 World Champion Sage Mortimer.

If I may humbly brag, this was a matchup I highlighted in my preview as potentially advantageous for the Hawkeye. But while that’s true, what’s also true is that I never envisioned it playing out quite like this:

Takedown Gonzalez, (four-point) takedown Gonzalez, takedown Gonzalez, exposure Mortimer, INTERMISSION, exposure Gonzales, takedown Gonzalez, failed challenge Mortimer – match ends (13-2)

The Iowa sophomore was dominant from start to finish against a brutal, tricky opponent – earning a berth in the finals.

That win left an all-Hawkeye affair for the title, as Gonzalez met former teammate Felicity Taylor.

These two had gone back-and-forth in three previous meetings with Taylor – a past US Open champion (2022) – prevailing in the latter two matchups in 2024 at NCWWCs (9-2) and Olympic Trials (9-4).

Things appeared headed in that direction again as Taylor led 4-0 at the break – converting a pair of go-behind takedowns. In fact, Gonzalez fought like heck to prevent an early leg lace that could’ve put things out of reach.

And though her aggression didn’t noticeably change after the break, her conversion (of shot attempts) did.

A crisp, clean takedown early in the period cut the deficit in half. And after another near-miss she converted a single leg finish to take the criteria lead (4-4) with 1:06 to go.

Following the latter sequence, a counter attempt by Taylor resulted in her giving up an additional two-point exposure. And while she eventually reversed the position, it left her needing a takedown in the final 37 seconds to regain the lead.

Gonzalez would have none of it, however, capably defending until the buzzer sounded.

Just like that, a wrestler who took fifth at NCWWCs in March and third at U23 Nationals a few week ago was a US Open champion.

Yeah, you’d better Bri-lieve it.

As Advertised

Iowa’s two other champions receive second billing here only because this week went pretty much as expected.

At 68 kilograms, Kennedy Blades had no issue whatsoever with a field that may’ve thinned when it heard the (76kg) Olympic silver medalist was coming down to the new weight class.

Blades blitzed through three matches – only one of which saw the light of the second period.

Conversely, Blades also showed yet another opponent the light – as in the arena lights when she hit her patented suplex in the quarterfinals:

All told, the Hawkeye outscored three foes by a combined 33-0.

The story was a bit different for Iowa’s other favored champion – not that she won but in how she stamped her title.

Kylie Welker breezed into the finals at 76kg with three-consecutive shutout tech. falls – the third against former Iowa teammate Marlynne Deede. But once she got there, most folks (myself included) were anticipating a far more competitive match.

As it turns out, she apparently had other ideas.

Welker’s finals opponent was long-time rival, Yelena Makoyed – unquestionably a world-class wrestler and the reigning U23 World champion.

But if Makoyed is world-class (and she is), then Welker was yet a class above on this occasion.

In the blink of an eye, an 11-3 career series before the match had emphatically been extended to 12-3 in favor of the Hawkeye.

Welker was on the board within 15 seconds of the opening whistle. She continued to pepper Makoyed with shots (and points) thereafter. And once Makoyed finally found some openings for shots of her own Welker countered those for scores as well.

A trap-arm gut wrench late in the first period put the nail in the coffin and the world on notice that the best 76-kilogram wrestler on the planet could very well reside in Iowa City.

For their efforts in Las Vegas, Welker was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament while Blades took home its Most Exciting Wrestling Award.

The Alums

Iowa’s next two highest placers were a pair of alumni – the aforementioned Felicity Taylor (second) and Marlynne Deede (fourth).

While each of their championship runs ended at the hands of former teammates (and current Hawkeyes), both impressed in Vegas.

Taylor reached the 53kg final thanks to three-consecutive victories – the last against recent NCWWC champion Sydney Petzinger (North Central).

For Deede, her best win of the tournament came in the consolation semifinals at 76kg. There, she too defeated a newly crowned NCWWC champ, Tristan Kelly (McKendree).

After several early attempts were stalemated, Deede took Kelly – a past U20 World bronze medalist – feet-to-back with a low-level shot and settled in for the fall.

Taylor is now coaching and training at Big Game Wrestling Club in the Iowa City area. Deede is doing the same, but at a collegiate location – Grand Valley State (MI) – where she’s an assistant on staff for the fast-rising Laker program.

Experienced Gained

For three current/soon-to-be Hawkeyes (I believe) the US Open was their first senior-level domestic competition.

Two of those wrestlers have yet to graduate from high school.

Isabella Gonzales (#3) and Bella Williams (#8) are both top-10 pound-for-pound recruits in the 2025 Class. Each had moments of success/adversity in Las Vegas.

Gonzales (1-2) lost her opening match to a (fifth-year) three-time collegiate All-American, building a 5-0 lead before being pinned in the second period. And after responding with a pin of her own in the consolations, her tournament ended with a tight leg-lace against a two-time age-level World team member (and 2024 U23 rep).

As for Williams, a rough draw saw her pinned by a 26-year-old, two-time World/Olympic Trials runner up. And after consecutive consolation victories she was eliminated (9-6) by Virginia Foard – a 2024 NCWWC runner up for King University.

Conversely, an experienced Hawkeye did reach the podium in her first senior-level foray.

Despite a heavily wrapped knee following her opening bout of the tournament, Emily Frost gritted her way to a sixth-place finish.

The road would’ve been even tougher had that first round match not gone her way. And that result seemed all but certain until Frost converted the winning takedown with milliseconds remaining.

Frost certainly took some lumps against several elite senior-level opponents. That said, much like her two soon-to-be Iowa teammates there’ll be plenty to learn from the overall US Open experience.

Other results

As for Iowa’s final three entries, mixed results were the story.

Each of Ava Bayless (50kg), Emilie Gonzalez (50kg) and Nanea Estrella (62kg) reached the quarterfinals. That’s where their championship runs would end, however.

Bayless and Gonzalez were both soundly defeated by eventual finalists. Meanwhile, Estrella led a strong senior foe midway through the second period before taking injury time.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what the issue may have been, but Estrella was outscored 7-0 over the final 100 seconds of the 9-3 defeat, then medically forfeited out of her subsequent consolation match.

Bayless did reach the podium by virtue of opening consolation victory, whereas Gonzalez lost hers to fall just short.

Along the way, Bayless once again defeated her opponent from the 2024 NCWWC final – Kaelani Shufeldt. But she also lost via fall to Kendra Ryan as part of an ongoing back-and-forth series between the two.

On the flip side, Gonzalez dominated in her latest bout with Ryan, a 9-0 victory. This, after having lost in devasting, last-second fashion in March in the quarterfinals of the national tournament.

Short time

After a successful few days in Sin City, it’ll be 2-3 weeks before Hawkeyes hit the mats for competition again.

Several Iowa wrestlers could be part of the US contingent heading down to the Senior Pan-American Championships (May 8-11). The following weekend, World Team Trials will be held in Louisville, Kentucky – providing one last chance to qualify for one of the available spots in Final X.

Until then, stay on the lookout for any news regarding the Iowa women’s program. If it’s something noteworthy you can trust that we’ll have full coverage here at Hawkeye Report.

Thanks as always for reading and be sure to also check out my men’s US Open recap once it’s published later tonight.

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