Springville's Sage Mortimer Wins Bill Farrell Memorial Gold With a First-Period Pin

Springville's Sage Mortimer won the 50 kg women's freestyle title at the Bill Farrell Memorial International at the New York Athletic Club on Friday, Nov. 6. She went 4-0 on the day and finished the final early, pinning Jaclyn Bouzakis at 2:40.

USA Wrestling's report says Mortimer took a 3-1 lead in the final and pinned Bouzakis with 20 seconds left in the first period. Her other three wins came by fall, by technical fall and by a 13-4 decision.

It was one of nine women's freestyle gold medals for the United States at the event. Olympic champion Sarah Hildebrandt won 53 kg and was named the women's Outstanding Wrestler after beating Japan's Konami Ono 4-2 in the final.

What is the Bill Farrell Memorial?

The Bill Farrell Memorial International is a senior freestyle tournament hosted at the New York Athletic Club. This year's women's field included an Olympic champion in Hildebrandt and international entries such as Japan's Ono and Canada's Sueanne Harms, who won 55 kg. A title there is an international tournament win, not a world championship. USA Wrestling counted 26 women's freestyle medals for the U.S., nine of them gold.

For Mortimer it is the latest senior result in a résumé that already includes a world title at the under-23 level.

Who is Sage Mortimer?

Mortimer grew up in Springville and started wrestling at 8, partly to keep playing games with the boys, according to an NCAA profile published in January 2025. Her older brother, Quenton, wrestled too. Coach Craig LaMont worked with her on mental toughness, including breathing and meditation before matches.

She wrestled on boys' teams through much of high school at American Leadership Academy. At 15, the NCAA profile says, she became the first girl to win an All-America title in a men's division at the Greco-Roman Junior National Championships. Utah sanctioned girls' wrestling in time for her senior year, and the Daily Herald identifies her as a former American Leadership Academy girls state champion.

"I was born with this competitive drive, this gritty personality," she told the NCAA.

Her college path: King University to Grand Valley State

Mortimer spent two seasons at King University in Tennessee, where she felt she had lost her passion for the sport, the NCAA profile says. After meeting Jake Short, the coach of Grand Valley State's new women's wrestling program, at a summer camp in Utah, she transferred to the Michigan school. She took an Olympic redshirt year between her sophomore and junior seasons.

Her Grand Valley State biography records a 24-0 season in 2024-25, when she won the national title at 110 pounds, and a 21-2 senior season in 2025-26 that ended with a national runner-up finish. It lists her career record at 96-8.

How Sage Mortimer became a world champion

The senior results came before the college titles. She won a title at the 2023 USA Women's Senior Nationals and placed third at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, according to the NCAA and Grand Valley State.

That fall she won the 2024 U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania, opening with technical falls over Slovakia's Khrystyna Basych and Kazakhstan's Laura Ganikyzy. USA Wrestling's report says she trailed Japan's Umi Ito, a three-time age-group world champion, 12-4 in the semifinal before pinning her with 33 seconds left in the first period. In the final she beat Natalia Pudova, an Individual Neutral Athlete, 7-5. Her gold helped the U.S. women win their first U23 world team title.

In June 2026 she won the U23 Pan American Championships in Lima, Peru, without a close match. She beat Brazil's Ana Santos Do Prado Silva 14-3 and Mexico's Amy Ramirez Morales 10-0 by technical fall, pinned Panama's Yorlenis Moran Sanchez at 3:34, and beat Puerto Rico's Genesis Ramirez Sanabria 11-0 in the final. USA Wrestling called it her third age-group Pan American title and listed her club as Titan Mercury Wrestling Club.

What's next for Sage Mortimer?

USA Wrestling's report did not list her next competition.

What the Bill Farrell result does show is a Utah wrestler winning at senior level against a full international field, five months after a Pan American title and two years after a world title. She started out wrestling boys in Springville before Utah sanctioned girls' wrestling, and she now wins senior international titles.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Sage Mortimer, Springville, Utah; American Leadership Academy; club Titan Mercury Wrestling Club
• Result: 50 kg women's freestyle champion, Bill Farrell Memorial International, New York Athletic Club, Nov. 6, 2026
• Record on the day: 4-0 (two falls, one technical fall, one 13-4 decision); final pin of Jaclyn Bouzakis at 2:40
• World title: 2024 U23 world champion, Tirana, Albania (7-5 final over Natalia Pudova)
• 2026: U23 Pan American champion, Lima, Peru (third age-group Pan Am title)
• College: King University, then Grand Valley State; 24-0 national champion at 110 pounds (2024-25), national runner-up (2025-26), 96-8 career
• Senior national level: 2023 USA Women's Senior Nationals champion; third at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials