The University of Iowa Eight Over 80 Award

The Hawkeye women?s wrestler and 2024 NCAA national champion at 109 pounds is helping Iowa lead the way as a dominant presence in the sport. PHOTO: Stephen Mally/hawkeyesports.com Iowa's Ava Bayless (right) defeated Adams State's Austria Holland in their quarterfinal match of the 2025 National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships this season. Ava Bayless is blazing a new trail and helping Iowa women?s wrestling dominate the up-and-coming collegiate sport. In 2024, Bayless became the National Collegiate Women?s Wrestling champion at 109 pounds and bolstered her Hawkeye teammates to a national title. Her and her teammates defended their national championship in 2025, as Bayless finished fourth in her weight class. You might think these experiences would be the highlight of her wrestling career, but you?d be wrong. ?My favorite moment as a Hawkeye so far was our first home dual,? says Bayless. ?Just feeling the support for Iowa women?s wrestling, seeing and hearing so many people cheering for us, and feeling the energy of Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time?that moment was just surreal.? PHOTO: Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com Sterling Dias (right) and Ava Bayless celebrate their team title following the 2025 National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships. From a wrestling family to a joining a collegiate dynasty Bayless, a Greenville, Pennsylvania native, grew up in a wrestling family. Her three older brothers and father all were wrestlers. ?By the time my third brother started wrestling, he needed a practice partner, and I got to practice with him,? says Bayless. ?I just kept wrestling and my parents, who were aware of other female wrestlers, let me continue. I wrestled in kindergarten and have continued ever since.? Wrestling opportunities for girls were sparse in her hometown, so Bayless decided to attend high school in Wilkes-Barre?280 miles away?to wrestle for the Wyoming Seminary girls wrestling team. There, she won the two individual titles at 112 pounds. She also was attending wrestling camps and competing in international wrestling freestyle events, where she got to know Clarissa Chun, Iowa women?s wrestling head coach. ?I had known Coach Chun because I had gone to some developmental camps she was at and also some trips overseas with USA Wrestling,? Bayless says. ?When Iowa announced they would have a women?s wrestling team, it was perfect timing for me as I was in my senior year of high school. Once I visited, I could tell that Iowa was somewhere special to be for women in sports.? PHOTO: Need credit Iowa's women's wrestling team won the 2025 national championship, its second in a row. Breaking down barriers for women in sports and beyond A trailblazer in women?s wrestling, Bayless is also passionate about supporting other student-athletes. Her family has played a huge role in her future aspirations. ?I have some family members in medicine, including my brother who is in his first year of med school,? says Bayless. ?I hope to go to med school and become a physician to support athletes, especially women, as a health care provider.? As a human physiology major on a pre-med track, Bayless is pursuing her goal as she rounds out her prerequisite courses in areas such as medical sociology, physics, and psychology. ?My medical interests match my passion for growing and helping people while breaking down barriers for women,? Bayless says. ?Wrestling has inspired me to become who I want to be.? It should come as no surprise that Bayless has set her sights on some characteristically lofty but more immediate goals to accomplish first. "My confidence has grown exponentially here at Iowa, and winning back-to-back team titles has been so emotional and fun," says Bayless. "I'm ready for more."