No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling falls to No. 1 Penn State, 19-13

The Hawkeyes were without true freshman Drake Ayala, who didn’t wrestle in Friday’s dual for undisclosed reasons.

Jerod Ringwald

Penn State’s No. 2 197-pound Max Dean pressures Iowa’s No. 4 Jacob Warner during a wrestling meet between No. 2 Iowa and No. 1 Penn State in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. Dean defeated Warner, 8-3. The Nittany Lions defeated the Hawkeyes, 19-13.

Austin Hanson, Sports Editor
January 29, 2022

One regular season loss won’t define the 2021-22 season for the Iowa men’s wrestling team.

The No. 2 Hawkeyes fell to the No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions, 19-13, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Friday evening. Iowa dropped six of the 10 matches it wrestled against Penn State.

“Fortunately, it’s January still, even though we’re close to February,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said post-match. “We’re getting to the end. We have to do a better job. We know that little things make a big difference.”

Three of the six matches the Hawkeyes lost were decided by two points or fewer. Seniors Michael Kemerer and Austin DeSanto each lost by one, and 141-pounder Jaydin Eierman was beaten by two points.

Had the Hawkeyes flipped all three of those matches, they would’ve won, 22-10.

“It’s just composure,” senior 165-pounder Alex Marinelli said of the Hawkeyes’ close losses. “Just go win, fight. Sometimes, you just don’t come out on top. It’s the will to win. Stay in your position at all times.”

Marinelli won his match via 10-2 major decision Friday. He was the only Hawkeye to earn bonus points.

The Hawkeyes were without a key piece of their lineup Friday. True freshman Drake Ayala, who was listed with Iowa’s probable starters earlier this week, did not compete against the Nittany Lions.

About 90 minutes from the start of the 2021-22  Iowa-Penn State dual, rumors began to swirl about Ayala.

At 6:56 p.m., The Des Moines Register’s Cody Goodwin tweeted about Ayala’s status for the meet.

Iowa Athletics released the bout sheets for Friday’s dual at 7:05 p.m. Ayala wasn’t the Hawkeyes’ listed wrestler at 125 pounds. Rather, redshirt freshman Jesse Ybarra occupied Iowa’s 125-pound slot.

Ayala is ranked 11th in the country at 125 pounds by Intermat. Ybarra is 1-3 in duals this year, counting the 9-0 major decision defeat he suffered to Penn State’s Drew Hildebrandt, who is ranked seventh in the nation at his weight.

Ayala’s status going forward is uncertain. Some wrestling fans took to Twitter to weigh in on Ayala’s health. A number of tweeters even speculated that Ayala may be out for the season.

Brands and Iowa Athletics didn’t offer much information on Ayala’s status post-match, either.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Brands said. “The status of him is, he’s ready to go when he’s ready to go. Medical, and coaches, and more importantly, Drake Ayala will be the ones that make that call. Love him in our program. I’ll tell you that. We love him in our program and we know that our team’s good with him in there.”

Ayala has been filling in for three-time national champion and senior 125-pounder Spencer Lee this season. Lee wrestled in three 2021-22 duals before he announced Jan. 1 that he’d be having season-ending surgery to repair torn ACLs in his left and right knees.

Ayala is 13-4 overall this season. He’s 3-2 in duals.

Ayala’s next chance to wrestle will come Feb. 5, as the Hawkeyes welcome the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.