By Becky Walz,

Decorah High School graduate, Naomi Simon celebrated her fourth state championship in February and can now add a bronze medal to her count after the U20 World Championships. (Photo by Becky Walz)
Decorah High School alum Naomi Simon reached the podium at the U20 World Wrestling Championships in Spain last month, but when she initially entered the sport of wresting in middle school, she was simply looking for an entertaining activity.
“That seventh grade season wasn’t the greatest and I almost quit,” said the 2024 Decorah High School graduate. “After Coach (Lee) Fullhart moved to Decorah and took over the wrestling programs, he gave me a space to wrestle, and helped create the best high school team in the state. This allowed me to find a spot in wrestling and become the student-athlete I am today.”
Had Simon quit, she may not have become the student-athlete and inspired women and girls in wrestling today.
“Overall, I hope that my success on the mat is having a positive impact on girls wrestling,” she said. “I think it is important to have people to look up to, and I hope that I can be that person for young wrestlers coming up through the ranks. I also hope that people see that its okay to be good at a sport and be a good person who genuinely likes to go to school, maintain relationships with people, and also stand up for yourself.”
Achievements
As a four-time Iowa high school state champion, 2023 Fargo Champion and three-time Fargo All-American with a long list of other wrestling accomplishments under her belt, there’s not much Simon hasn’t done at the youth level.
She can now add a U20 World bronze medalist to that list.
“Representing USA and USA Wrestling at this level was such an honor,” Simon said. “I knew that the tournament would not be easy, but I also knew that our amazing coaches had prepared me for the tournament. Competing at this level is a little different, because there is so much pressure to perform well, but it is also super fun because you get to go to so many cool places,” Simon said.
Simon, now a freshman planning to compete at the collegiate level at the University of Iowa, qualified in April for this month’s U20 World Championship during a USA Wrestling tournament in Spokane, Washington — the tournament is the only way for competitors to make the world team. The Decorah native won the April tournament with six matches. The finals match was a best-of-three series, in which the wrestler who wins two-out-of-three matches is selected for the world team.
After finishing her high school career with a 150-0 record, Simon found success in Pontevedra, Spain, by splitting the two matches she wrestled and earning a spot on the podium. While she lost her first match to Ukraine’s Mariia Orlevych — a tight 9-8 defeat — Simon reached the repechage due to Orlevych reaching the final.
Earning a bye into a bronze medal match, Simon’s competition got even tougher with Japan’s Chisato Yoshida, a U17 World Champion and U17 silver medalist. Despite facing one of the top competitors in the field, Simon dominated her opponent in a 9-0 victory.
“Earning my bronze medal was a pretty cool experience,” Simon said. “Naturally, I was disappointed that I was not in the finals match, but I recovered from my loss and reevaluated a couple things, made weight the second day and spent the day getting ready to dominate. I had been training all summer, without much break for this tournament, so I was relieved to be successful at this tournament and represent the country well. When I was on the podium, I was mostly just thinking back to how grateful I am for my coaches and teammates who have helped me reach the podium.”
What’s next?
Now that the U20 World Championships are complete, Simon will wrestle in the 180-pound weight class as a true freshman at Iowa, where she’ll have some stiff competition with several high-profile wrestlers like Rose Cassioppi, Kylie Welker and incoming Olympic medalist Kennedy Blades, who all are potential wrestlers at that weight. This will be the first time in her career Simon will have training partners who meet and exceed her current level of wrestling.
“I have faced a decent amount of adversity and negativity as a girl in this sport, but I have always thought it is important to stick with the path and make sure that no one else has to endure the same things you did simply because you didn’t want to stand up to the people who didn’t respect you. I hope that people see my actions and think that I embody the morals of a wrestler… hard work, respect, honesty, integrity and family.”
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