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On Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 5:15 PM, surrounded by family, coaches and teammates, Decorah High School Senior Naomi Simon signed her national letter of intent to participate in Women's Wrestling at the University of Iowa. According to Naomi Simon, wrestling at the University of Iowa is a dream come true. "I remember being an eighth grader and Iowa hadn't had women's wrestling yet. I remember telling my mom and my dad like, yeah, I want to wrestle at the University of Iowa. Even if they don't have a team I'm gonna go there and walk on the team," she recalled. "So now that they do have a team, I can wrestle and I'm super excited." Simon's parents are also excited and proud. "I'm very excited, very proud of all her hard work," Naomi's mother Melissa Simon said. Matt Simon, Naomi's father, agreed. "I'm proud of Naomi's hard work, and am excited for this new chapter for her wrestling and academic career," he said. During the last three years, Naomi Simon has been a standout and leader for the Decorah Girls Wrestling program. During that time, Simon has wrestled to a perfect 82-0 record while winning three consecutive state championships. The first two of those championships were at 145 pounds as a freshman and 170 pounds as a sophomore in the IWCOA State Tournament. In her junior year, she won the 170-pound title in the first-ever IGHSAU State Tournament. In her senior season, Simon will be competing to become the very first female wrestler to win four state championships in the state of Iowa. Simon's USA Freestyle Wrestling resume is lengthy with many wins and highlighted with this summer's USA Wrestling Girls Junior National Wrestling Championships by winning the 164-pound weight class for her first Fargo Championship. "I'm super excited with this opportunity," Naomi Simon said. "And I'm really, really excited to finish off this season strong and go into next year just hammering away." Naomi is the daughter of Matt Simon & Addison Sadler and Melissa Simon & Josh Stello. In addition to wrestling, she participates in swimming, band and National Honor Society.

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State wrestling champ Naomi Simon to wrestle at the University of Iowa