In search of a better end to the season than what the Big Ten championships showed two weeks ago, the Iowa men’s wrestling team will send nine starters to the NCAA Championships, spanning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Those Big Ten championships on March 8 and 9 in Evanston, Illinois, were entirely disappointing to the Hawkeyes, the team finishing third behind Nebraska and champion Penn State. And with three Hawkeyes in the finals of their respective weight classes, each lost.
Drake Ayala at 133 pounds fell to an inescapable pin from Illinois’ Lucas Byrd — the runner-up finish serving as Byrd’s revenge for the Hawkeye’s momentous win over him earlier in the season.
Michael Caliendo at 165 pounds gave Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink his best fight yet but was yet again unable to beat him. And Stephen Buchanan at 197 pounds lost to Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas for the third runner-up finish of the day, Iowa leaving Illinois again without a champion.
“These guys should be interested in winning, pinning, and scoring points,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said at media availability. “However they say that in their heads, that’s what it should be about.”
Cullan Schriever, the late-season starter at 141 pounds, will be the only one missing out on the final slate of wrestling for the season this weekend, a handful of losses at the Big Ten championships dropping him out of contention. Largely the same result happened to 125-pounder Joey Cruz, finishing 10th, although Cruz found an at-large bid and the last seat on the plane out east.
125 pounds – 157 pounds
Cruz’s at-large bid gives him a grueling path toward a podium finish, seeded 29th for fourth-seeded Vincent Robinson of North Carolina State with an 18-3 record. Even then, the winner there would see 13th-seeded Marc-Anthony McGowan of Princeton or 20th-seeded Brendan McCrone of Ohio State — McCrone and Cruz both 1-1 upon splitting contests this season.
Seeded second, Ayala’s second-place end to his Big Ten tournament now sends him on a speeding path back to seeing Byrd as the two start this one on opposite ends of the bracket. He’ll have 31st-seeded Kade Moore of Mizzou with a 12-17 record, a likely win before either 15th-seeded Anthony Noto of Lehigh or 18th-seeded Julian Farber of Northern Iowa.
“This is the greatest time of the year,” Ayala said. “This is like Christmas for me … You’ve got to take it match by match. You can’t look forward. You can’t look backward.”
Hawkeye Kyle Parco had a nice wrestle-back performance to finish fourth in Big Ten’s 149-pound division, so he’s seeded fifth this weekend with a good shot at a run. He’ll have 28th-seeded Dylan Gilcher of Michigan with a 10-10 record, the winner to see some upset potential in 21st-seeded Willie McDougald of Oklahoma at 20-6 or 12th-seeded Ethan Stiles of Oregon State at 15-5.
In likely the biggest disappointment and drop-off of the season, though, Jacori Teemer’s back is against the wall at 157 pounds. Paid quite more than just pocket change to join the Hawkeyes from Arizona State this year, Teemer entered the season a near-lock for NCAA champion — and he’s concluding it with a seventh-place finish in the Big Ten and the 18th seed in the NCAA.
He’ll wrestle 15th-seeded Johnny Lovett of Central Michigan with an outstanding 30-5 record, which feeds right into second-seeded Meyer Shapiro of Cornell at 11-1 should Shapiro beat 31st-seeded Noah Castillo of Chattanooga.
165 pounds – 285 pounds
Despite the loss to Mesenbrink, Caliendo should breeze through competition as the third seed at 165 pounds. But to win out would ultimately give him second-seeded Peyton Hall of West Virginia at 30-1 this season before a rematch with Mesenbrink in his best-ever shot at beating him.
But Caliendo first has 30th-seeded Aiden Riggins of Iowa State with a dismal 14-17 record, then 19th-seeded Jack Thomsen of Northern Iowa at 19-10 or 14th-seeded Iowa transfer Drake Rhodes of South Dakota State at 20-5.
Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy will have a stacked weight class too, seeded 11th with a fifth-place finish in Evanston. But he’s got potential to rip through some upsets although needing to beat 22nd-seeded Nick Incontrera of Penn first. Then it’s likely sixth-seeded Brevin Cassella of Binghamton with an intimidating 25-4 resume this season.
While Penn State’s first-seeded Carter Starocci is almost the guaranteed champion at 184 pounds — the most entertaining weight class of this weekend — it’s still time for Arnold to prove himself after a fifth-place showing in the Big Ten. Seeded 11th, he will have 22nd-seeded Donnell Washington of Indiana at 14-8 with a seventh-place conclusion in the Big Ten then likely sixth-seeded Chris Foca of Cornell at 19-1.
“Peaking is a mindset,” Brands said. “In their own way, that’s what you’re getting ready for. It is the event that we talk about, that we train for.”
Buchanan’s resume gives him the second seed behind Cardenas in another interesting weight class, namely AJ Ferrari — brother of Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari and a former NCAA champion at Oklahoma State — gunning his way.
Buchanan will first match up against 31st-seeded Remy Cotton of Michigan State with a 12-12 record — but then it’s anyone’s match between 15th-seeded Joseph Novak of Wyoming at 23-5 or 18th-seeded Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell at 22-9.
Ben Kueter was Iowa’s biggest bright side as he finished third in the Big Ten’s 285-pound weight class over his seventh seed. But he needs some offense to make a run from his fifth seed and 28th-seeded Daniel Herrera of Iowa State in the first round all the way to the end. And that end will certainly see a battle between legends Gable Steveson, Greg Kerkvliet, and Wyatt Hendrickson for top-three placements.
“I’m pretty excited,” Kueter said. “I’ve been going to the NCAA tournament for the last, probably, six-seven years. [I’ve] been there in the stands but never on the mat … It’s just the next thing on the schedule … I’d say, for me, the biggest thing is not making it bigger than it is.”
Next for Kueter would be 21st-seeded Jacob Bullock of Indiana at 18-10 or 12th-seeded Nick Feldman of Ohio State at 17-7 — both not easy despite Kueter beating the latter in Evanston two weeks ago.
“It’s the next event on the calendar,” Brands said. “It is about being at your best every time out, and this happens to be the next time out. Keep it in perspective.”