2020-21 Domestic Rankings - Women's Freestyle

68 Kilograms

1. There are no new #1’s, but there was still a big shake-up at 50 kg, 53 kg, 57 kg, and 76 kg. All four weights had upsets at Junior & U23 Nationals. Take a look!

2. Familiar names still sit at the top of many weights, as some #1’s have been inactive, presumably, until the Olympic Team Trials in 2021. 53 kg Jacarra Winchester, 57 kg Helen Maroulis, and 68 kg Tamyra Mensah-Stock have not wrestled recently but hold their spots, while 50 kg Sarah Hildebrant, 62 kg Kayla Miracle, and 76 kg Adeline Gray have all been on the mat, all three with dominating domestic performances. Hildebrandt has been very active, maintaining her #1 spot with a convincing 12-1 win over Alyssa Lampe at the Wisconsin RTC event on November 24^th. Miracle had an 8-0 win over Canadian world teamer and NWCWW/NCAA Simon Fraser national champ Ana Godinez at the recent FloWrestling Burroughs-Zahid event, and Gray won Senior Nationals in October.

3. A high school wrestler hit the rankings this round! We can’t ignore Spartan Mat Club’s Samara Chavez of Texas, a high school senior who has put together a thrilling couple of months. First, she turned heads at Senior Nationals, then followed that up with a strong showing at Junior and U23 Nationals a few weeks ago in Omaha, Nebraska.

4. Some college talent made big moves, with King’s 53 kg Cheyenne Sisenstein climbing to #7 with wins over Alisha Howk and Felicity Taylor; King’s 57 kg Allison Petix cracking the top 10 at #10 with her first U23 national title; McKendree/Titan Mercury’s Cameron Guerin climbed to #5 with a win over XMP and a Junior National title; McKendree’s 76 kg Joye Levendusky reached the #8 spot with wins over Tristan Kelly and Nkechinyer “Chi Chi” Nwankwo; and OKC’s Nwankwo hit #9 with a win over #10 Tristan Kelly. Meanwhile, Kelly maintains her spot at #10 winning two of three matches over North Central’s Yelena Makoyed.

5. Other names made moves as Xochitl “XMP” Mota-Pettis continued to “wow” the women’s wrestling community with a huge finals win over Abby Nette by technical superiority. That puts XMP at #6 ahead of Nette who dropped to #7. Meanwhile, last year’s National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship national champion, McKendree’s Alexia Ward, finally made the top 10 at #9 with wins over Cameron Guerin and Lauren Mason, adding those victories to a previous win (within the last year) over current #4 Lauren Louive.

6. Gracie Figueroa is finally back in the top 10, after being right on the edge for the last few rankings, by virtue of her Junior finals win over previous #10 Michaela Beck at 62 kg. It was an unusual decision, as Figueroa beat Beck at 59 kg in the Junior division, but as that’s a “tweener” weight in our Olympic weights ranking, we wanted to reward Figueroa for that win even if it meant being ranked at 62 kg, the next weight class up. Considering the 2 kg allowance given at the event, our committee felt it was even more justified.

7. Keep in mind, these are Olympic weights. That means there are a number of weight classes converging together from 10 to 6, creating extremely competitive depth. There are many wrestlers who are in the top 10 at their weights in non-Olympic years, but did not make the top 10 in this ranking. This is all a testament to the strength and growth of U.S. women’s wrestling, especially at the Senior level. 

Rankings produced by a committee at American Women's Wrestling. For all feedback, please email info@americanwomenswrestling.com.