SPOKANE, WA • Alexis Janiak is having quite a year. Three weeks ago, she won her first National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling national championship representing Aurora University, and Saturday, at the 2025 USMC Women’s National Championships, she earned the right to represent the United States at the U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, with a dominating performance that was nearly perfect.
To make clear how near-perfect Janiak was, in her six matches, she only conceded two points, outscoring her opponents 43-2. As for what made the difference in the 2024 U20 silver medalist and 2023 U20 World bronze medalist, she said it was the ability to focus on herself and just wrestle freely.
“After winning that national title,” Janiak explained after finishing second and third the past two seasons at the NCWW Championships, “it was relief. I feel like I have achieved a lot of the important goals in my career, obviously the next step would be the senior World Team and Olympics, but I fee content with now having freedom. Coming into this tournament this weekend I felt like I had the freedom to just go out there and wrestle like me. It takes a lot of stress off what I haven’t done, and what I haven’t achieved.”
And with that freedom came simple domination. In her first three matches, Janiak scored three 10-0 technical superiorities, and she did them in times of 0:39, 0:59, and 0:53. Amazing. What was also amazing was that Janiak competed in one of the more competitive brackets at 59kg.
In her semifinal bout, Janiak had to face last year’s champion, Sofia Macaluso of New York, who placed fifth at the 2024 U23 Worlds, and was a 2022 U20 World silver medalist.
In that semifinal matchup, Janiak would give up the first takedown of the match as Macaluso used her over hooks and inside trip against Janiak. Janiak would hip in and try to throw through the position, and she was originally awarded one point for the throw. However, after a challenge brick was thrown, the two-point takedown was awarded to Macaluso. And those were the only two points scored on Janiak.
From there, Janiak would come out of the break chasing a 2-0 deficit and score her first point on a passivity call. From there, it would remain a tight one-point match. Then, with thirty-six seconds remaining, Janiak would shoot herself into a left-side high-crotch, switch to a double, and lift and come down with a four-point exposure as Macaluso tried to flip Janiak over for points of her own—Macaluso would be denied any points in that sequence as Janiak came out on top.
After that sequence and taking the lead, 5-2, it was simply a matter of being strong and smart, and as Macaluso came forward off the restart and took her double overs and jumped into her inside trip, Janiak remained strong, fighting the position and hipping in, holding off any points and winning the match.
“She’s tough,” Janiak said of her semifinal opponent. “She’s so dynamic from her low single to her inside trips to her over-hook throws. But I’m also dynamic, but more with basics, so I felt like if I just kept to what I know and wrestled my match, it’s a pretty good matchup for me other than that—just being aware. I went for a throw in the beginning. I felt it was there, and I just went with it, so I think it shows I’m confident and having fun and letting whatever happens, happens.”
In the finals, Janiak faced Oklahoma’s Bella Williams and defeated her in the best-of-three series in two matches, 3-0 and 5-0, but Janiak spoke to how difficult of a matchup Williams actually was for her.
“She probably wrestles the exact opposite of me,” Janiak explained. “She likes to keep the score close. Like the foreigners who like to keep the scores close, and wrestling those opponents these past few years has helped me improve to wrestle wrestlers like her. But if I just trust my fundamentals and basics, I should be able to take those matches.”
And that was exactly what Janiak was able to do.
From here, Janiak, who has automatically qualified for the Senior World Team Trials due to her national title, will head to the US Open and gather some Senior level experience, but more than anything, Janiak just feels relaxed and more at peace in herself and wrestling than she ever has.
“I been wrestling all college season,” Janiak responded to the competition she faced in her bracket, “so I’ve been used to competition and facing tough opponents. I think that exposure helped me prepare for tournaments like this. I’ve seen success at this tournament, and I like where I’m at to be honest. I like the atmosphere and this is probably the most relaxed I’ve ever been going into a tournament. I’ve been working on just focusing on wrestling me more than wrestling the person, and I fell I’ve grown a lot from that.”
Janiak will wrestle in the U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, this October.
Here is a look at Janiak’s U23 tournament:
Championship Round One
Alexis Janiak (IL) over Cera Philson (WI) • TF, 10-0 (0:35)
Championship Round of 16
Alexis Janiak (IL) over Brianna Holcomb (MD) • TF, 10-0 (0:59)
Quarterfinals
Alexis Janiak (IL) over Kendall Bostelman (OH) • TF, 10-0 (0:53)
Semifinals
Alexis Janiak (IL) over Sofia Macaluso (NY) • Dec, 5-2
Best-of-three Results
Match 01 • Alexis Janiak (IL) over Bella Williams (OK) • Dec, 3-0
Match 02 • Alexis Janiak (IL) over Bella Williams (OK) • Dec, 5-0
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• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
