Iowa, Life repeat as Women’s Division champs, St. Cloud State, Augsburg, Grand View reclaim titles; Northern Iowa wins Division I bracket at National Duals

In November, Northern Iowa edged South Dakota State in Cedar Falls on criteria. Saturday was a different story as the Panthers won nine of 10 matches and cruised to a 31-3 championship over the Jackrabbits. While the lineups varied from the late November meeting, Northern Iowa's familiar haunts didn't seem to make much difference as they lost just four individual bouts the entire weekend. Prior to topping South Dakota State, Northern Iowa won nine out of 10 matches in a 38-3 victory over Northern Colorado.

Returning NCAA champion Parker Keckeisen went 4-0 with four bonus victories, including an 11-3 major decision over returning All-American Bennett Berge at 184 pounds. Jared Simma rebounded from a Friday loss against Ohio to top All-American Cade DeVos of South Dakota State 6-5.

Top-seeded St. Cloud State won its eighth Division II Men's National Duals title with a come-from-behind 21-16 win over last year's champion and second-seeded Central Oklahoma. Returning All-American La'Ron Parks scored a takedown as time expired to edge Central Oklahoma's Judson Rowland 4-1 to seal the win.

UCO jumped out to a 16-0 lead after winning the first four weights and looked to be in control, but slowly, the Huskies crept back into it, starting with a crucial overtime victory from fifth-ranked Joel Jesuroga at 157 pounds over top-ranked and returning Division II national champion Gabe Johnson.

The Huskies kept moving closer with back-to-back major decisions at 165 and 174 pounds. Colby Njos topped returning All-American Hunter Jump 8-0.

At 184 pounds, tenth-ranked Bryce FitzPatrick beat fifth-ranked Garrett Wells 12-6 in a matchup of All-Americans. A major decision by Dominic Murphy gave St. Cloud State its first lead of the dual leading to Parks' match-ender.

As usual, the Division III Men's National Duals title came through the Burgs. Augsburg edged Wartburg 17-16 in the championship final to win the Auggies' ninth title all-time.

Seventh-ranked Karsen Otis of Augsburg majored fourth-ranked Blaine Christie 12-1 at 157 pounds in what eventually turned out to be one of the key swing points of the dual.

Seven of the Auggies championship victories have come over Wartburg in the final. It's the 14th time the two schools have met in the championship final. Wartburg still leads all teams historically with 13 National Duals titles regardless of division.

At 197 pounds, top-ranked and two-time Division III champion Massoma Endene of Wartburg topped second-ranked Parker Venz of Augsburg to bring the Knights within four going into heavyweight. A round prior, it was heavyweight Mitch Williamson who came up with a key fall to push Wartburg past Johnson & Wales. Williamson the battle, majoring Tyler Raway, but Augsburg ended up winning the war.

Since the inception of the event, Augsburg or Wartburg have won 22 of the 23 titles in the division, the one exception came in 2022 when neither team attended due to pandemic-related issues.

Last year, Life earned its first NAIA Men's National Duals championship, upsetting Grand View and ending the Vikings 11-year reign as dual meet champions and squashing an NAIA dual-meet win streak that spanned 162 straight matches.

Grand View took the title back with a resounding 32-3 victory over the second-seeded Running Eagles. Grand View even picked off Life's top 133-pounder as third-ranked Jackson Cockrell upended Thaddeus Long 4-1 in overtime. Top-ranked 174-pounder Alex Reynolds was also victorious, majoring seventh-ranked Alex Couto 9-0.

It's the sixth consecutive year the two teams have met in the finals with Grand View winning five of the six championship matches.

In the NCAA Women's Division, Iowa made it two titles in two appearances as the Hawkeyes won eight of the 10 bouts against second-seeded North Central to prevail 28-13. Iowa set the pace early winning three straight top-10 matchups to jump out to a 12-3 lead. Third-ranked Sterling Dias topped fourth-ranked Madison Avila at 103 and top-ranked Ava Bayless defeated fourth-ranked Kendra Ryan at 110 pounds to start things off. A #1 vs. #2 matchup at 117 went Iowa's way as top-ranked Brianna Gonzalez beat Sydney Petzinger 10-7.

After national champion Amani Jones gave North Central its first individual win with a technical fall at 131 pounds, Iowa snatched away any Cardinal momentum with a key win at 138 pounds. Fourth-ranked Nanea Estrella topped Sara Sterner, the second-ranked wrestler at 131 pounds, 13-8. Iowa's murderer's row of international talents then claimed the next three victories as Macey Kilty topped former Iowa wrestler Bella Mir 11-6 at 145, Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades won by technical fall over Tiera Jimerson and Kyle Welker pinned Shenita Lawson at 180 pounds. Iowa improved to 13-0 on the season. The Hawkeyes have opened up its women's college wrestling program with 29 consecutive dual meet wins.

Life University went back-to-back as NAIA Women's champion with a 30-12 win over Grand View. The Running Eagles won eight of the 10 weights with a pin and four technical falls en route to the school's third NAIA Women's National Duals championship. The trio of McBryde sisters provided three straight technical falls in the middle-to-upper weights and Reka Busa upset top-ranked Abby McIntyre to power Life to the title.

Life jumped out with three straight wins in top-10 matchups, sparked by fourth-ranked Salyna Shotwell's pin over second-ranked Caitlin Campbell at 117 pounds. Of the eight bouts with ranked wrestlers battling, Life won seven of them. In the first five years of the NAIA Women's division, Life has never finished worse than fourth, earning two titles, two third-place finishes and a fourth-place finish.

MEN RESULTS | WOMEN RESULTS

125 - Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) over Kyle Gollhofer (Northern Iowa) Dec 4-2

133 - Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) over Derrick Cardinal (South Dakota State) Dec 6-3

141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) over Caleb Gross (South Dakota State) Maj 13-3

149 - Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) over Colin Dupill (South Dakota State) Maj 18-6

157 - Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) over Moses Espinoza-Owens (South Dakota State) Dec 7-1

165 - Jack Thomsen (Northern Iowa) over Marcus Espinoza-Owens (South Dakota State) Dec 4-1

174 - Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) over Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) Dec 6-5

184 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) over Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) Maj 11-3

197 - Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) over Thomas Dineen (South Dakota State) Dec 9-3

285 - Adam Ahrendsen (Northern Iowa) over Cody Donnelly (South Dakota State) Maj 14-1

125 - Studd Morris (Central Oklahoma) over Conor Knopick (St. Cloud State) Dec 4-1

133 - Peter Rolle (Central Oklahoma) over Sam Spencer (St. Cloud State) Fall 2:56

141 - Josh Taylor (Central Oklahoma) over Alyeus Craig (St. Cloud State) Maj 12-2

149 - Dylan Brown (Central Oklahoma) over Colby Njos (St. Cloud State) Dec 4-1

157 - Joel Jesuroga (St. Cloud State) over Gabe Johnson (Central Oklahoma) SV-1 4-1

165 - Nick Novak (St. Cloud State) over Hunter Jump (Central Oklahoma) Maj 8-0

174 - Bryce Dagel (St. Cloud State) over Zane Coleman (Central Oklahoma) Maj 12-2

184 - Bryce Fitzpatrick (St. Cloud State) over Garrett Wells (Central Oklahoma) Dec 12-6

197 - Dominic Murphy (St. Cloud State) over Emmanuel Skillings (Central Oklahoma) Maj 20-11

285 – La'Ron Parks (St. Cloud State) over Judson Rowland (Central Oklahoma) Dec 4-1

125 - Wyatt Kaczrowski (Augsburg) over Brett Birchman (Wartburg) Dec 4-0

133 - Josh Gervey (Wartburg) over Chance Suddeth (Augsburg) Dec 4-1

141 - Tommy Thongseng (Wartburg) over Cade Willis (Augsburg) Dec 7-2

149 - Matt Randolph (Augsburg) over Ian Crapp (Wartburg) Dec 5-3

157 - Karsen Otis (Augsburg) over Blain Christie (Wartburg) Maj 12-1

165 - Cooper Willis (Augsburg) over Carter Proffitt (Wartburg) Maj 11-2

174 - Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) over Matt Rogge (Wartburg) Dec 6-0

184 - Kasey Ross (Wartburg) over Brandt Bombard (Augsburg) Dec 2-0

197 - Massoma Endene (Wartburg) over Parker Venz (Augsburg) Dec 8-5

285 - Mitch Williamson (Wartburg) over Tyler Raway (Augsburg) Maj 11-3

125 - Aden Reeves (Grand View) over Adrian Morales (Life) TF 22-5

133 - Jackson Cockrell (Grand View) over Thaddeus Long (Life) SV-1 4-1

141 - Carson Taylor (Grand View) over Kaden Ramos (Life) Maj 11-1

149 - Darnai Heard (Grand View) over Kaleb Rahoi (Life) Dec 12-5

157 - Alex Ramirez (Grand View) over Fabian Padilla (Life) Dec 4-0

165 - Cam Robinson (Grand View) over Reese Jones (Life) Dec 4-2

174 - Alex Reynolds (Grand View) over Alexander Couto (Life) Maj 9-0

184 - Kendall Norfleet (Life) over Jameel Coles (Grand View) Dec 9-4

197 - Trayvonne Jackson (Grand View) over Tre Morrisette (Life) Maj 15-3

285 - Cole Mair (Grand View) over Nate Glass (Life) Dec 6-4

103 - Sterling Dias (Iowa) over Madison Avila (North Central College) Dec 3-2

110 - Ava Bayless (Iowa) over Kendra Ryan (North Central College) Dec 5-2

117 - Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) over Sydney Petzinger (North Central College) Dec 10-7

124 - Cali Leng (Iowa) over Janessa George (North Central College) Dec 3-0

131 - Amani Jones (North Central College) over Emily Frost (Iowa) TF 15-3

138 - Nanea Estrella (Iowa) over Sara Sterner (North Central College) Dec 13-8

145 - Macey Kilty (Iowa) over Bella Mir (North Central College) Dec 11-6

160 - Kennedy Blades (Iowa) over Tiera Jimerson (North Central College) TF 11-0

180 - Kylie Welker (Iowa) over Shenita Lawson (North Central College) Fall 0:41

207 - Traeh Haynes (North Central College) over Alivia White (Iowa) TF 10-0

103 - Katherine Hernandez (Life University) over Judy Sandoval (Grand View) Dec 8-5

110 - Anaya Falcon (Life University) over Lita Cruz (Grand View) Dec 6-4

117 - Salyna Shotwell (Life University) over Cailin Campbell (Grand View) Fall 1:25

124 - Maya Davis (Grand View) over Anna Krejsa (Life University) TF 11-0

131 - Sarah Savidge (Life University) over Cindy Zepeda (Grand View) TF 12-2

138 - Zaynah McBryde (Life University) over Adrienna Turner (Grand View) TF 11-0

145 - Jamilah McBryde (Life University) over Krista Warren (Grand View) TF 11-0

160 - Latifah McBryde (Life University) over Madison Diaz (Grand View) TF 12-2

180 - Reka Busa (Life University) over Abby McIntyre (Grand View) Dec 6-3

207 - Olivia Brown (Grand View) over Savannah Isaac (Life University) Dec 9-0