William Penn’s Piper Fowler named WIN’s Women’s Schalles Award recipient

Photo courtesy of William Penn University Athletics.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH WOMEN’S SCHALLES AWARD RECIPIENT PIPER FOWLER. 

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Annual Awards Issue, which published May 5, 2026.

Piper Fowler grew up wrestling with her twin brother, Cy, and older brother Logan, who both currently compete for Air Force.

One of the top pound-for-pound recruits in the nation coming out of high school in the class of 2025 from Tennessee, Fowler chose to attend William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. There, she maintains, her dreams of becoming a national champion and World and Olympic champion could be realized.

“I really love Jake (Kadel) and Cash (Wilcke); I think they are the best coaches in the country,” Fowler said. “That was ultimately what made me choose William Penn. I love the girls; it is like a family. I also love Oskaloosa. The community is so supportive.”

Fowler wasted little time emerging on the collegiate scene, racking up a 23-3 record in her true-freshman season with 14 pins on her way to winning an NAIA title at 180 pounds. She pinned all four of her opponents at nationals, three of which did not make it to the second period against her. Additionally, Fowler pinned all three opponents at William Penn’s conference tournament – the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship – in the first period.

Now, Fowler has been named the recipient of WIN Magazine’s 2026 Women’s Schalles Award as the nation’s top collegiate pinner in women’s wrestling.

The award is named after the legendary Wade Schalles, who won two national titles for Clarion State in 1972-73 and won 153 of his 159 collegiate bouts, pinning 109 of those opponents along the way. He was named a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991.

“Piper Fowler wrestles like someone who grew up fighting for every inch of living-room carpet, and I can only imagine how many pieces of furniture her brothers helped her break along the way,” Schalles said. “She is obviously fearless and dangerous from anywhere: the kind of pinner who doesn’t wait for opportunity; she creates it.”

Fowler’s head coach Jake Kadel deflected credit for Fowler’s pinning ways but did stress that earning pins was a point of emphasis for the Statesmen this season.

“It comes from her high school coach. The program she came up through (Cleveland) is exceptional. There are high-level girls coming out of there all the time.

“We preached all year about getting pins for the team. Even going back to high school, she had an outrageous number of pins. It was huge for our team to get those extra bonus points. Piper was the only girl to pin her way through the NAIA or NCAA tournament.”

Kadel said his 180-pound star can pin from anywhere. Her age-level experience in national and international events has only pushed her further along.

“She is very dynamic. One of the problems we had early this year is we wanted her matches to go a little longer so we could work on more stuff. She would just pin people so fast and not just with one move.

“She has been a high-level freestyler for a long time. As a U17 World champion, she wants to be a U20 World champ this year. If you’re training to win a World medal or title, then NAIA or NCAA titles will fall underneath that. There are always bigger fish outside the USA.”

Fowler said she doesn’t specifically gameplan for pins as she wrestles but often finds herself in pinning positions.

“Those extra bonus points can really help in a dual meet. I always hear him (Kadel) saying that in my head.

“I never know what is going to happen or who I am going to face, but I am just going to take every match one at a time, wrestle my best and wrestle like me.”