Redmond named Outstanding Wrestler in loaded Girls Junior Folkstyle Nationals, with 12 nationally ranked champions

Nicole Redmond of Kansas, the 127-pound champion and Outstanding Wrestler in the Junior division of the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals.

OMAHA, Neb. – The field was loaded in the Junior division of the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals, which completed on Saturday night with a star-studded finals.

There were 47 ahletes who were ranked in the February National Girls High School rankings who placed as All-Americans in this event, including 12 who became Junior Folkstyle champions.

Winning the Outstanding Wrestler award was 127-pound champion and No. 19 nationally Nicole Redmond of Kansas, who scored a 15-3 major decision over Wisconsin’s Dealya Collins in the finals.

There were seven finals in which both wrestlers held a national ranking.

The one considered an upset was at 164 pounds, where No. 14 Alexandra Hofrichter of Wisconsin pinned No. 4 Amarisa Manuel of Michigan in 2:22.

In a highly anticipated finals at 138 pounds, No. 1 Valerie Hamilton of Illinois pinned No. 12 AshLynn Goodwin of Kansas at 1:27.

At 106 pounds, No. 7 Reanah Utterback of Iowa beat No. 29 Alexsys Jacquez of Colorado, 10-6. Utterback scored a double victory, having also won the 16U Folkstyle Nationals earlier in the day.

Four of the other winners of the finals with two ranked stars were won by athletes holding a top 10 national rankings.

At 132 pounds, No. 3 Lauren Walton of Kentucky pinned No. 12 Taylor Colangelo of Arizona in 1:21. At 144, No. 5 Alyssa Johnson of North Dakota stopped No. 20 Presley Givens of Arkansas, 12-7. At 180. No. 4 Cheyenne Ruiz of Utah pinned No. 21 Maria Aiono of Nevada in 5:20. At 200, No. 9 Tilisa Matakaiongo of Utah edged No. 15 Esther Peters of Texas, 5-4.

Other nationally ranked wrestlers who won titles were No. 7 Katey Valdez of Colorado at 100), No. 10 Gigi Bragg of Michigan at 112, No. 15 Rose Kaplan of Indiana at 122 and No. 5 Erica Cobos of Texas at 225. 

Valdez pinned Zurri Zamora of Texas in the finals. Bragg beat Texas 6A state champion Riley Rayome, 11-4. Kaplan beat North Dakota state champion Rei Ogden by pin. Kaplan’s 122-pound class featured five placewinners with national rankings. Cobos pinned Chloe Hoselton of Illinois in the finals.

This event is traditionally a coming-out party for talented athletes who may not have previously received national recognition.

At 152, Alana King, a Texas 6A state champion this year at 145 pounds, defeated Utah champion and No. 6 ranked Lizzie Raleigh, 1-0.

At 117 pounds, Leiannah Landreth, who was third in the Kansas 4A-1A States, pinned Colorado state champion Mia Hargrove in 2:44 in the finals.

The tournament was jammed with current and former state champions, a true testing ground for our nation’s elite girls high school wrestlers.

This event was part of the 2023 USA Wrestling Junior Girls Triple Crown. In the first year of this program, no wrestler was able to win the three USA Wrestling national tournaments required to claim this major honor. Perhaps one or more of the champions in Omaha can come home with a Junior Triple Crown this year.

USA WRESTLING GIRLS FOLKSTYLE CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Omaha, Neb., March 4, 2023

Junior results (with current national rankings)

100
1st Place Match – No. 7 Katey Valdez (Team Colorado) won by fall over Zurri Zamora (Team Texas) (Fall 3:31)
3rd Place Match - Layla Phillips (Team Iowa) won by decision over Kennedy Farrar (Team Arizona) (Dec 5-3)
5th Place Match – No. 26 Grace Romans (Team Texas) won by decision over Mykayle Sutton (Team Kansas) (Dec 5-1)
7th Place Match - Kendall Moe (Team Indiana) won by fall over Payton Thiele (Team Nebraska) (Fall 4:43)

106
1st Place Match – No. 7 Reanah Utterback (Team Iowa) won by decision over No. 29 Alexsys Jacquez (Team Colorado) (Dec 10-6)
3rd Place Match – No. 19 Joy Cantu (Team Indiana) won by fall over Rylee Balcazar (Team Colorado) (Fall 2:38)
5th Place Match - Adriana Gomez (Team Arizona) won by fall over Kaylin Taylor (Team Montana) (Fall 0:52)
7th Place Match - Holly Thacher (Team Kansas) won by major decision over Isabel Kaplan (Team Indiana) (Maj 8-0)

112
1st Place Match – No. 10 Gigi Bragg (Team Michigan) won by decision over Riley Rayome (Team Texas) (Dec 11-4)
3rd Place Match – No. 6 Diana Gonzalez (Team California) won by decision over No. 18 Jasmine Luedtke (Team Iowa) (Dec 6-2)
5th Place Match - Sophia Shultz (Team Nebraska) won by fall over Aroma Marrufo (Team Missouri) (Fall 2:03)
7th Place Match - Akeelah Moore (Team Texas) won by decision over No. 12 Avy Perez (Team California) (Dec 9-4)

117
1st Place Match - Leiannah Landreth (Team Kansas) won by fall over Mia Hargrove (Team Colorado) (Fall 2:44)
3rd Place Match - Zorina Johnson (Team Oregon) won by decision over Aubrie Pehrson (Team Nebraska) (Dec 4-2)
5th Place Match - Alena Williams (Team Arkansas) won by decision over Ileah Brown (Team Texas) (Dec 11-6)
7th Place Match - Emma Pillion (Team Indiana) won by decision over Robin Leidholt (Team Montana) (Dec 4-3)

122
1st Place Match – No. 15 Rose Kaplan (Team Indiana) won by fall over Rei Ogden (Team North Dakota) (Fall 4:51)
3rd Place Match – No. 12 Alyssa Ruiz (Team Texas) won by fall over No. 22 Evelyn Holmes-Smith (Team Alabama) (Fall 2:43)
5th Place Match – No. 19 Brooklyn Pace (Team Utah) won by forfeit over Kaylan Hitchcock (Team Kansas) (FF)
7th Place Match – No. 27 Alexis Pehrson (Team Nebraska) won by fall over Lacey Gilbert (Team Kentucky) (Fall 1:47)

127
1st Place Match – No. 19 Nicole Redmond (Team Kansas) won by major decision over Dealya Collins (Team Wisconsin) (Maj 15-3)
3rd Place Match - Adrianna Lloyd (Team Arizona) won by major decision over Hannah Rogers (Team Iowa) (Maj 12-4)
5th Place Match - Brooke Schuenemann (Team Wisconsin) won by fall over Regan Rosseter (Team Nebraska) (Fall 3:40)
7th Place Match - Madisen Petersen (Team Nebraska) won by decision over Hannah Seitzinger (Team Indiana) (Dec 6-3)

132
1st Place Match – No. 3 Lauren Walton (Team Kentucky) won by fall over No. 12 Taylor Colangelo (Team Arizona) (Fall 1:21)
3rd Place Match - Lilliana Banks (Team Wisconsin) won by fall over No. 21 Taylor Miess (Team Colorado) (Fall 3:15)
5th Place Match - Amanda Jaeger (Team Kansas) won by fall over Sara Daley (Team Louisiana) (Fall 1:23)
7th Place Match - Hailie Misplay (Team North Carolina) won by decision over Adrianna Lopez (Team Colorado) (Dec 6-4)

138
1st Place Match – No. 1 Valerie Hamilton (Team Illinois) won by fall over No. 12 AshLynn Goodwin (Team Kansas) (Fall 1:27)
3rd Place Match - Gretchen Donally (Team Montana) won by decision over Anna Vogt (Team Texas) (Dec 5-0)
5th Place Match – No. 28 Bridgette Sotomayor (Team Arizona) won in tie breaker - 1 over Zoey Barber (Team Nebraska) (TB-1 7-5)
7th Place Match - Elena Gutierrez (Team Texas) won by medical forfeit over Jayda Fulp (Team Texas) (MFF)

144
1st Place Match – No. 5 Allyssa Johnson (Team North Dakota) won by decision over No. 20 Presley Givens (Team Arkansas) (Dec 12-7)
3rd Place Match - Adelaida Fernandez (Team California) won by decision over No. 14 Emma Peach (Team Iowa) (Dec 4-2)
5th Place Match – No. 28 Elly Janovsky (Team Indiana) won by decision over Chloe LaRue (Team Wisconsin) (Dec 7-2)
7th Place Match - Paityn Delong (Team Vermont) won by fall over Esperanza Almazan (Team Iowa) (Fall 1:58)

152
1st Place Match - Azana King (Team Texas) won by decision over No. 6 Lizzie Shunn (Team Utah) (Dec 1-0)
3rd Place Match - Josie Houk (Team Wyoming) won by decision over Teegan Sulentich (Team Iowa) (Dec 7-6)
5th Place Match - Melissa Barradas (Team Indiana) won by medical forfeit over Jayda Parker (Team Nebraska) (MFF)
7th Place Match – No. 20 Victoria Guinard (Team Colorado) won by fall over Justice Thomas (Team Kansas) (Fall 0:34)

164
1st Place Match – No. 14 Alexandra Hofrichter (Team Wisconsin) won by fall over No. 4 Amarisa Manuel (Team Michigan) (Fall 2:22)
3rd Place Match – No. 9 Aurellia Ramos (Team Utah) won by fall over Sophia Bassino (Team Wisconsin) (Fall 2:40)
5th Place Match – No. 18 Alison Evans (Team Colorado) won by fall over No. 23 Kaylee Ricketts (Team Nebraska) (Fall 4:38)
7th Place Match - Trinity Bouchal (Team Arizona) won by fall over Leslie Acevedo (Team California) (Fall 1:45)

180
1st Place Match – No. 4 Cheyenne Ruiz (Team Utah) won by fall over No. 21 Maria Aiono (Team Nevada) (Fall 5:20)
3rd Place Match - Bella Porcelli (Team Iowa) won by decision over No. 11 Ella Murphey (Team Tennessee) (Dec 8-2)
5th Place Match - Grace Johns (Team Kansas) won by fall over No. 14 Kendra Johnston (Team Kentucky) (Fall 1:45)
7th Place Match – No. 6 Taylor Knox (Team Colorado) won by decision over No. 11 Faith Macharia (Team Texas) (Dec 5-3)

200
1st Place Match – No. 9 Tilisa Matakaiongo (Team Utah) won by decision over No. 15 Esther Peters (Team Texas) (Dec 5-4)
3rd Place Match – No. 18 Makayla Rivera (Team Kansas) won by decision over No. 5 Zoe Adam (Team South Dakota) (Dec 5-2)
5th Place Match - Tiffany Curry (Team Texas) won by fall over No. 16 Maggie Smith (Team Wyoming) (Fall 1:16)
7th Place Match – No. 9 Tirza Twoteeth (Team Montana) won by fall over Jaiah ONeal (Team Indiana) (Fall 0:21)

225
1st Place Match – No. 5 Erica Cobos (Team Texas) won by fall over Chloe Hoselton (Team Illinois) (Fall 4:51)
3rd Place Match – No. 6 Leilani Sanchez (Team Texas) won by fall over Maddison Tenney (Team Utah) (Fall 2:33)
5th Place Match – No. 10 Keilikki Nau Rarick (Team Utah) won by fall over Ariana Chavez (Team Texas) (Fall 4:02)
7th Place Match - Kennedi Johnson-Washington (Team South Carolina) won by fall over Amaya McLaren (Team Nebraska) (Fall 1:08)