North Central College in Naperville -- a small liberal arts school of fewer than 3,000 students -- has become one of the premier women’s wrestling programs in the country. And the program only started five years ago.
Last spring, the North Central team took home their first national title. And three Cardinals wrestlers secured individual championships on top of that.
Yelena Makoyed won her third consecutivenational championship in 2023 AND was named the first-ever USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year.
She’s also one of at least six North Central women’s wrestlers who will compete at the Olympic Trialslater this spring with a shot to make it to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this July.
Makoyed andNCC head coach Joe Norton understand the significance of the opportunity.
“That's the pinnacle of our sport,” said Norton. “It's not the NFL or the NBA or whatever. And you can go to a Division-3 school and qualify for the Olympic trials? There's not a lot of dudes going D-3 and going to the NFL.”
But, just a few years ago, when the program just began, there was no hardware Norton could point to during the recruiting process. No national titles. No Olympics. Just a small, Division-3 school in the Midwest with a good men’s program and without any scholarships to offer.
“We were just selling dreams back then,” he said.
Makoyed remembers his pitch very well.
“It was like, 'I love wrestling. I want to coach, I want to start a woman's program.' And we kind of just had to have faith that he would follow through,” she said.
To make recruiting more complicated, girl’s wrestling wasn’t an official IHSA sport at the high school level in Illinois until just 3 years ago. So, there weren’t many local programs to pull from.
Makoyed is from California. She didn’t start wrestling until high school. Her school didn’t have enough girls for their own team, so they’d practice with the boys’ team and then compete against other girls in tournaments.
“And I honestly liked it like that,” she said. “Because the coaches treated us equally, the same as the guys, and it was really challenging but it made us really strong.”
She says she wasn’t that heavily recruited, since she started so late. She didn’t really know about many programs with women’s teams until she got the call from coach Norton.
Over the course of her college career Makoyed has seen women’s wrestling grow exponentially. There’s more opportunity in high school. There are more and more colleges at every level with women’s programs. It’s listed as an Emerging Sport by the NCAA, meaning it’s on track for an official NCAA Championship soon.
The North Central program has taken off too. That first year in 2019, they had 9 wrestlers. Now they have 52 women from nearly two dozen different states, and 21 All-Americans on the roster.
But, with the women’s wrestling scene becoming stronger and stronger, that comes with new challenges for a small school like North Central.
Division-3 schools can’t offer athletic scholarships. Norton says they’re competing against Division-1 & 2 programs that can offer full-ride scholarships and high-end gear sponsorships. But, Norton stresses, the scholarship doesn’t make you a better wrestler -- it’s the coaches and training.
“'Well, coach, this school is free. I'm on a full ride.' All right, well, that doesn't put you in the Olympic trials, that doesn't put you on top of the podium at the NCAA championships,” he said.
And the competition is tougher. This year, the University of Iowa started a women’s program. Makoyed says it’s a huge deal. Iowa has one of the most successful Division-1 men’s programs in the nation.
Amani Jones, another All-American on the team, says competing against the likes of Iowa keeps them motivated. They still have something to chase, even when defending their national championship.
“We just won the national tournament, and I feel like we don't have the credit we deserve still,” said Jones. “Everyone expects them to win. So, I like it. It feels like we’re still the underdog going after them.”
The Cardinals clinched their second-consecutive regional title. The North Central team looks to bring home back-to-back championships at the national tournament coming up March 8 and 9.
Just five years ago, Coach Norton was selling dreams to Makoyed and the other women joining the brand-new program. Now, those Olympic dreams are reality. The national championships are on the shelf. And the chance to compete at the highest level is right in front of them.
