In the Shadows: Joye Levendusky's Long Road To US Open Title
Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
@AWWderek
“Third time’s a charm,” they say. For Southern Oregon’s Joye Levendusky, it’s “6th time’s a charm.” After 6 visits to a national finals, Levendusky is finally coming home with a national title, and this time at the U.S. Open.
“Finally,” she told FloWrestling’s Kyle Klingman. “It feels like it’s about time. I’ve had a lot of lessons so I’m happy to get this win.”
Levendusky never won a USA Wrestling national tournament in high school. The highest she placed at Fargo was 4th in her senior year. Once on the college scene, she had a remarkable career for McKendree and Southern Oregon, where she was a 5x All-American and 3x national finalist, but never won a national title. In fact, since 2020, she’s been to five national finals and lost all of them. Here’s the resume:
2020 Junior National Finals: Lost to Kennedy Blades
2021 NCWWC National Finals: Lost to Yelena Makoyed
2022 NCWWC National Finals: Lost to Yelena Makoyed
2023 NCWWC NAIA Finals: Lost to Dymond Guilford
2023 U23 National Finals: Lost to Ashley Lekas
The losses were compounded by lost opportunities during the Covid fallout, as she made two Junior national teams (2019 & 2020) and never got to compete in any international events. Her response to it was a steady nose-to-the-grind perseverance, improving any way she could.
When McKendree head coach Sam Schmitz moved on from his 3x national championship program in 2022, Levendusky graduated that same spring with a bachelor’s from the Illinois school, and was ready for a change. That led her to Southern Oregon to work on her masters, where she followed McKendree assistant coach Gabby Wehyrich to the NAIA program, with one more year of eligibility.
She went from Yelena Makoyed in the NCAA to Dymond Guilford in the NAIA, who was also in her final year of eligibility. In March, they faced each other and the match was tactically going according to Levendusky’s plan, holding a brief 1-1 criteria lead in the second period right before Guilford made her own tactical adjustments, throwing Levendusky for the fall and national title. While Guilford celebrated, Levendusky got on her knees as the weight of the finality of the moment hit her. There would be no national title in college.
Levendusky moments after she lost NAIA finals to Dymond Guilford.
“Never reaching my goal of a national title is very hard,” she posted on Instagram days later. “I always thought I would do it. I don’t have an answer to why that wasn’t in the plan, but I’m not the writer of my story. God’s plan is better than mine.”
Fast-forward in the story. Just two months later, she added this to the bottom of her resume:
2023 U.S. Open 72 kg Champion
Of all national tournaments to win, that was the one, putting her on the Senior National Team and opening the door to the resources that will provide.
In her post-match interview, when explaining the lessons she’s learned along the way, she talked about the importance of having perspective and perseverance. “Where it’s over and over losing the big match,” she explained, “you know you’ve got to keep your head on straight, [knowing] it’s a long career and being about the moment, like, it’s really temporary.”
The Raider will face young star, 2022 world champion Amit Elor in a best-of-three at Final X next month. While she respects Elor’s accomplishments, she welcomes the opportunity to compete. “I trust my wrestling, I trust my coaches, so back to work on a few areas,” she said. “[The Open] did expose a few areas to work on—same as U23’s…I’m excited.”
”In order to reach your goals,” she posted on her fitness Instagram @joye_lifts_things days after the Open, “you have to believe in what can’t be seen yet…When we fail, it can feel SO final. It can feel like all your work is defined by a single moment. But truly, the only way to fail is to quit. Growth often requires failure, often over and over. Persevere, stay the course, keep your eyes ahead. I promise you will never regret it.”