Five members of the University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling team competed at the Grand Pix of Spain in Madrid today.
Kylie Welker won the Gold at 72kg as the only American champion in three styles. Welker was dominant with two pins over three-time World medalist Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan and a 12-0 technical fall against American Aspen Barber.
76kg Olympian Kennedy Blades placed third at 72kg.
Welker won a national title at 170 lbs. and led Iowa to the 2024 NCWWC and National Duals titles in the first year of competition for the program. Welker won Bronze at the 2021 U23 World Championships and was a 2021 Junior World champion.
Cadence Diduch(62kg) and Reese Larramendy(65kg) both won Bronze.
Iowa Assistant Coach Tonya Verbeek was a member of the coaching staff.
Brianna Gonzalez(50kg), Cadence Diduch(62kg), Reese Larramendy(65kg) and Naomi Simon(76kg) will represent Team USA at the 2024 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on September 4-6.
Diduch and Simon are members of the incoming Recruiting Class of 2024.
Kylie Welker(72kg) will compete at the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania on October 24-25.
Grand Prix of Spain
53kg: Brianna Gonzalez – 5th
62kg: Cadence Diduch – Bronze
65kg: Reese Larramendy – Bronze
72kg – Kylie Welker – Gold
76kg: Naomi Simon – 5th
53 kg – Brianna Gonzalez (Baldwin, Calif./Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), 5th
LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 5-0
LOSS Christianah Ogunsanya (Nigeria), tech. fall, 10-0
62 kg – Cadence Diduch (Freeport, Ill./Alber Athletics WC), bronze
WIN Lydia Perez (Spain), 4-4
LOSS Astrid Paola Montero Chirinos (Venezuela), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Miren Huarte Montes (Spain), tech. fall, 10-0
65 kg – Reese Larramendy (Reno, Nev./Iowa Women’s WC), bronze
WIN Manuela Noguerol de Souza (Spain), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Irina Kazyulina (Kazakhstan), fall
WIN Marta Ojeda Navarro (Spain), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Kendra Dacher (France), 10-7
WIN Jonelle Clarke (Canada), tech. fall, 10-0
72 kg – Kylie Welker (Franksville, Wis./Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), gold
WIN Zhamila Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan), fall
WIN Aspen Barber (United States), tech. fall, 12-0
WIN Zhamila Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan), fall
76 kg – Naomi Simon (Decorah, Iowa/Northeast Iowa WC), 5th
LOSS Elmira Syzdykova (Kazakhstan), 8-4
LOSS Brianna Fraser (Canada), fall
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
