Illinois Matwomen is building its 2026/2027 IKWF girls coverage around a simple goal: give more wrestlers the consistent attention their work deserves. That means following results throughout the season, explaining the rankings, recognizing improvement and telling the stories behind the names.
Once the season begins, rankings will be updated weekly. Weekly spotlight articles, including a “Wrestler of the Week” feature, will give us another opportunity to recognize girls making an impact across Illinois. Some will already have state medals. Others will be earning their first significant wins or establishing themselves in a new division.
To make that coverage as complete and accurate as possible, we need coaches and parents involved from the beginning.
The foundation of the preseason lists comes from the IKWF State Tournament. The 2026 state fields provide a documented starting point: who competed, which division and weight they wrestled, whom they faced and how they finished. From there, the research follows the individual wrestler and the results available beyond that one weekend.
Starting with state gives the rankings a consistent foundation. It also leaves room for the girls whose best wrestling is still ahead of them. A wrestler who missed state, recently joined the sport or has improved significantly since March can absolutely enter the conversation as new results become available.
HOW THE RANKINGS ARE DETERMINED
State placements carry substantial weight, but evaluating a wrestler requires looking inside the bracket. Opponents, head-to-head results, the number of contested wins and the path to a finish all help explain what a placement represents.
A nonplacer who won several matches in a strong bracket may have a better competitive record than the letters “NP” suggest. A medal earned through multiple wins carries different evidence from a placement in a very small field. Byes and forfeits are identified separately from matches won on the mat.
Age divisions also matter. As girls move into new divisions for 2026/2027, their previous accomplishments have to be considered in context. In the Intermediate rankings, an Intermediate state placement generally carries more weight than a comparable Bantam finish. A younger wrestler’s championship can still make a compelling case, especially when supported by quality wins. The comparison considers both the level of competition and what the wrestler accomplished within it.
That is why the preseason order does not simply copy last year’s awards stand. Returning Intermediate competitors and girls moving up from Bantam are entering the same conversation with different competitive backgrounds. Similar considerations apply when evaluating girls moving through the older divisions.
Head-to-head results are especially useful when wrestlers have met directly. Recent meetings, repeated results and the circumstances of those matches help establish an order. When two girls split matches, both results deserve consideration. When there is little evidence separating athletes, those positions remain open to change as the season supplies more information.
Results beyond IKWF state add another layer. Illinois freestyle state, regional events, national tournaments and dual competitions can show how a wrestler performs against a different field. Those achievements are evaluated with the event’s age group, weight, style and opponents in mind. A tournament title alone cannot explain every difference between two brackets.
These are Illinois Matwomen’s editorial rankings. They are a researched assessment of the available results and a starting point for following the season. They will change as wrestlers compete, improve and establish themselves at their current weights.
WHY ROKFIN
Illinois girls wrestling deserves sustained coverage on a platform where a wider wrestling audience can follow it. Rokfin gives Illinois Matwomen a place to build that coverage alongside other established wrestling outlets and develop an archive that readers can return to throughout the season.
IAwrestle provides a strong example of the standard we want to work toward. Its coverage connects Iowa wrestling fans with girls’ rankings, articles, video and tournament coverage. Its Rokfin presence includes girls’ high school and youth rankings, and its 2026 AAU Girls State coverage included streaming along with updates and highlights. That breadth shows what is possible when girls wrestling receives ongoing editorial attention.
Our ambition is to bring that same depth and consistency to Illinois girls wrestling. We want readers to become familiar with athletes before the state tournament, follow their progress and understand the significance of the results they produce along the way.
Subscriptions add up, and families already invest heavily in this sport. That is understood. Building reliable coverage also requires time, research, editing and a sustainable publishing platform. Support helps make it possible to keep doing that work week after week and to expand the number of girls whose stories can be told.
The value has to come through in the coverage itself: accurate information, regular updates and articles that give readers a reason to keep following Illinois wrestling.
COACHES AND PARENTS MAKE THE COVERAGE BETTER
The most important request for the coming season is straightforward: please reach out.
Let us know a wrestler’s current competition weight, division and grade. If she changes weights during the season, send the update. Last March’s bracket cannot tell us where every girl will compete this winter, and an outdated weight can put an otherwise deserving wrestler in the wrong discussion.
Please share results as well. Include the tournament or dual name, date, division, weight and opponents, along with wins, losses and final placement. A bracket link, clear bracket photo or official result page helps us verify the information and understand the competition.
This is particularly valuable when an event is not posted online, results are difficult to locate or a wrestler competes under a different team name. Those gaps can make it easy to miss a strong performance. A message from a coach or parent can help us find it.
Corrections and constructive feedback are welcome. If a name is misspelled, a grade is wrong, a weight has changed or an accomplishment is missing, tell us. The more communication we receive, the more accurately and completely we can cover the girls.
That communication will also help shape the weekly “Wrestler of the Week” articles. Coaches and parents can bring attention to a breakthrough tournament, a meaningful win, a strong run against difficult competition or a season of steady improvement. Give us the results and the context that make the performance worth recognizing.
Rankings can give young wrestlers something to work toward. Thoughtful coverage can also help them see that their effort and progress are being noticed. We want the weekly updates and articles to encourage participation, recognize achievement and help readers discover girls they may not yet know.
Four names already offer a good introduction to the talent worth following this season. Their accomplishments span IKWF state, freestyle competition and national events, and each brings a different reason for excitement into 2026/2027.
FOUR GIRLS SET TO DOMINATE THE MAT
LILA CARSON
Lila Carson’s 2026 results show both her ability to contend for championships and her ability to recover after a setback. The Antioch Predators wrestler finished third at IKWF state in Girls Novice 85, winning six consecutive consolation matches after an opening loss. Her run included victories over Bailey Deushane, Nichole Gaskill and Cecilia Nieves before she defeated Brynlee Jones for third. She had already reached an IKWF state final in 2025, making her latest finish another substantial addition to her record.
Carson then won the 2026 Illinois Girls Freestyle State championship at 14U 85. She defeated Stella Eimer and Nora Rauen to reach the final, then beat Abigail Godard for the title. Godard had defeated Carson in the 2025 IKWF championship match, adding an interesting connection between two successful seasons and two different styles.
Her work extended beyond Illinois. Representing Illinois at the 2026 Women’s National Duals, Carson recorded 14U freestyle victories at 85 pounds over opponents from North Dakota, Missouri, Michigan, Washington, Texas and Minnesota. A freestyle state title, consecutive IKWF podium finishes and productive national dual competition give Carson a strong body of work entering the new season. Her six-match recovery at IKWF state is also a reminder of how difficult she can be to keep off the podium.
AUDRIANA HERZOG
Audriana Herzog’s spring accomplishments give her a compelling place in this group. Competing for Legacy Wrestling Academy, she finished fourth at the 2026 USA Wrestling Women’s National Championships in 12U freestyle at 126 pounds. Her tournament included a consolation semifinal victory over Kamiah Rae Jacome that put her into the third-place match. A top-four finish at that event is a significant entry on her youth wrestling record.
Herzog followed that performance by reaching the final at the 2026 Illinois Girls Freestyle State Championships, also at 12U 126. She defeated Makenzie Willis in the semifinal and finished second to Vivienne Nichols. Those April results demonstrated her ability to earn a place in the medal rounds against competition beyond the IKWF folkstyle season.
Her folkstyle history adds context. Herzog placed sixth at IKWF state in 2025. Wrestling for Marengo Youth in 2026, she won three matches in the Girls Novice 140 bracket, although she finished outside the medal positions. Her subsequent national fourth-place finish and freestyle state runner-up result show why a season should be evaluated across more than one weekend. Herzog enters 2026/2027 with meaningful experience in both styles and a clear opportunity to build on her strongest spring performances.
BEAUX McCARTNEY
Beaux McCartney has reached the IKWF state championship match in consecutive seasons. The Alber Athletics wrestler followed her 2025 runner-up finish with another second-place performance in 2026, this time in Girls Intermediate 62. Reaching that stage twice establishes a record of sustained state-level contention.
McCartney’s 2026 state run included wins over Jessie Skelton, Emberlynn Mendenhall and Ava Voyles before she met Penelope Hall in the final. She arrived at state as the North Sectional champion, having defeated Liliana Quatroke, Khloe Dominguez and Ella Terhaar to win that bracket. Her 2025 state run also included victories over Mendenhall and Sloane Gabler before a championship-match loss to Chelsea Price.
Those results give McCartney a strong foundation for the coming season: repeated success through the state series, wins over other accomplished young wrestlers and experience in championship matches. After consecutive runner-up finishes, the next step is clear. She has already shown she can reach the final; pursuing the top spot makes her one of the most interesting girls to follow in 2026/2027.
KENNEDIE VAUGHN
Kennedie Vaughn produced one of the clearest championship performances among the younger wrestlers in these rankings. Representing Doom Wrestling, she won the 2026 IKWF Girls Bantam 85 title with five contested victories. Her run included wins over Aubree Ortolan, Zuri Smith and Amelia Mendez, followed by a semifinal victory over Mariella Howard and a championship win over Mckena Poll-Hutchison. Four of those five victories came by fall.
Vaughn carried that success into the summer. At the 2026 Bootleggers Nationals, she won the Girls 8 and Under 85-90 bracket, pinning Lorelei Gardner, Naomi Bishop and Paisley Hagan. She also placed fifth at the 2026 Midwest Nationals in the girls’ third-and-fourth-grade division, recovering from a loss to Jordyn Orr with victories over Poll-Hutchison and Claire Willis.
Her move toward Intermediate competition brings a new challenge, and the stronger division will give us a fresh measure of her progress. She enters it with a state championship earned through five wins, another tournament title and additional success against familiar state-level opponents. Vaughn has already supplied plenty of reasons to watch what comes next.
Carson, Herzog, McCartney and Vaughn are four of the stories Illinois Matwomen will be following as the new season approaches. More will emerge as competition begins. Coaches and parents can help us find them by staying in touch, sharing results and keeping wrestler information current. Together, that communication and the work done on the mat will shape a more complete picture of IKWF girls wrestling throughout
