The Big Ten Conference announced Pre-Seeds for the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships in College Park, Maryland.

The wrestling will begin on Saturday morning and wrap up on Sunday afternoon. A full schedule is listed below.

Big Tens Pre-Seeds 

125 – Drake Ayala #2

133 – Brody Teske #14

141 – Real Woods #3

149 – Caleb Rathjen #3

157 – Jared Franek #4

165 – Mike Caliendo #3

174 – Patrick Kennedy #3

184 – Aiden Riggins #13

197 – Zach Glazier #3

Hwt – Brad Hill  #7

2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds

https://bigten.org/news/2024/3/4/big-ten-wrestling-pre-seeds-announced.aspx

2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Schedule (All Times CST)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The Big Ten at 174 has the #1,3,7 and 8 wrestlers in the country and ten of the top thirty-two wrestlers. With all of that the Big Ten has only eight automatic qualifiers at 174. Another tough weight class. 

Patrick Kennedy competed at 165 in Soldier Salute and at 174 the rest of the season. Kennedy is ranked #7 in the country and should get the #3 seed at Big Tens. He is 12-4 with one pin, four tech falls and six major decisions and 5-3 vs. ranked opponents this season.

Patrick Kennedy is my top pick as the Iowa wrestler peaking at the right time. I really like where Kennedy is at right now heading into the tournament season. I would not bet against this guy.

InterMat Rankings at 174 in the Big Ten

1.Carter Starocci (Penn State)

3.Shane Griffith (Michigan)

7.Patrick Kennedy (Iowa)

8. Edmond Ruth (Illinois)

11.Rocco Welsh (Ohio State)

12.Jackson Turley (Rutgers)

15.Max Maylor (Wisconsin)

25.Donnell Washington (Indiana)

30.Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)

32.Brody Baumann (Purdue)

2023-24 Season – Patrick Kennedy (165/174)

174

#21 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) W-D 14-13 1-0 

#10 Nick Incontera (Penn) L-MD 10-2 1-1 

Garret Bilgrave (Columbia) W-TF 20-3 2-1 

165

Soldier Salute – 2nd Place 

   Connor Euton (Iowa State) W-Pin 1:25 3-1 

   Brock Fettig (SDSU) W-TF 21-4 4-1 

   Izzy Moreno (Northern Iowa) W-MD 10-0 5-1 

   #7 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) L-D 7-3 5-2 

174 

#30 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) W-D 9-5 6-2 

Sam Skillings (Minnesota) W-MD 13-2 7-2 

Brody Baumann (Purdue) W-TF 19-4 8-2 

#3 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) W-D 5-1 9-2 

David Ferante (Northwestern) W-MD 11-2 10-2 

#3 Shane Griffith (Michigan) L-MD 12-1 10-3 

#1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) L-MD 13-5 10-4 

Cale Anderson (Wisconsin) W-TF 19-4 11-4 

#21 Brayden Thompson (Oklahoma State) W-MD 12-3 12-4

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

I have 165 as the toughest weight class in the country. The Big Ten is well represented with eleven wrestlers ranked in the top thirty-one with only ten automatic qualifiers for Nationals.

We have Michael Caliendo ranked #6 in the country and he should get the #3 seed at Big Tens. Caliendo is 20-3 with one pin, seven tech falls and five major decisions and 5-3 vs. ranked opponents this season.

165 has a lot of depth with the eleven ranked wrestlers but the top three are solid picks. Definitely cannot be overlooking anybody in the quarterfinals at this weight. 

I look forward to a potential Caliendo-Mesenbrink rematch in the semifinals. Mesenbrink won 12-6 in the dual meet.

InterMat Rankings at 165 in the Big Ten

4.Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin)

5.Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State)

6.Michael Caliendo (Iowa)

9.Caleb Fish (Michigan State)

10.Cameron Amine (Michigan)

12.Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)

15.Bryce Hepner (Ohio State)

19.Tyler Lillard (Indiana)

29.Stoney Buell (Purdue)

30.Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern)

31.Blaine Brenner (Minnesota)

2023-24 Season – Michael Caliendo (165)

Mateo De La Pena (Cal Baptist) W-TF 23-7 1-0 

Luther Open – First Place 

   Robert Flege (Wisconsin-La Crosse) W-MD 11-2 2-0 

   Allen Catour (Loras) W-TF 17-1 3-0 

   Bryce McDonough (Luther) W-Pin 1:17 4-0 

   Cooper Willis (Augsburg) W-MD 13-3 5-0 

   Drake Rhodes (Iowa) W-TF 20-4 6-0 

   Kekana Fouret (Oregon State) W-D 15-10 7-0 

#2 David Carr (Iowa State) L-MD 16-4 7-1 

Lucas Revano (Penn) W-MD 14-5 8-1 

Kyle Mosher (Columbia) W-MD 18-5 9-1 

Soldier Salute – 1st Place 

   R.J. Weston (Northern Iowa) W-MD 17-5 10-1 

   Kyle Mosher (Columbia) W-TF 20-5 11-1 

   Blaine Brenner (Minnesota) W-TF 19-4 12-1 

   Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) W-D 7-3 13-1 

#19 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) W-D 8-3 14-1 

#30 Blaine Brenner (Minnesota) W-D 5-1 15-1 

Stoney Buell (Purdue) W-D 9-4 16-1 

#24 Chris Moore (Illinois) W-TF 17-2 17-1 

#15 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) W-TF 21-5 18-1 

Beau Mantanona (Michigan) W-D 9-4 19-1 

#7 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) L-D 12-6 19-2 

#5 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) L-D 14-11 19-3 

#3 Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State) W-D 7-2 20-3

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

We had two incoming recruits competing this weekend. Joe Kennedy competed at State Duals on Thursday and the Minnesota State Tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Kennedy was 2-1 at State Duals competing at 152 and 160 where Kasson-Mantorville placed second in AA. Kennedy placed third at 152 at AA State.

Val Solorio pinned her way through the 100 lbs. bracket at the West Regional. Solorio recorded pins in just :24 and :16 before winning by fall in the finals in 3:04.

Solorio will compete next weekend in the first ever PIAA Girls Championships in Hershey.

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.

Recruiting Class of 2024

Dru Ayala – Fort Dodge, Iowa  120 lbs.

Season completed – 3rd place.

Keyan Hernandez – Billings (West), Montana 126 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Miguel Estrada – Bakersfield (Frontier HS), California  152 lbs.

Season completed – 4th place.

Angelo Ferrari – Melissa, Texas  175 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Jake Howell –  Glenwood Village (Cherry Creek HS), Colorado  215 lbs.

Season completed – 2nd place.

Kael Voinovich – City High HS, Iowa City, Iowa  157 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Joe Kennedy – Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota  152 lbs.

Thurs Feb 29 – at Minnesota State Duals Tournament (St. Paul)

160 Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) over Bryan Rhode (Dawson-Boyd – Lac Qui Parle – Montevideo United) TF 18-3

 Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) over Blake Literski (Totino-Grace) TF 18-3

Cash Raymond (Simley) over Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) Maj 13-3

Fri/Sat Mar 1-2 – at Minnesota State Tournament (St. Paul)

Champ. Round 1 – Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) won by major decision over Everett Halvorson (New London-Spicer) (MD 13-3)

Quarterfinal – Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) won by decision over Drew May (Becker) (Dec 6-2)

Semifinal – Cooper Rowe (Mound-Westonka) won by decision over Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) (Dec 3-1)

Cons. Semi – Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) won by tech fall over Brayden Chandler (Marshall) (TF-1.5 4:42 (23-8))

3rd Place Match – Joseph Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville) won by decision over Carson Byer (Perham) (Dec 6-4)

Brady Benham – Sperry, Oklahoma  165 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Recruiting Class of 2025

Leo DeLuca  – Blair Academy New Jersey  120 lbs.

Season completed – National Prep Wrestling Championships 2nd place

Leister Bowling – Mead, Colorado  175 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Women’s Recruiting Class of 2024

Val Solorio – Canon-McMillan HS, Pennsylvania  100 lbs.

Sat March 2 – West Regional (Canon-McMillan HS)

Quarterfinals: Val Solorio (Canon-McMillan) won by fall over Nilan Brand (Trinity) :24

Semifinals: Val Solorio (Canon-McMillan) won by fall over Baylee Oreski (Bentworth) :16

Finals: Val Solorio (Canon-McMillan) won by fall over Kristan Walzer (Montour) 3:04

Karlee Brooks – Valiant College Prep HS (Phoenix, AZ)  120 lbs.

No competition scheduled.

Cadence Diduch – Freeport, Illinois  135 lbs.

Season completed – State champion.

Kiara Djoumessi – Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa  140 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

Naomi Simon – Decorah, Iowa 170 lbs.

Season completed – State Champion.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Another tough weight in the Big Ten at 157 with wrestlers ranked #1,4,5, and 7 in the country. At 157 there are ten wrestlers ranked the top twenty-nine where the Big Ten has only nine automatic qualifiers for the National Tournament. That is tough competition.

Jared Franek is ranked #5 in the country and should get the #3 seed at Big Tens. On the season Franek is 20-3 with six tech falls and three major decisions. For the season Franek is 7-3 vs. ranked opponents.

Franek may have Will Lewan of Michigan in the quarterfinals in a rematch of the dual meet that Lewan won in OT. 

Like fellow senior teammate Real Woods I look for Franek to crank it up a notch or two in the tournaments and have a real good showing at Big Tens.

InterMat Rankings at 157 in the Big Ten

1.Levi Haines (Penn State)

4.Michael Blockhus (Minnesota)

5.Jared Franek (Iowa)

7.Peyton Robb (Nebraska)

15.Brayton Lee (Indiana)

16.Will Lewan (Michigan)

19.Joey Blaze (Purdue)

20.Chase Saldate (Michigan State)

21.Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern)

29.Isaac Wilcox (Ohio State)

2023-24 Season – Jared Franek (157)

Drayden Morton (Cal Baptist) W-D 8-1 1-0 

Luther Open – 1st Place 

   John Ebaugh (Upper Iowa) W-TF 16-1 2-0 

   Blain Christie (Wartburg) W-TF 18-1 3-0 

   Daniel Meeker (Wartburg) W-TF 19-2 4-0 

   Blake Jagodzinske (Augsburg) W-TF 17-2 5-0 

   Caleb Meunier (Minnesota State Mankato) W-MD 21-7 6-0 

Murphy Menke (Oregon State) W-D 10-3 7-0 

#18 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) W-D 4-2 8-0 

#26 Jude Swisher (Penn) W-D 4-2 9-0 

Jaden Le (Columbia) W-D 9-5 10-0 

Soldier Salute – 1st Place

   James Conway (Missouri) W-D 4-1 11-0 

   Kyler Wong (Minnesota) W-TF 17-1 12-0 

   Jason Krassier (Iowa State) W-MD 13-3 13-0 

 #17 Cael Swensen (SDSU) W-D 4-1 SV1 14-0 

#3 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) W-D 5-4 15-0 

#11 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) L-D 5-4 15-1 

#16 Joey Blaze (Purdue) W-D 2-1 16-1 

Joe Roberts (Illinois) W-TF 21-5 17-1 

#19 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) W-D 4-1 SV1 18-1 

#12 Will Lewan (Michigan) L-D 2-2 TB1 18-2 

#1 Levi Haines (Penn State) L-MD 12-0 18-3 

Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) W-MD 17-5 19-3 

#10 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) W-D 10-4 20-3

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Brackets were released for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 8-9.

The University of Iowa has thirteen of the fifteen wrestlers that qualified seeded in the top eight.

The Hawks have three wrestlers with the #1 seed: Emilie Gonzalez(101), Marlynne Deede(155), and Kylie Welker(170). 

Sterling Dias(101), Ava Bayless(109), and Reese Larramendy(143) are the #2 seed.

Iowa enters their first National tournament ranked #2 in the country.

Brackets for the NCWWC: https://assets.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blteb7d012fc7ebef7f/bltcd63d52b3f5835a4/65e1e5ce7471415dcd0a47b5/24_NCWWC_Brackets.pdf

Iowa Seeds for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC)

101 – #1 Emilie Gonzalez  #2 Sterling Dias

109 – #2 Ava Bayless

116 – #3 Brianna Gonzalez  #4 Felicity Taylor

123 – Ava Rose – Unseeded

130 – Emily Frost – Unseeded

136 – #8 Lilly Luft

143 – #2 Reese Larramendy  #5 Ella Schmit 

155 – #1 Marlynne Deede  #6 Bella Mir

170 – #1 Kylie Welker  #4 Haley Ward

191 – #5 Jaycee Fowler  

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

149 is another real competitive and loaded weight in the Big Ten. With 10 wrestlers ranked in the top twenty-four in the country, the Big Ten has only 9 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA National Tournament.

Ranked #8 in the country, Caleb Rathjen is 15-3 on the season with one pin, five tech falls, and two major decisions. He is 3-2 vs. ranked opponents.

With the depth of ranked wrestlers there will be some real good matches in the Round of 16 just to get to the quarterfinals. Top to bottom this may be the most entertaining weight to watch at Big Tens.

It looks as though Rathjen will get the #3 seed.

Rathjen did not compete in the final dual meet of the season against Oklahoma State. I can only hope that he is ready to go in a rugged Big Ten bracket at 149.

InterMat Rankings at 149 in the Big Ten

1.Ridge Lovett (Nebraska)

4.Austin Gomez (Michigan)

8.Caleb Rathjen (Iowa)

9.Tyler Kasak (Penn State)

10.Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State

12.Ethen Miller (Maryland)

13.Graham Rooks (Indiana)

16.Joe Zargo (Wisconsin)

19.Drew Roberts (Minnesota)

24.Michael Cetta (Rutgers)

2023-24 Season – Caleb Rathjen (149)

Lindenwood Open 

  Ramiro Mosquera (Cumberland) W-TF 22-5 1-0 

  Sam Cartella (Northwestern) L-D 7-4 SV1 1-1 

  Victor Guzman (Cumberland) W-TF 24-8 2-1 

  Charlie Fifield (Illinois) W-TF 22-6 3-1 

  Jaden Two Lance (Carl Albert State College) W-TF 15-0 4-1 

  Joel Jesuroga (Iowa) W-D 3-2 TB1 5-1 

  Richard Fedalen (Columbia) W-MD 15-3 6-1 

Soldier Salute – 1st Place 

  Carter McCallister (Missouri) W-D 10-6 7-1 

  Daniel Kimball (SDSU) W-MD 11-1 8-1 

  Cade Siebrecht (Iowa) W-TF 18-3 9-1 

  #8 Victor Voinovich (Iowa) W-D 6-3 10-1 

  Anthony Ferrari (Unattached) W-D 7-2 11-1 

#1 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) L-D 6-0 11-2 

#13 Drew Roberts (Minnesoeta) W-D 7-3 12-2 

#8 Kannon Webster (Illinois) L-D 4-1 SV1 12-3 

Aiden Vandenbush (Northwestern) W-Pin 3:46 13-3 

#10 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) W-D 11-8 SV1 14-3 

#19 Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin) W-D 8-1 15-3

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The Big Ten certainly has the competition at 141 with the top three ranked wrestlers, four of the top six and eleven of the top thirty-two wrestlers in the country. That is a loaded weight class.

#2 ranked Real Woods is 14-2 on the season with one pin, five tech falls, and one major decision. He is 6-2 vs. ranked opponents.

A potential #2 Woods-#3 Mendez semifinal match would be fun to watch.

I have stated since the beginning of the season that Woods would turn it up once the tournament season kicked in. I see Woods getting the job done to be an NCAA National champion this year.

The Big Ten has 11 automatic qualifiers at 141 for the NCAA National Tournament.

InterMat Rankings at 141 in the Big Ten

1.Beau Bartlett (Penn State)

2.Real Woods (Iowa)

3.Jesse Mendez (Ohio State)

6.Brock Hardy (Nebraska)

10.Sergio Lemley (Michigan)

23.Danny Fongaro (Indiana)

24.Danny Pucino (Illinois)

25.Vance Vombaur (Minnesota)

26.Jordan Hamdan (Michigan State)

27.Kal Miller (Maryland)

32.Greyson Clark (Purdue)

2023-24 Season – Real Woods (141)

Darren Green (Cal Baptist) W-TF 15-0 1-0 

#20 Cleveland Belton (Oregon State) W-TF 18-3 2-0 

Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) W-D 4-1 SV1 3-0 

#11 CJ Composto (Penn) W-D 5-0 4-0 

Kai Owen (Columbia) W-TF 17-2 5-0 

Soldier Salute – 1st Place 

  Ben Lunn (Minnesota) W-TF 15-0 6-0 

  Parker Jassen (SDSU) W-TF 16-0 7-0

  #18 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) W-D 9-4 8-0 

  #5 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) W-D 8-4 9-0 

#7 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) W-D 8-2 10-0 

#17 Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) W-D 5-2 11-0 

#32 Greyson Clark (Purdue) W-MD 8-0 12-0 

#19 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) L-MD 14-2 12-1 

#1 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) L-D 7-2 12-2 

Felix Lettini (Wisconsin) W-Pin 4:37 13-2 

#8 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) W-D 5-1 14-2

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The NCAA released allocations for each conference for the 2024 NCAA National Wrestling Championships.

The Big Ten received 85 automatic qualifiers.

There will be an additional 47 at-large qualifiers.

From themat.com:

After all the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 12, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 13.  All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. 

Big Ten allocations for the 2024 NCAA National Wrestling Championships

125 – 9

133 – 7

141 – 11

149 – 9

157 – 9

165 – 10

174 – 8

184 – 8

197 – 7

Hwt – 7

Allocations by Conference:

https://www.themat.com/news/2024/february/29/ncaa-division-i-wrestling-committee-releases-qualifying-tournament-allocations-for-2024-championships

Sat and Sun March 9-10 – at Big Ten Championships (College Park, Maryland)

Thurs-Sat March 21-23 – at NCAA Championships (Kansas City, MO)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

NWCA NCAA Women’s Coaches Rankings were released today. Iowa remained #2 in the Tournament Rankings heading into the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 8-9.

The Iowa Women’s Wrestling team qualified their entire team of 15 wrestlers and won the team title at the NCWWC Region V on February 23.

In the Tournament Rankings North Central remained #1 with 123 points and 14 ranked wrestlers. Iowa is second with 93 points and 14 ranked wrestlers. King is third with 88 points and 10 ranked wrestlers.

The Hawks have three #1 ranked wrestlers with Emilie Gonzalez(101), Marlynne Deede(155), and Kylie Welker(170). 

Sterling Dias(101), Ava Bayless(109), and Reese Larramendy(143) are ranked #2.

Iowa has the top two ranked wrestlers in the country at 101 with #1 Emilie Gonzalez and #2 Sterling Dias. 

Iowa has a ranked wrestlers at every weight except 130. 

The Hawks look ready to go for the national tournament in their first year of competition.

NWCA NCAA Women’s Coaches Rankings – February 29, 2024

101 – #1 Emilie Gonzalez  #2 Sterling Dias

109 – #2 Ava Bayless

116 – #3 Brianna Gonzalez  #4 Felicity Taylor

123 – #10 Ava Rose

130 – Not ranked

136 – #8 Lilly Luft

143 – #2 Reese Larramendy  #5 Ella Schmit 

155 – #1 Marlynne Deede  #6 Bella Mir

170 – #1 Kylie Welker  #4 Haley Ward

191 – #5 Jaycee Fowler 

Complete rankings:

https://nwcaonline.com/news/2024/2/29/national-wrestling-coaches-association-north-central-remains-1-headed-into-ncwwc-tournament.aspx

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!