Wrestlers · Career complete
Ava Bayless
2024 NCWWC national champion at 109 pounds in Iowa's first varsity season; 2025 U23 Pan American bronze medalist
Greenville, PA · Wyoming Seminary HS · University of Iowa
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
Ava Bayless was born on October 8, 2003, in Greenville, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Annese and Sean Bayless. She won seven straight Pennsylvania girls' state junior championships and qualified for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling state tournament, then moved to Wyoming Seminary in Kingston. There she won two National Prep girls' titles and finished as the country's twelfth-ranked recruit at 112 pounds.
She wrestled abroad early. She was second at the 2018 Cadet World Team Trials and third in 2019. In 2019 she won the Flatz Open in Austria and the Tallinn Open in Estonia, took bronze at the Vorobyeva Cup in Russia, and was the Super 32 runner-up that fall.
In April 2022 she signed with Iowa, part of the first class Clarissa Chun brought to the first Division I Power Five women's wrestling program. She wrestled unattached in 2022-23, then went 31-1 as a redshirt freshman.
On March 9, 2024, in Cedar Rapids, she beat Kaelani Shufeldt of Lock Haven 2-1 to win the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship at 109 pounds. Iowa won the team title in its first varsity season, and her win qualified her for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
She went 33-5 in 2024-25, won a regional title and placed fourth at nationals. That April, in Queretaro, Mexico, she took a 12-2 technical fall over Ana Sales Lima of Brazil for U23 Pan American bronze.
She went 23-5 as a redshirt junior in 2025-26 and won the Waldorf University Open. In January 2026 she received the Big Ten's Jackie Robinson Community and Impact Award, presented on senior night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. She finished at Iowa with a career that ran from an unattached first year to a national title, and she is headed to medical school.
She finished at Iowa with the Big Ten's Jackie Robinson Community and Impact Award and the Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, a University of Iowa award inscribed for learning, leadership and loyalty, and she is headed to medical school.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-19 | High school | Pennsylvania Girls' State Junior Championships | 1st (seven straight) | She also qualified for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling state tournament before enrolling at Wyoming Seminary | |
| 2018-19 | Age group | Cadet World Team Trials | 2nd in 2018, 3rd in 2019 | ||
| 2019 | Age group | Flatz Open (Austria), Tallinn Open (Estonia) and Vorobyeva Cup (Russia) | 1st, 1st and 3rd | ||
| 2019 | Age group | Super 32 Challenge | 2nd | ||
| 2019-22 | High school | National Prep Girls' Championships | 1st (twice) | Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa.; National Prep All-American; No. 12 recruit nationally at 112 pounds | |
| 2021 | Age group | Junior and U23 World Team Trials and Junior Fargo | 4th, 7th and 5th | Fourth at the Junior World Team Trials, seventh at the U23 World Team Trials and fifth at Junior Fargo | |
| 2022-23 | College | Unattached season at Iowa | Bearcat Open champion | Third at the 2022 Soldier Salute, sixth at the 2023 U20 National Championship and seventh at the 2023 U.S. Open; Iowa did not begin varsity competition until 2023-24 | |
| 2023-24 | College | NCWWC National Championships, Cedar Rapids, IA | 109 lb | 1st | 31-1. March 9, 2024; def. Kaelani Shufeldt (Lock Haven) 2-1 in the final; Iowa won its first team title with 204 points to North Central's 198; the title qualified her for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Penn State; 12-0 in duals, 21 technical falls, 12-1 against ranked opponents; 2024 NCWWC Region Five champion |
| 2024-25 | College | NCWWC National Championships | 4th | 33-5. NCWWC regional champion and All-American; 21 technical falls and seven pins with a fastest fall of 20 seconds; also second at 50 kg at the U23 National Championship and seventh at 50 kg at the U.S. Open that season | |
| 2025 | Age group | U23 Pan American Championships, Queretaro, Mexico | 50 kg | 3rd | April 11, 2025; took a 12-2 technical fall over Ana Sales Lima (Brazil) in the bronze-medal match; Team USA won the team title with 192 points |
| 2025-26 | College | Iowa season | 110 lb | 23-5 | 23-5. Won the 2026 Waldorf University Open, which Iowa lists without a weight class; 13 technical falls and five pins; NCAA All-American Scholar and Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar honoree; Iowa's 110-pound entry at the 2026 NCAA championships was Nyla Valencia |
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://hawkeyesports.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/player/ava-bayless · Iowa roster bio: born Oct. 8, 2003; daughter of Annese and Sean Bayless; hometown Greenville, Pa.; high school Wyoming Seminary; human physiology major; 110 pounds, redshirt junior in 2025-26; season records 31-1 with the 2024 NCWWC national title and Region Five title, 33-5 with a regional title and fourth at nationals, and 23-5 with the 2026 Waldorf University Open title; 2025 Pan American bronze medalist; second at 50 kg at the U23 National Championship and seventh at 50 kg at the U.S. Open in 2025; unattached in 2022-23 with the Bearcat Open title, third at the Soldier Salute, sixth at U20 Nationals and seventh at the U.S. Open; two-time National Prep girls champion; No. 12 recruit nationally at 112 pounds; seventh at the 2021 U23 World Team Trials, fourth at the 2021 Junior World Team Trials, fifth at 2021 Junior Fargo; 2019 Flatz Open and Tallinn Open champion and Vorobyeva Cup bronze; 2019 Super 32 runner-up; second in 2018 and third in 2019 at the Cadet World Team Trials; Hancher-Finkbine Medallion in April 2026
- https://www.wkbn.com/sports/valley-native-female-wrestler-commits-to-d1-program/ · April 11, 2022: Bayless signed a National Letter of Intent with Iowa as the No. 12 ranked recruit nationally at 112 pounds; two-time GIRLS National Prep champion and National Prep All-American at Wyoming Seminary; before that she won seven straight Pennsylvania Girls' State Junior Championships and qualified for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling State Tournament; head coach Clarissa Chun's comments; she would wrestle unattached in 2022-23 and Iowa would begin competing in 2023-24 as the first Division I Power Five school with women's wrestling
- https://www.themat.com/news/2024/march/09/welker-beats-makoyed-in-last-match-as-iowa-edges-north-central-to-win-its-first-ncwwc-team-title · March 9, 2024 NCWWC Championships in Cedar Rapids: Iowa won the team title with 204 points to North Central's 198 in its first varsity season; Bayless was one of six Hawkeye individual champions, edging Lock Haven's Kaelani Shufeldt 2-1 at 109 pounds; her title earned her a spot at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Penn State on April 19-20
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/april/11/u-s-wins-four-women-s-freestyle-golds-nine-medals-at-u23-pan-american-championships · April 11, 2025 U23 Pan American Championships in Queretaro: Bayless took bronze at 50 kg with a 12-2 technical fall over Ana Sales Lima of Brazil; the U.S. women won the team standings with 192 points
- https://dailyiowan.com/2026/01/18/iowa-womens-wrestlings-ava-bayless-full-circle-moment-a-humbling-reminder-of-her-lasting-impact/ · Jan. 18, 2026 Daily Iowan: Bayless received the Big Ten's Jackie Robinson Community and Impact Award, presented at center mat on Iowa's senior night against Lehigh and Otterbein at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, closing with a 10-0 technical fall over Otterbein's Kellie Kennedy in 32 seconds after losing 10-0 to Lehigh's Audrey Jimenez; the story says her wrestling career 'is coming to an end' and that she plans to attend medical school, which is the basis for the retired status here, together with Iowa's 2026 NCAA lineup listing Nyla Valencia at 110; Clarissa Chun recruited her out of USA Wrestling development camps; she spent summer 2025 in rural Vietnam with the Coach for College program alongside teammate Sam Calkins
- https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2026/03/6/9-hawkeyes-claim-all-america-honors-at-ncaa-national-championships · March 6, 2026: Iowa's nine NCAA All-Americans are listed and Bayless is not among them; Nyla Valencia wrestled 110 pounds for the Hawkeyes at the 2026 NCAA National Championships
- https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2026/04/9/bayless-receives-hancher-finkbine-medallion · April 9, 2026 Iowa release: Bayless was recognized at the 109th Hancher-Finkbine Anniversary Dinner Celebration on April 7 and received the Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, 'which is presented each year to students, faculty, staff, and alumnus or alumna of the University of Iowa'; the medallions, first awarded in 1964, are inscribed 'learning, leadership, and loyalty'. She is a senior majoring in human physiology on the pre-medicine track and a member of the UI Honors Program.
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