Wrestlers · Career complete
Kenya Sloan
4x Tennessee girls' state champion for Hardin Valley; 2022 NAIA champion at 155 pounds; 2019 Junior Pan American champion
Knoxville, TN · Hardin Valley Academy HS · Campbellsville University
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 28, 2026
Kenya Sloan is from Knoxville, Tennessee. She started wrestling after watching her younger brother practice. At Hardin Valley Academy she won the TSSAA girls' state title at 165 pounds in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
As a senior in 2018 she won the state title at 160 pounds and was named the tournament's Best Wrestler. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame says she was unbeaten in high school. Delaware State calls her Tennessee's first four-time female state champion. In March 2018 she won the USA Women's Wrestling Championship in Oklahoma.
She joined Campbellsville University in Kentucky that fall. As a freshman at 170 pounds she placed sixth at the inaugural NAIA Women's Wrestling Invitational. In May 2019 she placed second at 76 kg, about 168 pounds, at the U.S. Junior Nationals in Irving, Texas. Later that month she placed third at the World Team Trials Challenge in Raleigh, North Carolina, which earned her a U.S. National Team spot.
In June she won the Junior Pan American title in Guatemala with three pins and a technical fall. One pin came against Milaimys Marin Potrille of Cuba, the 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion. In November she won the junior division of the Berlin Open with four wins.
At the 2020 WCWA Nationals in Marietta, Georgia, she was the top seed at 170 pounds. She lost the final 9-5 to teammate Mariah Harris, whom she had beaten in the King University Open final in January.
In 2021-22 she wrestled at 155 pounds. She won the Mid-South Conference title in February 2022 by pinning India Page of Brewton-Parker. In March she won the NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational title in Jamestown, North Dakota, with a pin in the final, and Campbellsville won the team title. In her fifth year she won the 155-pound title at the Indiana Tech Warrior Open in January 2023.
She founded the Knoxville Girls' Wrestling Club and was an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University. She is now the first head coach of Delaware State University's women's wrestling program.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | High school | TSSAA girls' state tournament | 165 lb | 1st | At the Williamson County Expo Center in Franklin. The state association's bracket lists her as Kenya-Lee Sloan of Hardin Valley. |
| 2015-16 | High school | TSSAA girls' state tournament | 165 lb | 1st | Her second state title for Hardin Valley Academy. |
| 2016-17 | High school | TSSAA girls' state tournament | 165 lb | 1st | Her third state title for Hardin Valley Academy. |
| 2017 | Age group | United World Wrestling Cadet women's freestyle national championship | 1st | The National Wrestling Hall of Fame lists the title for 2017. No cited page gives the weight class. | |
| 2017-18 | High school | TSSAA girls' state tournament | 160 lb | 1st | Her fourth state title for Hardin Valley Academy. The state association lists her as the tournament's 2018 Best Wrestler. |
| 2018 | Age group | USA Women's Wrestling Championship, Oklahoma | 1st | Won in March 2018 as a Hardin Valley Academy senior, against a field the Knoxville News Sentinel put at several hundred women. | |
| 2018-19 | College | NAIA Women's Wrestling Invitational, Jamestown, North Dakota | 170 lb | 6th | Campbellsville calls it the inaugural NAIA Women's Wrestling Invitational. Sixth place made her an honorable mention All-American. |
| 2019 | Age group | U.S. Junior Nationals, Irving, Texas | 76 kg | 2nd | Campbellsville's report names Korinahe Bullock of McKendree, a 2018 U23 World bronze medalist, as her toughest test there. |
| 2019 | Senior | World Team Trials Challenge, Raleigh, North Carolina | 76 kg | 3rd | Seeded second. Beat Destane Garrick of McKendree on criteria, 4-4, then lost 10-2 to top seed Hannah Gladden of Lion Wrestling Club. The finish earned a U.S. National Team spot. |
| 2019 | Age group | Junior Pan American Championships, Guatemala | 76 kg | 1st | 4-0. Round robin. Pinned Jasmine Thebeau of Canada and Beatriz Rodrigues Dos Santos of Brazil, pinned Milaimys Marin Potrille of Cuba in 4:03, and beat Nathaly Medina Corozo of Ecuador 10-0. |
| 2019 | Age group | Berlin Open, junior division | 76 kg | 1st | 4-0. Round robin. A fall over Selina Wuhr, then wins over Ewelina Kaczynska 14-9, Amelia Frisbee 10-0 and Lilly Schneider 11-2. |
| 2019-20 | College | WCWA Nationals, Marietta, Georgia | 170 lb | 2nd | Seeded first. Lost the final 9-5 to Campbellsville teammate Mariah Harris, the second seed, who had lost their previous meeting. Campbellsville won the team title. |
| 2021-22 | College | NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational, Jamestown, North Dakota | 155 lb | 1st | Won the final by fall after a wraparound takedown. Campbellsville won the team title with 189 points. |
| 2022-23 | College | Indiana Tech Warrior Open, Fort Wayne, Indiana | 155 lb | 1st | Beat Anastasia Hardin and Grace Doering on the way to the title. |
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 to the operator, Joe Spisak, at joe@spisak.co and the page gets the number.
Sources
- https://dsuhornets.com/staff-directory/kenya-sloan/366 · Delaware State University staff biography. Hired June 9, 2025, as the first women's wrestling head coach in the university's history, after serving as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University. Born and raised in Knoxville, she was Tennessee's first four-time female state champion, the 2022 NAIA champion at 155 pounds and the 2019 Junior Pan American champion. She founded the Knoxville Girls' Wrestling Club, which the page calls the first all-girls club in the state.
- https://dsuhornets.com/sports/womens-wrestling/coaches · Delaware State University, 2026-27 women's wrestling coaching staff, with Kenya Sloan as head coach.
- https://nwhof.org/hall_of_fame/bio/4265 · National Wrestling Hall of Fame, 2018 Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award for Tennessee and the Southeast. A four-time state champion for Hardin Valley Academy with an 87-0 record, she won the 2017 United World Wrestling Cadet women's freestyle national championship. The page says she pinned her way through the state tournament all four years, while the state association's 2017 bracket shows her 165-pound final won 11-0 by major decision.
- https://tssaasports.com/school/?id=210&sportid=20 · TSSAA, Hardin Valley Academy girls' wrestling history. Kenya Sloan won state titles at 165 pounds in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and at 160 pounds in 2018, and was the 2018 Best Wrestler.
- https://tssaasports.com/event/bracket.cfm?id=20142010 · TSSAA, 2015 girls' 165-pound bracket in Franklin. Kenya-Lee Sloan of Hardin Valley, state champion.
- https://tssaasports.com/event/bracket.cfm?id=20162010 · TSSAA, 2017 girls' 165-pound bracket in Franklin. Kenya Sloan of Hardin Valley, state champion, with pins in her quarterfinal and semifinal and an 11-0 major decision over Gabrielle Neal of Cane Ridge in the final.
- https://tssaasports.com/event/bracket.cfm?id=20172009 · TSSAA, 2018 girls' 160-pound bracket in Franklin. Kenya Sloan of Hardin Valley, state champion, with her 165-pound titles of 2015, 2016 and 2017 listed.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230610074500/https://www.knoxnews.com/story/shopper-news/farragut/2018/04/03/female-hardin-valley-wrestler-kenya-sloan-wins-national-competition/472423002/ · Knoxville News Sentinel, April 2018. Hardin Valley Academy senior Kenya Sloan won the USA Women's Wrestling Championship in Oklahoma and signed with Campbellsville University.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2018/3/21/womens-wrestling-national-champion-lady-tigers-add-five-so-far-in-2018-19-signing-class.aspx · Campbellsville University, March 2018 signing class. Kenya Sloan of Hardin Valley Academy will join the Lady Tigers. This page calls her a three-time state champion with a 79-0 record, while the state association lists four titles and the Hall of Fame gives 87-0.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/kenya-sloan/17227 · Campbellsville University biography. Freshman 2018-19 at 170 pounds through fifth year 2022-23 at 155, from Knoxville and Hardin Valley. Sixth at the 2019 NAIA event, 2022 NAIA individual champion at 155 and 2022 Mid-South Conference champion.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/2018-19 · Campbellsville University, 2018-19 roster. Kenya Sloan, freshman, 170 pounds, Knoxville, Tennessee, Hardin Valley High School.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2019/3/18/womens-wrestling-rivera-claims-first-naia-national-championship-lady-tiger-wrestling-places-fourth.aspx · Campbellsville University, March 2019. Kenya Sloan placed sixth at 170 pounds at the inaugural NAIA Women's Wrestling Invitational in Jamestown and earned honorable mention All-American honors.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2019/5/11/womens-wrestling-sloan-campbell-and-pizzo-finish-in-top-3-at-us-junior-nationals-in-texas.aspx · Campbellsville University, May 2019. Sloan placed second at 76 kg at the U.S. Junior Nationals in Irving, Texas, facing Korinahe Bullock of McKendree.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2019/5/20/womens-wrestling-kenya-sloan-earns-us-national-team-spot-after-third-place-finish-at-world-team-trials.aspx · Campbellsville University, May 2019. Third at 76 kg at the World Team Trials Challenge in Raleigh earned her a U.S. National Team spot.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2019/6/7/womens-wrestling-kenya-sloan-claims-2019-junior-pan-american-championship-in-guatemala.aspx · Campbellsville University, June 2019. Sloan won the 76 kg Junior Pan American title in Guatemala with three pins and a technical fall.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2019/11/11/womens-wrestling-representing-team-usa-kenya-sloan-wins-gold-at-berlin-open-with-four-wins.aspx · Campbellsville University, November 2019. Representing Team USA, Sloan won the 76 kg junior division at the Berlin Open with four wins.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2020/1/19/womens-wrestling-sloan-wins-at-170-pounds-while-lady-tigers-dominate-king-university-open.aspx · Campbellsville University, January 2020. Sloan won the 170-pound title at the King University Open in Bristol, Tennessee.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2020/2/8/womens-wrestling-national-champs-again-lady-tiger-wrestling-dominates-wcwa-three-earn-individual-titles.aspx · Campbellsville University, February 2020. Campbellsville won the WCWA team title in Marietta, Georgia, and teammate Mariah Harris beat top seed Kenya Sloan 9-5 in the 170-pound final.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2022/2/20/womens-wrestling-campbellsville-wins-their-fourth-mid-south-conference-tournament-championship-sunday-afternoon.aspx · Campbellsville University, February 2022. Kenya Sloan won the 155-pound Mid-South Conference title by fall over India Page of Brewton-Parker.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2022/3/12/womens-wrestling-sloan-wins-individual-title-campbellsville-repeats-as-naia-national-champions-in-dominant-fashion.aspx · Campbellsville University, March 2022. Sloan won the NAIA individual title, finishing a back-and-forth match with a wraparound takedown that led to a pin, and Campbellsville repeated as NAIA team champion.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2023/1/30/womens-wrestling-sloan-captures-155-lb-title-at-indiana-tech-warrior-open.aspx · Campbellsville University, January 2023. Sloan won the 155-pound title at the Indiana Tech Warrior Open in Fort Wayne.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2023/4/27/general-2023-awards-night-nominees-and-winners.aspx · Campbellsville University, April 2023 awards night. Kenya Sloan of women's wrestling was named Female Athlete of the Year.
- https://campbellsvilletigers.com/news/2022/3/12/womens-wrestling-campbellsville-in-the-driver-seat-heading-into-saturday-evenings-championship-final.aspx · Campbellsville University, March 12, 2022. Sloan won her NAIA semifinal on Saturday morning, one of three Campbellsville wrestlers in that evening's championship finals.
- https://www.valleywillroll.com/sports/wwrest/2021-22/releases/20220312_Womens_Wrestling_Finishes_Competition_at_NAIA_National_Invitational · Missouri Valley College, March 12, 2022. It names the event the 2022 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational, in Jamestown, North Dakota, and reports a Missouri Valley wrestler's third-round loss by pin to No. 2 Kenya Sloan of Campbellsville.
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