EVANSTON, Ill. — Four Iowa men’s wrestlers remain alive in the consolation bracket for third-place finishes at the Big Ten championships on Sunday, Session III kicking off at noon inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.
No. 2 Kyle Parco at 149 pounds as well as four seeds Patrick Kennedy at 174 and Gabe Arnold at 184 are still vying for top-three finishes this weekend, Parco and Kennedy entering the backside of the bracket after semifinal losses yesterday. Heavyweight Ben Kueter is still going too, having already secured his NCAA bid.
Consolation Semifinals
149 pounds — Iowa’s No. 2 Kyle Parco def. Ohio State’s No. 4 Dylan D’Emilio, 9-0
Securing the underside of D’Emilio’s leg, Parco stuck with it into a slam, three-point takedown, and roll into a four-point near-fall to start the first period. A mat return bumped him up over a minute of riding time, an 8-0 lead to start the second made 9-0 with his escape to start that one. Trapped under D’Emilio without any takedown, Parco squirmed around and was saved by the bell, starting the final period neutral. He defended at the end of the third, cruising to the 9-0 win and into the third-place final.
174 pounds — Ohio State’s No. 2 Carson Kharchla def. Iowa’s No. 4 Patrick Kennedy, 4-2
His offense not as high-powered as usual against the solid Kharchla, Kennedy’s defense kept it scoreless, and he got on the board first in the second period with his escape — the only points of the match through two. On top, he kept Kharchla subdued for just a few moments before the latter’s escape tied it at one apiece for the last minute of wrestling. But a last-second Kharchla leg attack finished through, sending Kennedy to the fifth-place match in a 4-2 loss.
184 pounds — Iowa’s No. 4 Gabe Arnold Illinois’ No. 6 Edmond Ruth, 2-1
Few shots and few advantages marked the first period between Arnold and Ruth, the former escaping and dispelling Ruth’s last-second leg attack in the second period to keep a 1-0 escape advantage for the final two minutes. He rode Ruth’s advantage down with a strong display of backside control, but Ruth escaped just shy of a riding time point for Arnold. Tied at one, the two went to overtime, and Arnold got lucky as Ruth’s attack took him out of bounds. So it went to a second overtime, Ruth flipping into such a close reversal until Arnold scrambled out. Ruth’s escape there put him up one and Arnold down in need of an escape in the next period, and Arnold failed, sending him to the fifth-place match too.
285 pounds — Iowa’s No. 7 Ben Kueter def. Ohio State’s No. 4 Nick Feldman, 2-0
No score after one, nothing opened for either heavyweights except Kueter’s escape and a single-leg attack from Feldman that ran out of time. But the Hawkeye worked up a minute of riding time onto his 1-0 lead, and he stayed there to finish the 2-0 decision to be the second of the Black and Gold in a third-place match.
Other updates
Iowa’s No. 5 125-pounder Joey Cruz, eliminated from main-bracket contention, beat Illinois’ No. 11 Caelen Riley via 11-2 major decision in the ninth-place bracket to advance to the final.
No. 4 157-pound Hawkeye Jacori Teemer concluded his weekend with an 8-3 decision over Michigan’s No. 9 Chase Saldate for seventh place — an altogether disappointing finish for the four-time Pac-12 champion.
Cruz then returned to the mat and lost to Ohio State’s No. 7 Brendan McCrone in an 8-1 decision to finish 10th at 125 pounds.