Ask Felicity Taylor about Big Game Wrestling Club, and she’ll likely get emotional.

“I never thought I would be in such a supportive environment, and that’s exactly what I needed,” Taylor said. 

Ask Big Game founder Dylan Carew about Taylor, and he will rave about her character and the kind of person she is — a direct reflection of the club's values. 

“Felicity is a friend of my family at this point — to my wife, to my children, to my dad, to our business, to the people in and around our club,” Carew said. “She has been one of the brighter spots of my coaching career.”

Those are powerful words considering Carew didn’t have a relationship with Taylor until several months ago. He knew who she was, of course. The Spillville, Iowa, native ended her career in 2024 as a Hawkeye after four seasons at Division II McKendree. 

Carew was a Hawkeye, too. He won two state titles for Iowa City West before his college career was marred by injury. He pivoted quickly to creating a world-class wrestling club in North Liberty, Iowa (a suburb of Iowa City), where no wrestler is left behind and no coach makes a dime. Facility costs are covered during an annual fundraising event. 

Taylor recently secured her spot as the undisputed best women’s wrestler the State of Iowa has produced. Taylor’s 2025 Final X win made her the first native-born Iowan to make a senior women’s freestyle World team. That’s on top of two national college titles, five finals appearances, two U23 World teams, two Final X appearances, and a Junior National title. 

In a state obsessed with wrestling, Taylor is royalty. 

Felicity Taylor's College Career

Am I Ready To Retire?

Greatness rides a thin line, and the lines were blurred late last year. The Iowa Women’s Wrestling Club couldn’t support Taylor, so she trained with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club men’s team. She moved up from 53 to 55 kg for the 2024 World Team Trials, finishing fourth. 

“I just wasn’t really loving it anymore,” Taylor said. “It felt like a chore. I didn’t want to go to practice. I didn’t want to be there. Any time I was there it felt like I wanted to be anywhere but there. 

“Wrestling is such a hard sport where you have to love it and want to do it. When it feels forced, that’s the time you pull away from it. It felt like a chore to be in the room, and I didn’t want it to feel like that.” 

The transition from McKendree to Iowa wasn't easy, either. Everyone assumed that moving to Iowa City (population 75,000) would be easy since she’s from the state, but Spillville (population 372) is over two hours from the University of Iowa. She had a house in Lebanon, Illinois (population 4,500), and four seasons of relationships, including her now-fiancé, Christian Mejia, a 2024 D2 NCAA champion for the Bearcats.

“The transition when I went to Iowa was really hard for me,” Taylor said. “It felt like I never really found my place. It was difficult, and I fell out of love with the sport there, which is unfortunate. What saved me were my teammates. The girls we had at Iowa were amazing. If it weren’t for them, I don’t think I would have stayed.”

Taylor was ready to stop competing, and she let her family know her intentions over Thanksgiving. The support was overwhelming until someone casually said, “Yeah, I think you’re ready to be done.” 

Those words didn’t sit right with Taylor.

“Am I, though?” Taylor asked in a moment of reflection. 

Felicity Taylor is the greatest women's freestyle wrestler Iowa has produced

Big Game Hunting

That’s when she made an unsolicited call to Carew as a last resort. 

“Felicity called me randomly and said she’s looking to continue to train,” Carew said. “I thought about it and wanted to be sure she could be successful with us, given that she’s a high-level athlete. I asked her questions about her intentions, her motivation. I quickly realized that we could offer that at a high level. It clicked right from the beginning.

“I asked if she had a job or if this was what she wanted. She said she’s not going to work since wrestling is what she wants to do. That’s what hooked me. I made her an offer of what I knew we could pay her, and since then, we’ve committed to a little bit more. She’s taken care of because she deserves it.” 

Donors provide Taylor’s salary for her to train full-time at Big Game. She practices in the morning and the afternoon, competing against high-level boys and coaching girls. Her fiancé works in landscaping and trains with her, offering support as she pursues her Olympic goals. 

“One thing I live by is that everything happens for a reason,” Taylor said. “Big Game was why I came back to Iowa — so I could end up there and be a part of such an amazing club. All of the athletes support me like no other. The coaching staff is so supportive. All of the families are supportive. It’s truly a family there.

“I remember on the way to practice crying because deep down I knew this would be amazing. It turned out to be better than I expected. I get emotional just thinking about it.”