The University of Iowa Men’s and Women’s Wrestling teams will be competing at Soldier Salute on Friday and Saturday, December 29-30. The action will take place in Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa.
This is the second year of Soldier Salute and it has grown quite a bit already. Former Iowa Hawkeye NCAA Finalist Luke Eustice is in charge and I have no doubt this will be a great tournament and continue to grow every year.
There are fifteen teams and Unattached listed for the men’s tournament. The women’s tournament has ten teams and Unattached listed to compete.
I am expecting the entire roster to be competing for Iowa this weekend for the men’s team.
We will have former Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers returning to the area as a head coach. Ned Shuck is the head coach at Bellarmine, a D-I college in Louisville, Kentucky. Shuck has been the head coach since 2021. He competed at Iowa from 2000-2005.
Doug Schwab has been the head coach at UNI since 2010. As an Iowa Hawkeye Schwab was an NCAA National champion in 1999 and a three-time All American before becoming a 2008 Olympian.
Kevin Dresser has been the head coach at Iowa State since 2017. As a Hawk Dresser was an NCAA National champion in 1986 and a two-time All American.
Soldier Salute will be live streamed on Big+ and TrackWrestling will have live results.
Steven Grace and Mark Ironside will call the action on AM 800 KXIC and YouTube.
For a list of team competing at Soldier Salute:
Teams – Soldier Salute College Wrestling Tournament (soldiersaluteia.com)
The Hawkeye Wrestling Club will host a Social from 2-6 PM on Saturday, December 30 between rounds of Soldier Salute. The Social will be at 30hop in Coralville that is a short walk from the wrestling at Xtreme Arena.
The HWC Socials are free of charge and provide a great opportunity to meet HWC wrestlers, former Hawkeye greats and other Iowa Wrestling fans.
The Iowa Women’s team announced that the following wrestlers will be competing:
Sterling Dias – 101
Ava Bayless – 109
Brianna Gonzalez – 116
Ava Rose – 123
Cali Leng – 123
Isabella Ngo – 123
Emily Frost – 130
Alexandra Baudhuin – 130
Sierra Brown Ton – 136
Lilly Luft – 136
Anayka Besco – 136
*Emily Patneaud – 136
Ella Schmit – 143
Reese Larramendy – 143
*Danni Swihart – 143
Bella Mir – 155
Haley Ward – 170
Alivia White – 191
*Jaycee Foeller – 191
*Unattached
Soldier Salute
Friday, December 29
Session I: 10 AM – 2 PM
Session 2: 3:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Saturday, December 30
Session 3: 11 AM – 3 PM
Session 4: 5 PM – 7:30 PM
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
