Buena Vista University Director of Athletics, Scott Brown, is pleased to announce the hiring of Paige Storm as the University’s first-ever women’s wrestling coach.
“Certainly, Paige’s competitive experience and success speaks for itself,” says Brown.“However, what impressed me most was her passion for the sport and for mentoring young women combined with her enthusiasm for coming home to Buena Vista University and Northwest Iowa.Her local and regional relationships will be a tremendous asset for our University as she builds her program.”
Storm is a Spencer, Iowa, native and began wrestling in elementary school. Her father, Dave, has coached wrestling for the Tigers for over three decades. She went on to become a four-year boys’ wrestling letterwinner for Spencer High School from 2005-08. Prior to high school, Storm was a Folkstyle national champion in 2003 within the United States Girls Wrestling Association (USGWA) and a two-time Freestyle national champion (2003 & 2004). In 2006, she became the state of Iowa’s first two-time Junior women’s freestyle All-American and was named the Iowa Wrestling Federation’s Female Wrestler of the Year.
“I am ecstatic to join BVU and its athletic department!” says Storm. “It is an honor to be a part of Buena Vista University’s first-ever women’s wrestling program! I get to come back and coach in the area I grew up in and at the university I graduated from. I come from a wrestling family so wrestling has played a big role in shaping me into who I am. Being able to work with future generations of women, it’s just incredible.”
In 2021-22, Storm served as Girls Wrestling Coach at Harrisburg High School in South Dakota, and helped coach seven state qualifiers, four state place winners, including one state champion. As a team, it went on to earn a fourth-place finish. During the 2020-21 season, Storm served as a volunteer Girls Wrestling Coach at Lennox High School and helped coach a pair of state placewinners, including one state runner-up. BVU alum, Blake Crosby, was coach of that Lennox HS team.
Storm wrestled collegiately for a private club and then attended Buena Vista and graduated in December of 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminology. Since 2016, she has been employed by the South Dakota State Penitentiary where she most recently served as a case manager. Storm’s husband, Carlos Barreda, is a BVU wrestling alum.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done as we work to build the program,” adds Storm. “Obviously, the goal is to build the program and be successful. I am a firm believer in building a solid foundation. As long as we continue to build and progress as a program, that’s the goal. I cannot wait to get to work!”
Buena Vista will begin competition starting in the 2023-24 academic year.
