Wrestlers · Senior level
Joye Levendusky
2023 U.S. Open champion at 72 kg on her sixth trip to a national final; 5x All-American at McKendree and Southern Oregon
Avon, NY · Avon Central HS · Southern Oregon University
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 10, 2026
Joye Levendusky graduated from Avon Central in Avon, New York, in 2018. She never won a USA Wrestling national tournament in high school, and her best finish at the Junior Nationals, Fargo was fourth as a senior.
She earned four All-America honors at McKendree University from 2018-19 through 2021-22, on two national championship teams. She made Junior national teams in 2019 and 2020 and never competed internationally. She lost the 2020 Junior National final to Kennedy Blades of Wyoming Seminary, and the NCWWC finals of 2021 and 2022 to Yelena Makoyed of North Central College.
She transferred to Southern Oregon, where McKendree assistant Gabrielle Weyhrich became head coach in May 2022. She went 28-2, won the Cascade Conference and lost the 2023 NAIA final at 170 pounds to Dymond Guilford of Cumberlands by fall while Southern Oregon women's wrestling won its first national title. It was her fourth national final and fourth runner-up finish. A fifth came in April, when Ashley Lekas of Augsburg won the U23 final at 76 kg, about 168 pounds.
Ten days later she entered the U.S. Open as the second seed at 72 kg. She pinned Nahiela Magee of Army WCAP in the semifinals and beat Rose Cassioppi of the New York Athletic Club 10-0 in the final. She said afterward that it felt about time. The title put her on the Senior National Team. At Final X in Newark in June, 2022 World champion Amit Elor took the series in two technical falls.
She stayed at Southern Oregon as an assistant and became interim head coach in 2024, leading the Raiders to a Cascade Conference title. She left for King University in Bristol, Tennessee, in the autumn of 2025. In April 2026 she placed seventh at the U.S. Open, closing with a 10-0 technical fall. She runs strength and conditioning there, helps coach the women's wrestlers and is still competing at 72 kg.
She is the director of strength and conditioning at King University in Bristol, Tennessee, an assistant coach for its women's wrestling team, and still competing at 72 kg.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | Age group | Junior Nationals, Fargo | 4th | Her best finish at a USA Wrestling national tournament in high school; she never won one | |
| 2020 | Age group | Junior National Championships | 2nd | She lost the final to Kennedy Blades of Wyoming Seminary. She made Junior national teams in 2019 and 2020 and never competed internationally. | |
| 2020-21 | College | NCWWC, Tiffin, Ohio | 170 lb | 2nd | March 6, 2021, wrestling for McKendree University; Yelena Makoyed of North Central College won the final by technical fall, 12-2 |
| 2021-22 | College | NCWWC, Adrian, Michigan | 170 lb | 2nd | 3-1 at the tournament. March 5, 2022; a second straight national final and a second loss to Yelena Makoyed of North Central College, by technical fall in 3:34, 11-0. She graduated from McKendree that spring with a degree in exercise science and sports performance. |
| 2022-23 | College | Cascade Conference Championships | 1st | 28-2 on the season. Her one season at Southern Oregon, as a graduate transfer from McKendree | |
| 2022-23 | College | NAIA National Championships | 170 lb | 2nd | March 11, 2023, seeded second; she beat Abby McIntyre of Grand View 2-1 in the semifinals, then held a 1-1 criteria lead in the second period before Dymond Guilford of Cumberlands threw her for a fall at 3:59. Southern Oregon women's wrestling won its first national title at the same event. |
| 2023 | Age group | U23 National Championships | 76 kg | 2nd | April 2023, ten days before the U.S. Open, after which she moved down to 72 kg. Ashley Lekas of Augsburg won the final series 2-0 and 5-0. It was the fifth national final she lost in four years. |
| 2023 | Senior | U.S. Open, Las Vegas | 72 kg | 1st | Her sixth trip to a national final and her first national title, which put her on the Senior National Team. Seeded second, she won 4-1 in the round of 16 and 9-1 in the quarterfinals, pinned Nahiela Magee of Army WCAP in the semifinals and beat Rose Cassioppi of the New York Athletic Club by technical fall, 10-0, in the final. |
| 2023 | Senior | Final X, Newark, N.J. | 72 kg | 2nd | June 10, 2023; wrestling for the Southern Oregon RTC, she lost the best-of-three series to 2022 World champion Amit Elor by two 10-0 technical falls. It was their first meeting. |
| 2026 | Senior | U.S. Open, Las Vegas | 72 kg | 7th | April 2026, wrestling for the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club; she closed the tournament with a technical fall over Mikayla Lancaster of the Menlo WC, 10-0 |
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://www.americanwomenswrestling.com/news/6th-times-a-charm · American Women's Wrestling feature on Levendusky's U.S. Open title: she never won a USA Wrestling national tournament in high school and her best Fargo finish was fourth as a senior; she was a five-time All-American and three-time national finalist for McKendree and Southern Oregon without a college title; the five national finals she lost from 2020 on, in the page's own order, were the 2020 Junior National final to Kennedy Blades, the 2021 and 2022 NCWWC finals to Yelena Makoyed, the 2023 NAIA final to Dymond Guilford and the 2023 U23 National final to Ashley Lekas, which makes the NAIA final the fourth and the U23 final the fifth; she made Junior national teams in 2019 and 2020 and never competed internationally because of the pandemic; McKendree head coach Sam Schmitz left in 2022 and she graduated that same spring, then followed McKendree assistant Gabby Weyhrich (spelled Wehyrich here) to Southern Oregon for a master's and one more year of eligibility; in the NAIA final she held a 1-1 criteria lead in the second period before Guilford threw her for the fall; two months later she won the 2023 U.S. Open at 72 kg and earned a spot on the Senior National Team and a Final X series against Amit Elor.
- https://souraiders.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/joye-levendusky/7303 · Southern Oregon University roster bio: Levendusky competed from 2018-21 at McKendree University, where she was a four-time All-American and helped her team to two national titles and was a finalist each of the last two seasons; graduated in 2018 from Avon Central; bachelor's degree in exercise science and sports performance, working toward an MBA
- https://nwcaonline.com/news/2024/6/30/naia-women-levendusky-takes-over-as-interim-sou-womens-wrestling-head-coach · June 30, 2024 National Wrestling Coaches Association: Southern Oregon athletic director Matt Sayre named Levendusky, the Avon, N.Y. product, interim head women's wrestling coach for 2024-25; she arrived at SOU as a graduate transfer from McKendree before 2022-23 with four All-America honors and two national championship teams; at SOU she was a Cascade Conference champion and NAIA finalist at 170 pounds and went 28-2 in her one season, contributing to the program's first national title; she joined the SOU staff as an assistant in 2023-24 while completing an MBA and served as the team's strength and conditioning coach; she is a member of the U.S. national team and has coached the New York national team at Fargo
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/10985562-final-x-matchup-joye-levendusky-vs-amit-elor · FloWrestling preview of the 2023 Final X 72 kg series: Levendusky reached Final X by winning the U.S. Open as the two-seed, beating Tiffani Baublitz 4-1 in the round of 16, Noelle Gaffney 9-1 in the quarterfinals, Nahiela Magee by fall in the semifinals and Rose Cassioppi 10-0 in the final; it was the first major title of her career; she finished second at the U23 National Championships at 76 kg ten days before dropping to 72 kg for the U.S. Open; her college finals opponents were Yelena Makoyed in 2021 and 2022 and Dymond Guilford in 2023; it was her first meeting with Amit Elor
- https://www.themat.com/news/features/2023/june/10/final-x-results · June 10, 2023 USA Wrestling Final X results from Newark: at 72 kg women's freestyle, Amit Elor (New York City RTC/Titan Mercury WC) beat Joye Levendusky (Southern Oregon RTC) by 10-0 technical fall in bout one and 10-0 technical fall in bout two, winning the series two matches to none
- http://www.kingtornado.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/coaches/joye-levendusky/1034 · King University coaching bio: Levendusky joined the King University athletics staff in November 2025 as strength and conditioning coach; she previously served on the Southern Oregon staff, promoted from assistant coach to head coach of the women's wrestling program, and directed the team's strength and conditioning; she is a senior-level wrestler for Team USA, a five-time All-American, three-time national finalist, U.S. Open champion and Team USA National Team member; she earned a bachelor's in exercise science and sports performance with a minor in sports psychology and is pursuing an MBA
- https://www.kingtornado.com/news/2025/10/7/general-tornado-athletics-adds-joye-levendusky-as-director-of-strength-and-conditioning.aspx · Oct. 7, 2025 King University: vice president of athletics Jose Larios announced the hiring of Joye Levendusky as director of strength and conditioning at King University in Bristol, Tenn.; she also joined the King women's wrestling program as an assistant coach under head coach Bret Fry; she is a current senior-level wrestler for Team USA, a five-time All-American, three-time national finalist and U.S. Open champion, and also competed in soccer, diving and track and field
- https://nwhof.org/news/senior-women-s-freestyle-champions-crowned-at-u-s-open · 2026 U.S. Open Championships, Las Vegas: at 72 kg, Precious Wieser was second to Alexandria Glaude, Alexandria Alli was third, and seventh place went to Joye Levendusky (Titan Mercury WC) by technical fall over Mikayla Lancaster (Menlo WC)
- https://souraiders.com/sports/womens-wrestling/coaches · Southern Oregon University's 2025-26 women's wrestling coaching staff lists Katlyn Monroe as head coach, with Jordan Monroe, Emma Baertlein, Marissa Kurtz and Carolina Moreno as assistants; Levendusky is no longer on the staff
- https://souraiders.com/news/2022/5/31/womens-wrestling-weyhrich-selected-as-sou-womens-wrestling-head-coach.aspx · May 31, 2022 Southern Oregon release: Gabrielle Weyhrich named head coach of SOU women's wrestling by athletic director Matt Sayre, joining after four seasons on staff at McKendree University, where she also competed; SOU spells the name Weyhrich
- https://souraiders.com/news/2023/3/11/womens-wrestling-raiders-dominate-day-2-to-claim-naia-national-championship.aspx · March 11, 2023 Southern Oregon release on the inaugural NAIA Championships: SOU won the team title with 160 points to Life's 139.5 and Grand View's 123.5, its first NAIA women's wrestling championship and the 12th team championship in any sport in SOU athletics history, so the title is the women's wrestling program's first and not the school's; at 170 pounds No. 2 seed Levendusky pinned Aalyah Villarreal (Texas Wesleyan) and Danielle Saldivar (Missouri Valley), technical-falled No. 10 Bob Geibe (Siena Heights) 10-0, beat No. 3 Abby McIntyre (Grand View) 2-1 in the semifinals and lost the final to No. 1 Dymond Guilford of Cumberlands by fall in 3:59, finishing 28-2
- https://www.themat.com/news/features/2023/april/29/us-open-women-wrap · USA Wrestling wrap of the 2023 U.S. Open: at 72 kg, 1st - Joye Levendusky (New York) tech. fall Rose Cassioppi (New York AC), 10-0, in the second period; Cassioppi was the No. 4 seed and a high school senior; 5th - Kaylynn Albrecht (Wildcat Elite) inj. def. Nahiela Magee (Army WCAP), which is where Magee's club is given; Levendusky earned a Final X berth against 2022 World champion Amit Elor
- https://www.themat.com/news/features/2023/april/15/usmc-womens-u23-nationals-wrap · USA Wrestling wrap of the 2023 USMC U23 Women's Nationals: at 76 kg, Ashley Lekas of Texas, who competes at Augsburg, beat NAIA national runner-up Joye Levendusky of Southern Oregon in two straight, 2-0 and 5-0
- https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2021/6/3/womens-wrestling-yelena-makoyed.aspx?id=1521 · North Central College feature on Yelena Makoyed: she won the 170-pound NCWWC title on March 6, 2021 in Tiffin, Ohio, beating second-ranked Joye Levendusky of McKendree University by 12-2 technical fall in the final, and defended it in 2022 with an 11-0 technical fall over Levendusky
- https://mckbearcats.com/news/2022/3/5/no-2-womens-wrestling-ncwwc.aspx · McKendree release on the 2022 NCWWC in Adrian, Michigan, March 5, 2022: Levendusky (170 lb, senior, Avon, New York) finished second at 3-1, with a 10-0 technical fall over Jacklyn Smith of Sacred Heart, decisions over Jade Herzer of Stevens Point 3-2 and Cheyenne Bowman of King 6-4, and a 11-0 technical fall loss to Yelena Makoyed of North Central in the final in 3:34; McKendree won its third straight team title
- https://www.themat.com/profiles/kennedy-blades · USA Wrestling profile of Kennedy Blades: high school Kingston, Pa. (Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School); 2020, 2021 and 2023 U20 Women's Nationals champion
- https://souraiders.com/news/2025/5/28/womens-wrestling-monroe-named-new-sou-womens-wrestling-head-coach.aspx · May 28, 2025 Southern Oregon release naming Katlyn Monroe head coach for 2025-26: Monroe replaces Joye Levendusky, who pushed the Raiders to a Cascade Conference title and seventh place at the NAIA Championships in one season as interim head coach; Monroe is quoted on meeting Sayre, Levendusky and men's head coach Joel Gibson
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/event/2600005002 · USA Wrestling event listing for the 2026 U.S. Open: April 21-26, 2026 at The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas, with the body copy giving the competition dates as April 22-26, 2026, which places Levendusky's seventh-place finish in April
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