Ava Bayless’ around-the-world summer helping prepare for her a chance at an NCAA women’s wrestling title

IOWA CITY — Ava Bayless only just started to understand how truly baseball works this summer.

The Hawkeyes’ redshirt junior wrestler knows the sport, and could maybe pinch hit if needed, but she doesn’t call herself an aficionado. For three weeks over the summer, however, Bayless was a baseball coach, teaching kids in Vietnam the sport as part of a summer service trip through Coach for College.

“I got to coach with two girls from Harvard that play softball there,” Bayless said. “I got to learn a lot from them. And learning how to teach a sport that I'm not proficient in myself was really cool.”

Instead of baseball or softball, Bayless is one of the country’s top women’s wrestlers. With two All-American honors over the last two years and a 12-1 record this season, she’s fighting for her opportunity to chase an NCAA Championship for the first time in program history.

Iowa womens’ wrestling has strictly competed through National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships since the program’s inception in 2021. This year, the NCAA will host its first championships in April, with the event taking place in Coralville.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I've always wanted to wrestle in college, but I didn't even think it was possible that I would be around an actual NCAA championship,” Bayless said. “So for that to be here in Iowa City is just absolutely incredible, and obviously something I will hold with me for the rest of my life.”

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The official news came from the NCAA back in July, but at that point, Bayless was preparing for her trip to Vietnam. The program lasts just under a month, and allows collegiate student-athletes to help teach classes for Vietnamese children. Lessons include math, biology, English and computer skills.

Bayless is one of 14 collegiate wrestlers to participate in the Coach for College program, according to the organization’s website.

“To be able to bring together people from all different backgrounds,” she said, “Just spend every single day with these kids and get to teach them something and give them friendships and it was just a ton of fun.”

Of course, she did still have summer workouts — the norm for every college athlete also participating. Bayless’ workouts sometimes meant going for a run, or going to a gym she had access to, but she wasn’t ever alone.

Bayless said she learned a lot from the athletes also tracking their summer workouts, seeing how their sports required different training methods.

“Sometimes off the mat isn't always a bad thing,” she said. “That was really cool to be able to see how they trained and what their different ways of keeping in shape were.”

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Now, having returned from her trip to Vietnam, Bayless is focused on achieving her NCAA title dreams. There’s one new wrinkle to an NCAA appearance the Hawkeyes haven’t faced before, though: only 10 wrestlers can compete in the championships.

Iowa had 11 All-Americans last year, and brought in six freshmen for this year.

“There'll be plenty of opportunities for our women to be able to compete,” Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun said. “I think the harder thing is, when it does come down to decision time, the great thing about our sport is, you’ve got to go earn it on the mat. You show your work, and you go earn what you get.”

Just like how Bayless found ways to make her training work overseas, she’s done the same in Iowa City.

The number of ranked Hawkeyes on the team’s roster already helps, for one. Whether teammates compete in competition or in practice, there’s opportunity for Bayless to cement her place in the coaches’ conversation.

“It does ramp things up and make things a little more pressured for us,” she said. “But I think we always respond to pressure really well.”

Vietnam wasn’t about wrestling for Bayless, though she found ways to keep herself sharp. She’s making sure to use the lessons she did learn there, though, and doing so the same way Iowa women’s wrestling promotes the sport — by recognizing the bigger picture.

“Having that common role is really incredible and teaches us to work together,” Bayless said. “We always know that whoever's on the mat, they're representing all of us. Knowing that we're just a family and we're out there having fun doing what we love, it really brings that pressure down a little bit.”

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