It was a great weekend for Iowa Wrestling. There was so much to keep track of I wanted to do a rundown of the big weekend.
On Friday the Iowa Women’s Wrestling team qualified their entire team and won the team title at the NCWWC Region V today in Indianola, Iowa. The Hawks came in first with 220 points followed by McKendree at 193 and Lindenwood at 106.
All fifteen Hawkeye wrestlers placed in the top four to qualify for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 8-9.
There were three matches of Iowa vs. Iowa in the finals. In a battle of the two top ranked wrestlers in the country at 101 it was Emilie Gonzalez defeating Sterling Dias, 7-0.
Brianna Gonzalez won a 9-3 decision over Felicity Taylor at 116 and Marlynne Deede won by an 8-4 decision over Bella Mir at 155.
Also winning titles for the Hawks: Ava Bayless(109), Reese Larramendy(143), and Kylie Welker(170).
Great tournament for the Hawks in their first year of competition.
On Saturday Spencer Lee won the Gold at the 2024 Pan-American Championships in Acapulco, Mexico.
Lee won three straight matches by tech fall with times of :34, :26 and the 1:18 in the finals.
This was the first International competition for Lee in the Senior division.
Lee looks like he is ready to make a run at the Olympic Gold.
Next up for Lee will be the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in University Park, Pennsylvania on April 19-20.
It was another big weekend of wrestling for our incoming recruits. Brady Benham (OK) and Cadence Diduch (IL) capped off undefeated seasons by winning a state title.
Leo Deluca placed second at 120 lbs. at the National Prep Wrestling Championships in Bethlehem, PA. Miguel Estrada (CA) placed fourth at 150 lbs. at State.
Joe Kennedy won the 152 lbs. title at Section 1AA Individual and will have the Minnesota State Tournament next weekend.
As I have done for years I will continue to post a blog of where our incoming recruits will be competing for the weekend and a follow up blog with results.
On Sunday the Iowa Hawkeyes went into Stillwater, Oklahoma and defeated Oklahoma State 22-9. The Hawks won seven of ten bouts in a hostile environment of over 13,000 fans.
This was an impressive showing over an undefeated Oklahoma State team that was on a roll. Iowa won the takedown battle and was the aggressor the entire meet.
Iowa outscored Oklahoma State 62-32 in match points.
Just what you want to see heading into Big Tens and Nationals.
Iowa finished the regular season with a 12-2 record in dual meets.
Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)
Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)
#4 Iowa 22, #2 Oklahoma State 9
125 – #4 Drake Ayala (I) dec. #12 Troy Spratley (O), 8-1 SV1
133 – #3 Daton Fix (O) dec. Brody Teske (I), 7-3
141 – #2 Real Woods (I) dec. #8 Tagen Jamison (O), 5-1
149 – #18 Jordan Williams (O) dec. Victor Voinovich III (I), 7-3
157 – #5 Jared Franek (I) dec. #10 Teague Travis (O), 10-4
165 – #7 Michael Caliendo (I) dec. #3 Izzak Olejnik (O), 7-2
174 – #7 Patrick Kennedy (I) major dec. #21 Brayden Thompson (O), 12-3
184 – #2 Dustin Plott (O) dec. Gabe Arnold (I), 5-1
197 – #11 Zach Glazier (I) dec. #16 Luke Surber (O), 4-1
285 – Ben Kueter (I) dec. #11 Konner Doucet (O), 5-1
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
