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Five finalists have been selected for the 2026 USA Wrestling Anthony-Maroulis Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation’s best women’s college wrestler—Kennedy Blades of Iowa, Erin Hikiji of Providence, Audrey Jimenez of Lehigh, Cristelle Rodriguez of Doane and Kylie Welker of Iowa.

Blades, Jimenez and Welker were champions at the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling National Championships. Hikiji and Rodriguez earned national titles at the NAIA Women’s Wrestling Championships.

The award winner will be selected by a vote from three constituent groups—women’s college head coaches, national wrestling media and the fans. Each group accounts for one-third of the total vote.

Public voting is now open at usawrestlingevents.com/wcwoty and will run through Tuesday, March 31. The winner will be announced on Thursday, April 2.

Finalists were determined by the Anthony-Maroulis Trophy oversight committee, which includes representatives of USA Wrestling, college coaches, media, officials and past winners.

The following criteria were considered when evaluating finalist candidates, using data from the 2025-26 season only:

• Season record
• Bonus percentage
• Number of falls
• Number of technical falls
• Quality of competition
• Integrity and sportsmanship
• Impact on program and team success
• Cultural impact on women’s college wrestling

The USA Wrestling Anthony-Maroulis Trophy is named after Victoria Anthony and Helen Maroulis, who are the first four-time women’s college national champions. Both women won a fourth WCWA national title in 2014 as teammates at Simon Fraser University, becoming the first wrestlers in history to achieve the feat.

Previous winners of the award were Yelena Makoyed of North Central (2023), Adaugo Nwachukwu of William Penn (2024) and Kennedy Blades of Iowa (2025).

USA Wrestling created the Anthony-Maroulis Trophy to elevate a new award for women’s college wrestling that has significant cultural impact seen with other college athletic awards, such as the Dan Hodge Trophy in men’s college wrestling and the Hesman Trophy in college football.

University of Iowa

Senior

NCAA champion at 160 lbs.

Record: 19-0

Bonus Rate: 95%

Falls: 5

Tech. Falls: 13

Season notables: Won second women’s college national title; Won bronze medal at 2025 Senior World Championships

University of Providence

Senior

NAIA champion at 103 lbs.

Record: 33-0

Bonus Rate: 88%

Falls: 8

Tech. Falls: 18

Forfeits: 3

Season notables: Won second NAIA national title

Lehigh University

Sophomore

NCAA champion at 110 lbs.

Record: 21-0

Bonus Rate: 100%

Falls: 7

Tech. Falls: 8

Forfeits: 6

Season notables: NCAA Championships Outstanding Wrestler Award recipient; Made the U20, U23 and Senior World Teams with silver medal wins at the U20 and U23 World Championships

Doane University

Senior

NAIA champion at 124 lbs.

Record: 20-0

Bonus Rate: 100%

Falls: 3

Tech. Falls: 17

Season notables: Won third NAIA national title; Won third NAIA Wrestler of the Year Award; Made the U23 and Senior World Teams; Only gave up one match point in college all season

University of Iowa

Junior

NCAA champion at 180 lbs.

Record: 21-0

Bonus Rate: 95%

Falls: 4

Tech. Falls: 15

Forfeits: 1

Season notables: Won third women’s college national title; Won bronze medal at 2025 Senior World Championships; Won gold medal at 2025 U23 World Championships