Massive Crew Earns NWCA Academic Awards, Team Ranks Fifth in GPA
Oskaloosa--The Statesmen women's wrestling team garnered numerous individual academic awards, while the team was also lauded as the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced its 2025-2026 NAIA Women's Scholar All-Americans.
A total of 248 individuals from within the NAIA earned the recognition with WPU collecting a whopping 15 honorees. WPU's 15 award recipients tied for third most of any program in the NAIA.
As a team, William Penn ranked fifth in the country with a 3.71 Grade Point Average.
The quartet of Maeley Elsbury (Jr., Chelsea, Iowa, Biology), Joey Ives (Fr., Bellevue, Wash., Undecided), Esther Kolawole (So., Akure, Nigeria, Kinesiology), and Christianah Ogunsanya (So., Akure, Nigeria, Kinesiology) led the group with perfect 4.0 GPAs entering the spring semester.
Lily Zapata (So., Lewisville, Texas, Sociology), at 3.95, and Tatiana Paragas (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii, Exercise Science), at 3.94, were in the 3.90-3.99 section, while Jalyiah Gardner (Fr., Keokuk, Iowa, Business Management) (3.86), Kendall Bostelman (Sr., Napoleon, Ohio, Exercise Science) (3.85), Naomi Templeman (Fr., Dallas Center, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) (3.84), and Naida Abdijanovic (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Exercise Science) (3.82) were all above 3.80.
Bronwyn Brenneman (Sr., Parnell, Iowa, Biology) paced the remaining Statesmen at 3.68, while Kylee Eastwood (Sr., Fontana, Calif., Biology) (3.65), Avy Perez (Fr., Mission Hills, Calif., Nursing) (3.63), Piper Fowler (Fr., Cleveland, Tenn., Psychology) (3.51), and Diara Pomares (Fr., Hemet, Calif., Fine Arts) (3.31) also met the criteria.
To qualify for the honor, student-athletes must attend the nominating institution for one semester and meet one of the following criteria:
--Have a 3.0 cumulative GPA and earn All-America honors
--Have a 3.2 cumulative GPA and have been a national qualifier
--Have a 3.5 cumulative GPA and have won 60% of their total matches in at least 60% of the team's schedule
--Have a 3.5 cumulative GPA and have been a participant in the conference qualifying tournament
To view the complete 2025-2026 NWCA individuals list, click HERE
To view the complete 2025-2026 NWCA teams list, click HERE
