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Iowa wrestling weekend recap: #1 women dominate Waldorf Open

by: Tanner Lafever11/10/25TannerLafever
Emily Frost
Among several notable developments this weekend, a #FrostAdvisory is back in effect, as Emily Frost bonus'd her way to a title in her season debut. (Photo Credit: University of Iowa Athletics)

Just like that the second weekend of the 2025-26 season is officially in the books for Iowa wrestling.

The lone NCAA competition for the Hawkeyes involved the top-ranked women’s team – which sent 10 wrestlers down the road to the Waldorf University Open.

In case you were wondering, it went pretty well, too.

All told, Iowa wrestlers compiled a 41-6 record amidst a field of mostly NAIA and Junior College competition (though some highly ranked ones at that).

And that record becomes even more impressive when one excludes a trio of all-Hawkeye finals matchups at 103, 124 and 131 pounds respectively:

Iowa’s five individual champions came from the following athletes:

  • #2 Rianne Murphy (103)
  • #1 Ava Bayless (110)
  • #5 Cali Leng (124)
  • Emily Frost (131)
  • Skye Realin (138) *Realin is currently ranked #9 at 131

Each of them has a story to tell, as do several of their high-placing teammates. And we’ll get to that momentarily.

Meanwhile, also taking place this weekend was the Bill Farrell Memorial International tournament in New York City.

(If that came as a surprise, don’t feel bad. I knew about it and yet still somehow forgot to mention it in my weekend preview article.)

There, several Iowa alums competed against mixed domestic/international fields – with the headliner of the bunch being Austin DeSanto’s title at 61 kilograms.

I’ll have more on how he completed his impressive run before I wrap things up.

But first, let’s dive into Saturday’s dominant showing by the Iowa women.

Realin’s return

No story this weekend was bigger than Skye Realin’s return to competition.

A year ago, the Hawaii native arrived as an exciting transfer (and presumptive starter) at 131 pounds.

The U23 World teamer validated those beliefs in the early going, too – starting her season with six consecutive bonus-point victories over top-10-caliber NCAA/NAIA foes, including a 0:45 pin of two-time NAIA runner up Sarah Savidge (Life University).

Then suddenly, it was over.

Realin suffered a bruised spinal cord injury during a November practice, resulting in a hospital stay followed by several months in a neck brace.

357 days after she last took the mat in competition, Realin was back this weekend – and looking like she’d never left.

Including her dominant debut, the senior won all five matches via bonus points (four tech. falls and a pin).

Only twice did a match reach the second period, one of which was her highly entertaining finals bout against NAIA #14 Maci Avila (Midland).

In it, Realin scored 12-consecutive points after intermission to secure the 16-4 win – including a pair of highlight reel four-point moves in the waning moments.

Aside from her health/return, it was also notable to see Realin competing at 138 pounds this weekend. Ranked #9 in the preseason NCAA Coaches Poll at 131 (where she’s also listed on the Iowa roster), perhaps we’re seeing a change for her final collegiate season.

If so, she’ll battle with the likes of #5 Lilly Luft and Ella Schmit (down from 145) for a spot in Iowa’s postseason lineup this March.

But that’s all for later. For now, welcome back, Skye!

It was a pleasure to watch you compete again.

Head-to-head (x3)

The primary reason all of Iowa’s eight finalists couldn’t win an individual title on Saturday was because three of them would have to defeat a teammate to stand atop the podium.

(Checks math – yes, that would’ve been tough to overcome.)

Instead, a Hawkeye was bound to finish runner up at each of 103/124/131 pounds.

Starting with the lightest weight, #2 Rianne Murphy and Sterling Dias faced off for the second time in as many weeks. And once again, a low-scoring, down-to-the-wire finish was in store.

This time, Murphy was the winner (via 4-2 decision), scoring a pair of exposures amidst a bout during which Dias otherwise lived on her legs.

With two matches between them through two weeks of action, I wouldn’t venture to guess how many times these two might go head-to-head by the time March arrives.

(Probably a lot.)

Besides the final, the teammates compiled a 7-0 record, outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 60-3. Among them, Murphy won a fascinating opener – defeating former high school teammate (and 2022 U17 World silver medalist) Erica Pastoriza via 10-0 tech. fall.

Heading to 124, we saw another rematch from a week ago – as #5 Cali Leng bested Ava Rose via 5-0 decision. That was nearly identical to the 6-0 match Leng won at the Luther Hill Open.

On Saturday, Leng bonus’d her way to the final while Rose went unscored upon in four matches of her own.

And finally, at 131, Iowa’s two finalists both compiled notable achievements this weekend.

For junior Emily Frost – making her season debut – an all-bonus, 4-0 performance led to the first open title of her college career.

Unfortunately, the #FrostWarning also took out a teammate who’d otherwise had a stellar tournament to that point.

Redshirt freshman Mia Goodwin staged a wild comeback just to survive her first match of the day, scoring 11-consecutive points over the final 2:19 to secure a 14-11 win.

From there, three more victories followed to earn her a career-first finals appearance in a varsity open – where she’d lose to Frost, 10-0.

Other notes

Iowa’s fifth champion on Saturday was top-ranked 110-pounder Ava Bayless.

The 2024 national champion’s toughest match of the day turned out to be her first one, a 4-2 decision over Grand View’s Keana Bush.

From there, Bayless went unscored upon during three additional bouts (11-0, 10-0 and 8-0 victories) to finish with top honors.

Bumping up to 207, no Hawkeye wrestled more matches on Saturday than true freshman Libby Dix.

Dix opened with Zoe Adam – a two-time national qualifier for Sioux Falls. And after falling behind 4-1, she scored back-to-back takedowns in the second period to hold a one-point lead in the final moments.

But a four-pointer by Adam with 0:05 left turned the tables and sent Dix to the consolations.

Undeterred, the Mount Vernon native fought all the way for third place – winning five straight matches, including these notable results:

  • A 10-0 TF of NAIA #12 Skyler Bruno (Waldorf), who pinned Dix last weekend
  • A 0:23 pin of NAIA #9 Christina Page (Central Methodist)
  • A 9-5 win over Zoe Adam (Sioux Falls), avenging their earlier meeting

We’ll have more on one of those matches in just a minute.

And finally, Iowa’s lone wrestler to not place on Saturday was redshirt sophomore Danni Swihart – who still compiled a 3-2 record at 138 pounds.

Big results in the Big Apple

Switching to the Bill Farrell tournament in New York City, a trio of Hawkeye alums threw their hats in the ring at the pseudo ‘kickoff’ tournament of the 2025-26 international freestyle schedule.

None fared better than Austin DeSanto, whose title at 61 kilograms included four-consecutive wins during which he outscored his opponents by a combined margin of 32-1.

The four-time All-American cruised to the finals with back-to-back-to-back bonus point victories – the last of which came against experienced Mongolian Tuvshintulga Tumenbileg – a former World bronze medalist.

That set up a final against another Mongolian, Bekhbayar Erdenebat.

This one would go the full six minutes, with DeSanto wrestling a calculated match against the two-time Olympian (and two-time World bronze medalist) to secure the 2-1 decision.

Elsewhere in men’s freestyle, Hawkeye Wrestling Club (HWC) member Jesse Ybarra lost a pair of decisions at 61kg.

And on the women’s side, 2024 national champion Marlynne Deede – who now trains and coaches at Grand Valley State (MI) – finished second in a round robin format at 76kg.

Deede finished with a 3-1 record, losing only to a three-time age-level World medalist representing Chinese Taipei.

Weekend Awards

Moving on to our weekly ‘Weekend Awards’ section, I’ve unilaterally decided upon a tie for the ‘Best Win’ category.

Your winners: Skye Realin and Austin DeSanto.

Realin earns hers simply for returning to the mat for the first time in nearly a calendar year (to say nothing of the dominant fashion in which she did so).

Meanwhile, DeSanto’s is pretty self-explanatory.

(Knocking off a two-time World bronze medalist at a notable international tournament tends to do that.)

As for ‘Grittiest Win’ of the weekend, that honor belongs to the aforementioned Libby Dix.

I mentioned her last-second tournament-opening loss to Zoe Adam (Sioux Falls). And that, in conjunction with the way Dix prevailed in their rematch, makes for about as ‘gritty’ of a win as there is.

The scenario, a 5-0 deficit late in the first period.

But rather than get dejected by a familiar opponent holding the edge yet again, Dix began to chip away.

She began with a single leg finish mere tenths of a second before the first period buzzer. 5-2.

Another with 1:52 to go cut the deficit to one.

Feeling the pressure, Adam exploded off the next whistle and nearly threw Dix out of bounds – but the Hawkeye defended for a step out point of her own. 5-5.

Still trailing on criteria, the Iowa freshman struck again about a minute later, taking her first lead on a single leg finish with 0:39 remaining.

From there, Dix defended smartly and tacked on one more takedown with short time to cement the comeback.

Talk about resolve. Talk about grit. Libby Dix had it in spades.

And for her efforts, she’s rewarded with this highly esteemed, barely one-week-old award.

(Now that’s what I call icing on the cake.)

Short time

That’ll do it for another Iowa wrestling weekend recap.

As always, thank you guys for reading/following along with the coverage whenever/however you can.

We’re just two weeks into the 2025-26 season, but things are about to pick up steam in a hurry.

So, stay tuned, and I’ll catch you all again real soon.

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