Iowa Wrestling Weekend Recap: #2 team(s) both start strong

Iowa wrestling made its official return on Saturday, and with it, a pair of second-ranked Hawkeye programs both began their 2024-25 season(s) in earnest.

12 hours and nearly 2,000 miles apart, this year’s men’s and women’s programs first took to the mat.

Up first, Clarrisa Chun’s squad put on a show at the Luther Hill Open in Indianola (IA). Later, Tom Brands’ bunch would cap the day with a 30-7 road dual victory over #23 Oregon State.

We’ll break down the highlights from both as much as we can.

(That’ll prove to be a bit trickier on the women’s side, as you’ll learn in a moment.)

College wrestling season is finally back! And boy does it feel good.

Hawkeye men finally burst the Beavers’ dam

Iowa wrestling got a rare taste of the famous ‘PAC 12 After Dark’ experience Saturday night in the Great Northwest.

The #2 Hawkeyes battled a game #23 Oregon State lineup and an unconventional 9:00 p.m. (CDT) start time to open their season 1-0 in front of a raucous crowd at Gill Coliseum. The victory made Tom Brands 19-0 in season-opening duals as head coach of the Hawkeyes.

All told, Iowa won eight of ten bouts contested, including three via bonus points (all technical falls). Three different wrestlers made their debut in the Black & Gold singlet. Each member of the trio would pick up their first career win as a Hawk.

As I covered in my recap piece from Thursday’s Media Day event, the biggest lineup questions entering the season (125 and 174/184) were answered with the following:

Redshirt sophomore Joey Cruz at 125 (with Kale Petersen still working his way back from injury)

Nelson Brands at 174

Gabe Arnold at 184

The only other lineup surprise was that top-ranked Jacori Teemer (157) did not make his debut. According to the broadcast on FloWrestling, Teemer is healthy but did not make the trip for some other reason per Tom Brands.

Here was Teemer speaking with reporters at Iowa’s Media Day just two days before the dual:

Now, let’s dive into the action itself.

Because I refuse to take the risk of a lawsuit for copyright infringement (probably a thing), I will not be utilizing the time-honored recap format of: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Instead, I’ll be cheaply altering it in the slightest way to serve my own purposes.

So, here’s the debut of ‘The Good, the Best and the Rest’ from Saturday’s dual in Corvallis.

The Good

The Good almost must start with what has become a staple for Iowa wrestling over the years:

Good old ‘catch and release.’

And while spending a Saturday out in Great Northwest it was probably fitting that Drake Ayala, Michael Caliendo and Gabe Arnold ‘angled’ to do just that.

(See, that’s a fishing pun.)

Ayala (133), Caliendo (165) and Arnold (184) each racked up a variety of takedowns in technical fall victories over unranked OSU opponents.

Iowa’s 2024 NCAA runner-up at 125 pounds looked just fine in his bump up to 133. The same could be said for Gabe Arnold at 184 – where the redshirt freshman dabbled in a few key duals a year ago.

All three were quick, slick and kept a high pace that eventually wilted the foe standing opposite them.

Tom Brands always talks about the need for bonus points. First, you’ve got to crave it. Then you’ve got to earn it. Each member of the aforementioned trio certainly had that mindset (and execution) on Saturday night.

The Best

Because we can, we’re going to cheat here and make it a two-way tie for ‘The Best’ this week.

The obvious answer is #1 Stephen Buchanan (197), who made his Iowa debut in the match of the night against #5 Trent Munoz.

Buchanan, an Oklahoma transfer, got off to a slow start and trailed 3-1 after the first period. It would be 4-1 after the second as he put on a solid ride but ultimately gave up an escape and couldn’t score himself.

In fact, Buchanan was probably fortunate to only trail by three at that point, having Houdini’d his way out of a few deep shots from the two-time All-American Munoz.

 I’m not sure what changed, but the sixth-year senior seemed to find another gear in the third period.

After being intentionally released, Buchanan immediately went shot-reshot with a powerful double leg to knot the score up at five-apiece. A good ride nearly pushed riding time over a minute, but Munoz got away and was right back in on a shot of his own.

More incredible defense from Buchanan led to counter-offense, and he’d finish the takedown (and the match) on top for the exhilarating 9-5 win.

If I’m a Hawkeye fan, Buchanan’s a guy I’m really looking forward to watching for the rest of this season.

Our other ‘Best’ honoree is 141-pounder Ryder Block.

It may not have been the best performance from the Waverly (IA) native, but it was the first victory of the redshirt freshman’s college career.

Block struggled to get much of anything going for six-plus minutes but got a takedown (and three BIG mat returns) to secure a comeback victory.

Again, he (likely) won’t be pleased with the performance. But getting your first-career win still has to feel good.

The Rest

Iowa’s other five bouts on the night were a mixed bag of ‘OK’ and ‘not-so-great.’

Arizona State transfer #4 Kyle Parco (149) made his Iowa debut in a controlled 5-1 decision. Parco was never threatened after a first-period takedown and rideout.

Nelson Brands (174) made his long-awaited return to college wrestling, winning a 2-1 decision over Sean Harman thanks to a riding time point. Brands arguably (probably) had a takedown on the edge in the second period, but officials waived it off. Besides that, I’d imagine there wasn’t enough pace/offense for either his or his coaches’ liking.

At heavyweight, Ben Kueter began a much-anticipated season of his own.

He too, probably won’t be thrilled with his performance, a 10-4 decision over Brett Mower. From my perspective, it looked like Kueter may have blown out his lungs a bit in his season opener. Either way, he still managed to wrestle through several tricky positions to come out with a six-point victory.

Lastly, Iowa’s two defeats of the evening came at 125 and 157.

Joey Cruz led #13 Maximo Renteria 3-1 after a methodical second-period takedown. However, he’d give up a reversal with short time remaining and be ridden out. After choosing neutral in the third, Cruz nearly scored an early go-behind, but Renteria countered for a takedown of his own.

That was all she wrote as Cruz was ridden out for a 7-3 final score.

At 157 it was 2024 NCAA qualifier Caleb Rathjen in place of #1 Jacori Teemer.

Rathjen never really found his footing in this one, falling behind 10-0 to Ethan Stiles on two takedowns (plus rideouts) and some near-fall points.

A late Rathjen score wasn’t enough to prevent bonus points in a 12-3 defeat.

#2 Iowa women @ Luther Hill Open

This week is going to be the rare, combined recap for Iowa wrestling – due primarily to the fact that Saturday’s Luther Hill Open was (infuriatingly) not livestreamed for the Hawkeye women.

We do have results/statistics, so all is not completely lost. That said, this will hopefully be a one-off going forward.

A total of 18 Hawks competed in Indianola – seven in their Iowa debut.

Of the group, all 18 reached the quarterfinals, 14 reached the semis and 10 advanced to the championship match.

Needless to say, it was a great showing for the #2 Hawkeyes.

Iowa crowned a half-dozen individual champions (103/110/131/145/160/180 pounds). And of Iowa’s 17 total losses, five came against teammates.

Three of those were finals matchups.

At 103 pounds, freshman Rianne Murphy won via injury default (leading 6-5) over #2 Sterling Dias.

(Here’s hoping Dias is OK.)

At 110 it was #1 Ava Bayless getting the 5-0 win over freshman Val Solorio.

And at 160 pounds Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades capped her Hawkeye debut with a 10-0 victory over teammate Rose Cassioppi.

Other notable showings included #10 Skye Realin (131) and Naomi Simon (180).

Both Realin (a transfer) and Simon (a true freshman) bonus’d their way to individual titles.

The former beat a pair of quality NCAA foes before earning a first-period technical fall in the finals over NAIA’s #6 Ashley Whetzal (Missouri Valley) at 131. The latter – a Decorah (IA) native – went fall, fall, fall, 14-4 technical fall en route to first place at 180.

All told, Hawkeye women won 77.3 percent of their matches – including 72.4 percent of those by either technical fall or pin.

That’s pretty darn good, especially when one considers the host of heavy hitters that Iowa didn’t send out this weekend.

Short time

Thanks to everyone who followed along this weekend via both social media and over on the Hawkeye Report message boards. And thanks to all of you reading this now.

This is only the beginning of an awfully exciting season for Iowa wrestling, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it from Day 1.

If you haven’t already, we’ve got plenty of content to check out from the men’s team media day on Thursday.

You can also count on much more robust coverage of the Iowa women from here on out. I would expect most, if not all future competitions of theirs to be streaming in some capacity. And let that be the case, because this 2024-25 team is a dynamic bunch that fans of Iowa wrestling will want to watch.

That’ll do it from me this week. I hope you guys enjoyed the return of college wrestling as much as I did, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.

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