PHILADELPHIA – Five years.
Iowa men’s wrestling’s Patrick Kennedy spent five years pouring his blood, sweat, and tears into his craft at one of the great wrestling programs in the country with the goal of winning at the highest level.
Year after year, he came up short. He missed the wrestling championships twice. He qualified three times, including this season, but walked away with empty hands each of the previous two times.
And now, with Friday’s 7-6 consolation win over Pittsburgh’s Luca Augustine in his third run at the 2025 NCAA Men’s Wrestling Championships, Kennedy finally secured the long-awaited podium spot and an All-American honor. Kennedy will leave with a medal in-hand.
“It really sucks leaving here empty handed, and especially without being the guy [at the] top podium,” Kennedy said, “but it just felt good that what I’ve been doing has paid off to a degree. I freaking love competing in the black and gold.”
Hailing from Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota, Kennedy dominated the high school scene from start to finish. He led the team to consecutive team titles as a freshman and sophomore along with four-straight individual titles, ranking as high as the fourth-overall recruit in the class of 2020.
With Minnesota allowing middle school wrestlers to compete at the varsity level, Kennedy placed twice — a sixth-place finish at 132 and a third-place finish at 145 — before he was even enrolled in high school.
Kennedy was ranked as high as fourth overall after his sophomore season, but his admiration for the Iowa men’s wrestling program and the Brands brothers led to a verbal commitment ahead of his junior season.
“Committing early allows me to help the Hawkeyes build a team before I get there,” Kennedy said in June 2018. “I want [assistant coach Ryan Morningstar] and the Brands brothers to use me as a tool to get my future teammates in the room. I think committing early shows that I’m really committed to the program and I want the program to win.”
Kennedy began his collegiate career as a reserve, posting a 2-1 overall record. He followed that up with a 17-2 sophomore campaign, though it wasn’t enough for an NCAA qualification.
Kennedy finally got the national nod his third time around after a 21-5 season and a runner-up finish at the 2023 Big Ten championships, where he faced an early exit after going 2-2. He qualified again for the 2024 Nationals but failed to place once again.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Kennedy received numerous Name, Image, and Likeness offers from opposing schools looking to snag him away from the Hawkeyes. But Kennedy refused. In his mind, money can’t buy happiness.
“It makes no sense in my head to go somewhere and hate it and get paid, but you just hate being there,” he said in Nov. 2024. “I love being here. I grew up not with a lot of money, so if I finish wrestling and go put my work boots on the rest of my life, so what? I don’t care because I love being here.”
He went 13-5 throughout the 2024-25 regular season and placed fifth at the Big Ten championships, securing his third NCAA qualification. Kennedy won his first two matches before falling to Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti by a 4-2 decision in the quarterfinals.
The loss knocked Kennedy down to the consolation bracket. He would take on Augustine with an All-American honor and podium spot on the line. Augustine jumped out to a 5-1 lead by the second period, and Kennedy’s late escape cut the lead down to three heading into the third period.
On the cusp of his second loss and another disappointing ending, Kennedy logged an escape and a takedown in the last minute for the one-point advantage, however, Augustine’s escape with five seconds left knotted the score at 6 apiece.
It came down to riding time, which Kennedy owned by just a few seconds, resulting in a nail-biting 7-6 decision for the fifth-year Hawkeye.
Black eye and all, Kennedy finally got his medal. After doing the victory circle around the referee with his hand in the air, he skipped to head coach Tom Brands and kissed him on the cheek before gingerly walking to the tunnel.
Kennedy secured two more wins before falling in the third place match to Penn State’s Levi Haines by a 11-3 decision. He won’t be atop the podium, but on the podium nonetheless. It’s only right that Kennedy did it in the black and gold. After all, Tom is the reason why he’s here.
Kennedy and his dad used to mine YouTube highlights of Tom and Terry Brands. Those were his idols growing up, His craft was modeled after them and improved through them, and its the same craft that led to his first All-American recognition and medal.
“Watching a guy go out there and not care about what the other guy thinks and just getting after it — that’s fun to watch,” Kennedy said of the Brands brothers in June 2018. “I try to match it in some ways. I like to perform in front of people and put on a show.”