CLARKSVILLE, TN – Female wrestler Joye Levendusky of Clarksville won the 72 kg Senior National title at the US Open Women’s Freestyle Championships last weekend in Las Vegas. This guarantees her a spot on the Team USA Women’s National Team and also earns her a spot at what is called “Final X,” where she’ll face world champion Amit Elor for the right to represent the U.S. at the UWW World Championships next year. Final X will be held in Newark, New Jersey, on June 10.

Levendusky wrestled her high school career in western New York though her family moved here to Clarksville in 2021 and she now considers Clarksville her home. She wrestled for McKendree University & Southern Oregon (where she just completed her college career) and was a five-time All-American and three-time national college finalist. Levendusky is the older sister of Audrey Levendusky, who won a state title for Montgomery Central this year. Her father Derek and mother Heidi Jo are both on the Montgomery Central coaching staff.

To win the title at the US Open, #2 seeded Levendusky had to get through a bracket of some of the top female wrestlers in the country. She defeated Tiffani Baublitz, who was 3rd in the NCAA this year, 4-1 in the first round, then beat Northern Michigan’s Noelle Gaffney 9-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, she faced #3 seeded Nahiela Magee of the Army’s WCAP program, a wrestler ranked #8 in FloWrestling’s Senior rankings. Levendusky came from behind to get the pin and advance to the finals, where she faced Rose Cassioppi, one of the top young wrestlers in America, sister to Iowa All-American Tony Cassioppi. Levendusky dominated the match, winning with a 10-0 technical fall.