The annual Soldier Salute wrestling tournament concluded with the Iowa Hawkeyes dominating most of the individual matches for both men’s and women’s brackets.
Held at Xtream Arena in Coralville over Dec. 29 and 30, the Hawkeyes hosted 11 schools for the men’s bracket and eight schools for the women’s bracket. The semifinals and finals were held on Dec. 30, spanning 10 different weight classes each. Despite Iowa securing first place in 12 of the 20 weight classes, men’s head coach Tom Brands and women’s head coach Clarissa Chun have already turned the page.
The Hawkeye men secured seven of 10 first-place finishes in individuals: Drake Ayala at 133, Kyle Parco at 149, Michael Caliendo at 165, Patrick Kennedy at 174, Angelo Ferrari at 184, Stephen Buchanan at 197, and Ben Kueter at 285.
Parco’s victory against North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil was hard-earned. The fourth-year transfer from Arizona State took a 6-0 lead early into the match before McNeil worked his way back, outscoring Parco, 5-2, the rest of the way. Even as the Iowa wrestler prevailed despite McNeil’s late run, Brands noted tweaks to make the fourth-ranked 149-pounder even better.
“Parco was dominant,” Brands said. “He dominated the match until about 40 [seconds] to go … You’ve got to finish with the basics. We went high-flying and ended up giving up a takedown then started to wrestle a little bit uncharacteristic of where we want to be.”
Buchanan cruised to the 14-4 victory over Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair to take the 197-pound title. Despite the top-ranked 197-pounder’s 10-point separation, his coach remained candid about his performance. Brands has high expectations for the three-time All-American transfer from Oklahoma as the postseason slowly creeps up.
“He’s cool and composed but maybe rushed a little bit,” Brands said. “Just go out there and do what you do best. Let it come to you because he’s so good with that flow … Just let it come to you with a little more patience.”
Kueter’s 1-0 victory — the lone point given for riding time at the end of the match — was rather disappointing to the former Iowa football player. Take a victory however it’s earned, but he expected a more dominant win out of himself.
“Kueter was not happy with himself,” Brands said. “You want to represent yourself better than that, but you win a tough match … That’s where you build from the takeaways.”
The Iowa men’s wrestling team not only won most of the individual matchups — it also won as an overall team in front of a packed house full of Hawkeye faithful, Coralville just one town over from Iowa City.
But the top-ranked program has its eyes set on the road ahead — one that includes aspirations of capturing a national title.
“[We’ve] got a lot of work to do,” Brands said. “We’re going into a training phase. We’ve got our next dual on Jan. 12. This competition — we love it here in our home yard.”
As for women’s wrestling, Iowa claimed five of the 10 individual bouts — two of which saw two Hawkeyes face off against one another.
Brianna Gonzalez at 117, Cadence Diduch at 138, Macey Kilty at 145, Kennedy Blades at 160, and Kylie Welker at 180 each won. Kilty took down Reese Larramendy, and Welker defeated Naomi Simon in the double-Hawkeye title matchups.
The difference in wrestling in practices to live competition allows each wrestler to get better for future matchups with opponents from other teams.
“That’s something that in my generation, in the U.S., I had to wrestle the best in my weight class to get where I am,” Chun said. “They made me who I was. They’re making each other who they are.”
Blades is a fan favorite amongst Iowa women’s wrestlers. Now in her first year with the Hawkeyes, she transferred from Arizona State and is coming off of a silver-medal quest in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
However, her 160-pound title match against Life University’s Latifah McBryde was far from easy. Blades’ 13-3 victory gave the silver medalist one of her biggest challenges since the Olympics, though she stayed poised the whole way through.
“She’s a professional athlete,” Chun said. “I think there’s no bigger stage than being on the Olympic stage. She’s so prepared mentally for things like this to happen.”
And while the Iowa women’s team is a top-ranked program and dominated the Soldier Salute tournament, Life University handed the Hawkeyes three title losses — a good test to what needs to be worked on moving forward.
“I thought our women did a good job,” Chun said. “I think the takeaways to work on are some technical ones that we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board as far as individually and collectively as a team.”