Leydecker's double leads Iowa's excellence at Women's Nationals
It was a fruitful (long) weekend for Iowa at the 2026 USA Wrestling Women’s National Championships.
Competing across the U20/U23 divisions, the Hawkeyes crowned five national champions and amassed an 85-30 combined record in contested matches (excluding head-to-heads) – including 63 victories (74.1 percent) by either technical superiority or fall.
All told, 14/18 Iowa women reached the podium (top eight). In fact, a pair of them did so twice – doubling up with U20/U23 honors over the span of four days.
No star shown brighter than incoming freshman Everest Leydecker, who only had a singular blemish across two otherwise flawless title-winning efforts.
The Arizona native won a U20 national championship at 55 kilograms, followed by a U23 crown at 57kg.
Iowa’s three other champions all came out of the U20 division.
At 53kg, fellow incoming freshman Taylor Whiting made her first-ever World team.
Meanwhile, both Karlee Brooks (57kg) and Bella Williams (62kg) won the second national championship of their young careers. The latter prevailed over another soon-to-be Hawkeye, high school senior Carley Ceshker, in their best-of-three final.
Like Leydecker, Williams also made a U23 final less than 48 hours later – this time finishing runner up at 65kg.
Put it all together and the weekend was an excellent response to Iowa’s previous outing – when the Hawkeyes finished five points short of an NCAA team title a month ago.
So, let’s dive into the (many) highlights from out in Spokane, Washington – where Clarissa Chun’s current/future pupils stood tallest among the very best young talent in the sport.
U20 summary
Even with Iowa’s 13 entries in the U20 World Team Trials, every single one of them nearly made the podium.
Besides the four aforementioned champions, six more Hawkeyes placed seventh or better. And for three others, they fell just one win shy of All-American honors.
Iowa’s incoming five-woman freshman class was particularly impressive – four of whom reached the semifinals and a trio the best-of-three championship series.
The ‘elder’ Hawkeye stateswomen weren’t too shabby either – producing two champs out of eight entries. Among the four others who made the podium, three saw their championship bracket runs stopped by an opponent who ultimately reached the finals.
With its four individual champions, Iowa will occupy 40 percent of Team USA when it heads to the U20 World Championships in Slovakia this August (17-23).
Only one other college program (McKendree with two) will have multiple athletes on the team.
U23 summary
As for the U23 side of the ledger, Iowa had both fewer entries (seven) and champions (one).
Granted – most of its top age-eligible talent did not enter this weekend.
(See postseason starters: Kennedy Blades, Karlee Brooks, Brianna Gonzalez, Reese Larramendy, Lilly Luft, Val Solorio, Nyla Valencia and Kylie Welker.)
Even so, the Hawkeyes still made their presence felt – advancing four to the semis and two the finals among the half dozen who placed in the top six at their respective weights.
As a reminder, this U23 Nationals event does not officially decide the U23 World team for the United States – which will host U23 Worlds in Las Vegas this October (12-18).
A U23 national champion can be superseded by an age-eligible wrestler who is among top three on the Senior National Team this summer.
So, even though some of Iowa’s big names (see above) weren’t in attendance this weekend, they can still make the U23 team based on their performance in the coming weeks/months.
As advertised – Leydecker pulls off a dominant double
Not that we should really be surprised at this point, but Everest Leydecker continues to prove why her commitment this past December was such a coup for the Hawkeyes.
A relentless technician in every possible way, the 18-year-old was nearly untouchable across 12 matches – many against high-level foes.
Here lone hiccup came in Bout #2 of her U23 final at 57kg, when a headlock hunting Sara Sterner (a four-time All-American and 2025 NCWWC runner up for North Central) caught Leydecker for a come-from-behind pin late in the third period.
So, how would the 18-year-old respond in a winner-take-all Bout #3? In kind, as it turns out – taking Sterner to her back for a first-period fall.
In Leydecker’s 11 wins over four days, she outscored her opponents by a combined margin of 108-0.
Not a single one of them lasted a full six minutes either – be it two wins over Sterner, a U23 semifinal pin of two-time college All-American Aspen Blasko (Grand Valley State), or a U20 finals sweep of super-talented high schooler Marlee Solomon at 55kg.
(Solomon went on to make the U17 World team later that weekend.)
These two titles in hand, Leydecker will now turn her focus toward the Senior-level summer circuit, starting with the US Open next week.
And as she’s already proven, she’s among the best in the world at that level too.
Williams comes up just short of twin titles
Iowa’s other double entry of the weekend couldn’t quite pull off a 2/2 championship sweep.
Even so, Bella Williams came pretty darn close.
Having competed at 131 pounds during her freshman collegiate season, Williams won a U20 title at 62kg (~136.7 pounds) and then finished U23 runner up at 65kg (~143.3 pounds) – showcasing her ability to successfully traverse multiple weight classes over a short span of time.
Her path to the U20 final included wins over a pair of NCAA All-Americans. That set up a best-of-three with Carley Ceshker – with whom she’ll officially become Iowa teammates this fall.
In that series, Williams showcased her ‘veteran’ savviness, sweeping Ceshker by scores of 11-1 and 6-0 to complete a title run during which she outscored her opponents by a margin of 52-5.
Perhaps expectedly given the bump in weight class (and age), Williams’ U23 journey was a bit tougher sledding.
2-1 victories in both the quarterfinals and semis – the latter against three-time All-American (and former U20 World teamer) Maddie Kubicki of Presbyterian – earned Williams a spot in the 65kg final.
There, she ran into back-to-back U23 Nationals runner up Nina Makem, who bonus’d her way through the tournament without conceding a single point – including a pair of 10-0 tech. falls over Williams.
Despite its disappointing conclusion, the weekend was an unmitigated success for Williams – and just the start of a busy summer.
Brooks/Whiting complete Iowa’s champion contingent
Much like the first pair of champions we’ve detailed, Karlee Brooks and Taylor Whiting also had their own largely dominant runs.
For Brooks, only her 57kg semifinal lasted beyond the first period – a 5-2 decision over U17 Trials runner up Marie Sharp.
Besides that, the Iowa sophomore racked up two 10-0 tech. falls and three pins – much like the clip below:
In her best-of-three final, Brooks faced Iowa native Molly Allen – a freshman at Oklahoma State for the Cowgirls club program.
Twice the Hawkeye gave up the opening takedown.
However, Brooks quickly regained the lead in both instances. And if that weren’t enough – some 20 seconds later both matches were put to bed for good.
Each time, Brooks chain wrestled beautifully through a sequence before hitting an explosive lefty headlock for the fall.
On the first, some great body awareness on the edge ensured her opponent wouldn’t be spared by the out-of-bounds line. And on the second, the Hawkeye sealed the deal with just 0:02 left before the buzzer for intermission.
As for Whiting, she faced the nerves of a third and deciding finals match at 53kg. But before that, she too cruised to the finals.
The Wisconsin native rattled off three-consecutive tech. falls to reach the semis, where she controlled a 5-1 match against Grand Valley State’s Libby Roberts.
(Roberts defeated a pair of Iowa freshmen (Isabella Gonzales and Harlee Hiller) elsewhere in the 53kg bracket.)
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In her final series, Whiting peppered the legs of Aubree Gutierrez in Bouts #1 and #3 – wins by 6-3 and 5-4 decision.
The latter – after Whiting was pinned in Bout #2 by her throw-happy opponent – showcased the resolve of the soon-to-be Hawkeye.
Wins of the weekend
Aside from the four athletes I’ve already chronicled, Iowa’s non-champions still put in some major work this weekend.
Starting with the U20 division, no singular victory was more impressive than Carley Ceshker’s semifinal pin of McKendree sophomore Haylie Jaffe.
For reference: Jaffe finished second/third at the past two collegiate national championships and won Team USA’s 62kg spot last year.
A 1-0 match at the break, Jaffe pulled ahead 4-1 after an early takedown/turn in the second period. But Ceshker – a Wisconsin native – didn’t panic. Instead, a low-level shot pulled her within one and left Jaffe’s right arm in a compromised position – which Ceshker immediately seized upon by running a bar for the fall.
(The pin was Ceshker’s fourth in-a-row to reach the finals.)
Another incoming freshman that impressed was Nora Akpan, who reached the semifinals at 68kg.
A late bloomer on the national recruiting scene, the Minnesotan defeating two college All-Americans en route to fourth place. One of those came against recent NCAA fifth-place finisher Annelise Obermark (Simpson) – who’d go on to win a U23 national title two days later.
Several more notable U20 wins came courtesy of Rianne Murphy (50kg) and Harlee Hiller (53kg).
Murphy reached the quarterfinals thanks to 10-0 defeat of incoming freshman Madison Nieuwenhuis. Then in her first consolation bout the Iowa sophomore did the same to McKendree’s Heather Crull – who just last month was the #1 seed at 103 pounds entering the NCAA Championships.
As for Hiller, Iowa’s backup 117-pounder this season bested a pair of NCAA All-Americans out in Spokane via tech. fall.
The second of those came against Lehigh’s Abbi Cooper, who placed fifth at last year’s U20 World Championships.
Switching to U23 action, Emily Frost picked up a big-time result with her 3-2 consolation win over McKendree’s Shelby Moore.
The Iowa junior used a first-period takedown and some stingy second-period defense to secure the victory – defeating a back-to-back collegiate runner up in the process.
Close calls
Of course, plenty of things didn’t go Iowa’s way at Women’s Nationals.
In U20 competition, two chief examples were Harlee Hiller’s quarterfinal at 53kg and Naomi Simon’s semifinal at 76kg.
For Hiller, a 28-point firefight broke out with eventual runner up Aubree Gutierrez.
Hiller jumped out to an early eight-point lead thanks to two big throws, only for Gutierrez to rattle off 13-in-a-row.
Another four-pointer by Hiller (and reversal by Gutierrez) made the score 14-12 with 0:15 remaining. And with 0:03 left Hiller went big once more, only for the winning takedown to go uncalled by the narrowest of margins.
Similarly, Simon’s semifinal defeat very nearly wasn’t.
Wrestling talented North Central freshman Jael Miller, Simon’s over aggressiveness may’ve cost her what was a 2-2 criteria lead at the break.
Instead, Miller led 8-2 with 0:35 left when a headlock by the Hawkeye put her in peril.
Without editorializing too much, it sure looked like Miller’s shoulders were flat on the mat as Simon worked for the fall. But the referee deemed otherwise, and Miller was able to stave off the danger long enough for the final horn to sound.
Both Hiller and Simon – the two-time reigning champion at 76kg – ultimately finished fifth.
As for narrow misses at U23s, both fourth-place finishers Cali Leng (55kg) and Skye Realin (62kg) saw their championship runs end in close calls.
Leng dropped a 3-1 semi to college All-American Alexandra Waitsman (William Jewell). Meanwhile, Realin had returning Senior World teamer Adaugo Nwachukwu on the ropes in a 5-4 quarterfinal loss.
Realin could’ve led 6-1 early in the second period had she (I think properly) been awarded a four-point throw. Instead, a challenge by the Iowa corner was unsuccessful, making it 4-2. And Nwachukwu ultimately chipped away for the one-point win.
Odds and ends
A few more nuggets before I wrap things up:
Ava Rose’s last match of U23s featured a 21-point first period after which Iowa junior led 11-10.
Cali Leng and Skye Realin went a combined 9-4 at U23s, with all nine victories coming via bonus points. Isabella Gonzales (4-2) was similarly all-or-nothing in her seventh-place U20 finish at 53kg, tallying three pins and a tech. fall.
Ava Bayless may’ve wrestled the final match of her career, reaching the U23 semis at 53kg before ultimately placing fifth with an 11-0 win.
Cadence Diduch jumped out to eight, six and six-point leads in her three contested matches – the last of which took place in the U20 quarters at 65kg. But in each instance the Iowa junior – who was on crutches on the final day of the regular season in mid-February – appeared to fade badly as the match wore on.
After a 17-8 quarterfinal defeat, Diduch – a back-to-back U20 finalist (and 2024 World teamer) – medically forfeited from the tournament.
Like Diduch, both Madison Nieuwenhuis (50kg) and Mia Goodwin (57kg) bowed out in the Round of 12 of U20s.
Niuwenhuis – wrestling up seven-plus pounds from her likely collegiate weight class (103) – lost to Rianne Murphy, then fell in the bloodround to superstar 2027 recruit (and Iowa target) Jaclyn Bouzakis.
Goodwin lost 4-3 in her opening bout, then won four straight consolation matches before her tournament run ended.
Short time
Next on the summer docket for Iowa wrestling is the US Open in Las Vegas (April 22-26) – which will feature past/present/future Hawkeyes in the men’s and women’s divisions.
So, stay tuned for that preview/coverage next week, and as always thank you for reading/following along.
It’s a busy time of year, but it’s a whole lot of fun, too.
And we’re just getting started.
