Senior Aine Moffit’s run at nationals ultimately ended with a historic result. On March 7, the senior earned an 8–1 decision in her final match to secure a seventh-place finish and become the first All-American in the history of Augustana women’s wrestling. The victory capped years of dedication for Moffit while also establishing a new milestone for a program that’s still building.
After both placing third at regionals, Moffit and sophomore Maryam Ndiaye qualified for the national tournament, where they competed against some of the top wrestlers in the country. While reaching Nationals is an accomplishment on its own, the stakes are even higher for the Vikings. Augustana has never had a women’s wrestling All-American, awarded to the top eight finishers at the national tournament, meaning either Moffit or Ndiaye had a chance to make program history with a podium finish.
For Moffit, the tournament was a return to familiar territory and a chance to close her collegiate career on a high note. Meanwhile, Ndiaye experienced the national stage for the first time as a sophomore. While their paths to the tournament have been different, both wrestlers shared the same opportunity to make history.
While the opportunity to earn All-American status is significant for any wrestler, it carries additional weight for Augustana’s growing women’s wrestling program. Now in just its fifth season, the Vikings continue to establish themselves in a rapidly expanding sport, with the NCAA recently moving toward sanctioning women’s wrestling in the 2027-28 season. For Moffit, becoming the program’s first All-American would represent more than just a personal accomplishment; it would be a milestone for the program as a whole.
“Being the first All-American would definitely be helpful for our program, because …this is its fifth year,” Moffit said. “Having an All-American from your fifth year of having a program would be pretty awesome. As numbers grow and women’s wrestling becomes more competitive, especially now that we’re having the NCAA sanction us, it would definitely just be a really cool thing to put towards our program.”
While the milestone is significant for the athletes, it also has a lasting impact on the program as a whole. Head coach Tony Willaert sees that a first All-American shows that Augustana can develop wrestlers capable of competing at the highest level.
“She has really taken steps forward maturity-wise, stepping into a big leadership role after losing our first graduation class last year,” Willaert said. “She also took her dedication to the team and her success to a new level by committing to going 138 after spending her last several years at 145. She gets a lot of extra work individually with coaches as well, and now people will see it pay off and hopefully will follow in her footsteps.”
For Willaert, the accomplishment represents more than just an individual milestone; it shows what the program is capable of building moving forward
“It would mean that it’s possible to achieve big things here,” Willaert said. “Neither of them [was] nationally ranked girls with all kinds of experience coming out of high school, so it would mean that we can develop wrestlers here. It would help recruits see that we can do it and hopefully help them decide they want to be here.”
