Iowa Gets Promising Update on Five-Star Recruit McKenna Woliczko

On November 12, 2025, McKenna Woliczko officially signed her letter of intent to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Her signing came just over a month after she committed. Woliczko, a five-star power forward, is widely considered a Top 10 player and is among the top power forwards in the Class of 2026.

Even though she's coming off a brutal ACL injury, that hasn't slowed her down one bit. 2026 is the year of Woliczko, and she proved that by returning to action with Archbishop Mitty.

Woliczko hadn't stepped on the court all year as she was recovering from knee surgery. As of January 2, that was no longer the case. The future Hawkeye picked up right where she left off with an insanely impressive performance against Clovis.

McKenna Woliczko Dominates in Her Return

Finally able to say… “She’s baaaaack!”@McKennaDub 19p/13r in 14 minutes of play. @mitty_wbb wins 82-44 (broke open with a 29-0 run)
🎥 @simplyy_bball WBB pic.twitter.com/6GMARWaXRL
— Aaron Woliczko (@AWoliczko) January 3, 2026

Coming off an ACL injury in late January, Woliczko missed nearly a year of action. She was a full-go in Archbishop Mitty's game against Clovis, and ended up being a huge part of the team's win.

According to her father, Aaron, Mitty got off to a 29-0 run to start the game. The 2018 National Champions breezed past their opponent as Woliczko contributed 19 points and 13 rebounds in 14 minutes.

Obviously, Woliczko was going to be eased back into action. The final score was 82-44 so there was no need to keep her in the game any longer than what they had drawn up. In the end, she picked up a huge double-double in her first game in nearly a year and it's clear just how ready Woliczko is to play at the collegiate level.

Iowa Can't Wait For Woliczko

Iowa recruit McKenna Woliczko had knee surgery (ACL) in late January, returns today with no restrictions for her first real game since. She's ready to go. https://t.co/mLQHKBqnHW
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) January 2, 2026

There aren't a ton of seniors on Iowa's current roster, but boy are the Hawkeyes glad to have a reinforcement like Woliczko on the way. Head coach Jan Jensen knows there's likely a spot in her starting lineup for one of California's finest players.

Woliczko will have the rest of her 2026 high school season to finish out before truly preparing for Iowa. With all her time and attention on getting back to 100%, she's now at a position where she can enjoy these final games with her high school teammates.

After seeing the numbers she put up in her return, Hawkeyes fans know it's only a matter of months before she'll be doing that in the black and gold. The 2026 season can't come soon enough, though No. 14 Iowa has a chance to make a deep run in this year's tournament which is worth monitoring.

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