Iowa Recruits Shine At State Wrestling Tournament

Future Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers entered this weekend's State Wrestling Tournament looking to cap off their high school careers with one final state championship flourish -- and several of them did just that on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Three members of Iowa's 2023 recruiting class earned state championships: Waverly Shell-Rock's Ryder Block, Iowa City High's Gabe Arnold, and Iowa City High's Ben Kueter.

The headline performer was Ben Kueter, who ended his prep career in truly dominant fashion. Kueter blitzed the field to advance to Saturday's final at 220 lbs.

He looked like a human bulldozer in his 12-second pin in the quarterfinals:

Kueter didn't get a fourth pin in the state final; instead he "settled for" a still-dominant 19-4 technical fall victory over Dubuque Hempstead's Joe Lewis. That win completed a season in which Kueter went 39-0 with 34 pins, three technical falls, and two forfeits. Two of the three technical fall victories came against Lewis.

Kueter's victory put the bow on a dazzling high school wrestling career that featured a record of 111-0 and four state championships. He became the 32nd Iowa wrestler to win four state championships -- and just the seventh Iowan to finish his high school career unbeaten, joining some pretty elite company in the process: Dan Gable, Jeff Kerber, Dan Knight, Jeff McGinness, Eric Juergens, and John Meeks.

Of course, Kueter is also a 4* linebacker recruit and plans to both play football and wrestle at Iowa. That's an immensely ambitious plan, but Kueter certainly appears to have the skill set as well as the drive to make it possible.

Earlier in the evening, Ryder Block finished off his own glittering high school career. Block beat Linn-Mar's Kane Naaktgeboren by a score of 11-4 in the final at 138 lbs, winning his third state championship in his fourth trip to the state finals. Block finished his season 45-0, and 44 of those 45 wins were decided by 7+ points. For his career, Block went 159-1. He even managed to flash a brief Heisman pose to celebrate:

Gabe Arnold also won a state championship, edging out Iowa State recruit and two-time Iowa state champion Tate Naaktgeboren in tiebreakers, 2-1, in the final at 182 lbs. Arnold and Naaktgeboren are both ranked in the Top 5 nationally and faced off in four matches this season -- all won by Arnold. He won 8-3 in their first meeting in December, then edged him 3-1 and 3-2 (tiebreakers) last month. This latest match also went to tiebreakers, with Arnold getting an escape in overtime and then riding out Naaktgeboren to secure the win.

Additionally, Norwalk's Maddux Borcherding-Johnson won a state championship over Waverly-Shell Rock's Jake Walker with a 3-1 victory at heavyweight. Borcherding-Johnson isn't an incoming Iowa wrestling recruit -- but he is part of Iowa's 2023 football recruiting class. Borcherding-Johnson, a 3* prospect, is slated to begin his Iowa career at defensive tackle.