The No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling team never gets a rest with a win over No. 9 Illinois last week and now a welcoming of No. 4 Ohio State this week.
Penn State remains first in the national rankings with 400 points. But the Hawkeyes and Oklahoma State Cowboys are neck-and-neck, the former in second with 379 points and latter in third with 373.
The Hawkeyes beat the Illini, 28-6, on Jan. 17 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa’s No. 30 Ryder Block lost to No. 12 Danny Pucino, 4-3, at 141 pounds, and No. 12 Ben Kueter lost to No. 11 Luke Luffman, 3-1, at 285 — but the Hawkeyes won each of the eight other matches.
Still, they really struggled to score points. For example, No. 3 Kyle Parco beat No. 12 Kannon Webster by just a 1-0 margin.
“I know that we have to work harder at scoring points overall,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said after the meet.
Still, No. 28 Joey Cruz is looking more and more like the starter at 125 pounds upon thrashing Caelan Riley in a 13-3 major decision. No. 2 Michael Caliendo beat No. 11 Braeden Scoles in a 20-4 technical fall at 165 pounds, and No. 2 Stephen Buchanan beat No. 18 Zac Braunagel, 13-2, at 197.
The highlight of the night, though, was No. 4 Drake Ayala at 133 pounds. He grabbed a massive upset in a 4-2 win over No. 2 Lucas Byrd to prove his worth leading up to championship season.
“I’ve been prepared to go into deep waters my whole life, and college wrestling is no different,” Ayala said. “So I’m confident there.”
Back again
The tests don’t end as No. 4 Ohio State comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Iowa leads the all-time series at 42-4 and 15-1 in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes and Buckeyes have met seven times as top-five opponents since 2000, Iowa 6-1 in those matches. This time around come four potential top-10 matches — and all 10 could be ranked bouts.
Ohio State is 11-0 this season with notable wins over North Carolina, Iowa State, and Illinois but has been shaky here and there, for example in a narrow 17-15 win over Rutgers last week.
Cruz now has a tough matchup in No. 12 Brendan McCrone at 125 pounds. And Ayala — now ranked second in the country at 133 pounds — doesn’t get a break either with No. 10 Nic Bouzakis.
The question comes at 141 pounds now that Cruz is figured out. Block, Jace Rhodes, and Cullan Schriever are each listed in the probable lineup for the Hawkeyes. Either way, they’ll take No. 1 Jesse Mendez.
On the other hand, Iowa’s No. 1 Jacori Teemer is finally back in the probable lineup at 157 pounds, granted he’s alongside Miguel Estrada, for No. 19 Sammy Sasso.
Parco will match up with No. 10 Dylan D’Emilio at 149 pounds. And Caliendo will see No. 13 Paddy Gallagher at 165 pounds before what could be the match of the night in No. 5 Patrick Kennedy for No. 6 Carson Kharchia at 174.
Buchanan is now unanimously No. 1 at 197 pounds and will look to continue his strong streak with No. 18 Seth Shumate. And Ben Kueter will round things out with No. 5 Nick Feldman as he looks to prove something with an on-and-off year.