The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum announced awards presented by the Glen Brand Hall of Fame of Iowa.

Lilly Luft of Charles City was awarded the Iowa High School Female Wrestler of the Year. Luft recently won her third state title and finished her career with a 125-6 record. Luft was 40-0 this season in winning a state title at 130 lbs. 

Luft was named as the Dan Gable Ms. Wrestler of the Year last month and is in the Iowa Women’s Wrestling Recruiting Class of 2023.

Iowa Women’s Wrestling will start their first official year of competition next season.

Ben Kueter was named as the Bob Steenlage Iowa High School Wrestler of the Year. 

Kueter of City High (Iowa City) finished his career as the 32nd four-time state champion in state history and just the seventh to have an undefeated career record (111-0). He is the overall #1 recruit in the country pound for pound by MatScouts. 

Kueter won a Junior World Freestyle title last summer in Sophie, Bulgaria at 97 kg/213 lbs. Kueter is also an elite linebacker in football and received All American honors. He committed to both Iowa Wrestling and Iowa Football.

Kueter was named as the Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year last month and is in the Iowa Wrestling Recruiting Class of 2023.

A banquet honoring the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa Class of 2023 will be held at Prairie Links Golf & Event Center in Waverly, Iowa, on June 23. For more information, contact the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum at (319) 233-0745 or [email protected].  

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The NCAA released seeds and brackets for the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Hawks have two wrestlers seeded #1 in Spencer Lee (125) and Real Woods (141). Tony Cassioppi is #4 at Hwt, Patrick Kennedy #6 at 165 and at 149 Max Murin is #8.

According to the seeds there are five Hawkeyes picked to become an All American.

Iowa is set to have some good matchups in round one and real big matches in round two.

I do not get caught up in the good draw vs. bad draw drama. Every wrestler is tough at this tournament. Every wrestler has to make their own way to be successful in a tournament where nothing comes easy. Everything is earned.

With that being said I must admit that I do not mind the draw for Assad and Warner. Actually I like it a lot.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have their entire team at Nationals and I am confident they will be ready to go. I could not ask for more.

The action starts next Thursday, March 16 at 11 AM CST. As a fan I cannot wait.

It’s time to go.

Let’s get ’em in the middle.

 

Seeds for Iowa

125 Spencer Lee – #1

133 Brody Teske – #24

141 Real Woods – #1

149 Max Murin – #8

157 Cobe Siebrecht – #14

165 Patrick Kennedy – #6

174 Nelson Brands – #11

184 Abe Assad – #12

197 Jacob Warner – #14

Hwt Tony Cassioppi – #4

 

Brackets for 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships:

https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/files/2023-ncaa-di-wrestling-brackets.pdf

 

NCAA Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Thursday, March 16

Session I – 11 AM

Session II – 6 PM

 

Friday, March 17

Quarterfinals – 10 AM

Semifinals – 7 PM

 

Saturday, march 18

Consolations – 10 AM

FInals – 6 PM

*All times listed are CST.

 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

At the Lisbon Wrestling banquet last night legendary coach Brad Smith announced his retirement after 45 years of coaching. I am proud to say that Brad Smith was my wrestling coach. I am sure I will do more blogs on Coach Smith in the future. I have a lot to write about.

After being a successful three-sport standout (wrestling, football, and baseball) at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, IL, Smith competed at the University of Iowa for Gary Kurdelmeier. In 1976 Smith won an NCAA National title at 142 lbs. for the Hawks. Coach Smith was on the first two NCAA titles ever won by Iowa Wrestling in 1975 and 1976.

Coach Smith began his coaching career at Lisbon in 1978 replacing another legend Al Baxter. Lisbon won seven traditional state titles in 13 seasons. Among his wrestlers was Royce Alger (Class of 1983) who went on to be a two-time NCAA National champion for Dan Gable at the University of Iowa.

Smith became head coach at City High School in Iowa City in 1991 and led his teams to three traditional state championships in 21 seasons. 

Coach Smith returned to Lisbon in 2012. Lisbon won the state title in 2018 that was the 12th state title in Smith’s career. A record in Iowa high school wrestling history.

Earlier this year Coach Smith became the all-time winningest coach in Iowa high school wrestling history by winning over 700 duals in his career. 

With the most state titles and dual meets won I do not see how you can say there has ever been a better high school wrestling coach in the history of Iowa.

Coach Smith started at Lisbon when I was in sixth grade. I grew up seeing Iowa and Hawkeye Wrestling Club wrestlers at Lisbon. I still remember Coach Smith’s first dual meet in 1978. There were Iowa wrestlers in the crowd including Randy Lewis. I got his autograph.

The gasp from the crowd in that first home dual meet when Coach Smith told a Lisbon wrestler to let his opponent up. It was 1978 and we had never seen that before in high school wrestling. It was quite a change.

I firmly believe Coach Smith was a big influence in Iowa high school wrestling going to more of a freestyle type approach in the 1980’s with more of an emphasis on takedowns. Also the Iowa-style of wrestling made famous by Coach Smith’s assistant coach at Iowa, Dan Gable. The footprint of Coach Smith’s influence in Iowa High School wrestling is unmatched. All of that influence started from a small farming community of 1,300 with a 1A school.

Current Iowa wrestlers Cobe and Cade Siebrecht were state champions for Coach Smith at Lisbon. 

Coach Smith was the only wrestling coach at Lisbon until 1987. He alone coached the high school, junior high, and kids club.

I could go on and on with stats, stories, and memories and I will at another time. 

I will finish this blog up with a story Coach Smith told me in an interview a few years ago.

In April of 1978 Al Baxter called his friend J Robinson, an assistant coach for the University of Iowa. Baxter told Robinson that he was leaving Lisbon and wanted to know if he had any recommendations at Iowa. Lisbon had won five of the last six state titles and Coach Baxter wanted to leave the program in good hands.

Brad Smith was sitting in Robinson’s office at the exact time of that call. Without that timing of being in that office I highly doubt Coach Smith would have ended up at Lisbon. Timing as they say is everything.

Coach Baxter was in charge of finding his replacement. He only interviewed one person. Brad Smith.

I am grateful that fate was on our side and Coach Smith was in J Robinson’s office that April day in 1978. The influence, legacy, and history of that one event is beyond description.

Thank you and enjoy your much deserved retirement is all that I can say for now to Coach Smith.

Go Lions!

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

The Big Ten Wrestling Championships did not disappoint. The quality and quantity of top notch competition proved yet again that the Big Ten is the premiere wrestling conference in the country and by a large margin.

At the end of two days of intense wrestling Penn State won the team title over second place Iowa, 147-134.5. That team score for Iowa is impressive considering Iowa had two champs and a runner-up. Penn State had four champs and two runner-ups. More importantly Iowa qualified all ten wrestlers for Nationals.

Congratulations to Spencer Lee for being named as the Big Ten Tournament OW and the Big Ten Wrestler of the year. This is the third time that Lee has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year.

My main goal for Big Tens was for Iowa to qualify all ten wrestlers and to leave Big Tens healthy with no new injuries. As far as I know, mission accomplished. We qualified all ten weights and I did not notice any new injuries for Iowa wrestlers from the tournament  

A few stats really stood out to me. Iowa wrestled to or above their seed in eight of ten weights. Iowa also led the tournament with bonus points by a large margin. I really liked the way Iowa wrestlers kept working to score with bonus points in mind.

I had two favorite moves at Big Tens and they were both finishing a takedown. Patrick Kennedy finishing a takedown for the win in the semifinals was the best of his career to date. That finish showed real good patience, technique, and strength.

Nelson Brands takedown to win in OT in the Round of 12 would be great for a highlight film. That finish had some serious pop and horsepower involved. That takedown won the match and was an automatic qualifier for Nationals.

My last memory of Big Tens was important and one worth mentioning. Mark Ironside talked about how the entire program was behind the coaches for Cassioppi’s third place match. Iowa Wrestling is a close-knit team.

The time between now and Nationals that begin on Thursday, March 16 will go fast for the wrestlers and slow for us fans. The hard work for strength and conditioning is pretty much done. Individual sessions that I call Magic Time in this blog over the years will be in play. Working on specific situations for technique will be worked on.

Our wrestlers look to be in great shape even by Iowa Wrestling standards. 

Upcoming schedule:

1. The At-Large bids will be announced later today.
2. Brackets will be released tomorrow (Wednesday)

I will release a blog after the brackets are announced.

I believe the Hawks are peaking at the right time and the best is yet to come for Iowa Wrestling.

Iowa Wrestling is my entertainment. I plan on being entertained on March 16, 17, and 18 for the NCAA National Wrestling Championships.

 

Let’s get ’em in the middle.

 

NCAA Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Thursday, March 16

Session I – 11 AM

Session II – 6 PM

 

Friday, March 17

Quarterfinals – 10 AM

Semifinals – 7 PM

 

Saturday, march 18

Consolations – 10 AM

FInals – 6 PM

*All times listed are CST.

 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

 

After winning the Big Ten title at 125 lbs. Spencer Lee was voted the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Outstanding Wrestler of the Big Ten Championships. This is the third time Lee has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year (2020 and 2021). Lee was 3-0 with two tech falls and outscored his three opponents by a combined 45-4 in winning his Big Ten title.

Lee is the second Hawkeye to be named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year three times. Mark Ironside won the award in 1996, ‘97, and ‘98. Iowa has had 11 wrestlers awarded 13 OW’s of the Big Ten Championships. Ten Iowa Hawkeyes have been named for 15 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year honors.

Iowa qualified all ten weight classes for the NCAA Championships when they placed in the top seven at their weight at Big Tens in Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend.

Lee will lead Iowa into the NCAA National Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 16-18.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Incoming Iowa recruit Ryder Block has been chosen to represent the USA All-Star Team in the Pittsburgh Classic on Saturday, March 25. Block will face a member of the Pennsylvannia All-Star team that has yet to be announced.

The Pittsburgh Classic will be held in the AHN Arena at Peters Township High School in McMurray, Pennsylvania. The USA All Stars-PA All Stars meet will begin at 5 PM CST and will be broadcast live on FloWrestling.

Block recently won his third state title with a career record of 159-1 for Waverly-Shell Rock. In the recent national rankings for MatScouts Block is ranked #2 at 138.

Block is in the outstanding Iowa Wrestling Recruiting Class of 2023.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Brackets were released for the 2023 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. There were no changes between the pre-seeds and the finals seeds for Iowa Wrestlers. Iowa has two wrestlers seeded #1 in Spencer Lee (125) and Real Woods (141).

The Big Tens will be in Ann Arbor, Michigan this Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5. Session I begins tomorrow at 9 AM CST.

The Big Ten was awarded 88 of the 284 automatic qualifiers to the 2023 NCAA National Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 16-18. There will also be 46 at-large bids for all of the qualifiers. Each of the ten weight classes at Nationals will have 33 wrestlers seeded out 1-33.

 

First Round matches:

125 – #1 Spencer Lee (UI) vs. #8 Dean Peterson (RU)/#9 Jack Medley (UM)

133 – #8 Brody Teske (UI) vs. #9 RayVon Foley (MSU)

141 – #1 Real Woods (UI) vs. #8 Parker Filius (PUR)/#9 Dylan D’Emilio (OSU)

149 – #4 Max Murin (UI) vs. #13 Payton Omania (MSU)

157 – #5 Cobe Siebrecht (UI) vs. #12 Paddy Gallagher (OSU)

165 – #3 Patrick Kennedy (UI) vs. #14 John Best (MD)

174 – #7 Nelson Brands (UI) vs. #10 Jackson Turley (RU)

184 – #5 Abe Assad (UI) vs. #12 Ben Vanadia (PUR)

197 – #5 Jacob Warner (UI) vs. #12 Andrew Davison (NU)

285 – #3 Tony Cassioppi (IA) vs. #14 Austin Emerson (NEB)

 

The brackets are also available on TrackWrestling.

https://bigten.org/documents/2023/3/3//2023_B1G_Brackets_Initial.pdf?id=7878

 

Big Ten Championships

Saturday, March 4

Session I – 9 AM

Session II 

Consolations and Wrestlebacks – 4:30 PM

Semifinals – 6:30 PM

 

Sunday, March 5

Session III Consolation Semifinals and 7th place – Noon

Session IV 1st/3rd/5th place matches – 3:30 PM

*****All times listed are CST

 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Willie Saylor of MatScouts released updated high school rankings. There were a few changes for the incoming Iowa Wrestling recruits.

Ben Kueter remains #1 in the PFP (Pound for Pound) rankings as the top recruit in the country and at 215. Kueter recently became the 32nd four-time state champion and the seventh to have an undefeated career record (111-0) in Iowa high school wrestling history.

On Monday Kueter was named as the Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year in 3A. Ryder Block and Gabe Arnold were the other two finalist for this award.

Ryder Block went from #3 to #2 at 138. Block recently won his third state title.

Gabe Arnold dropped one spot to #3 at 182. Arnold won four matches against #4 ranked Tate Naaktgeboren this season. The last match was in the state finals.

Kale Petersen is not ranked at 132 even though he defeated #15 Gable Porter this season. Petersen finished the season with a 32-0 record in winning his third state title. Petersen was named as the Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year in 2A.

Keyan Hernandez in the Class of 2024 won his third Montana AA state title.

I always want to remind you that Cody Chittum, the overall #1 ranked wrestler in the country for the Class of 2022, is on the way. Chittum will start classes this fall and be a member of the Iowa Wrestling Recruiting Class of 2023. Last Sunday Chittum captured the silver at the very competitive Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Event in Alexandria, Egypt. This was an open division tournament with teams from 31 countries.

The future looks great for Iowa Wrestling.

 

Class of 2023

Kale Petersen – Greene County  132 lbs.

Not ranked.

 

Ryder Block – Waverly-Shell Rock  138 lbs.

#2 at 138

 

Gabe Arnold – City High (Iowa City)  182 lbs.

#3 at 182

 

Ben Kueter – City High (Iowa City)  220 lbs.

#1 P4P

#1 at 215

 

Cody Chittum 149/157 – #1 overall recruit in the Class of 2022 and will enroll with the Class of 2023 in August.

 

Class of 2024

Keyan Hernandez – Billings West (Montana)

Not ranked.

 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

This is my third and final blog for a Big Tens preview by weight.

It is tournament time. The Big Tens will be in Ann Arbor, Michigan this Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5. It is a tradition for this tournament to have great if not amazing competition. 

The Big Ten was awarded 88 of the 284 automatic qualifiers to the 2023 NCAA National Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 16-18. There will also be 46 at-large bids for all of the qualifiers. Each of the ten weight classes at Nationals will have 33 wrestlers seeded out 1-33.

Iowa faced eight Big Ten teams in the regular season. I have listed the results of those matches. I also listed the Big Ten Pre-Seeds and where the wrestlers are ranked nationally by InterMat.

 

174

Nelson Brands is ranked #12 in the country and gets the seven pre-seed. This is yet another real tough weight for Big Tens. The six wrestlers pre-seeded ahead of Brands are all in the top ten nationally for rankings. The Big Ten has seven automatic qualifiers and there are five At-Large bids for Nationals at 174.

Simply put, Brands will have to wrestle up to seed to qualify for Nationals. With no room for error Brands will have to be top of his game. I really liked what I saw when Brands defeated #7 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State, 3-2. 

I look for Nelson Brands to have a solid tournament and wrestle above his pre-seed.

 

Big Ten Pre-Seed/InterMat Ranking

174 lbs. (7 NCAA Qualifiers)

1. Carter Starocci (PSU) – #1
2. Mikey Labriola (NEB) – #2
3. Ethan Smith (OSU) – #5
4. Bailee O’Reilly (MINN) – #8
5. Edmond Ruth (ILL) – #9
6. DJ Washington (IND) – #10
7. Nelson Brands (IOWA) – #12
8. Troy Fisher (NU) – #15
9. Max Maylor (MICH) – #29
10. Jackson Turley (RU)
11. Ceasar Garza (MSU)
12. Dominic Solis (MD)
13. Josh Otto (WIS)
14. Cooper Noehre (PUR)

 

Nelson Brands vs. Big Ten opponents

#7 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) L-D 2-1 TB1 

Cooper Noehre (Purdue) W-D 5-0 

Ankhaa Enkhmandakh (Northwestern) W-D 8-2 (Enkhmandakh is not competing at Big Tens)

#3 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) L-D 3-2 

#1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) L-D 2-1

Joseph Walker (Michigan) W-D 5-1 5-4 (Walker is not competing at Big Tens)

 

Aiden Riggins vs. Big Ten opponents

#11 Bailee O’Reilly (Minnesota) L-D 4-1

 

Drake Rhodes vs. Big Ten opponents

Josh Otto (Wisconsin) L-D 6-5 

 

184

Abe Assad comes in with a pre-seed of fifth. The Big Ten has nine automatic qualifiers and there are seven At-large bids for Nationals.

Of the entire team I believe Assad has the most potential to wrestle above his pre-seed. I have been telling you about the potential of Assad in this blog for several years. He has the goods. I now notice confidence that I did not see in the past. I like his attitude. 

As a fan I would love to see Assad have a big tournament that would lead to a push into Nationals. He certainly has all of the tools needed to be elite on the national level. 

 

Big Ten Pre-Seed/InterMat Ranking

184 lbs. (9 NCAA Qualifiers)

1. Aaron Brooks (PSU) – #1
2. Kaleb Romero (OSU) – #5
3. Isaiah Salazar (MINN) – #9
4. Matt Finesilver (MICH) – #8
5. Abe Assad (IOWA) – #10
6. Layne Malczewski (MSU) – #13
7. Lenny Pinto (NEB) – #15
8. Brian Soldano (RU) – #14
9. Dylan Connell (ILL) – #22
10. Tyler Dow (WIS)
11. Evan Bates (NU)
12. Ben Vanadia (PUR)
13. Clayton Fielden (IND)
14. Kevin Makosy (MD)

 

Abe Assad vs. Big Ten opponents

#29 Dylan Connell (Illinois) W-D 3-1

Ben Vanadia (Purdue) W-Pin, 4:15

Evan Bates (Northwestern) W-MD 10-2

#13 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) W-D 6-5

Tyler Dow (Wisconsin) L-Pin

 

Drake Rhodes vs. Big Ten opponents

#1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) L-TF 22-7 1-2

#10 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) L-MD 13-5

 #9 Matt Finesilver (Michigan) L-TF 15-0 1

 

197

197 has to be the most open weight in the Big Ten and nationally. Seeding 197 is going to be a challenge. Of all the weights that may see changes from the pre-seeds to final seeds I would have to put 197 at the top of the list.

The Big Ten has nine automatic qualifiers and there are four At-Large bids for Nationals at 197. With ten nationally ranked wrestlers this is a tough weight to predict. I look for a lot of close matches at this weight for the tournament like we will most likely see at 157.

I like Warner to put it all together to end his career on a high note. He has everything you could want for a skill set to win it all at Nationals. It’s go time. Not much else to say.

 

197 lbs. (9 NCAA Qualifiers)

1. Max Dean (PSU) – #3
2. Silas Allred (NEB) – #10
3. Zac Braunagel (ILL) – #15
4. Cameron Caffey (MSU) – #13
5. Jacob Warner (IOWA) – #12
6. Jaxon Smith (MD) – #14
7. Gavin Hoffman (OSU) – #19
8. Braxton Amos (WIS) – #20
9. Michial Foy (MINN) – #23
10. Nick Willham (IND)
11. Billy Janzer (RU)
12. Andrew Davison (NU) – #29
13. Brendin Yatooma (MICH)
14. Hayden Filipovich (PUR)

 

#10 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) L-D 3-1 

Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) W-MD 16-4

#18 Silas Allred (Nebraska) W-D 3-2

#4 Max Dean (Penn State) L-D 2-0

#28 Michial Foy (Minnesota) L-D 2-1

Bredin Yatooma (Michigan) W-TF 16-1 12-4 

 

Zach Glazier vs. Big Ten opponents

#28 Andrew Davison (Northwestern) L-D 7-6

 

Colby Franklin vs. Big Ten opponents

#13 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) L-D 4-0

 

Hwt

The Big Ten is continuing the tradition of being the dominant conference for Hwt. #1,2,3,and 4 in the entire country. For pre-seeds we have the #4 and #10 wrestlers in the entire country clashing in the quarterfinals. That is a conference owning a weight class.

With nine automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and four At-large bids for Nationals available we will see some great wrestling at Hwt.

I like where Tony Cassioppi is at right now. He dropped a close match to Parris and Kerkvliet in the regular season. As I mentioned in an earlier blog everything is fixable here. This will be one fun weight to watch play out. 

 

285 lbs. (9 NCAA Qualifiers)

1. Mason Parris (MICH) – #1
2. Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) – #2
3. Tony Cassioppi (IOWA) – #3
4. Lucas Davison (NU) – #4
5. Trent Hillger (WIS) – #10
6. Boone McDermott (RU) – #19
7. Tate Orndoff (OSU) – #16
8. Jacob Bullock (IND) – #25
9. Jaron Smith (MD)
10. Hayden Copass (PUR)
11. Garrett Joles (MINN) – #33
12. Ryan Vasbinder (MSU)
13. Matt Wroblewski (ILL)
14. Austin Emerson (NEB)

 

Tony Cassioppi vs. Big Ten opponents

Matt Wroblewski (Illinois) W-STALL DQ

Purdue W-Forfeit 

#4 Lucas Davison (Northwestern) W-D 3-2

Cale Davidson (Nebraska) W-Pin, 6:39

#11 Trent Hilger (Wisconsin) W-D 4-1

#2 Greg Kervliet (Penn State) L-D 4-1

#1 Mason Parris (Michigan) L-D 9-7 

 

Bradley Hill vs. Big Ten opponents

#32 Garrett Joles (Minnesota) L-D 5-0

 

Big Ten Championships

Saturday, March 4

Session I – 9 AM

Session II 

Consolations and Wrestlebacks – 4:30 PM

Semifinals – 6:30 PM

 

Sunday, March 5

Session III Consolation Semifinals and 7th place – Noon

Session IV 1sr/3rd/5th place matches – 3:30 PM

*****All times listed are CST

 

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Incoming Iowa Wrestling recruits dominated the annual Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year Awards.

Lilly Luft of Charles City was named as the Dan Gable Ms. Wrestler of the Year. Luft recently won her third state title and finished her career with a 125-6 record. Luft was 40-0 this season and won a state title at 130 lbs. 

Luft committed to the University of Iowa last September. Iowa Women’s Wrestling will start their first official year of competition next season.

It was clean sweep for incoming Hawkeyes in the top three spots for the Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year in 3A. Ben Kueter was named as the Wrestler of the Year and Gabe Arnold and Ryder Block were also finalists for the award.

Kueter of City High (Iowa City) finished his career as the 32nd four-time state champion in state history and just the seventh to have a career undefeated record (111-0). He is the overall #1 recruit in the country pound for pound by MatScouts. Kueter won a Junior World Freestyle title last summer in Sophie, Bulgaria at 97 kg/213 lbs. Kueter is also an elite linebacker in football and received All American honors. He committed to both Iowa Wrestling and Iowa Football.

Gabe Arnold of City High (Iowa City) captured a state title at 182 lbs. in 3A. He is currently ranked #2 nationally at 182 lbs. by MatScouts. Ryder Block won his third state title for Waverly-Shell-Rock and is ranked #2 nationally at 138 lbs. by MatScouts.

Kale Petersen of Greene County was named as the Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year in 2A. Petersen recently won his third state title. Petersen was 32-0 this year in winning the state title at 132 lbs.

Luft, Kueter, Arnold, Ryder, and Petersen are high school seniors and will enroll at the University of Iowa in August.

The future looks great for Iowa Men’s and Women’s Wrestling.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!