The No. 2 Iowa wrestling team was sluggish to start against No. 20 Stanford but ultimately persevered in the end to win handedly, 32-9, in a dual inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.
Three different transfers recorded their first victories for the Hawkeyes in the arena, overcoming a tough loss from Drake Ayala early on and a nerve-wracking deficit from Michael Caliendo. So head coach Tom Brands was pleased with his team’s performance this afternoon.
“This is a team — everybody wants to be here,” he said. “That’s what we like. We love guys that want to be here, and they all want to be here.”
No. 23 Tyler Knox stuns Iowa’s No. 7 Drake Ayala in a 16-10 decision
At the 133-pound division, No. 7 Draka Ayala faced off against a hungry No. 23 Cardinal wrestler Tyler Knox.
And already at the end of the period, Ayala had Knox in the trenches, leading 4-3. But two quick escapes in the second period put the match to 6-3 in favor of Stanford. As Hawkeye fans were cheering with pride to amp him up, Ayala followed the escape with a three-point takedown, tying the match at 6-6. And a late stall by Knox put the score to 7-6 in favor of Ayala.
A third-period push by Knox would prove to be too much for Ayala to handle, though, recording a 16-10 upset win against the top-ranked Hawkeye.
This marked Ayala’s first loss of the season, who is now sitting at 1-1 overall, once hopeful for an NCAA Championship but now fighting back after the loss. Knox improved to a perfect 4-0 on the season.
No. 1 Jacori Teemer records his first win in a Hawkeye singlet
In dominating fashion against a strong Cardinal wrestler Grigor Cholakyan, Teemer recorded a 13-3 major decision win.
Teemer, who is the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class at 157 pounds, struggled to score in the first period, keeping the match to a close 0-0 tie. Eventually, the first-match jitters wore off, and Teemer outscored Cholakyan, 6-2, in the second period.
Teemer’s veteran style of play leaned in his favor, as he ultimately recorded a 13-3 victory over Cholakyan like the latter was a toy. The former Arizona State Sun Devil has Iowa fans looking forward to a long season of such dominance.
Michael Caliendo records crucial and gritty win
No. 2 Hawkeye 165-pounder Michael Caliendo found himself deep in the trenches at the 167-pound division, going down, 9-2, to Hunter Garvin at the end of the first period.
But the third-year transfer from North Dakota State has proven the Midwest “blue-collar” work ethic is very prevalent here in Iowa City.
Caliendo had no other option but to keep fighting. And that’s exactly what he did, out-scoring his opponent, 7-1, in the second period — bringing the score to 10-9 going into the third.
Caliendo finished what he started and manhandled Garvin in the third period with focused and driven takedowns to cruise to a 17-12 victory. After the first-period, Caliendo outscored Garvin 15-3 to record his second win of the season.
While it may have looked like Caliendo was in the weeds, to him, he was always in the driver’s seat.
“To me, you could take me down three times — I’m going to take you down four, five, six times,” he said. “I know that no one can hold me down, so I’m thinking about the next scoring opportunity. That’s really all there is to us.”
Up next
No. 2 Hawkeye wrestling will travel east to Louisville, Kentucky, to face recently appointed Division I school Bellarmine in a duel on Friday.