Wrestlers · Senior level
Latifah McBryde
2025 NAIA national champion at 160 pounds for Life; 3x NAIA All-American; No. 3 on the U.S. team at 68 kg
Buffalo, NY · Homeschooled HS · Life University
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
Latifah McBryde was born in Buffalo, New York, on September 25, 2004, and grew up homeschooled, wrestling her sisters Jamilah and Zaynah. Coaches saw the talent early, but the sisters could not wrestle boys and could not wear the standard singlet. The family is Muslim, and they wrestle in a modified uniform modeled on the one Iranian women wrestlers use, with a head covering.
In 2022 she qualified to represent the United States at the Pan American Championships, but United World Wrestling denied her request to wear the modified uniform and she did not compete. That summer the NAIA approved it, and the three sisters enrolled that fall at Life University in Marietta, Georgia, for Ashley and Christian Flavin.
She was the NAIA national runner-up in 2023 and a Mid-South Conference champion in 2024 and 2025. In March 2025, in Wichita, she won the NAIA title at 160 pounds over Darby Weidl of Ottawa, one of three McBryde sisters in the finals that weekend, and Life won its first team title.
That June she made the U.S. national team at 68 kg, about 150 pounds, finishing third at the World Team Trials and winning the true third match at Final X over Solin Piearcy of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club.
She was third at the 2026 U.S. Open at 68 kg, pinning Nora Akpan of the Pinnacle Wrestling Club in 4:31, and third at the NAIA championships at 160 pounds after an 8-6 semifinal loss to Mercy Adekuoroye of Wayland Baptist. On June 19, 2026, at the Prudential Center in Newark, she beat Jasmine Robinson of the Army WCAP 8-2 in the true third match at Final X. She trains at the Cobra Wrestling Academy in Marietta.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Age group | UWW Cadet Women's Nationals and UWW Junior Women's Nationals | 4th in both | ||
| 2022 | Age group | U20 Women's Nationals and U23 Women's Nationals | 2nd and 4th | ||
| 2022 | Senior | Pan American Championships | She qualified to represent the United States but United World Wrestling denied her request to wear her modified uniform and she was unable to compete; the NAIA approved the modified uniform that summer | ||
| 2022-23 | College | NAIA Women's National Championships | 2nd | First season at Life University | |
| 2023-24 | College | Mid-South Conference Championships | 1st | Conference champion in 2024 and again in 2025 | |
| 2024-25 | College | NAIA Women's National Championships, Wichita, KS | 160 lb | 1st | March 2025; top seed, def. Josette Partney (Missouri Baptist) 7-2 in the semifinals and Darby Weidl (Ottawa) in the final; one of three McBryde sisters in the finals, with Zaynah winning at 138 and Jamilah second at 145; Life won its first NAIA team title. FloWrestling records the final as a 7-2 decision and the Mid-South Conference release as 9-1, so no final score is claimed. |
| 2025 | Senior | Senior World Team Trials | 68 kg | 3rd | |
| 2025 | Senior | Final X true third match | 68 kg | 1st | Met Solin Piearcy of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club for the No. 3 spot on the U.S. national team; her USA Wrestling profile records the true third placement and her first year on Team USA. The Final X event page carries only the pairing, so no score is claimed. |
| 2025-26 | College | NAIA Women's National Championships, Park City, KS | 160 lb | 3rd | March 14, 2026; entered as the top seed and defending champion and lost the semifinal to Mercy Adekuoroye (Wayland Baptist) 8-6; Life repeated as team champion; her third NAIA All-American finish |
| 2026 | Senior | U.S. Open, Las Vegas | 68 kg | 3rd | April 24, 2026; pinned Nora Akpan (Pinnacle WC) in 4:31 in the third-place match; she had been the No. 1 seed at 68 kg |
| 2026 | Senior | Final X true third match, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ | 68 kg | 1st | June 19, 2026; def. three-time age-group World medalist Jasmine Robinson (Army WCAP) 8-2 for the No. 3 spot on the 2026-27 U.S. national team; she wrestled out of the Cobra Wrestling Academy |
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.themat.com/profiles/latifah-mcbryde · USA Wrestling athlete page: born Sept. 25, 2004; hometown Buffalo, N.Y.; homeschooled; Life University; residence Marietta, Ga.; regional training center Cobra Wrestling Academy; personal coaches Mustafa McBryde and Muhamed McBryde; 2026-27 Team USA ranking No. 3 at 68 kg; two years on Team USA (2025-26, 2026-27); true third at the 2025 and 2026 Final X; third at the 2026 U.S. Open; third at the 2025 World Team Trials; 2025 NAIA national champion; 2024 and 2025 Mid-South Conference champion; 2023 NAIA national runner-up; third at the 2026 NAIA National Championships; three-time NAIA All-American; fourth at the 2021 UWW Cadet and UWW Junior Women's Nationals; silver at the 2022 U20 Women's Nationals and fourth at the 2022 U23 Women's Nationals
- https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2025/07/11/nx-s1-5436073/womens-wrestling-sports-muslim-uniforms · July 11, 2025 NPR: Jamilah, Zaynah and Latifah McBryde are devout Muslims, homeschooled, who grew up wrestling one another in Buffalo and could not wear the required singlet; their uniform is based on the one developed for Iranian women wrestlers, a long-sleeved shirt with another over it and leggings under pants plus a head covering, with velcro to tuck shirts and tape to hold the hijabs; in 2022 Latifah qualified to represent the U.S. at the Pan American Championships but United World Wrestling denied her request to wear the modified uniform and she was unable to compete; the NAIA approved the modified uniforms in the summer of 2022 and the sisters enrolled at Life University in Marietta, Ga., that fall; Ashley Flavin is head coach and Christian Flavin associate head coach; their parents are Mustafa and Christine McBryde
- https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13922237-2025-naia-womens-championships-results-and-team-standings · 2025 NAIA Women's Championships results: 160 pounds final, top-seeded Latifah McBryde (Life) won by decision over No. 7 Darby Weidl (Ottawa) 7-2; semifinal, McBryde won by decision over No. 5 Josette Partney (Missouri Baptist) 7-2; Zaynah McBryde won 138 pounds by technical fall and Jamilah McBryde was second at 145
- https://mid-southconference.org/news/2025/3/16/life-ga-win-the-2025-womens-wrestling-championships-for-the-first-time-in-program-history.aspx · March 16, 2025 Mid-South Conference release: Latifah McBryde (Life) won the 160-pound national title, the second of three McBryde sisters to win a national title that Saturday, described as a 9-1 decision, which conflicts with the 7-2 final recorded by FloWrestling; she was a junior and it was her first NAIA championship
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/march/14/life-repeats-at-naia-women-s-wrestling-championships-william-penn-leads-way-with-four-individual-champions · March 14, 2026 NAIA Women's Wrestling Championships in Park City, Kansas: Life repeated as team champion; at 160 pounds No. 4 Mercy Adekuoroye (Wayland Baptist) beat reigning champion and No. 1 seed Latifah McBryde (Life) 8-6 in the semifinals in a comeback, then won the final 6-3 over Shannon Workinger
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/april/24/katie-gomez-named-outstanding-wrestler-as-senior-women-s-freestyle-crowns-10-u-s-open-champions · April 24, 2026 U.S. Open in Las Vegas, 68 kg: Latifah McBryde (Life) pinned Nora Akpan (Pinnacle WC) in 4:31 for third place
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/april/21/senior-women-s-freestyle-pre-seeds-released-for-2026-u-s-open · April 21, 2026 pre-seeds: Latifah McBryde was a No. 1 seed at 68 kg for the U.S. Open as a current U.S. Senior National Team member
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/june/19/10-u-s-national-true-third-spots-decided-at-2026-final-x-presented-by-kerberos-capital-management · June 19, 2026 Final X true-third matches at Prudential Center: Latifah McBryde (Cobra Wrestling Academy) beat three-time age-group World medalist Jasmine Robinson (Army WCAP) 8-2 at 68 kg; true-third matches determine the No. 3 athlete on the U.S. National Team for the 2026-27 season
- https://www.themat.com/2025-finalx · 2025 Final X event page: the 68 kg U.S. National Team true-third match paired Latifah McBryde (Buffalo, N.Y./Life) against Solin Piearcy (San Jose, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
- https://liferunningeagles.com/sports/womens-wrestling/roster/latifah-mcbryde/6888 · Life University roster page for Latifah McBryde, listing her as a senior from Buffalo, N.Y., with home school as her previous school, alongside the program's back-to-back NAIA national championships in 2025 and 2026 and its fourth straight Mid-South Conference tournament title in February 2026
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