Westin Porter, Felicity Taylor among many spring standouts in Freestyle and Greco action

It was hard to ignore the dominance of a young man named Westin Porter from Powerhouse Wrestling in Council Bluffs. In his first three matches in the 16U freestyle division, he spent a total of one minute and twenty seconds on the mat, winning each bout by a 10-0 score. Not surrendering a single point until the finals, Porter hit an over-under throw to pin his last opponent in just over two-and-a-half minutes. Porter also won the Greco-Roman state tournament.

Q: What was your training like between last summer and this summer to get the results you did?
A: “Last summer, I wasn’t able to compete because I had a torn shoulder. Coming back, I wanted to get in the room. I have really good practice partners in my club room and practice room.”

Q: What are your goals for this summer and future wrestling goals?
A: “For Fargo this year, I am looking to win it. I want to be a two-time state champion in the next two years and win the US Open in freestyle and Greco.”

Q: If you could take on any wrestler right now, who would it be?
A: “That’s a tough one. I’d like to face Masanosuke Ono (Japan), just to see how much I need to grow to get to the level he’s at.”

Q: How did you get into wrestling?
A: “When I was three or four years old, my dad put me in wrestling. He was a wrestler, and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Porter also won the Northern Plains Regional in freestyle and Greco, combining for a 10-0 record while surrendering just two points.

In the 16U division, there were three other double champions. Parker Casey of Sebolt Wrestling Academy, and Macklin Penner and Hayden Schwab, both of Immortal Athletics, won in freestyle and Greco.

In the Junior division, two wrestlers had results that stood out among the rest. Jake Knight of Big Game Wrestling Club and Ashton Honnold of Moen Wrestling Academy won double crowns. Knight went a combined 6-0 in each style at 126 pounds, while Ashton went 7-0 at heavyweight. Knight copied Westin Porter’s notes, allowing two points all weekend. Honnold finished off his state title in freestyle with a four-point move off an effective leg attack to cap a 13-0 win.

Four women who represent the black and gold have been putting in a lot of work in Iowa City. Their results have shown through as these four women will all be headed to Final X next month in Newark, N.J. Three of these four won a Senior Pan-American championship in Monterrey, Mexico in early May.

Kennedy Blades opened her tournament with a 6-2 victory over Nathali Herrera of Venezuela. Then she got her offense rolling, adding two tech falls before facing Herrera again in the finals. This time she widened the gap and walked off the mat with a 14-5 victory and gold at 68 kg.

Macey Kilty won gold at 65 kg. She dominated her round robin with a 23-second pin and two 10-0 technical superiority wins. Joining them at the top was Kylie Welker. Welker went 3-0 as well, winning 8-2, 10-0, and 8-1 to bring back gold at 76 kg.

Lastly, two other Hawkeyes recently made headlines. Felicity Taylor (now of Big Game Wrestling Club) won the 2025 Senior World Team Trials at 53 kg. In the finals, she dominated Sage Mortimer, 13-1.  Taylor has established herself on the US Senior women’s team circuit. She has made Final X (2022) and a U23 World Team (2019). This will be her second trip to Final X.

Q: Who are your training partners at Big Game?
A: “Bella Miller, I go with her quite a bit. Ethan Humphrey as well; he’s been a huge help the last few weeks. I will go with any of the high school boys when we go live.”

Q: What have the results of the past matches between you and Brianna Gonzales looked like?
A: “We wrestled at the regional tournament last year, and she beat me there. But then we wrestled in the national finals and I beat her there. The next year, we faced each other on the backside of the Olympic Trials, and I won there. At the US Open, I led at the break, but she won 6-5.”

Q: What got you into wrestling?
A: “I was a gymnast for 10 years. I wanted to be a tumbler and a flyer and wanted to be a wrestling cheerleader. I didn’t make the team. My main sports were cross-country and track. I wanted to stay busy in the winter so I wasn’t out of shape come track season. I saw a lot of girls get knee injuries playing basketball, plus I’m five feet tall.  My dad always mentioned to me about trying a wrestling tournament. One day in the hallway at South Winn (High School), I told a friend I might as well try wrestling. He said, ‘you’ll never make it through a practice.’ I was like I did gymnastics; that is hard. I went home and told my parents I want to wrestle.”

Favorite Wrestling Shoe: Nike Inflicts
Favorite Music: Country
Favorite Conditioning Exercise: Bike, it makes me mentally stronger
Best wrestling tournament memory: Any time I wrestled at national duals with my team. That was so much fun.
Favorite Meal: Breakfast sandwich on sourdough bread
If I am not wrestling, I am: With family
Who is an athlete you look up to? Shawn Johnson (Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics from Iowa)Who is your favorite wrestler to watch today? Sarah Hildebrandt. She just won gold and watching her through the struggles of becoming an Olympic champion was inspiring.
Why should a girl try wrestling? Wrestling teaches you so many life lessons. Even if you don’t wrestle in college, you learn so much about yourself. There’s never a bad time to start, and you will be so much better off because of it. I transferred from McKendree to Iowa. Through wrestling, I had the opportunity to go through something like this. It sucked, it was hard, and change is hard, but I love where I am at today because of it.