ESPN
Women’s wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States, and that growth was supposed to be on full display Friday with the start of the first-ever NCAA Women’s Wrestling Tournament.
Unfortunately, the impressive action on the mat was largely overshadowed by a controversy involving third-seeded Kaelani Shufeldt of North Central College and Chloe Dearwester of Presbyterian.
Shufeldt, a senior, led the match 2-0 early in the first period when Dearwester yelled out in pain and grabbed her arm. The ref immediately called a stop to the match for injury time. While examining Dearwester, he observed bite marks on her arm and disqualified Shufeldt for “brutality.”
“Bout 167 of the 2026 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships was a quarterfinals match at 110 pounds between No. 3 seed Kaelani Shufeldt of North Central (IL) and No. 6 seed Chloe Dearwester of Presbyterian. The North Central wrestler was called for brutality by the officials’ crew on the mat, which immediately triggers review by the jury,” NCAA Women’s Wrestling Committee chair Oscar Ramirez said in a statement. “The jury upheld the brutality call on the mat, which results in a disqualification from the event by discretion of the officiating body and loss of all of the wrestler’s team points by rule.”
NCAA Women’s Wrestler Appeared To Bite Her Own Arm To Get DQ
Now, if Shufeldt actually bit Dearwester, that is absolute grounds for disqualification. However, a closer look at the video appears to tell a different story.
We were disqualified for biting her….clear evidence that she bit herself. @NCAA do the right thing. https://t.co/Tk9hLKp7MT pic.twitter.com/VkVWEnVyiX
— NCC Men’s Wrestling (@NCCwrestling) March 7, 2026
When the match is first stopped, Dearwester appears to be grabbing her right arm in pain. However, the bite marks were found on her left arm.
Additionally, the video seems to show Dearwester putting her own left arm up to her mouth before the ref examined her arm and noticed the bite marks.
“This call was disgraceful & embarrassing,” former two-time national champion Julia Salata said of the incident. “First ever women’s NCAA championship, an opportunity to showcase the sport on the biggest stage to date, & officials are calling ‘brutality’ for normal wrestling positions. Shufeldt, NCC, & NCAA Women’s Wrestling as a whole deserve better.”
As of now, it appears the NCAA is standing by its call. But it’s certainly a rough look.