North Central coach Joe Norton is still losing sleep over last season. And why wouldn’t he?

His Division III team was a match away from winning the National Duals and the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships over the University of Iowa. 

The Cardinals took six of 10 matches in the National Duals finals against the Hawkeyes. Still, they fell 21-20 when Iowa’s Jaycee Foeller was awarded a second-period activity clock point during her 6-1 loss to Traeh Haynes. 

In freestyle, the losing wrestler receives a team point if she scores at least one point in the match but doesn’t get pinned. That was enough for the Hawkeyes to take the title. 

The National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships came down to the final match when Kylie Welker upended three-time NCWWC champion Yelena Makoyed in the 170-pound finals, 11-0. 

Iowa had a monster semifinal round, sending nine to the finals with six champions. North Central sent three to the finals with one champ. 

Iowa 204, North Central 198

“I don’t think I’m over it,” Norton said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be.”

“It’s more so for the individuals than the team. Yelena had an opportunity to win that match and be a four-time champ and Jaslynn (Gallegos) had the opportunity to overcome the adversity of that knee injury. The team will wrestle at nationals again but they won’t.”

What Might Have Been

The second-place team will always play the ‘what-if’ game in razor-thin contests, and there were ways the Cardinals could have won the title. Norton can take solace in two seasons like no other in wrestling history. 

North Central’s 2023 NCWWC title marked the first and only time a Division III program won a national wrestling championship against an entire NCAA field (DI, II, and III). And, well, a tiny D3 program in Naperville, Illinois, almost defeated the Hawkeyes in wrestling. So there’s that. 

Norton lost three national champions (Jaslynn Gallegos, Alara Boyd, and Makoyed) to graduation and All-American London Houston to injury, but 16 returning All-Americans are reasons for optimism. Will that be enough to overcome a talented field led by Iowa?

Amani Jones (124) and Maddie Avila (103) are returning national champions and Sydney Petzinger (117), Yele Aycock (138), and Traeh Haynes (207) are returning finalists. However, the stakes have never been higher with 32 national qualifiers this season. Competitive programs like Grand Valley State enter the fold this year and NAIA champion Menlo enters soon. 

Winning national titles and reaching the podium has never been tougher.

Off-Season Acquisitions

The Cardinals picked up a few key transfers, highlighted by national finalist Kaelani Shufeldt (Lock Haven) and All-Americans Bella Mir (Iowa), and Shenita Lawson (Southern Oregon). They also recruited 10 nationally ranked high schoolers. 

Iowa had its share of off-season acquisitions, highlighted by silver medalists Macey Kilty and Kennedy Blades. Oh, and by the way, Kilty’s silver was at the 2023 Senior World Championships and Blades’s was at the 2024 Olympic Games. 

Blades and Kilty were a win away from being the best in the world. 

“Kennedy Blades wrestling for the Hawkeyes would be like taking Patrick Mahomes and putting him on a college team,” Norton said. “What are you supposed to do with that? She’s our version of a professional. Then you put her on a college roster. (Kennedy Blades and Macey Kilty) are like having Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce on the Hawkeyes football team. I think they’d win a lot. 

“How do we combat it? We tell our girls that nobody is unbeatable and we’ve proven it in the past and we’re going to close gaps on girls. These girls are smart. They know who Kennedy Blades is but if you walk in this room every day and your goal is to get second as an individual or as a team, you’re in the wrong place and our girls know that.”

North Central Profile

Head coach: Joe Norton
2024 NCWWC finish: 2nd
2024 NCWWC tournament points: 198
2024 NCAA tournament record: 61-23
2024 dual record: 13-1
Returning NCWWC qualifiers: 14
Returning NCWWC All-Americans: 14
Last NCWWC champion: Amani Jones (2024)
Highest national team finish: 1st (NCWWC 2023)
Highest national team finish under Morman: 1st (NCWWC 2023)

2024-25 Line-up

103 Pounds
Maddie Avila, Junior
2024 - NCWWC 4th at 101
2023 - NCWWC Champ at 101

110 Pounds
Kendra Ryan, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 4th at 109
2023 - NCWWC 5th at 109
2022 - NCWWC 6th at 116

Kaelani Shufeldt, Junior
2024 - NCWWC 2nd at 109
2023 - NCWWC 6th at 109

117 Pounds
Sydney Petzinger, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 4th at 116
2023 - NCWWC 4th at 109
2022 - NCWWC 2nd at 109

123 Pounds
Amani Jones, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 1st at 123
2023 - NCWWC 2nd at 123
2022 - NCWWC 5th at 123
U20 World Bronze at 55kg - 2023
U23 World Team at 55kg - 2024

131 Pounds
Yele Aycock, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 2nd at 136
2023 - NCWWC 2nd at 136

Sara Sterner, Junior
2024 - NCWWC 4th at 130
2023 - NCWWC 5th at 130

138 Pounds
Taylor Graveman, Sophomore
2024 - NCWWC 7th at 136

145 Pounds
Bella Mir, Sophomore
2024 - NCWWC 5th at 155

Sydney Perry, Freshman
Nationally Ranked HS 1st at 145

Riley Aamold, Senior
2022 - NCWWC 6th at 143

160 Pounds
Tiera Jimerson, Senior
2024 - NCWWC DNP at 155
2023 - NCWWC 7th at 155
2022 - NCWWC 5th at 155

Larissa Gallos, Senior
2024 14-5 at 170
2023 NJCAA 2nd at 170 (Iowa Western)
2022 NJCAA 2nd at 170 (Iowa Western)

180 Pounds
Brittyn Corbishley, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 5th at 191
2023 - NCWWC 3rd at 191
2022 - NAIA 4th at 170

Tatum Heikkila, Senior
2022 - NCWWC 7th at 170

Shenita Lawson, Junior
2024 - NAIA 4th at 170 (SOU)
2023 - NAIA 5th at 170 (Grand View)

207 Pounds
Traeh Haynes, Senior
2024 - NCWWC 3rd at 191
2023 - NCWWC 2nd at 191