After starting the 2024-25 season with a 30-7 road win over #23 Oregon State, #2 Iowa wresting returned to Iowa City for Saturday afternoon's home debut against #20 Stanford. The big draw for Iowa's first-ever dual meet against Stanford was the home debuts for Iowa's trio of high-profile transfer additions: #4 Kyle Parco (149), #1 Jacori Teemer (157), and #2 Stephen Buchanan. Suffice to say, all three made very positive impressions with the Hawkeye fans in attendance, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 45-4 and helping lead Iowa to a convincing 32-9 victory over Stanford.
The Hawkeyes did get off to a slow start -- after a forfeit win at 125, Iowa dropped the next two matches, with #7 Drake Ayala getting upset 14-10 by #23 Tyler Knox and #31 Ryder Block dropping a 11-6 decision to Aden Valencia. That tied the dual at 6-6, but Iowa took over from there, winning six of the remaining seven bouts and logging bonus points in five of those six wins.
As noted, the dual began with a forfeit at 125 as Stanford's #10 Nico Provo did not compete, which gave #31 Kale Petersen a forfeit victory and gave Iowa a 6-0 lead in the dual. Probably the most surprising result of the dual came next, with #7 Drake Ayala losing a 14-10 decision to #23 Tyler Knox. Knox was very active, strong in tie-ups, and very dangerous in scrambles; he manged to score a few times from those positions.
If Ayala sees him again this season, he'll want to work on finishing his shots more quickly and more crisply; getting tied up with Knox can be dangerous business, as Ayala found out in this match. Iowa didn't get any relief at 141, where Ryder Block was outmatched by Stanford freshman Aden Valencia. Valencia entered the match unranked, but that was underselling his ability. Valencia was a top recruit in the class of 2024 and he lived up to that recruiting hype in this match, showing off some very slick attacks from neutral an some strong riding ability on the mat as well.
Business picked up for the Hawkeyes once the celebrated transfer contingent hit the mat, starting with #4 Kyle Parco at 149. Parco's win over #12 Jaden Abas (his fifth straight win over Abas) turned some heads, thanks to a massive second period from Parco. After a scoreless first period, Abas went down -- and Parco went to work from the top position, taking Abas on a tour of Tilt Town that would have made Spencer Lee proud. Parco kept Abas' arm locked and tilted him for a trio of four-point near falls in the period, before finishing the match with a takedown early in the third period.
#1 Jacori Teemer followed Parco on the mat, making not just his CHA debut also his debut in a Hawkeye singlet after not competing against Oregon State last week. Teemer showed off exactly what made him such a massive get out of the transfer portal, as last year's NCAA runner-up displayed the tremendous quickness and strength that make him a nightmare to slow down from neutral. Teemer has some absolutely lethal double-leg attacks and he used them to good effect against Stanford freshman Grigor Cholakyan, locking up a 13-3 major decision win.
The spotlight match of the dual came after intermission and it did not disappoint, with #2 Michael Caliendo roaring back from a 9-2 deficit to defeat #7 Hunter Garvin 16-12 at 165 lbs. Caliendo fell behind early as he fell prey to Garvin's strength and quick leg attacks. Garvin built a 9-2 with a takedown at the edge of the mat in the final seconds of the first period.
But Garvin also used a lot of energy in that impressive first period and it showed as the match progressed, with the Iowa City native noticeably slowing down the longer the match went. Caliendo stayed patient and active and the relentless nature of his pursuit, as well as the sharpness of many of his attacks (including some really fluid level-changes), paid off with several takedowns in the second and third periods.
Garvin had nothing left in the tank by late in the third period, when Caliendo took the lead and iced his win. That match was a great advertisement for college wrestling, full of action and attacking wrestling from the opening seconds to the final whistle.
The third and final Iowa loss of the day came at 174, where #6 Nelson Brands lost 4-1 to #17 Lorenzo Norman. The match turned on a takedown Norman was able to secure late in the first period. Brands showed more activity in the second and third periods, but wasn't able to turn that activity into successful attacks. An inability to finish has plagued Brands at times during his career, and this match did not suggest that those struggles are behind him by any means.
Iowa closed out the dual with a trio of lopsided wins, starting with #9 Gabe Arnold rolling to a comfortable 14-3 major decision win over Tye Monteiro. Arnold was both methodical and explosive in his attacks and Monteiro could do very little to slow down Arnold once he got going. That was a very solid win for Arnold in his first CHA match as a full-time starter.
#2 Stephen Buchanan was the third of Iowa's high-profile transfers to make his Carver debut on Saturday, but he didn't let himself get overshadowed by Parco or Teemer. He was relentless from neutral and on the mat, using a series of takedowns as well as some impressive work on the mat to earn a 4-point near fall tilt. That blew the match open and put him in position to earn a 17-1 technical fall, an emphatic way to record the 100th win of his collegiate career.
Finally, #11 Ben Kueter finished off the dual with a dominating 19-4 technical fall win over Jackson Mankowski at 285. Kueter got around behind Mankowski to finish an easy takedown in the first period before putting on a hard ride, before chaining together takedowns to expand his lead rapidly in the second and third periods. Kueter finished his tech fall with a takedown in the closing seconds of the match, which was a nice final touch.
Like Arnold, Kueter saw limited action as a true freshman last year but did not compete often enough to burn his redshirt. Both Arnold and Kueter are full-go this season and they're looking like very exciting -- and productive -- additions to the Iowa lineup.
Outside of the stumbles by Ayala and Brands, there isn't a lot of quibble about from Iowa's first home dual meet of the season. Stanford has a solid team with a lot of very good young wrestlers, but Iowa generally dominated the dual, especially at the middle and upper weights. Improvement is needed from Ayala and Brands, but the transfer trio did an impressive job in leading Iowa to a dominant win today.
NEXT: #2 Iowa faces Bellarmine in Louisville, Kentucky next Friday (November 15) at 6 PM CT.
