For the second straight year head coach Clarissa Chun of the University of Iowa has been named as the USA Women’s Wrestling Coach of the Year.
Chun was co-winner of the award with Sarah McMann.
Iowa repeated as NCWWC national champions in their second year of competition this season in dominating fashion as well as winning National Duals a second straight year.
Iowa has also been successful in International competition with Kyle Welker and Macey Kilty winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Senior World Freestyle Championships.
From USA Wrestling:
Chun is the head coach of the University of Iowa’s varsity women’s wrestling program. Iowa is the first NCAA Div. I Power Conference program to add women’s wrestling.
During the 2023-24 college season, in its first official year as a varsity, Iowa won the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC), which is the annual national championships for varsity teams in the NCAA. Iowa came from behind in the finals round to edge North Central College for the team title. The Hawkeyes finished the dual meet season undefeated.
Chun was named NCWWC Coach of the Year in 2024. She was also presented with the 2024 Trailblazer Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Chun was named USA Today’s Iowa Woman of the Year, as well.
She is also coach of the Iowa Women’s WC, which competes in major national and international events on the USA Wrestling circuit. Two of her athletes were Senior World bronze medalists in Tirana, Albania in October, Macey Kilty at 65 kg and Kylie Welker at 72 kg. Kilty and Welker were also both medalists at the 2024 U23 World Championships in Tirana the week before, with Welker winning gold and Kilty claiming silver.
At the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain in September, Iowa wrestler Naomi Simon won a bronze medal at 76 kg. Numerous athletes from the Iowa Women’s WC claimed All-American honors at USA Wrestling’s Senior and age-group national events.
Prior to Iowa, Chun served as an Assistant National Women’s Coach for USA Wrestling, helping coach the Women’s National Team from 2017-2021. As part of Terry Steiner’s National Women’s Coaching staff, Chun helped lead the USA to 17 Senior World medals and four Olympic medals.
As an athlete, Chun was one of the best women’s freestyle wrestlers in history and has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. She won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, and also placed fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She was a 2008 Senior World champion, and also competed on four other U.S. Senior World Teams.
Chun competed on the trailblazing Missouri Valley College women’s varsity team, one of the first women’s teams in college history. After college, she became a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, she was the first state high school champion in women’s wrestling in Hawaii history, competing for Roosevelt High School.
Congratulations to Coach Chun for being named for this prestigious award a second straight year.
Kennedy Blades(68 kg), Kylie Welker(76 kg) and Macey Kilty(65 kg) will represent Team USA at the Senior Pan American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico on May 9-10.
Blades, Welker, Kilty and Brianna Gonzalez(53 kg) have qualified for the Best 2 of 3 Bouts at Final X in Newark, New Jersey on June 14.
The winner of Final X will represent Team USA at the 2025 World Freestyle Championships in Zagreb, Croatia on September 15-18.
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
