Nearly 75 years after Grand Canyon then-College honored its first graduating class, Krysten Neil committed Thursday afternoon, May 21, to join Grand Canyon now-University’s first incoming freshman class of the next 75.
Also become Ignacio High School girls wrestling’s second-ever landed college recruit.
“I was looking through a lot of colleges … like, ‘Great. Which one do I want to go to?’” Neil said. “I was looking for a good nursing program – which is what I really want to do, go for my degree first – and once I looked into it, the coach called me and he said, ‘Hey Krysten, are you interested in wrestling? I’ve been watching you!’ I said, ‘You’re serious?’”
GCU, which relocated fully to Phoenix, Arizona, after commencement on May 28, 1951, after first opening its doors in Sept. 1949. GCU – which gained ‘U’ status before the 1989-90 school year – is toward further elevating its 2022-founded women’s program, which wrapped up its 2025-26 club-level season sending seven individuals to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Championships, March 26-28 in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Led by sophomore Marisol Peña’s third-place result – via pin of Tarleton State (Stephenville, Tex.) University’s Isabel Rodriguez – at 124 pounds, Grand Canyon’s select seven, overseen by head coach Austen Moore, scored 42.5 points and finished 11th out of 45 scoring squads. (Peña had placed fifth at 124 as a freshman, making her GCU’s only Nationals placer, male or female, the last two years.)
Prospective NCAA Division I member TSU, meanwhile, racked up a dominant 215 points while Atherton, California’s Menlo College – which had hosted and won the NCWA West Coast Conference Championships, with GCU placing fifth – finished with a runner-up 145 and Utah Tech (St. George, Utah) University a third-place 129.
Neil joins the Antelopes squad after finishing her senior year 31-8 overall and fourth in the 4A CHSAA state championships in February.
“Krysten’s been a great member of the team and … not long enough; if she had more time to be here with us, imagine the possibilities,” Bobcat girls wrestling coach Mich Napier said. “So we are very proud, very excited for this next step. She has immense character, doing the right things when no one’s looking, being willing to do that extra rep without complaining …. Being that quiet leader who’s willing to do anything.”
Neil wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue with her wrestling career as she entered college. But she loves it too much to quit. Neil knows she can be a good influence for the younger generation of Ignacio wrestlers, showing them they can become college wrestlers, regardless of their experience levels.
The Ignacio standout has already talked to her new practice partner and is excited to hit the weight room as a team once school starts.
“I’m really excited,” Neil said. “They keep telling me it’s going to be tough, it’s going to be hard – they have a ‘Hell Week’ that’ll be the first week, and they’re telling me ‘You’re going to lose 12 pounds!’—and I said, ‘Okay.’ I love wrestling so much that it doesn’t really scare me.”
MORE DOORS OPENING: The 2025–26 school year was the first for women’s wrestling as an official NCAA championship sport. The first national championships, held March 6-7 in Coralville, Iowa, used what the NCAA calls the ‘National Collegiate’ format, in which members of all divisions competed.
Fewer than 10 schools, however, fielded Division I teams in ’25-26; Division II member McKendree (Lebanon, Illinois) University placed first at nationals over Division I University of Iowa, while Division II Colorado Mesa University came in eighth.