Wrestlers · Senior level
Emily Shilson
5x college national champion, 4x NCWWC and the 2020 WCWA; U23, Junior and Cadet World champion; Youth Olympic gold
Maple Grove, MN · Mounds View HS · Augsburg University, McKendree University
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 11, 2026
Emily Shilson grew up in Maple Grove, Minnesota, and wrestled six years of high school, first at Centennial and then at Mounds View. She went 139-64 over that career, with 62 pins in matches against boys, and qualified three times for the Minnesota Class AAA boys' state tournament. She won the Minnesota girls' state tournament six times, before the state high school league sanctioned girls' wrestling in 2021.
She took Cadet World silver at 43 kg, about 95 pounds, in Greece in 2017, then won the Cadet World title in Croatia in 2018. Later that year in Argentina she became the first United States wrestler to win a Youth Olympic Games gold medal, beating Simran Simran of India 11-6 in the final.
She enrolled at Augsburg in 2019 and went 14-0 as a first-year. The season had two national tournaments and she won both at 109 pounds, the WCWA National Championships and the first National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship. She won the NCWWC again in 2021, going 8-0, and in 2022, going 25-0. In August 2021, in Ufa, Russia, she won the Junior World title at 50 kg with a 10-0 win over Enkhzul Batbaatar of Mongolia. That November in Belgrade she pinned Shivani Pawar of India in 1:38 in the U23 World final, the first U23 World gold medal an American woman had won.
She moved to McKendree for the 2022-23 season and won a fourth straight NCWWC title at 109 pounds, pinning Sage Mortimer of King University at 3:46 in Cedar Rapids. That made five college national titles, four at the NCWWC and one at the WCWA. She won the U23 Nationals at 50 kg in 2023. In November 2025 she went 4-0 to win the Bill Farrell Memorial International at 50 kg in New York. That win qualified her for the 2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, which she wrestled in Louisville in May.
She wrestles at 50 kg for the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club and trains full time on the sport. She is also the head girls' wrestling coach at St. Michael-Albertville High School in Minnesota.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-19 | High school | Minnesota Girls High School Wrestling State Tournament | 1st (six times) | The National Wrestling Hall of Fame lists a 139-64 career record and 62 pins in matches against boys, three Minnesota Class AAA boys' state qualifications, two all-conference honors and two honorable mentions. She wrestled for Centennial High School and then Mounds View High School. The Guillotine called her the first six-time Minnesota Girls High School Wrestling State champion in March 2019. That tournament ran outside the state high school league, which sanctioned girls' wrestling in August 2021, two years after she graduated. Augsburg lists her as a two-time section champion and three-time state entrant who wrestled six years. | |
| 2017 | Age group | Cadet World Championships, Greece | 43 kg | 2nd | United World Wrestling files the meet as the 2017 Cadet World Championships in Greece, September 2017, at 43 kg, with Shilson second. Augsburg's roster also lists the 2017 silver at 43 kg. A 2021 National Wrestling Hall of Fame article calls her a 2017 Cadet World champion, which the Hall's own biography, Augsburg and United World Wrestling all contradict, so this profile uses the silver. |
| 2018 | Age group | Cadet World Championships, Croatia | 43 kg | 1st | United World Wrestling files the meet in Croatia in July 2018 at 43 kg. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame also credits her with Cadet Pan American gold in 2016 and 2018 and the Golden Boot as Outstanding Wrestler in 2018. |
| 2018 | Age group | Youth Olympic Games, Argentina | 1st | The National Wrestling Hall of Fame says she became the first U.S. wrestler to win a Youth Olympic Games gold medal. She beat Simran Simran of India 11-6 in the title match. United World Wrestling files the meet in Argentina in October 2018 and enters her at 44 kg in one place and 48 kg in another. Augsburg gives 43 kg and 48 kg, so the weight class is left out. | |
| 2019-20 | College | WCWA National Championships | 109 lb | 1st | 14-0. Her first year at Augsburg, with six technical falls and six pins on the season. |
| 2019-20 | College | National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, Adrian | 109 lb | 1st | The first National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, run by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and Cliff Keen on March 6 and 7, 2020, in Adrian, Michigan. The NCWWC lists her as the 109-pound champion for Augsburg, and Augsburg's roster lists it as the Cliff Keen and NWCA National Collegiate Championship. The 2019-20 season had two national tournaments and she won both. |
| 2020-21 | College | NCWWC Championships | 109 lb | 1st | 8-0. All eight wins came by bonus points, six technical falls and two pins. She finished the season ranked first nationally and was an NWCA Scholar All-American. She also competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in March 2021. |
| 2021 | Age group | Junior World Championships, Ufa, Russia | 50 kg | 1st | 4-0. August 2021. She outscored four opponents 36-10, opening 6-3 over Natallia Varakina of Belarus and coming from 4-0 down to beat Viktoriia Aleksandrova of Russia 10-7. She won the semifinal and final by 10-0 technical fall, the last over Enkhzul Batbaatar of Mongolia in 2:49. It was the first U.S. women's freestyle junior world title since 2017. |
| 2021 | Age group | U23 World Championships, Belgrade | 50 kg | 1st | 4-0. November 2021. She pinned Shivani Pawar of India in 1:38 in the final after being taken down first, throwing Pawar to her back. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame called it the first U23 World gold medal won by a U.S. woman. It was her fourth age-group World medal and her second age-group World title of the year. |
| 2021-22 | College | NCWWC Championships | 109 lb | 1st | 25-0. Ranked first all season, with 13 technical falls and seven pins, and NWCA Northwest Wrestler of the Month for January. |
| 2022-23 | College | NCWWC Championships, Cedar Rapids | 109 lb | 1st | 4-0. March 2023 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, her one season at McKendree. She had a bye, then technical falls over Dinayah Vazquez of Emmanuel College and Cassy Lopez of Presbyterian. She beat Dianna Holmes of King University 9-8 in the semifinals and pinned Sage Mortimer of King University at 3:46. McKendree finished third and listed her afterward as a four-time NCWWC champion and the 2020 WCWA champion. |
| 2023 | Age group | U23 Nationals | 50 kg | 1st | She won the best-of-three final over Sage Mortimer two matches to none at 50 kg. NCAA.com later listed her among the 2023 U23 national champions who lost their U23 World Team spots to the U.S. Open winners at their weights. |
| 2025 | Senior | Bill Farrell Memorial International, New York | 50 kg | 1st | 4-0. November 2025. She won a round robin with an 11-0 technical fall over 2024 U23 World champion Sage Mortimer in round one and a 12-2 technical fall over Yi Lin of Chinese Taipei. She then beat Kendra Ryan of the Cardinal WC 5-4 and closed with an 11-0 technical fall over Mariah Anderson, who finished fourth at 50 kg. |
| 2026 | Senior | Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, Louisville | 50 kg | May 2026, wrestling for the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. She qualified for the Trials as the highest U.S. placer at the 2025 Bill Farrell Memorial not already in. She lost 10-6 to Kendra Ryan of the Cardinal WC and does not appear in the 50 kg medal results, so no placing is given. |
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://nwhof.org/hall_of_fame/bio/4603 · National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography, 2019 Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award: Emily Shilson was a six-time Minnesota girls high school state champion and qualified for the Minnesota AAA boys state championship three times, with a career record of 139-64 and 62 pins against boys, wrestling for Centennial High School and Mounds View High School; daughter of Chad and Margaret Shilson; won the Cadet World Championship in 2018 after a silver medal in 2017; in 2018 she became the first U.S. wrestler to win a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games; Cadet Pan-Am gold in 2016 and 2018, with the Golden Boot as Outstanding Wrestler in 2018; three-time junior national champion in folkstyle and freestyle, two-time Cadet freestyle national champion and Cadet folkstyle national champion; planned to enroll and wrestle at Augsburg University
- https://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/emily-shilson/23680 · Augsburg University roster page for Emily Shilson, 109 pounds, Maple Grove, Minn., Mounds View HS, parents Chad and Margaret Shilson: 2021-22 record 25-0, ranked No. 1 all season, fourth straight NCWWC national title and third straight at 109, 13 technical falls and seven pins, plus her second world championship at 110 pounds at the U23 World Championships; 2020-21 record 8-0, third straight NCWWC national title, six technical falls and two pins, NWCA Scholar All-American; 2019-20 record 14-0, WCWA national champion and Cliff Keen/NWCA National Collegiate Championship national champion, six pins; high school notes list two section titles, three state entries, the 2018 UWW Cadet World title, 2017 UWW Cadet World silver, the 2018 Youth Olympic Games title and three World Team selections
- https://athletics.augsburg.edu/news/2021/8/19/wwr081921.aspx · Augsburg University, Aug. 19, 2021: Shilson won the Junior World title at 50 kg in Ufa, Russia, outscoring four opponents 36-10, beating Natallia Varakina of Belarus 6-3, Viktoriia Aleksandrova of Russia 10-7 after trailing 4-0, Simran Simran of India 10-0 in 2:09 in the semifinals and Enkhzul Batbaatar of Mongolia 10-0 in 2:49 in the final, the first U.S. women's freestyle junior world championship since 2017; the story also records that she had beaten Simran 11-6 in the cadet 48 kg title match at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games while elsewhere calling her the 2018 Youth Olympic champion at 43 kg; she was a two-time NCWWC champion at 109 pounds and the 2020 WCWA national titlist at that point, 22-0 in her college career, went 1-2 at the 2019 U23 World Championships in Budapest, won the 2020 U23 Nationals and UWW Junior Nationals in Omaha and competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in March 2021
- https://nwhof.org/news/shilson-becomes-first-u-s-woman-to-win-u23-world-gold-medal · National Wrestling Hall of Fame, November 2021: in Belgrade, Serbia, Emily Shilson became the first U.S. woman to win a U23 World gold medal, pinning Shivani Pawar of India in 1:38 at 50 kg after being taken down first; she went 4-0 with two falls; it was her fourth career age-group World medal and her second age-group World title of the year after the Junior World title at 50 kg in August; she is listed as Maple Grove, Minn./Titan Mercury WC/Twin Cities RTC
- https://mckbearcats.com/news/2023/3/5/three-champion-for-womens-wrestling-bearcats-finish-third-at-ncwwc.aspx · McKendree University, March 2023: at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, senior 109-pounder Emily Shilson captured a fourth straight individual national title with two technical falls, a decision and a pin at 3:46 over King's Sage Mortimer, scoring 25.0 team points as McKendree finished third; her bracket line was a bye, a 10-0 technical fall over Dinayah Vazquez of Emmanuel College, a 10-0 technical fall over Cassy Lopez of Presbyterian, a 9-8 decision over Dianna Holmes of King University and the final; the recap labels her a 4x NCAA-NCWWC national champion and 2020 WCWA national champion
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/november/07/krazer-named-ow-in-women-s-freestyle-at-2025-bill-farrell-memorial-international · USA Wrestling, Nov. 7, 2025: three-time age-group World champion Emily Shilson won 50 kg gold at the Bill Farrell Memorial International in New York with four wins in a round robin, including an 11-0 technical fall over 2024 U23 World champion Sage Mortimer in round one, a 12-2 technical fall over Yi Lin of Chinese Taipei, a 5-4 decision over Kendra Ryan and an 11-0 technical fall over Mariah Anderson; 50 kg was one of two weights small enough to run as a round robin
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/april/28/2026-world-team-trials-challenge-tournament-women-s-freestyle-qualifiers · USA Wrestling, April 28, 2026: the women's freestyle qualifier list for the Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament names Emily Shilson at 50 kg as the highest U.S. placer at the 2025 Bill Farrell Memorial International not previously qualified
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/15906347-2026-wrestling-world-team-trials-challenge-tournament-results · FloWrestling results from the 2026 Wrestling World Team Trials Challenge Tournament list, in women's freestyle, '50 kg - Kendra Ryan, CAWC over Emily Shilson, TMWC (Dec 10-6)'
- https://nwhof.org/news/women-s-freestyle-senior-world-team-trials-champions-crowned · National Wrestling Hall of Fame, May 15, 2026: the Senior women's freestyle World Team Trials medal results at 50 kg read 1st Morgan Turner dec. Felicity Taylor 10-8 and 3rd Samara Chavez tech. fall Erin Golston 10-0, with Shilson not among the placers
- 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: the Senior World Team Trials preview lists age-group World champions Sage Mortimer, Emily Shilson and Morgan Turner all entered at 50 kg in Louisville
- https://mckbearcats.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/emily-shilson/15864 · McKendree University women's wrestling roster page for Emily Shilson, confirming she was on the Bearcats roster
- https://uww.org/athletes/shilson-emily-king · United World Wrestling athlete page for SHILSON Emily King. It files the 2017 Cadet World Championships in Greece, September 2017, 43 kg, 2nd; the 2018 Cadet World Championship in Croatia, July 2018, 43 kg, 1st; the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, October 2018, with entries at 44 kg (1st) and 48 kg; the 2019 Junior Pan-American Championships, June 2019, 50 kg, 2nd; the 2019 U23 World Championships in Hungary, October 2019, 50 kg, 11th; the 2021 Junior World Championships in Russia, August 2021, 50 kg, 1st; the 2021 U23 World Championships in Serbia, November 2021, 50 kg, 1st; and the 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier in Tunisia, July 2022, 50 kg, 2nd. The results entries carry no host city, though the page links a United World Wrestling story tagged #Zagreb2018 about the 2018 Cadet final.
- https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2023-10-12/everything-you-need-know-about-college-wrestlers-competing-u23-world · NCAA.com, Oct. 12, 2023: 'In women's freestyle, Audrey Jimmenz, Katie Gomez, Xochitl Mota-Pettis and Kennedy Blades all qualified by winning the U.S. Open and earned their spots over U23 national champions Emily Shilson, Felicity Taylor, Montana DeLawder and Ashley Lekas.'
- https://www.ncwwc.com/2020-champions · National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, 2020 individual champions: '109 - Emily Shilson (Augsburg University)'
- https://www.ncwwc.com/2021-champions · National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, 2021 individual champions: '109 - Emily Shilson (Augsburg University)'
- https://www.ncwwc.com/2022-champions · National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, 2022 individual champions: '109 - Emily Shilson (Augsburg University)'
- https://athletics.augsburg.edu/news/2020/2/7/wwr020719.aspx · Augsburg University, Feb. 7, 2020: Shilson won the 109-pound title at the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association National Championships at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Ga., Feb. 7-8, going 4-0 with two pins and two technical falls, beating McKayla Campbell of Campbellsville 11-0 in the final, the first individual national title in Augsburg women's wrestling history, and was named WCWA Wrestler of the Year; the story adds that this was the first of two national tournaments of the season, the second being the National Wrestling Coaches Association's first-ever Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, open to NCAA schools, March 6-7 in Adrian, Michigan
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/10872714-2023-womens-nationals-results-u17-u20-u23 · FloWrestling, 2023 Women's Nationals results: 'U23 Championship Final Results, 50 kg - Emily Shilson (MN) dec. Sage Mortimer (UT), two matches to none', with Shilson also beating Kendra Ryan by 12-1 technical fall in the U23 semifinals
- https://theguillotine.com/2025/11/from-world-champion-to-head-coach-emily-shilson-takes-the-reins-at-stma/ · The Guillotine, November 2025: Emily Shilson took over as head coach of the St. Michael-Albertville girls' team after two seasons as an assistant there, while continuing to train full time on the sport; the story calls her the first and only female wrestler in the country to win five women's college national championships, going 54-0 in college, her fifth title won at McKendree in 2023, and the first U.S. wrestler to win all three age-group World titles, the 2018 17U in Zagreb, Croatia and the 2021 20U in Ufa, Russia and U23 in Belgrade, Serbia
- https://theguillotine.com/2019/03/shilson-named-ms-minnesota-wrestling/ · The Guillotine, March 2019: Shilson won the Ms. Minnesota Wrestling Award, finished high school 139-64, 'qualified for the MSHSL State Wrestling Tournament three times', and 'is the first six-time MN Girls High School Wrestling State champion'
- https://nfhs.org/stories/first-minnesota-all-girls-wrestling-tournament-in-the-books · NFHS: 'The 2021-22 winter season was the first year that the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) sanctioned girls wrestling', newly sanctioned in August of 2021, the first year girls were eligible for their own section and state tournaments
- https://hs.stma.k12.mn.us/athletics-activities/athletics-coaches · St. Michael-Albertville High School athletics coaches directory lists Girls Wrestling: Emily Shilson
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