The largest wrestling tournament in the entire world will take place in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota. Junior and Cadet (U16) Nationals is always the main event of the summer in high school wrestling.

Iowa Wrestling fans will have a lot to follow with both the men’s and women’s programs being well represented with incoming recruits.

I listed what USA Wrestling has released for each state’s roster. I will keep you up to date if we have additional recruits competing that are not currently listed.

The Junior Girls division will be on Saturday and Sunday, July 15-16. We will have five incoming recruits competing: Ava Rose, Lilly Luft, Emily Frost, Danni Swihart, and Alivia White. All are members of the Recruiting Class of 2023 and will be true freshman next month at Iowa.

Our incoming recruits represented real well in International competition last weekend. Rose Cassioppi won the 72 KG Bronze at the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid and Haley Ward won the 72 KG Gold at the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile. 

The Junior Boys Freestyle will be on Monday-Wednesday, July 17-19. There will be four future Hawks competing: Ryder Block, Kale Petersen, and Koye Grebel from the Recruiting Class of 2023 and Keyan Hernandez from the Class of 2024.

Gabe Arnold and Ben Kueter will not compete in Fargo but are also in the Recruiting Class of 2023. Arnold won the 79 KG Gold at the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile last weekend. Kueter, the reigning U20 World Freestyle champ, is going through summer drills with the Iowa Football team. 

FloWrestling will have full coverage with a live stream of all matches on their premium service.

I will post blogs with results at the end of every day of competition.

Ava Rose (New Jersey) – 117

Lilly Luft (Iowa) – 132

Emily Frost (New York) – 132

Danni Swihart (Michigan) – 144

Alivia White (Washington) – 180

Keyan Hernandez (Montana) – 120

Kale Petersen (Iowa) – 132

Koye Grebel (North Dakota) – 138

Ryder Block (Iowa) – 145

Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota

*All times posted are Central Standard Time (CST)

Junior Girls

Saturday, July 15

10 AM – Session 1:Prelims

4 PM – Session II – Quarterfinals and Consolations

Sunday, July 16

9 AM – Session III: Semifinals

Noon – Session IV: 3rd-8th Medal Matches

6 PM – Session V: Parade of Champions and Finals

Junior Boys

Monday, July 17

9 AM – Session VI: Prelims and Consolations

3 PM – Session VII: Prelims and Consolations

Tuesday, July 18

9 AM – Session VIII: Prelims and Consolations

3 PM – Session IX: Quarterfinals and Consolations

Wednesday, July 19

10 AM – Session X: Semifinals and Consolations

2 PM – Session XI: 3rd-8th Medal Matches

5:30 PM – Session XII: Parade of Champions and Finals

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Ella Schmit of the University of Iowa has been named the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week. Schmit was 4-0 with four pins to win the 65 KG Gold at the Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile last weekend.

For her dominating performance at the Pan Ams Schmit was awarded the Golden Boot as the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

Schmit just completed her true freshman season for the Hawks. Originally from Bettendorf, Iowa where she was a three-time state champion and two-time All American. In 2022 Schmit was named for the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award in Iowa and Dan Gable Ms. Wrestler of the Year.

Schmit will be a redshirt freshman for the upcoming season that will be the first official season for Iowa Women’s Wrestling.

Congratulations Ella for being named for this honor.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Ella Schmit of the University of Iowa has been named the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week. Schmit was 4-0 with four pins to win the 65 KG Gold at the Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile last weekend.

For her dominating performance at the Pan Ams Schmit was awarded the Golden Boot as the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

Schmit just completed her true freshman season for the Hawks. Originally from Bettendorf, Iowa where she was a three-time state champion and two-time All American. In 2022 Schmit was named for the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award in Iowa and Dan Gable Ms. Wrestler of the Year.

Schmit will be a redshirt freshman for the upcoming season that will be the first official season for Iowa Women’s Wrestling.

Congratulations Ella for being named for this honor.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The final National Girls High School Ranking of the year has been released. The rankings are developed by USA Wrestling, FloWrestling, and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

There were few changes for our incoming recruits from the last rankings. 

One change of note is Alivia White has entered the Top 25 Pound-For-Pound rankings at #24.

Lily Luft went from #1 to #2 at 138. Emily Frost (132), Rose Cassioppi (164) and Alivia White (180) remained ranked #2. Haley Ward is ranked #3 at 164 and Ava Rose is #15 at 112.

Our incoming recruits represented real well in International competition last weekend. Rose Cassioppi won the 72 KG Bronze at the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid and Haley Ward won the 72 KG Gold at the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile.

The Hawks signed 15 incoming recruits and transfers in the Class of 2022. Iowa has already received commitments from eight wrestlers for the Recruiting Class of 2023 and two transfers.

The University of Iowa is the first Division I Power 5 Conference member to have women’s wrestling. The Hawks have their first year of official competition for the 2023-’24 season.

Iowa will put a very competitive team on the mat in their first year of competition. I am looking forward to it. 

I will keep you up to date on the Iowa Women’s Wrestling program right here on my Iowa Wrestling Fan Blog.

National High School Rankings

Developed by USA Wrestling, Flowrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame

July 7, 2023

Pound-For-Pound Rankings

#14 Rose Cassioppi, senior, Colorado Springs, Colo., Springs Studio (2 at 164), 14 last time

#18 Lilly Luft, senior, Charles City, Iowa, Charles City High School (2 at 138), 17 last time

#24 Alivia White, senior, Lake Stevens, Wash., Marysville-Pilchuk High School (2 at 180), unranked last time

Ava Rose –  #15 at 112

Bella Ngo – 117 

Emily Frost – #2 at 132

Lilly Luft – #2 at 138

Danni Swihart – 135 

Rose Cassioppi – #2 at 164

Haley Ward – #3 at 164

Alivia White – #2 at 180

Complete Rankings:

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/July/07/National-Girls-HS-rankings-July-2023

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The Big Ten Conference released the schedule for conference dual meets for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

Inside legendary Carver-Hawkeye Arena the University of Iowa will host Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.  

The Hawks will be on the road against Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern.

I will keep you up to date here on my blog when the entire season schedule is released. 

As a fan I cannot wait for another season of Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The Big Ten Conference released the schedule for conference dual meets for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

Inside legendary Carver-Hawkeye Arena the University of Iowa will host Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.  

The Hawks will be on the road against Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern.

I will keep you up to date here on my blog when the entire season schedule is released. 

As a fan I cannot wait for another season of Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Incoming recruit Ben Kueter has been named as The Gazette Male Athlete of the Year. This is a prestigious honor that recognizes the best athlete in Eastern Iowa.

What Kueter accomplished in his high school career at City High High School in Iowa City, Iowa is amazing. Four-time undefeated state champion in wrestling. All-American linebacker in football. Played in an All-Star game with the best football players in the country. Started on a District champion baseball team. Ran in the Drake Relays. This guy did it all.

And let’s not forget that Kueter won a World title at the 2022 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria at 97kg/213 lbs. Kueter was also the youngest wrestler in the entire tournament. A dominating performance with a pin in the World finals.

For accolades Kueter was named as the Outstanding Wrestler in the country on the USA Wrestling Dream Team, the overall #1 recruit pound for pound by MatScouts, the Regional winner of the Dave Schultz Excellence Award, the Dan Gable Wrestler of the Year, member of the National Honor Society, The list goes on and on. Kueter also leads an outstanding Iowa Wrestling Recruiting Class of 2023.

I mentioned over a year and a half ago that Kueter was the best overall athlete for an Iowa Wrestling recruit that I have ever seen. I have also been saying for quite some time that Ben Kueter is the best high school athlete to ever come out of Iowa. I do not see how anyone could argue those points.

Kueter is rare also in that he committed to both Iowa Football and Iowa Wrestling. It is hard to tell where his career will take him. I know that as a Hawkeye fan I will enjoy every bit of his college career and beyond.

Real good article by K.J. Pilcher:

Ben Kueter of Iowa City High is The Gazette’s 2023 Male Athlete of the Year

I want to mention The Gazette Female Athlete of the Year winner Peyton Robinson. My hometown of Lisbon, Iowa has had a lot of great athletes over the last 43 years of this award. Peyton is the first athlete from Lisbon to win The Gazette Athlete of the Year. Go Lions!.

Peyton’s dad George Robinson was a state champ wrestler at Central City in 1992. Peyton will attend Wartburg and play volleyball. 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Bella Mir won Gold and Rose Cassioppi Bronze at the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid on Saturday. Team USA had fifteen wrestlers medal and won the team title in the tournament that had competitors from seventeen teams. 

Mir won the title at 68 KG. After a first round win by a 5-3 decision Mir won three straight by fall. In her final match Mir was down 11-2 when she scored the pin.

Mir won a 68 KG title at U20 Nationals and will represent Team USA at the 2023 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Warsaw, Poland in August. She just completed her true freshman season on the University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling team.

Cassioppi won a Bronze at 72 KG. After dropping two matches Cassioppi won by a tech fall to place third. Cassioppi is a member of the Recruiting Class of 2023 and will be a freshman at Iowa this fall.

It was a great weekend of competition for our young Iowa Wrestlers. At the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile Kyle Welker, Ella Schmit, and Haley Ward won Gold on Friday. On Saturday Gabe Arnold won Gold and Brad Hill Silver.

The future looks great for Iowa Wrestling.

Grand Prix of Spain

Bella Mir – 68 KG GOLD

WIN Lorena Lera (Spain), 5-3 decision

WIN Vanessa Keefe (Canada), fall

WIN Park Hyeonyeong (Korea), fall

WIN Olivia Di Bacco (Canada), fall

Rose Cassioppi – 72 KG BRONZE

LOSS Kaylynn Albrecht (United States), 10-0 tech. fall

WIN Bye

LOSS Fernanda Ceballos (Colombia), 5-5 decision

WIN Yasmin Alonso Ez Zahir (Spain), 10-0 tech. Fall

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Gabe Arnold won the Gold and Brad Hill a Silver medal at the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile. 

Arnold rolled through the competition with three straight 11-0 tech falls. Arnold is a member of the Recruiting Class of 2023 and will be a freshman this fall at Iowa. Great future for this Hawkeye.

Brad Hill was 2-1 in competition. He had two tech falls and dropped a 4-4 decision to a wrestler from Canada on criteria. Hill will be a redshirt freshman at Iowa this fall.

Kyle Welker, Ella Schmit, and Haley Ward won Gold at the U20 Pan American Championships on Friday.

Great weekend for our young Hawkeye wrestlers in International competition.

2023 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile

Gabe Arnold – 79 KG GOLD

WIN – 11-0 over Darfel Parada (VEN)

WIN – 11-0 over Kevin Olavarria (PUR)

WIN – 11-0 over Connor Church (CAN)

Brad Hill – 125 KG SILVER

WIN – 10-0 over Luis De La Rosa (MEX)

LOSS – 4-4 to Karanveer Singh (CAN)

WIN – 10-0 over Wesley Barrios (BRA)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Kyle Welker, Ella Schmit, and Haley Ward won Gold at the U20 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile. The Hawkeye wrestlers dominated the competition while representing Team USA by going a combined 11-0 with eight pins, two tech falls, and an 8-1 decision.

Kyle Welker won the title at 76 KG with two tech falls, a pin and a forfeit. Welker was a U20 World champion in 2021.

Ella Schmit was 4-0 with four falls to win the title at 65 KG. Schmit and Welker will be redshirt freshmen for Iowa this season.

Haley Ward was 4-0 with three falls and an 8-1 decision to bring home the Gold at 72 KG. Ward is an incoming recruit in the Class of 2023 and will be a true freshman this fall for Iowa.

Bella Mir and Rose Cassioppi of the Iowa Women’s Wrestling team will be in competition tomorrow at the Grand Prix of Spain.

Gabe Arnold and Brad Hill will be competing at the U20 Pan Ams tomorrow. Live stream coverage will be available on the premium service for FloWrestling.

I will post blogs with results.

Great start to a huge weekend of International wrestling for our young Iowa Hawkeyes.

2023 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile

Kylie Welker – 76 KG Gold

WIN – FALL (10-0) over Maria De Almeida (BRA)

WIN – Forfeit over Karime Cortes (MEX)

WIN – 10-0 over Myah Phillips (CAN)

WIN – 10-0 over Aomi Riques (PER)

Ella Schmit – 65 KG Gold

WIN – FALL over Evelyn Orta (MEX)

WIN – FALL over Jaeell Llontop (CHI)

WIN – FALL over Natalie Vecchio (CAN)

WIN – FALL over Gleymaris Beria (VEN)

Haley Ward – 72 KG Gold

WIN – FALL over Karla Castillo (VEN)

WIN – 8-1 over Nubia Lorenzana (MEX)

WIN – FALL over Melanie Sanchez (CHI)

WIN – FALL over Paige Maher (CAN)

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!