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Three questions for Iowa women's wrestling in 2025-26

by: Tanner Lafever07/03/25TannerLafever
Nyla Valencia
Among my early questions for 2025-26 - is this the year Iowa fans finally get to watch the incredibly talented Nyla Valencia compete for the Hawkeyes? (Photo Credit: @nyla_rambo on Instagram)

There are tons of questions to be asked/answered when it comes to the 2025-26 women’s wrestling season and Iowa’s place within it.

And with the start of that season on the horizon in just four months, what better time than now to ask at least a few of those questions?

That’s why we’re here today – to think a little, then ponder some more. And after it’s all finished, we’ll be that much closer to the season ahead. The only thing it’ll cost us is some time in conversation about Hawkeye wrestling.

And is that really any sort of ‘cost’ at all?

1. How does the new NCAA postseason format impact Iowa’s lineup?

    As I covered here a little over a week ago, major changes are officially coming to the postseason format under which the Iowa program will now compete.

    With women’s wrestling having its own officially sanctioned NCAA Championships – the first of which will be co-hosted in Coralville next March by the University of Iowa and the Iowa City Area Sports Commission – only ten Hawkeyes will be able to qualify for the national tournament, down from a previous 15.

    And so, my question is, how might that impact Iowa’s lineup?

    Do wrestlers bump/cut to (perhaps) less-than-ideal weights to give themselves the best possible chance to make that postseason 10? The past two seasons, that was rarely an issue as athletes could still compete in March even if they were number two on the depth chart.

    For example, Emilie Gonzalez was effectively Iowa’s ‘number two’ at 110 pounds in 2025, a spot that would now leave her home for nationals. With the weight about to get even deeper for Iowa this year (more on that shortly), does she consider dropping down to 103 – where she won a national title in 2024?

    The competition at Iowa will be fierce regardless of the weight, but this could be the first time that some Hawkeyes are faced with making such a judgement call.

    Elsewhere, I count at least eight athletes who could be in the mix somewhere at 124/131/138. How does all that potential shuffling play out?

    And finally, do any of Iowa’s superstars – i.e. Kennedy Blades (160) and Kylie Welker (180) – move around to strengthen its postseason lineup?

    They’ll be massive favorites to win whichever weight they entered, but would some alternative permutation make the Hawkeyes appreciably stronger than the conventional wisdom of leaving them where they’re at?

    There are so many unknowns to consider.

    2. Can Iowa make more history against an increasingly competitive field of challengers?

    Ever since its inception, the Iowa program has continued to make history in this sport.

    Now, another major opportunity to do so arrives with the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships.

    Will the Hawkeyes take advantage of it against a collection of teams/individuals that will be their toughest test yet?

    North Central (IL) took Iowa to the very last match twice in 2024 – at both National Duals and NCWWCs. And this past March, they led the Hawkeyes after Day 1 at the national tournament.

    The Cardinals lost several long-time stalwarts to graduation but should still be formidable thanks to a strong freshmen/transfer class.

    Meanwhile, third-place finisher McKendree (IL) could present Iowa’s toughest challenger in both dual/tournament formats. The Bearcats have loaded up on young talent over the past two recruiting cycles – which will constitute much of this year’s lineup. They’ve also continued to add transfer portal firepower of their own – headlined by U23 World champ Yu Sakamoto (Northern Michigan).

    Two more to watch are last year’s fourth/sixth place teams – Grand Valley State (MI) and Presbyterian (SC).

    GVSU returns three national finalists (two champs) in just its second season as a program. And Presbyterian should continue to build off what was its best team in school history.

    But perhaps Iowa’s most intriguing challenger is a brand-new one.

    In late May, Lehigh officially announced the addition of women’s wrestling as its 26th varsity sport – becoming the sixth Division I NCAA program to date. The Mountain Hawks had previously been stockpiling talented wrestlers in their club program in preparation for this transition – headlined by 2025 Senior World teamer Audrey Jimenez. They’ll debut with a roster capable of winning a team trophy.

    *Also keep an eye out for former NAIA powerhouse Menlo (CA) – which could be making its NCAA debut in 2025-26.

    3. Will we finally get to see Nyla Valencia compete in an Iowa singlet?

    This last question is one that (as of this typing) has been 1239 days in the making.

    That date, February 10, 2022, was when Nyla Valencia announced her commitment to Iowa – becoming the fourth wrestler in program history.

    And ever since that moment it’s seemed like circumstance/misfortune have cruelly conspired to delay her official Hawkeye debut.

    Valencia wrestled five matches ‘unattached’ in what was a blanket redshirt season for every Hawkeye in 2022-23 – winning the prestigious Missouri Valley Open in her first collegiate competition.

    That April, she finished second at U20 World Team Trials. Two weeks later at the US Open she tore her ACL in her second match of the tournament. The injury cost Valencia the entirety of Iowa’s official debut season in 2023-24.

    She returned to competition in the spring of 2024 just in time for a rugged stretch of events – bonus’ing her way through the Last Chance Olympic Trials qualifier, finishing runner up at U20 World Team Trials again and competing at the US Olympic Team Trials – all in the span of three weeks.

    During that time frame she soundly defeated both of Iowa’s 2025 postseason starters at 110 pounds – Emilie Gonzalez (12-1) and Ava Bayless (11-4).

    But Valencia unfortunately wouldn’t get to join them last season due to tearing the ACL tear in her other knee last summer at a Team USA camp in Colorado Springs.

    Combine everything – the talent, plus the trials and tribulations of her Iowa career to date – and I’m dying to see the California native finally make her debut wearing the Tigerhawk logo.

    Iowa fans should be waiting with eager anticipation, too.

    Not only is Valencia – who won’t turn 21 until August – one of the best wrestlers on the Iowa roster when healthy, but in my opinion, she’ll prove to be among the best in wrestlers in America as well.

    Here’s crossing our collective fingers that we’ll get to see her prove exactly that in just a few short months.

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