The only two teams to win the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships met at the Adrian Duals on Saturday.

McKendree (Division II) won titles from 2020 through 2022 and North Central (Division III) won in 2023. The Cardinals took down the Bearcats, 34-11, by winning nine of 10 bouts. It was a statement win for Joe Norton’s top-ranked North Central team against another title contender.

To be clear, neither team had its best line-up and both teams will look different at the National Duals (January 5-6) and the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (March 8-9), but the Cardinals passed an early-season test with flying colors. 

The match of the dual was Asia Nguyen-Smith’s 8-8 win over Julia Vidallon at 123 pounds. Smith, a three-time NCWWC All-American, was down 8-6 with seconds remaining before securing the winning takedown over 2020 WCWA champion Julia Vidallon. 

“It was an awesome team win over the #3 ranked team in the country,” Norton said. “Some very exciting matches that could have gone either way and our girls got some gutsy wins. We knew it was going to be a fight, and our women rose to the occasion like they always do.”

North Central 34, McKendree 11
101: Madison Avila (North Central) over Kiona Conner (McKendree) Dec 4-2
109: Kendra Ryan (North Central) over Pauline Granados (McKendree) TF 12-1
116: Sydney Petzinger (North Central) over Salyna Shotwell (McKendree) Dec 11-2
123: Asia Nguyen-Smith (North Central) over Julia Vidallon (McKendree) Dec 8-8
130: Jennifer Soto (McKendree) over Salome Walker(North Central) Fall 4:47
136: Taylor Graveman (North Central) over Estella Gutches (McKendree) TF 12-2
143: Yele Aycock (North Central) over Viktorya Torres (McKendree) Dec 8-3
155: London Houston (North Central) over Destiny Rodriguez (McKendree) Fall 2:04
170: Tiera Jimerson (North Central) over Ruby Rios (McKendree) TF 10-0
191: Brittyn Corbishley (North Central) over Erika Brokvich (McKendree) Fall 1:01

How many women’s college national championships are there?

Below is a guide to the different national college women’s championships since 2004. 

WCWA — Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association
This organization was created in 2004 to provide women an opportunity to compete. It included all divisions and the end-of-the-year tournament was considered the college national championship. The final WCWA championship was held in 2020. 

NAIA — National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
An NAIA invitational was held in 2019, canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, and resumed in 2021. The 2023 NAIA Championships were the first officially sanctioned women’s collegiate national championship. 

NCWWC — National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships
This division includes all NCAA programs (D1, D2, and D3), and the first national championship was held in 2020. NCAA women’s wrestling is currently an emerging sport.