Wrestlers · Senior level
Amani Jones
2x NCWWC champion at North Central; U20 and U23 World bronze medalist; 3x Georgia girls' state champion
McDonough, GA · Ola HS · North Central College
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 11, 2026
Amani Jones wrestled at Ola High School in McDonough, Georgia. She won the girls' state title in each of the first three seasons the Georgia High School Association sanctioned girls wrestling. Weeks after she graduated in 2021 she won the Junior Pan American title at 55 kg, about 121 pounds, in Oaxtepec, Mexico. She beat Victoria Rojas Chavez of Mexico 10-0 in the final. She was the first Georgia high school girls wrestler to win a gold medal at the Junior Pan American Championships.
She went to North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. She placed fifth at 123 pounds as a freshman and went 35-8. As a sophomore she went 35-4, tied the program single-season wins record and finished second at the NCWWC Championships. In August 2023 in Amman, Jordan, she took U20 World bronze at 55 kg, beating Albina Rilla of Ukraine 5-5 on criteria.
On March 9, 2024, at the NCWWC Championships in Cedar Rapids, she won the 123-pound title with a 3-1 decision over Virginia Foard of King University. She went 24-1 that season. That October in Tirana, Albania, she added U23 World bronze at 55 kg with a 5-2 win over Bhavika Patel of India. As a senior she went 23-0 and won the 2025 NCWWC title at 124 pounds, beating Shelby Moore of McKendree 5-0.
In April 2025 she reached the U23 Nationals final at 55 kg in Spokane and lost the best-of-three series to Cristelle Rodriguez of Doane University. She was fifth at 55 kg at the Zagreb Open in February 2026. She placed third at 57 kg at the 2026 U.S. Open in Las Vegas, then moved up to 59 kg for the Senior World Team Trials in Louisville and lost the final 4-1 to three-time age-group World medalist Alexis Janiak.
She coaches at the Oklahoma State Cowgirl Wrestling Club in Stillwater and trains at the Cowboy Regional Training Center, wrestling at 59 kg.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-21 | High school | GHSA girls' state championships | 1st (three times) | AGSA reported in July 2021 that she had won state championships in each of the previous three seasons, the first three the Georgia High School Association sanctioned. Her state weight classes are not given on a page read for this profile, so they are left out. | |
| 2021 | Age group | Junior Pan American Championships, Oaxtepec, Mexico | 55 kg | 1st | Won the freestyle title with a 10-0 win over Victoria Rojas Chavez of Mexico in the final, weeks after graduating from Ola. AGSA called her the first Georgia high school girls wrestler to win a gold medal at the championships. The U.S. team won the event with 176 points to Mexico's 147 and Cuba's 101. |
| 2021-22 | College | NCWWC Championships | 123 lb | 5th | 35-8. Freshman season at North Central, six wins by decision and nine pins, All-American. The roster lists the meet only as Nationals. FloWrestling's championship history names the meet the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, first held in 2020. |
| 2022 | Age group | U20 Pan-American Championships, Mexico | 55 kg | 4th | July 2022, between her first and second seasons at North Central. United World Wrestling's athlete record carries the finish. |
| 2022-23 | College | NCWWC Championships | 123 lb | 2nd | 35-4. Tied the North Central single-season wins record at 35. Also Region IV champion and CCIW champion, and she earned a U20 World Team spot at 55 kg. |
| 2023 | Age group | U20 World Championships, Amman, Jordan | 55 kg | 3rd | Aug. 17, 2023. Opened with an 11-1 technical fall over Lina Nita of Moldova and lost the quarterfinal to eventual champion Aryna Martynava of Belarus. She beat Aysanem Kuraneva of Uzbekistan 7-4 in consolation and took bronze 5-5 on criteria over Albina Rilla of Ukraine. She had won the U20 national title at 55 kg that spring in Spokane. |
| 2023-24 | College | NCWWC Championships, Cedar Rapids | 123 lb | 1st | 24-1. March 9, 2024. Pinned Montana DeLawder of King University at 5:26 and beat Virginia Foard of King University 3-1 in the final. The sixth individual national championship in North Central women's wrestling history and her third All-America honor. Twelve pins and nine technical falls on the season, plus Region IV and CCIW titles and CCIW Most Outstanding Wrestler. |
| 2024 | Age group | U23 World Championships, Tirana, Albania | 55 kg | 3rd | Oct. 24, 2024 at Feti Borova Sports Hall. Beat Bhavika Patel of India 5-2 in the bronze medal match, scoring on an inside trip in the first period and countering a lateral drop in the second. Her second age-group World medal. USA Wrestling's medal list on this page gives her hometown as Jonesboro, Ga., while the North Central roster gives McDonough, so the profile uses the school's listing. |
| 2024-25 | College | NCWWC Championships | 124 lb | 1st | 23-0. March 2025. Beat top-five opponents Aspen Blasko of Grand Valley State in the semifinals and Shelby Moore of McKendree 5-0 in the final for a second straight title and a fourth All-America honor. Eleven technical falls and six pins on the season, plus the Region V title. North Central finished second as a team behind Iowa with 12 All-Americans, the last NCWWC championships before the NCAA took over the women's championship. |
| 2025 | Age group | USMC Women's Nationals, U23 division, Spokane | 55 kg | 2nd | April 2025. The defending 55 kg U23 champion lost the best-of-three final to Cristelle Rodriguez of Doane University, 12-6 and 5-3. She had beaten Ava Ebrahimi of California 10-0 and Montana DeLawder of Pennsylvania 7-0 to reach it. |
| 2025 | Senior | U.S. Open, Las Vegas | 55 kg | April 2025, listed with the Cardinal WC and Titan Mercury. Everest Leydecker of the Thorobred WC beat her 10-0 by technical fall. No page read for this profile gives her final placing. | |
| 2026 | Senior | Zagreb Open, Croatia | 55 kg | 5th | 0-2. February 2026, her first event of the season. She lost 5-3 to Karla Godinez Gonzalez of Canada in the quarterfinals and 4-0 to fellow American Areana Villaescusa in the bronze medal match. |
| 2026 | Senior | U.S. Open, Las Vegas | 57 kg | 3rd | April 2026, wrestling for the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. She reached the quarterfinals with a 10-0 technical fall over Sara Sterner of the Cardinal WC and beat Sterner again 6-0 in the third-place match. |
| 2026 | Senior | Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, Louisville | 59 kg | 2nd | May 14 and 15, 2026. She moved up a class from the U.S. Open, beat top-seeded Michaela Beck, the 2026 U.S. Open runner-up at 59 kg, 12-2 in the semifinals and lost the final 4-1 to Alexis Janiak. |
What we could not confirm
Anything not on this page, a high school record, a final score, a season, was left out because no primary source stated it when this was written. If you have a bracket, a program, or a clipping, send it and the page gets the number.
Sources
- https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/amani-jones/16853 · North Central College women's wrestling roster page for Amani Jones: senior, 124, high school Ola, hometown McDonough, Ga. Season lines give 2024-25 at 124 pounds, 23-0, 11 technical falls and six pins, Region V champion, national champion, CCIW student-athlete of the week Nov. 5, 2024 and a finalist for the 2025 USA Wrestling Women's College Wrestler of the Year; 2023-24 at 123 pounds, 24-1, 12 pins and nine technical falls, national champion, Region IV champion, CCIW champion and CCIW Most Outstanding Wrestler; 2022-23 at 123 pounds, 35-4, national runner-up, Region IV and CCIW champion, tied the single-season wins record and earned a U20 World Team spot at 55 kg; 2021-22 at 123 pounds, 35-8, six wins by decision and nine pins, All-American and fifth at nationals
- https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2024/3/15/womens-wrestling-amani-jones.aspx · North Central College feature page: Jones won the sixth individual national championship in program history on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Coaches (NCWWC) Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, pinning Montana Delawder of King University at 5:26 and beating Virginia Foard of King University 3-1 in the 123-pound final; the next year, at 124 pounds, the top-ranked Jones beat fifth-ranked Aspen Blasko of Grand Valley State in the semifinals and third-ranked Shelby Moore of McKendree 5-0 in the final for a second straight title, with All-America honors in every season of her career
- https://agsa.org/2021/07/olas-amani-jones-wins-gold-at-junior-pan-american-championships/ · AGSA, July 2021: Amani Jones, fresh off her graduation from Ola, won the 55 kg freestyle title at the Junior Pan American Championships in Oaxtepec, Mexico, with a 10-0 win over Mexico's Victoria Chazez, becoming the first Georgia high school girls wrestler to win a gold medal at the games; the U.S. team won with 176 points to Mexico's 147 and Cuba's 101; Ola coach Joey DiNino is quoted; she had won high school state championships the previous three seasons, the first three the Georgia High School Association sanctioned, and was a North Central College recruit, a Girls USA Cadet Freestyle national champion and a Girls Super 32 national champion
- https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2023/8/18/womens-wrestling-jones-earns-bronze-medal-in-u20-world-championship.aspx · North Central College, Aug. 18, 2023: Jones earned bronze at the U20 World Championships in Amman, Jordan on Aug. 17, beating Lina Nita of Moldova 11-1 by technical fall, losing the quarterfinal to eventual gold medalist Aryna Martynava of Belarus, beating Aysanem Kuraneva of Uzbekistan 7-4 and taking third 5-5 on criteria over Albina Rilla of Ukraine; she earned the World Team spot that spring in Spokane, Wash. as USA national champion at 55 kilograms; head coach Joe Norton
- https://nwhof.org/news/mortimer-makoyed-earn-u23-world-titles-jones-scores-bronze · National Wrestling Hall of Fame recap of the 2024 U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania, Oct. 24: Amani Jones beat Bhavika Patel of India 5-2 in the 55 kg bronze medal match on a first-period inside trip and a second-period counter to a lateral drop, adding a second age-group World medal after U20 World bronze a year earlier; the U.S. medal list gives her as 55 kg, Jonesboro, Ga./Cardinal WC
- https://www.nctv17.org/community-sports/north-central-college-womens-wrestling-brings-home-second-straight-ncwwc-runner-up-trophy/ · NCTV17, March 9, 2025: North Central finished as national runner-up at the 2025 NCWWC National Championships with 181 points to Iowa's 201.5, the last year before women's wrestling became an official NCAA championship sport; senior Amani Jones won her second consecutive national championship at 124 pounds, holding off Shelby Moore of McKendree 5-0 for a fourth All-America honor, and the Cardinals had 12 All-Americans
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/april/04/world-medalists-rodriguez-jones-to-clash-in-u23-finals-at-2025-usmc-women-s-nationals · USA Wrestling, April 4, 2025: preview of the U23 55 kg best-of-three final at the U.S. Marine Corps Women's National Championships in Spokane between Cristelle Rodriguez and two-time age-group World medalist Amani Jones, the defending 55 kg champion and U23 World bronze medalist; Jones beat Montana DeLawder 7-0 in the semifinals and Ava Ebrahimi 10-0 earlier in the bracket; both are two-time college national champions, Jones in the NCWWC for North Central and Rodriguez in the NAIA for Doane University
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/april/05/rodrigez-named-ow-six-champions-repeat-in-u23-division-at-usmc-women-s-nationals · USA Wrestling, April 5, 2025: Cristelle Rodriguez took the U23 55 kg championship series over Amani Jones in two straight matches, 12-6 and 5-3, and was named Outstanding Wrestler of the U23 division at the USMC Women's National Championships in Spokane
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/april/23/big-names-bring-the-heat-during-opening-session-of-senior-women-s-freestyle-competition-at-the-2026-u-s-open-championships · USA Wrestling, April 23, 2026: opening session of Senior women's freestyle at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas; the results block lists Amani Jones (Titan Mercury WC) beating Sara Sterner (Cardinal WC) by 10-0 technical fall
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/april/21/senior-women-s-freestyle-pre-seeds-released-for-2026-u-s-open · USA Wrestling, April 21, 2026: Senior women's freestyle pre-seeds for the U.S. Open, April 22-26 in Las Vegas
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/may/11/olympians-elor-and-winchester-highlight-strong-women-s-freestyle-field-at-senior-world-team-trials · USA Wrestling, May 11, 2026: preview and entry list for the Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Louisville, Ky., May 14-15; 'Jones placed third at 57 kg in Las Vegas but moves up to 59 kg with the Final X matchup set at 57 kg'; the 59 kg field also lists Michaela Beck, Cameron Geurin, Alexis Janiak, Sarah Savidge, Alexandra Szkotnicki and Olympian Jacarra Winchester
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/may/14/defending-champs-elor-and-taylor-return-to-women-s-freestyle-finals-at-senior-world-team-trials · USA Wrestling, May 14, 2026: Amani Jones (TMWC) reached the 59 kg final at the Senior World Team Trials by upsetting top-seeded Michaela Beck 12-2 in the semifinals, setting up a championship match with Alexis Janiak
- https://nwhof.org/news/women-s-freestyle-senior-world-team-trials-champions-crowned · National Wrestling Hall of Fame, May 15, 2026: women's freestyle Senior World Team Trials results from Louisville list 59 kg first place Alexis Janiak (TMWC) dec. Amani Jones (TMWC), 4-1, and describe Jones as a two-time age-group World medalist
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/14742543-amani-jones-joins-cowgirl-wrestling-club-coaching-staff · FloWrestling, Nov. 10, 2025: Oklahoma State announced that Amani Jones joined the Oklahoma State Cowgirl Wrestling Club as an assistant coach and the Cowboy Regional Training Center as an athlete, relocating to Stillwater; she is described as a four-time All-American and two-time national champion at North Central College with bronze medals at the 2023 U20 World Championships and the 2024 U23 World Championships; the Cowgirl staff includes John Smith, head coach Izzak Olejnik and executive director Rebecca Roper
- https://uww.org/athletes/jones-amani-emma · United World Wrestling athlete page for JONES Amani Emma. The 2021 Junior and Cadet Pan-American Championships bracket (Mexico, June 2021, Juniors, 55 kg) shows the final as JONES Amani Emma (USA) vs ROJAS CHAVEZ Victoria Pamela (MEX), 'WON by VSU (10-0)'. The page also lists 4th at the 2022 U20 Pan-American Championships (Mexico, July 2022, 55 kg) and 5th at the 2026 Zagreb Open (Croatia, February 2026, Seniors, 55 kg), where she lost 5-3 to GODINEZ GONZALEZ Karla Lorena of Canada in the quarterfinal and 4-0 to VILLAESCUSA Areana Louise of the United States in the 3-5 final.
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/14149007-every-womens-college-national-wrestling-champion-since-2004 · FloWrestling's history of women's college national champions: 'National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships (NCWWC). This division includes all NCAA programs (D1, D2, and D3), and the first national championship was held in 2020.' The bracket links run 2020 through 2025.
- https://nwhof.org/news/senior-women-s-freestyle-champions-crowned-at-u-s-open · National Wrestling Hall of Fame results from the 2026 U.S. Open in Las Vegas: at 57 kg, '3rd - Amani Jones (Titan Mercury WC) dec. Sara Sterner (Cardinal WC), 6-0'; at 59 kg, '1st - Abigail Nette (Army WCAP) tech. fall Michaela Beck (Titan Mercury WC), 10-0'
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/april/24/senior-women-s-freestyle-semifinals-set-at-2025-claw-u-s-open-championships · USA Wrestling, April 24, 2025, from the CLAW U.S. Open in Las Vegas: 'two-time age-group World medalist Amani Jones falling by 10-0 technical fall to recent U20 Women's Nationals champion and 2023 U17 World Team member Everest Leydecker'; the results block reads 'Everest Leydecker (Thorobred WC) tech. fall Amani Jones (Cardinal WC/Titan Mercury WC), 10-0'
- https://kingtornado.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/montana-delawder/8060 · King University's women's wrestling roster page spells the King wrestler's name Montana DeLawder
Your turn
Every program in the country that has a women's team, with the coach's published email, is in the college directory.
The newsletter
One email. The rules, the gear, the college path.
For wrestlers, parents, and coaches. Same standard as the site: every number sourced, no filler, unsubscribe any time.