BVU Freshmen Freifeld and Brown Earn All-Conference Women's Wrestling Honors

Savannah Freifeld and Ella Brown stepped onto the mat as freshmen and walked away from the American Rivers Conference tournament with all-conference honors. The two Buena Vista University wrestlers, both from Katy, Texas, earned podium finishes at the ARC tournament to claim spots on the conference's all-conference women's wrestling team, BVU announced Wednesday.

Brown placed second at the 207-pound weight class, a finish that ties the highest individual result in BVU women's wrestling history. Freifeld claimed third at 138 pounds. In the ARC, reaching the all-conference team requires finishing in the top three at the conference tournament, a standard that separates conference contenders from conference champions.

That both athletes cleared it in their first college season says something about where BVU's program is heading. Women's wrestling is in only its third year at Buena Vista, having launched in the 2023-24 season alongside fellow ARC programs Wartburg and Simpson. Head coach Paige Storm has steadily built a roster capable of competing at the conference level, and now has two all-conference honorees anchoring the program's future.

Freshman all-conference recognition is relatively rare in collegiate wrestling because the transition from high school competition to college-level opponents typically takes time. Making the jump and placing inside the top three at a conference tournament in year one puts Freifeld and Brown among the most accomplished first-year wrestlers in the ARC's brief history with the women's sport.

Brown's performance carries additional weight given its historical significance. A runner-up at the heavyweight end of the weight spectrum, her finish at 207 pounds stands alongside the best any BVU women's wrestler has ever achieved at the individual level, providing Storm and her staff with a high-water mark to rally around heading into the offseason.

For a program still building its identity and recruiting presence, two all-conference freshmen are a credible selling point. BVU draws competitors from across the country, and the recognition that Freifeld and Brown earned will factor into conversations with high school wrestlers in northwest Iowa and beyond who are weighing where to take their careers. Freshman success stories tend to travel quickly in small-college wrestling circles.

Both athletes will return with three seasons of eligibility remaining, giving the Storm Lake program a pair of proven conference-level wrestlers at two different weight classes to build around for years to come.