EVANSTON, Ill. — Ben Kueter was the lone bright spot for the Hawkeyes at the Big Ten championships on Sunday, but he was still dissatisfied.
Following a narrow 2-1 victory over Michigan’s Josh Heindselman for third-place at heavyweight in the Big Ten championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena, Kueter trotted off the mat with his coaches and teammates.
As Kueter entered the tunnel, a heated exchange broke out between the Hawkeye and his opponent Heindselman as adrenaline and tensions ran high concluding the match.
While the seventh-seeded Kueter finished above expectations at third place, Kueter still felt his offense needed more work. Kueter’s opponent Heindselman, felt the same.
“He said something about me learning how to attack,” Kueter said. “I really don’t even know for sure, I know you just got beat, dude, and rode the whole period.”
While the exchange was brief between the two heavyweights, one thing remains clear: Kueter was not pleased with his offense on the mat.
Head coach Tom Brands also shares the same belief that the Iowa wrestling squad as a whole lacked in the offensive department during the two-day tournament.
“More takedowns,” Brands said. “I like Kueter’s [performance], but we have to score more takedowns. And he’s saying that. So he coaches it, then he says it. He’s got to do it though.”
Despite the lack of offense from the Hawkeyes, Kueter’s performance in the third-place bout remains one of Iowa’s few victorious moments on Sunday evening.
Hawkeye wrestling dropped all three of their final matches on Saturday evening, with Drake Ayala, Michael Caliendo, Stephen Buchanan all dropping their championship bouts.
But competition was very stiff this year in the Big Ten conference tournament.
With big names such as Gable Stevenson in the heavyweight division and Carter Starocci at 184-pounds, Brands believes that the top-tier talent in the Big Ten is something that fans and athletes should just get used to.
“It’s the world we live in. The Big Ten conference to the national championships, we love it,” Brands said.
Despite the tough competition of this new age of wrestling, Kueter’s grit and determination on the mat proves that skill is not the sole factor on the mat. And it’ll continue to into the NCAA championships in two weeks.