EVANSTON, Ill. — Hours of wrestling inside Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend have culminated in Session IV of the Big Ten championships at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday — five Hawkeyes still working toward titles and third-place finishes.
Of Iowa men’s wrestling’s three championship contenders, No. 1 133-pounder Drake Ayala will go first. Despite beating No. 2 Lucas Byrd of Illinois earlier this season, Ayala and Byrd are on the same timing tonight as they are the last two standing for the 133-pound title in a rematch of ages.
No. 2 165-pounder Michael Caliendo is next, dominating the field but running into the brick wall that is Penn State’s No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink. Caliendo has yet to beat Mesenbrink despite a handful of matchups, and a Hawkeye win here would be the storyline of the night.
No. 1 197-pounder Stephen Buchanan — despite being clearly one of the nation’s top pound-for-pound wrestlers — has just as tough of a test as the final Hawkeye title contender. With Michigan’s No. 3 Jacob Cardenas beating Penn State’s No. 2 Josh Barr yesterday, the Wolverine is guns-blazing toward Buchanan’s apparent 197-pound throne.
“I don’t think I’m performing at my best yet,” Buchanan said after Session II. “Not a lot of shots, not a lot of offense — if I’m going to win tomorrow, I’m going to have to pick up my feet; I’m going to have to wrestle; I’m going to have to ride hard; I’m going to have to wrestle hard in all positions and be the best in all positions to win.”
Joining those three in Session IV will be No. 2 Kyle Parco in the 149-pound third-place match on the consolation side in a rematch with Penn State’s No. 1 Shayne Van Ness who smoked Parco in their dual-meet matchup earlier in 2025. But Parco beat Ohio State’s No. 4 Dylan D’Emilio in a 9-0 major decision in Session III to get there.
“It’s a time where you can make big leaps and big jumps,” Parco said earlier in the season about his bounce-back efforts. “You’re competing every weekend, so there’s a lot of opportunities.”
Iowa’s No. 7 285-pounder Ben Kueter — a pleasant surprise this weekend — will be in the same spot too, seeing Michigan’s No. 3 Joshua Heindselman for that third-place bout. Kueter beat Ohio State’s No. 4 Nick Feldman, 2-0, with strategic but uneventful wrestling in Session III to get there.
While No. 4 174-pounder Patrick Kennedy and No. 4 184-pounder Gabe Arnold also had consolation semifinal matches, they both lost — to No. 2 Carson Kharchla of Ohio State and to No. 6 Edmond Ruth of Illinois, respectively.
Sent to fifth-place matches, Kennedy will see No. 12 Branson John of Maryland who he beat in the quarterfinals by 20-3 technical fall. Arnold will see No. 3 Silas Allred of Nebraska.
Other updates
125 pounds → No. 5 Joey Cruz — 10th // 157 pounds → No. 4 Jacori Teemer — 7th
In a disappointing finish, Cruz lost the ninth-place final to Ohio State’s No. 7 Brendan McCrone in an 8-1 decision to finish 10th despite his fifth seed. That pushes him just out of the top nine spots allocated to the Big Ten’s 125-pound division for the NCAA championships although he could still receive an at-large bid.
Teemer’s weekend ended early too, a lack of offense sending him to a seventh-place finish at 157 pounds with an 8-3 decision over Michigan’s No. 9 Chase Saldate. That squeezes him into one of the Big Ten’s eight NCAA qualifying spots in the division.