CLARKSVILLE, TN − 6,000 top wrestlers from all over the country gathered in Virginia Beach last weekend at one of the most prestigious wrestling tournaments in the country, NHSCA Nationals. In the end, three local girls cracked the top three to earn All-American honors at the event.

To earn All-American honors, a wrestler has to make the top eight at nationals. This is very difficult to do, considering the girls brackets are 32-man to 64-man groups full of state champions, state medalists, and nationally ranked girls from all over the United States. But that didn’t stop West Creek 3x state champion Mariana Bowen, Montgomery Central 2x state champion and 3x state finalist Audrey Levendusky, or West Creek 2025 state champion Irelynn Laurin from earning top 3 spots on the podium.

Bowen (132 pound class) and Laurin (185 pound class) both made the finals and took 2nd place while Levendusky took 3rd.

Bowen, a returning All-American, started with three pins before grinding out an 8-6 win in the quarterfinals over Maryland’s Kesi Tsarni, the national prep runner-up. In the end, Bowen fell in the finals to returning national champion Elizabeth Rosentiel from Alabama, but put together an impressive tournament with a 5-1 record including three pins and a major decision.

Bowen’s teammate Laurin was equally impressive, coming out of the #3 seed spot. Laurin had a first round bye, but then scored two straight pins and earned a 9-1 major decision in the semifinals over Connecticut state champ Kayli Morris. In a competitive final where she had an early lead, Laurin eventually lost to #9 nationally ranked Juliana Marquez from California.

“We were really excited for Virginia Beach,” said West Creek/Iron Knights Coach Brock Budesheim. “We came last year and had a great time as a team and came back with one All-American, Mariana Bowen. This year we spent a lot of time cleaning up technique, and building game plans in the weeks leading up to nationals. We had such a story book finish to our regular season, so this trip was just to really see where we were at on the national scene. All of our girls came to wrestle, that’s it. I told them beforehand that the goal wasn’t to be an All-American or a national champion. These titles are great things to accomplish, but they don’t define us, and they will come and go. The goal was for them to go out there, and show the country what they could do. Just wrestle. That’s all. To bring back not one, but two national finalists is once again a historic moment for our program and club.”

Levendusky, ranked #10 in the country, went 6-1 in Virginia Beach, only losing 4-2 in the semis to Pennsylvania runner-up Jameson Strickland. After that loss, she had to win the next match to become an All-American, a nailbiter that she won 1-0 over California’s Yanni Sanchez to enter the placement rounds. From there, she got on fire and went 3-0 to take 3rd place, earning a pin in the 3rd place match over another Tennessean Elizabeth Hill from Father Ryan.

“It was a tough tournament but I was glad I reached my goal of becoming an NHSCA All-American,” said Levendusky, “especially after going out in the blood round last year.”

The “blood round” is the round right before reaching the podium. Two other locals had blood round performances at the event, as West Creek’s Lexi Dean (126 pounds) and Montgomery Central’s Jocelyn Kolozsy (145 pounds) both reached the top 12 before being eliminated.

A handful of local boys also went to the event. Earning wins were Kirkwood’s Cameron Culhane (126), Jeremy Miears (126 pounds), Luke Louzensky (152), Logan Brown (170), and Peter Wilson (182); from West Creek, brothers Caleb (113 pounds) and Colin Villaluz (113 pounds) both earned victories, along with teammates Ty Hutchens (152 pounds) and Standford Thompson (182 pounds); from; Montgomery Central’s Jack Levendusky (106 pounds) and Josh Hodges (170 pounds) both had wins; and Clarksville wrestlers Ahvare Galbreath (170) and Micah Howe (120 pounds) also earned victories.