The Iowa men’s and women’s wrestling teams returned to competition for the second session of the Soldier Salute at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Sunday afternoon, only improving on their marks in the first session hours before.
The Hawkeyes continued their dominance on both the men’s and women’s sides of the tournament, which seeds wrestlers from teams across the country in brackets and battles for first-place finishes. Both teams sit at the top spot in the team standings heading into the second day on Monday.
Men advance 10
Iowa’s No. 29 Joey Cruz took on Daniel Guanajuato of South Dakota State in quarterfinals action at 125 pounds. While he fell behind, 1-0, early on, Cruz recorded an escape and takedown to take a 4-1 lead and ultimately advance by a 4-2 decision. Fellow 125-pounder Kale Petersen faced off with Max Leete from American University at 133 pounds. Petersen fell behind too before securing a huge takedown late and got the Hawkeye faithful at Xtream Arena jumping with a victory by fall.
No. 4 Drake Ayala took on Garrett Grice of Iowa State in a Cy-Hawk quarterfinals bout. Ayala secured a huge takedown to grab the lead in the third period and went on to win by a 6-2 decision. And as No. 4 Kyle Parco faced Kaemen Smith of Navy in quarterfinals action at 149 pounds, he immediately jumped out to a 10-0 lead and struck back with a takedown to make it 13-1. Parco went on to win, 13-3, by tech fall and advance to the semifinals.
No. 2 Michael Caliendo advanced to the semifinals at 165 pounds with ease by defeating Navy’s Dylan Elmore by tech fall, 14-1. And Patrick Kennedy made quick work of Ethan Ducca of Wyoming in the 174-pound quarterfinals. Kennedy quickly gained a 3-0 lead with a takedown and built on it to 10-2 after the second. Kennedy moved on to the semifinals with a 20-5 tech fall win.
Hawkeye fan favorite No. 5 Gabe Arnold took on Devan Hendricks of Bellarmine in the 184-pound quarterfinals. Arnold took a quick 6-1 lead with a couple of takedowns and similarly built on it to secure a 17-4 victory by major decision. Another Iowa fan favorite, Angelo Ferrari took on South Dakota State’s Burk Blasias in the quarterfinals at 184 pounds too. Ferrari took a lead from the jump and ran with it, advancing to the semifinals with a 16-5 major decision victory.
Iowa 197-pounder No. 1 Stephen Buchanan took on Nathan Schon of Iowa State in the quarterfinals. Buchanan jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and held it to win the Cy-Hawk battle by a 20-4 tech fall and advance to the semifinals.
Lastly, Iowa’s 285-pounder No. 13 Ben Kueter faced off with CJ Carter of Iowa State in the quarterfinals. Following a scoreless first period, Kueter gained the lead, 4-1, after a textbook takedown late in the third period, followed by a riding point to defeat Carter and advance to the semifinals.
Other news
Hawkeye freshman Kael Voinovich made the best of his chance to stay in the tournament, winning his wrestle-back match against teammate Koye Grebel at 149 pounds by a 7-3 decision. Voinovich made another appearance on the mat in round three of wrestle-backs, facing Ethan Basile of Northern Iowa. Voinovich took care of business, winning by tech fall 18-3.
Sophomore Easton Fleshman faced off against unattached Guether Cameron at 285 pounds in a wrestle-back match. Following a scoreless first period, Cameron got on the board and took a 1-0 lead. Fleshman was able to tie it halfway through the third period and forced sudden victory. Cameron took a 2-1 lead in the first tiebreaker period, but Fleshman tied it up again with an escape and went on to pick up the victory by a 3-2 decision. Fleshman returned to the floor in round three of wrestle-backs and took on Will Muckler of Bellarmine. Fleshman took an early lead and held onto it the whole way to a 15-4 major decision win. Fleshman returned another time to face South Dakota State’s Cody Donnelly. Fleshman fell behind 4-0 heading into the third period. Fleshman failed to score a point, as he fell 5-0 by decision and was eliminated from the tournament.
Cullan Schriever faced Josh Koderhandt of Navy at 141 pounds in the quarterfinals. Following a very tight bout that was tied at 1-1 going into sudden victory, Koderhandt secured a takedown to win 4-1 by decision. Schriever returned to action against Michael Olson of North Dakota State in round four of the wrestle-backs. Schriever quickly went ahead 3-0 and grew it to 7-1 just as fast. Schriever went on to win 9-2 by decision to stay alive in the tournament.
The Hawkeye men finished the first day of the Soldier Salute in the lead for team points with 111 with Minnesota trailing far behind in second with 69.
Women stay ahead
Iowa redshirt sophomore Sterling Dias started the session for the Hawkeye women with a loss to Katherine Hernandez of Life University, 2-1, but bounced back in her return to the mat as she defeated Baker University’s Veronica Greene via fall.
“Any time we get Sterling on the mat, it’s great,” head coach Clarissa Chun said. “She brings a lot of good feels and energy. I enjoy watching her compete. This is her first competition back, and there are moments that you see her and say, ‘OK, this is something that we can work on.’”
At 207 pounds, Katja Osteen faced off with Abigail Fonseca of Texas Wesleyan. Osteen started hot, jumping out to a 6-0 lead early on. And she never looked back as she went on to win, 11-0, by tech fall. Osteen returned to the mat and faced teammate Jaycee Foeller in the tournament — where Foeller won, 5-0.
Ava Rose looked to bounce back after losing her first match at 124 pounds. She took on Estefany Garcia of Life University and won via fall. Rose returned to action for the Hawkeyes and faced Francesca LoGreco of Brock University. Rose jumped out to a 3-0 lead early on before Logreco stormed back to take a 4-3 advantage. But Rose persevered as she secured a takedown with under 10 seconds left to find a hard-fought 5-4 win by decision.
Hawkeye 138-pounder Lilly Luft, making her return from injury recovery, struggled. She took on Texas Wesleyan’s Samantha Barragan, who won by a 6-2 margin. Luft returned to the mat looking for redemption but lost to Alexis Kelley of Indiana Tech.
“For her, it is getting healthy,” Chun said. “She was excited to get back on the mat because she loves competing. She didn’t like how her second match went for herself, and we have to remind her that she hasn’t competed since May. This is all learning; this is all growing; this is not the end … This is part of the process. For Lilly, it was just getting back on the mat and competing again.”
Iowa redshirt sophomore Kylie Welker faced Isabella Sosa of Umpqua Community College at 180 pounds. Welker jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the blink of an eye and held onto that lead to secure a 10-0 tech fall victory. Welker returned to action and defeated Johanna Corasco of Baker University, 10-0, by technical superiority. And Ava Bayless recorded a quick fall over Indiana Tech’s Allison Hancher at 110 pounds.
Kennedy Blades picked up a quick 10-0 tech fall victory over Janiya Johnson of Cobra Wrestling Club at 160 pounds. Chun has been impressed with Blades this season and credits her success to her competitive spirit.
“One thing about Kennedy Blades is that she’s a competitor,” Chun said. “When she steps on the mat, she wants to put on a show … She’ll tell you the same. You don’t have to coach much in the corner. You just let her slap hands and take care of business. She knows what she does best and what she wants to execute. She uses this as an opportunity to work on things she wants to work on and continue to build her confidence for more senior-level stuff.”
Sophomore Cali Leng faced off with Life University’s Anna Krejsa at 124 pounds. Leng fell behind quickly but was able to claw back to take the lead at 10-9. Leng went on to win a hard-fought bout at 14-11.
The Iowa women finished the day in first place in team points with 45, just two points ahead of Life University. Chun was excited about this event — and so were her wrestlers.
“Our women look forward to this event because it is [at] home,” Chun said. “They feed off of the energy from the fans and the support — they feel that. I was just talking to Cali [Leng], and she said, ‘It inspires me to hear the crowd as I’m wrestling.’ In that match against Life, she was down in points, and she started to plug away and gain on her, and she could feel the fans behind her after each go-behind and takedown. It’s special for them as we only have two home dual meets. To have this level of competition in our backyard is awesome.”