Ali Andersen, who has been part of Team Iowa since the beginning, was awarded the inaugural Empower Me AAU Women's Wrestling Scholarship.
She was selected by a six-judge panel (three men and three women). All six are part of the wrestling community, and none of them have a current female high school athlete.
She was chosen due to her written account of what AAU and wrestling has done for her. Plus, her GPA and positive reviews from her coaches also played a role.
"We felt that her essay expressed what we at AAU Girls Wrestling strive to achieve, and that is that AAU is here to enrich and provide opportunities for everyone," Loyd said. "Our goal is to develop both champions on the mat and skills that help individuals become successful off the mat."
Of note, one significant addition to the scholarship offer was MidWest Wash Pro stepped up and matched AAU's donations, increasing the scholarship to $1000 after submission of first semester grades.
Concerning the girls' divisions, both the high school and the youth divisions were highly competitive. The previous national champions barely bumped off a stacked Iowa Daughters of the Corn team in the semi-finals, which featured Abby McIntyre, a tournament OW, and a standout performance from Emma Grimm. That nail-biter was followed by Team Oklahoma taking down the champs in a thrilling finals match. On the youth division side, the Black Mambas left no doubt they were the dominant squad. Teams fought hard, but none came close to topping the champs. That said, one exciting match to watch was in the fifth-place placement round. Colorado Premier and Missouri Black traded blows in a dual that saw numerous bonus-point decisions. Other standout teams were Nebraska, Montana, Charlie's Angels, and Chasing Titles. The men's side of the action mirrored that of their female counterparts. As predicted, many marquee matchups featured a pairing of former state qualifiers. In many instances, the competitor hailed from opposing states. These events did not award Outstand Wrestler honorees, but that will change next year in 2022. The men's events used a whopping 28 mats, an increase from the 26 mats in 2019. "Our criteria is we have every team wrestling every round and no empty mats when possible," Creason said. "So, if we were to add 60 teams, we want to find a way to get 30 mats in there. With the boys, we had 57 teams, so we went to 28 mats to get all those guys wrestling at once." "The criteria we always use is that the guys' teams and girls' teams have one that for every two teams in attendance," Creason continued. Full results can be found via Trackwrestling here. In 2022, fans can expect another quality event, just as they saw this year. "The tournament runs well because of the people that we have here that are working it," Creason said of his support staff. "In Iowa, we are fortunate for the great volunteers and people that understand what we want to do." Creason went on to say it's the work of volunteers that ultimately makes or breaks an event. According to Creason, the Easter weekend events probably saw upwards of 40 volunteers. Other events AAU Iowa wrestling hosts can exceed 100. A successful event is truly a team effort. In the more immediate future, Loyd wanted the AAU Iowa wrestling faithful to know that the AAU Scholastic Duals should be "rolling and a full go" later this summer, June 21-24. Following the Scholastic Duals, the organization looks to host the first-ever Freestyle Girls High School Duals for Junior Olympics. There is also interest in some in Greco action, which will be discussed at a later date. "It's exciting to see the growth and continued support from AAU for the girls and boys everywhere," Loyd said.Back to articles