Real Marshall Ray Woods (born 1999) is an American

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he qualified to represent the United States at the 2025 World Championships. In folkstyle, Woods was a three-time NCAA Division I All-American, twice for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 20 sports, 7 for men and 13 for women; The teams participate in Division I of the Nati ...

and once for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

Career

High school

Born in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, Woods moved to Shungnak, Alaska early in his life, where he started wrestling at age seven. He then moved to

Lombard, Illinois Lombard is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 44,476 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Lombard was originally named "Babcock's Grove", after the Babcock brothers ...

so he could attend

Montini Catholic High School Montini Catholic High School (often shortened to Montini) is a co-educational, college preparatory, high school, run by the Christian Brothers in Lombard, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois. The schoo ...

, mainly due to their wrestling program. Woods was a three-time IHSA state champion and a four-time finalist, and was highly ranked in the nation when he committed to wrestle at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2017, before graduating in 2018.

Stanford University

After a 19–1 season while wearing a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

in 2018–2019 at 141 pounds, Woods became a NCAA qualifier and Pac-12 champion as a redshirt freshman in 2019–2020, posting once again a 19–1 record before the NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As a sophomore, Woods only competed in the post-season, placing second at the Pac-12 Championships and going 2–2 at the 2021 NCAA tournament, finishing 6–3 on the year. In 2021–2022, he claimed his second Pac-12 title and became an NCAA Division I All-American with a sixth place finish at the 2022 NCAA tournament, closing out 17–4.

University of Iowa

After earning a degree from

, Woods decided to transfer to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

for his remaining two years of eligibility.

2022–2023

For his junior year, Woods claimed the Big Ten Conference title and made it to the finals of the NCAA tournament, placing second and closing out the year with a 20–1 record. After folkstyle season, Woods made his senior level

debut, placing second and going 2–1 at

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

's Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial that took place in June.

2023–2024

For his final season, Woods placed third at the Big Ten Championships, and claimed All-American status for the third time with a fourth place finish at the NCAA tournament, closing out the year with a 23–5 record and his career with a 104–15 record.

Post-collegiate career

In August 2024, Woods announced he would move to

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

to join the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club and pursue freestyle accomplishments.

2025

Woods took the freestyle mat for the second time in his senior level career at the Muhamet Malo Tournament in February. After three dominant wins over foreign opposition, including Bulgaria's European finalist

Mikyay Naim Mikyay Salim Naim (; born 4 October 1997) is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. He won the silver medal in the 65 kg event at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships held in Zagreb, Croatia. Career He won the silver medal at the 2023 Europea ...

, he was stopped by Iran's

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Rahman Amouzad Rahman Amouzad Khalili (; born 17 July 2001) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler who currently competes at 65 kilograms. The 2022 World champion, Amouzad reached silver medals while representing Iran at the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Asian ...

in the semifinals, which pulled him into a bronze medal match where he defeated Japan's Kaiji Ogino. Competing domestically for the first time, Woods placed fourth at the US Open National Championships in April, racking up five victories though falling to Aden Valencia twice. Woods avenged his losses to Valencia in the first round of May's US World Team Trials Challenge tournament, where he claimed first place after three victories, including one over two-time NCAA champion

Jesse Mendez Jesse Wayne Mendez (born April 28, 2002) is an American Freestyle wrestling, freestyle and Collegiate wrestling, folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he claimed a silver medal at the 2023 U20 World Wrestling Championships ...

. This set him up for a best-of-three series at Final X against US Open champion

Joseph McKenna Joseph McKenna (August 10, 1843 – November 21, 1926) was an American politician who served in all three branches of the Government of the United States, U.S. federal government as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Attorne ...

to decide the fate of the US World Team spot. In June, after two straight victories over McKenna, Woods became the US World Team member at 65 kilograms, and will represent the United States at the World Championships later in the year.

Freestyle record

! colspan="7", Senior Freestyle Matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 16–4 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 4–4 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, June 14, 2025 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 2025 Final X , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, - , Win , 15–4 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 7–5 , - , Win , 14–4 , align=left, Brock Hardy , style="font-size:88%", 10–6 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, May 16–17, 2025 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2025 US World Team Trials Challenge , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, - , Win , 13–4 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 11–9 , - , Win , 12–4 , align=left, Aden Valencia , style="font-size:88%", 6–4 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 11–4 , align=left, Aden Valencia , style="font-size:88%", 3–5 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=7, April 23–27, 2025 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=7, 2025 US Open National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=7,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, - , Win , 11–3 , align=left,

Beau Bartlett Beau Reynald Bartlett (born February 26, 2001) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes internationally at 65 kilograms and collegiately at 141 pounds. In freestyle, he claimed a bronze medal from the 2021 Junior World Ch ...

, style="font-size:88%", 9–8 , - , Win , 10–3 , align=left, Tom Crook , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 9–3 , align=left, Luke Simcox , style="font-size:88%", TF 13–1 , - , Loss , 8–3 , align=left, Aden Valencia , style="font-size:88%", 4–5 , - , Win , 8–2 , align=left, Noah Ingram , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 7–2 , align=left, Marcus Spallino , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 6–2 , align=left, Kaiji Ogino , style="font-size:88%", 9–1 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, February 26, 2025 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5,

2025 Muhamet Malo Tournament The 2025 Muhamet Malo Tournament, is a wrestling event will be held in Tirana, Albania between 26 February and 2 March 2025.It will be held as the second of the ranking series of United World Wrestling in 2025. With an aim to reward wrestlers parti ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Tirana, Albania Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the di ...

, - , Loss , 5–2 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 2–11 , - , Win , 5–1 , align=left, Adlan Askarov , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 4–1 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 3–1 , align=left, Congbao Xie , style="font-size:88%", 10–1 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 2–1 , align=left, Ayub Musaev , style="font-size:88%", 2–4 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, June 9, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2023 Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

Sassari, Italy Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

, - , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Yaroslav Hurskyy , style="font-size:88%", TF 12–2 , - , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Felipe Ferrusola , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , -

References

{{reflist 1999 births Living people American male sport wrestlers Iowa Hawkeyes wrestlers Sportspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico 21st-century American sportsmen Stanford Cardinal wrestlers