2024-25 NAIA Women's College Wrestling Rankings

131 pounds

1. With last year’s results taken into account, here’s the first look at this year’s rankings in our preseason edition. It’s important to note that this season has brand new weight classes: 103, 110, 117, 124, 131, 138, 145, 160, 180, 207

2. Some of the biggest names in the NAIA are returning national champ and three-time finalist Mia Palumbo of William Penn, Doane’s Cristelle Rodriguez who is coming off a U20 World title, and Southern Oregon’s three-time national champion Carolina Moreno getting ready to make a run at being a four-timer.

3. There are numerous returning champs hitting the top spot in the preseason rankings:

#1 at 103 Stefana Jelacic, SR (Lourdes)

#1 at 110 Mia Palumbo, SR (William Penn)

#1 at 117 Juliana Diaz, SO (Missouri Baptist)???

#1 at 124 Cristelle Rodriguez, SR (Doane)

#1 at 131 Carolina Moreno, SR (Southern Oregon)

#1 at 145 Jamilah McBryde, SR (Life)

#1 at 180 Ashley Lekas, SR (Texas Wesleyan)

4. Menlo’s departure from the NAIA and journey into the NCAA has a huge impact on this ranking. The 2023-2024 team champions previously had a wrestler ranked (and sometimes two) at almost every weight. With them out of the picture, it makes elbow room for a lot of new names.

5. While we don’t typically rank incoming freshmen until they have some college results, there are a few who have done enough on the USAW circuit at the U20 level and/or against college athletes to warrant a ranking. Some of them are California high school talent Anaya Falcon who hits the Life roster this year, Zao Estrada of William Penn, and another Life U freshman, Savannah Isaac.

6. Keep in mind, this list will have a lot of new names as all 2024 graduates are removed. It’s possible some names that have been removed still have eligibility but that will be corrected next round.

7. Transfers are a massive part of the offseason now that we’re in the day of the NIL and the transfer portal for college athletes. There are some significant names you’ll see this season in new singlets, among whom are a few transferring from NCAA teams, and they are:

#2 at 117 Salyna Shotwell, SR (Life)

#3 at 138 Esther Han, SO (Providence)

#4 at 145 Kendall Bostelman, JR (William Penn)

#1 at 180 Ashley Lekas, SR (Texas Wesleyan)

8. Please note that we do not rank more than two women from the same school, as the rankings reflect the NAIA postseason, where no more than two women are allowed to enter per weight. That said, there were several weights where programs had enough rankable candidates for three and sometimes four in the top ten, but we had to remove the lowest-ranked wrestlers.