Previewing Women’s Junior & U23 Nationals: What We Learned From Olympic Trials

McKendree Bearcat Wrestling Club’s Joye Levendusky competes at Olympic Team Trials. She’ll be competing for a world team spot in the U23 division at Women’s Nationals May 7-9. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com.

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by Emma Bruntil, AWW freelance writer
Twitter & IG: @Emaaabruntil

In just a few weeks, USA Wrestling will host Women’s Nationals in Irving, Texas, on May 7-9. The event will be the World Team Trials for the U15, Cadet, Junior, and U23 divisions. The UWW Junior champ will represent Team USA at the UWW Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia on August 16th-22nd. The UWW Junior division will also qualify some wrestlers for both the Pan-American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the Pan-American Games in Cali, Colombia. The champion for the U23 division will represent Team USA at the UWW U23 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on November 1st-7th.

Here’s the storylines as we look ahead to the big event.

Kennedy Blades and Kylie Welker can make all the world teams
Kennedy Blades and Kylie Welker practically broke the internet when they made the finals of the Olympic Trials on the first weekend of April, and for good reason. The two 2019 Cadet world team members are only 17-years-old, and have already snagged themselves a spot on the Senior National Team. Kennedy Blades was on a warpath in Fort Worth, tech-falling multiple-time Junior world teamer Rachel Watters in the first round. Blades followed up the impressive feat with a 5-0 decision over U23 world bronze medalist Alex Glaude, before cementing her spot in the finals with an 11-1 technical fall over 2-time Senior world team member Forrest Molinari. Although Blades fell to Tamyra Mensah-Stock in the best-of-three final, she took the world champ down several times, something most Senior level women haven’t been able to do.

Welker was also impressive in her own right, taking out Senior National Team member Randi Beltz 12-2, and 2020 NCWWC champion Yelena Makoyed 11-4. In the semifinals, Welker earned a decisive 8-0 victory over Dymond Guliford before topping 2-time Senior world teamer Victoria Francis by a score of 6-3. Even though it was all Adeline Gray in the best-of-three series on Saturday night, Welker is clearly a huge threat on the Senior level. The question now is, who stops these two from making both the Junior and U23 world teams? Welker indicated in a post-match interview that she intended to stay up at 76kg, which would prevent a rematch of the Last Chance final between Welker and Blades, where Blades was the victor via a 16-6 tech-fall. Amit Elor could make things interesting, though. The 2019 Cadet world bronze medalist has been training jiu-jitsu in Brazil as of recently, and should be primed to make a Cadet and Junior team at 68 kg in Irving.

Rematches Galore: the top matches that we could see again
Who doesn’t love a good rematch? Expect to see some electric matches go down for the second time in Texas. Alara Boyd and Ashlynn Ortega could wrestle again, should Boyd drop down to 65 kg. At Olympic Trials, Alara Boyd came away with the 5-2 victory in a very physical match. In 2020, Boyd and Ortega also wrestled in the semifinals of the NCWWC’s, where Boyd came away with the 7-1 win. At 53 kg, McKendree’s Felicity Taylor could meet Sunkist’s Alisha Howk with a spot on the U23 team on the line. The pair met at Captain’s Cup, where Howk pulled out some last second heroics for the 4-3 win. At Olympic Trials, Howk once again bested Taylor with a tight 3-1 decision. This time, though, Howk scored early and fended off Taylor to seal the win. Taylor has a history of impressive Women’s National performances, so expect to see a scrap when she meets Howk again in Texas. At 57 kg we could see a rematch of the NCWWC national finals between McKendree’s Cameron Guerin and North Central’s Amanda Martinez. The two had a relatively close match at NCWWC’s, where Guerin came away with the 9-6 win. At Olympic Trials it was all Guerin, though, as she powered through Martinez with an 11-0 win. Finally, At 62 kg, Ana Luciano and Michaela Beck could meet again. Luciano won their first meeting in a close 3-2 decision.

First timers: who could break through to make their 1st team
The list of women who haven’t made an age-group world team speaks volumes to the toughness of Women’s Nationals. At 50 kg in the U23 division you’ll have Emmanuel’s Angie Gomez and King’s Aleeah Gould trying to solidify their first spot on a world team. Gomez went on a tear at the NCWWC’s, beating King’s Jackie McNichols and McKendree’s Pauline Granados on her way to a title. She had a tough Olympic Trials draw, losing to Erin Golston and Emily Shilson. Don’t let that fool you, though—Gomez has all the talent to be a huge threat in Texas. Aleeah Gould had a big win at Olympic Trials when she bested multiple-time Cadet and Junior world teamer Alleida Martinez 6-2. Be on the lookout for the King star to go on a run at Women’s Nationals in a few weeks. At 53 kg Jaslynn Gallegos had some big wins in Fort Worth, dominating 2021 NAIA champion Peyton Prussin of Life 10-0. To make a Junior world team Gallegos will likely have to beat King’s Melanie Mendoza, who earned her spot at the Trials by winning the Last Chance qualifier a week prior. At 57 kg Cheyenne Sisenstein is a huge threat to make a U23 team. The King junior won NCWWC’s this year in a dominating fashion, and had an impressive 8-2 victory over McKendree’s Brenda Reyna at Olympic Trials. At 62 kg Ana Luciano has yet to make a world team and had impressive wins this year over Brenda Reyna and Michaela Beck. She’ll seek to win the U23 spot. 76 kg in the U23 division should feature a plethora of college hammers who have yet to make a world team. Leading the pack is NCWWC champion Yelena Makoyed, followed by McKendree’s 3-time All-American Joye Levendusky and 2-time NCWWC champion Sydnee Kimber. NAIA champion Jordan Nelson of Life should be in the title hunt as well, as she earned an impressive pin over Kimber at Olympic Trials.

New weight no problem: Alara Boyd is a huge threat
Alara Boyd has been a household name on the Cadet and Junior level for some time. The McKendree sophomore won two Cadet world medals in as many trips a few years back. Most recently, she beat Emmanuel’s Kayla Marano 8-2 in the NCWWC finals in Tiffin, Ohio. However, at Olympic Trials Boyd announced herself as a serious problem on the Senior level. In the quarterfinals, Boyd beat NCWWC runner-up Ashlynn Ortega 5-2, before meeting 2-time Senior world teamer Forrest Molinari. Boyd gave Molinari all she could handle, falling in a razor thin 4-3 match. On the backside, Boyd pinned 2021 NAIA champion Sienna Ramirez, before meeting teammate Alex Glaude in the 3rd place match. A late step-out for Glaude proved to be the difference, as she narrowly defeated Boyd 2-2 on criteria. With the impressive year Boyd is having, look for her to be pushing to make a Junior world team at either 65 or 68 kg.

A preview for next year’s NCWWC team race?
Perennial powers McKendree and King were the highlight of the team race this year at NCWWC’s, the national tournament for NCAA programs, where McKendree won by a 30-point margin. Both teams brought loaded squads to Olympic Trials, with McKendree bringing eight athletes, and King bringing five. At Olympic Trials, McKendree had three athletes earn 4th in the challenge tournament: Alara Boyd, Emma Bruntil, and Cameron Guerin. Although King did not have any placers, they put on a tough performance with several gritty wins. The upcoming Women’s Nationals will serve as a preview into next year’s NCWWC team race, with both teams bringing their full squads. Both programs have incredible depth, and could probably contend in the NCWWC team race with their back-ups alone. Women’s Nationals will also pit the NAIA teams versus the NCAA teams for the first time this year, something that we haven’t seen due to the cancellation of the prestigious Missouri Valley tournament. Expect to see Life and Campbellsville mixing up the unofficial team race and vying for spots on the Junior and U23 teams.