By Tanner Lafever
USA Wrestling

Welcome back, one and all, to another edition of the women’s college notebook.

The postseason draws ever closer, but we’ll savor the moments until then because there’s still a ton of great wrestling going on around the country.

As such, there’s no time to waste – so let’s get to it!

A champion returns

Last Friday, Westerville, Ohio, was home to several noteworthy occasions all wrapped in one.

I’m referring, of course, to the season debut of two-time national champion Olivia Shore – who wrestled her first match of the year on Senior Day, no less.

Shore secured an early fall and a win via forfeit on a night in which she was celebrated as the first senior in the history of the Otterbein University program.

She also did so at 110 pounds – up a weight class from the one (103) at which she won a national title for the Cardinals last March.

We’ll see if that’s where she remains going forward, but either way, the lightweight landscape has added another major contender just in time for the homestretch of the 2025-26 season.

Welcome back, Olivia!

Let’s make a dual

Elsewhere on the dual scene, other Senior Nights produced a pair of top 10 matchups.

In Naperville, Illinois, NCAA #3 North Central won 9/10 bouts in a 37-8 victory over #8 Wartburg.

The Cardinals’ depth/firepower was on full display, producing six ranked victories against a Wartburg team that won the NCAA Division III title at National Duals in early January.

Of course, North Central was the NCAA Combined Divisions champ at that same event – and once again looked very much the part in its final home dual of the season.

Out in eastern Pennsylvania, #9 Lehigh wasn’t nearly as fortunate in its own home finale. And that had a lot to do with visiting #6 Presbyterian – which prevailed 26-19 over the host Mountain Hawks.

The marquee individual matchup did go to Lehigh, however, as #5 Audrey Jimenez teched fourth-ranked Chloe Dearwester at 110 pounds.

Rocky Mountain highlights

Another highly-ranked matchup (of sorts) took place at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championships.

Hosted at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, a five-team field duked it out for conference championship honors.

At tournament’s end, #11 Simon Fraser topped the team race by a margin of 309.5-247 over second place (and seventh-ranked) Colorado Mesa.

The NCAA’s lone Canadian member institution, Simon Fraser, tallied six individual champions to Colorado Mesa’s three.

Perhaps the most notable result was also a major upset, as #4 Lorianna Piestewa (CMU) built an early 8-0 lead only to be pinned by unranked Brooke Zejda (Texas Woman’s University) at 124 pounds.

The day’s biggest ranked-vs-ranked matchup unfortunately didn’t reach its conclusion, as #7 Julia Richey (SFU) injury defaulted to #6 Jayleen Sekona (CMU) while trailing 6-0 in the second period of the 207-pound championship bout.

Warriors all

Finally, the best overall tournament of last week must go to the Midland Warrior Open.

There, in Fremont, Nebraska, a host of high-powered NAIA programs converged for a day’s worth of battles.

#2 Grand View stood tallest amongst them with its four individual champions – including a last-second pin at 124 pounds by #7 Catharine Campbell to defeat William Penn’s #4 Victoria Baez Dilone.

Third-ranked William Penn did amass three champions of its own. One of them – returning national champ Esther Kolawole – ran through the field at 138 pounds rather than 145, where she’s been ranked #1 all season long.

We’ll see if that’s a sign of things to come in the postseason.

Weekly Watch Guide

Training our gaze forward, the two showcase events of the weekend will both take place in the state of Iowa.

On Saturday in Des Moines, the Grand View Open hosts the final must-see open tournament of the regular season – with half of the current top 10 teams from the NCAA/NAIA ranks entered in the field.

A day later in Coralville, several of those squads will be in action once again – as part of the inaugural For Her Duals.

An eight-team dual tournament, the field will be split into a pair of NCAA/NAIA pools – with the corresponding placers facing off against one another in a final cross-division matchup.

• NCAA participants = #1 Iowa, #2 McKendree (Ill.), #17 William Jewell (Mo.), Ursinus (Pa.)

• NAIA participants = #1 Life (Ga.), #3 William Penn (Iowa), #8 Indiana Tech, #13 Ottawa (Kan.)

Streaming live on B1G+ (subscription required), we’re guaranteed to see heavyweight clashes between #1 and #2 from the NCAA (Iowa/McKendree), plus #1 and #3 from the NAIA (Life/William Penn).

In all likelihood, we’ll get some permutation of those programs in the cross-division matchup thereafter – not to mention the other strong teams/individuals littered throughout the event.

So yeah, cancel your weekend plans if you haven’t already. Because we’re in for an incredible few days of wrestling – and I can’t imagine missing out on a single moment of it.