World Champs Shine and Rankings Shake Up at Flo Wrestling’s Who’s No. 1 Girls Showcase

Taina Fernandez, Everest Leydecker, and other top-ranked stars delivered dominant wins at the Xtream Arena, while several contenders flipped the script in Coralville.

Taina Fernandez, from Maryland's Archbishop Spalding High School, was dominant in winning at Flo's Who's No. 1 Girls Showcase. / Taina Fernandez

Flo Wrestling’s Who’s No. 1 event went from having a few girls matches sprinkled onto the card, to adding more and that has continued to grow in recent years, with the ladies now having their own showcase prior to the boys, with both having twelve bouts this year. The Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, provided the stage on Saturday afternoon.

The Nation’s Best Take Center Stage in Iowa

This event is all about individual glory. Team and state affiliations don’t matter. This gathering is literally a collection of the best of the best with the lowest ranked girls in the field in High School on SI’s latest Girl’s National Rankings being four fifth ranked wrestlers.

Flo Wrestling’s rankings differ from ours and some of these girls were No. 2 in their report. The hope is to get the No. 1 versus No. 2 girls on the mat. That doesn’t always happen even based off their rankings.

World Champions Lead the Charge

Two world champions closed out the event as Maryland’s Taina Fernandez (Archbishop Spalding) and Arizona’s Everest Leydecker (Valiant Prep) are top rated in their weight classes and defeated the second ranked girls behind them in the ratings.

Fenandez handled a high school teammate of Lydecker’s in her 135-pound match, Morgan Lucio, 10-0. The technical fall was accrued in the first period on two low singles and three rolls after the first takedown received six exposure points. Fernandez had previously beaten Lucio at the U.S. Open Girl’s Showcase and Fargo. The Girls’ competition was contested using Freestyle rules, which means two three-minute periods and 10-point techs.

Leydecker closed the slate in a battle of world finalists with California’s silver medalist Epenesa Elison (Los Altos). Leydecker’s crown came in the U20 Division and Elison’s work in the U17 realm alongside Fernandez. It was an exciting bout that Leydecker put away at the end. The two traded points to start out then Leydecker added one on a reversal for a 3-2 advantage at the end of the first.

Elison came out strong in the second period securing a takedown and two exposure points to take the lead, 6-3. Leydecker came right back with a spin behind for two then built on that lead with another takedown ending the match with a 9-6 tally in her favor.

Pennsylvania Powers and East Coast Excellence

A world bronze medalist from Pennsylvania, Jaclyn Bouzakis (Wyoming Seminary), defended her No. 1 ranking versus the girl she beat at Women’s Nationals to earn the World Team spot, Texas’ No. 5 Hailey Delgado (El Paso Eastwood). In that best of three finals, Bouzakis won 9-0 and 8-1. Today, she outdid herself and teched the Texan, 10-0, using two takedowns and exposure points.

Another Pennsylvanian, Violette Lasure (Chestnut Ridge), stepped on the mat before Fernandez and reinforced her number one ranking at 145 pounds by sticking Iowa’s No. 3 Eve Skrocki (Wahlert Catholic) in the first period following a scrum with both trying to throw the other and Lasure using a headlock to drop her foe in 46 seconds.

The fifth girl to hold serve with her number rating was New Jersey’s Ella Poalillo (High Point Regional), who faced someone she had no history with, Tennessee’s No. 5 Janiya Johnson (Kirkwood). A close first period ended with a 3-2 tally, but Poalillo pulled away in the second frame to post a 9-2 win.

Revenge Matches and Ranking Flips

Two more rematches occurred, but these involved the previous loser avenging their outcome with Taylor Whiting (Lena) and Riley Hanrahan (Black River Falls) tasting victory after defeat. Both are from Wisconsin, and both are ranked second at their weights.

Whiting’s 115-pound match was also a Super 32 rematch from last year, in which she beat No.1 Reagan Mathers (Valiant Prep, AZ). They met shortly after at Super 32 with Mathers being the victor. In this rubber match, Whiting regained the number one ranking with a 7-6 decision where her points were earned on three takedowns and a pushout with Mathers mounting a comeback when she was down 7-0 with three sets of exposure points.

To our knowledge, Hanrahan and No. 1 Nora Akpan (Centennial, MN) have only met at Fargo this summer with Akpan winning 8-4. This was a wild one with 25 points being thrown up in a 15-10 win for Hanrahan, in which, she too was holding a 7-0 lead at one point, then chaos ensued for both as the first period ended with a 9-6 count.

The second gave us more entertainment as Akpan opened with a Japanese Whizzer that she turned into a takedown then gained some exposure points for a 13-6 edge. More craziness came in a series with Hanrahan hitting a lateral drop from her hip to rack up a few more points and keep Akpan at bay when she was trying to get back in it.

Upsets and Breakthrough Performances

Texas’ No. 2 Landri VonGonten (The Woodlands) had a surprisingly easy time upsetting No. 1 Taina McGowan (Wyoming Seminary, PA), posting a 16-3 technical fall.  It was 10-1 after the first period. Following a second period takedown from McGowan, VonGonten went back to piling up points to gain the tech.

Northfield, Minnesota’s No. 2 Caley Graber is heading home as the new number one at 125 pounds after defeating No. 1 Emma Bacon (Wyoming Seminary), 13-6. Bacon ended the first on script with a 4-2 lead. Graber turned it on after the break and overwhelmed Bacon with multiple takedowns and exposure sequences.

The first two matches on the docket saw the favorite come through on expectations as No. 3 Ryleigh Sturgill (100 pounds) and No. 2 Kayla Batres (110 pounds) won their respective matches. Sturgill (Baylor School, TN) is top-rated by Flo and took on their number two, who is our fifth rated girl at 100, Bella Manno (Lodi, NJ) and came away with a 9-4 decision.

Batres is number two in both reports, but her opponent, California’s Sophia Marie Gonazlaes (Clovis East) is ranked third by us and number one by Flo. Batres proved our prognostication true as she dominated Gonzales with a 10-0 tech that was powered by five takedowns. Batres’ prowess on her feet was impressive.

Michigan’s Kaili Manuel (Romeo) had little trouble upholding her No. 2 ranking versus Iowa’s No. 5 Autumn Elsbury (Soth Tama County) using four takedowns and a set of exposure points to roll to a quick, 10-0, tech at 170 pounds.

Match Results in Order:

(Rankings in the box score are Flo’s)

100 lbs - #1 Ryleigh Sturgill, Tennessee over #2 Bella Manno, New Jersey (VPO1 9-4)

110 lbs - #2 Kayla Batres, Connecticut over #1 Sophia Marie Gonzales, California (VSU 10-0 3:31)

130 lbs - #2 Landri VonGonten, Texas over #1 Taina McGowan, New Jersey (VSU1 16-3 5:37)

170 lbs - #1 Kaili Manuel, Michigan over #2 Autumn Elsbury, Iowa (VSU 10-0 2:53)

115 lbs - #1 Taylor Whiting, Wisconsin over #2 Reagan Mathers, Arizona (VPO1 7-6)

140 lbs - #2 Riley Hanrahan, Wisconsin over #1 Nora Akpan, Minnesota (VPO1 17-12)

155 lbs - #1 Ella Poalillo, New Jersey over #2 Janiya Johnson, Tennessee (VPO1 9-2)

125 lbs - #2 Caley Graber, Minnesota over #1 Emma Bacon, Pennsylvania (VPO1 13-6)

105 lbs - #2 Jaclyn Bouzakis, Pennsylvania over #1 Hailey Delgado, Texas (VSU 10-0 1:25)

145 lbs - #1 Violette Lasure, Pennsylvania over #2 Eve Skrocki, Iowa (VFA 0:46)

135 lbs - #1 Taina Fernandez, Maryland over #2 Morgan Lucio, Arizona (VSU 10-0 1:08)

120 lbs - #1 Everest Leydecker, Arizona over #2 Epenesa Elison, California (VPO1 9-6)