On a huge championship night in Iowa, McKendree University’s women’s wrestling team, the Bearcats out of Lebanon, Illinois, grabbed the inaugural NCAA women's wrestling team title and a spot in college sports history.
Wrestling at Xtream Arena in Coralville, the Bearcats stacked up 171 team points and edged Iowa in a dramatic finish that capped the sport’s first official NCAA championship meet. For a small St. Louis-area school, it is the program’s biggest national spotlight yet, the payoff to years of climbing the rankings.
The team race flipped for good in the 117-pound final, where Yu Sakamoto outlasted Riley Rayome of North Central (Ill.), 4–3. A frantic late scramble and review sealed Sakamoto’s win, nudging McKendree just past Iowa in a back-and-forth scoreboard chase and locking in the 171 to 166 final margin, as reported by ESPN.
Bearcats’ Big Night On The Mats
McKendree was everywhere in the brackets. The Bearcats put nine wrestlers into the semifinals and walked out with three individual national champions: Sakamoto at 117, Cameron Guerin at 131 and Tristan Kelly at 207. In all, McKendree produced 10 All-Americans.
Head coach Alexio Garcia, who has overseen the program’s steady rise, was voted National Tournament Coach of the Year by his peers. Those outcomes and the full brackets are laid out by McKendree Athletics.
NCAA Debut For Women’s Wrestling
This title run landed in a landmark season for the sport itself. The NCAA approved women’s wrestling as its 91st championship in January 2025 and staged the first official women’s wrestling championship this season.
The inaugural tournament brought together 180 qualifiers across 10 weight classes in a National Collegiate format that combined Division I, II and III programs on the same stage. The NCAA outlines the schedule, format and rapid program growth that set the table for this weekend’s historic meet.
St. Louis-Area Pride And What Comes Next
The Great Lakes Valley Conference quickly labeled McKendree’s breakthrough a league milestone. GLVC programs combined for five individual champions and 19 All-Americans at the championship, a serious flex for a conference that often flies under the national radar.
McKendree’s main campus in Lebanon, Illinois sits roughly a 25-minute drive from downtown St. Louis, giving the metro area a nearby national champion to claim. Conference officials said the result should boost recruiting and attention across the region, according to the GLVC.
McKendree’s championship offers a clear blueprint for smaller programs looking to build elite women’s wrestling teams and is expected to speed up recruiting and investment across the Midwest. Local and national outlets, including KSDK and ESPN, will be tracking how conferences, recruits and NIL opportunities shift in the wake of this historic first NCAA women’s wrestling crown.
