Last week #3 Iowa wrestling survived a fierce challenge from #7 Nebraska, emerging with a skin-of-their-teeth 19-16 win. On Friday night, the Hawkeyes headed north for another top-10 clash with a border rival, this time #6 Minnesota. The end result was a familiar one in this series: another comfortable Iowa win, as the Hawkeyes topped the Gophers, 23-11.
The win was Iowa's 11th straight over Minnesota and sixth straight in Minnesota's own stomping grounds in Minneapolis. Unlike the Nebraska dual, which Iowa never led until after the final match was done, the Hawkeyes led Friday night's dual from start to finish.
The Hawkeyes won the first two bouts before Minnesota got on the board and six of the first seven weights to build a 20-3 lead that put a stranglehold on the dual. The Gophers won two of the final three bouts, but it was too little, too late by that point to prevent Iowa from continuing its dominance in the rivalry.
#3 Iowa 23, #6 Minnesota 11
The dual began at 125, where #26 Joey Cruz recorded a 7-4 upset win over #13 Cooper Flynn. Cruz was the aggressor throughout, with a first period takedown staking him to an early lead. He got to Flynn's legs early and often and while he wasn't always able to finish he kept up a good attacking pace, which was eventually rewarded. Flynn tied the match late in the third with a takedown of his own, but Cruz responded with by staying on the attack in sudden victory and picking up the match-winning takedown in the process.
#3 Drake Ayala made it two-for-two for Iowa at the lower weights, earning a 9-5 win over #19 Tyler Wells. Ayala recorded takedowns in the first and second periods to build a big lead and was actually in pursuit of another score that could have given him a major decision win when he got taken down in the third period by Wells.
Minnesota's first win of the dual meet came at 141, where #8 Vance Vombaur won a wild 14-10 decision over Cullan Schriever. Vombaur opened up a big lead with a series of takedowns, but Schriever didn't throw in the towel and fought back to pick up a few takeowns of his own in the third period to prevent the loss from being a major decision (or worse). Schriever's attacks had shown promise before, but weren't able to connect until late in the match.
Iowa wrapped up the first half of the dual with decision wins at 149 and 157 by #3 Kyle Parco and #3 Jacori Teemer, respectively. Parco used a nice leg attack midway through the first period to open up a 3-0 lead, but there wasn't much to the match beyond that -- just a Parco escape in the second period and a ride-out by Parco in the third period. Parco wasn't particularly close to turning #29 Drew Roberts or getting near fall points during his over three minutes of riding time, so he likely would have been better-served to let him go and try to pursue some takedowns from neutral in order to go for a major decision win.
157 was also a one-takedown match, as Teemer and #8 Tommy Askey traded escapes after a 0-0 first period. Teemer showed good defense to avoid a few good attacks from Askey, before using a quick attack of his own to get to Askey's legs late in the third period and finishing well to score the takedown that decided the match. Teemer seems to still be getting his legs under him after his injury absence, but he's looking better.
#2 Michael Caliendo recorded Iowa's only bonus point win of the night at 165, earning a 21-5 technical fall win over #11 Andrew Sparks with a flurry of attacks. He led 6-2 after the first period thanks to a pair of slick attacks that resulted in takedowns, but the match really broke open for him in the second period. During a scramble, Caliendo was able to expose Sparks' back to the mat in a neutral danger position for a three-count and a four-count.
Combined with a more traditional takedown and a pair of escapes, Caliendo was able to take the match from 6-2 to 18-4 in just one period, before finishing the bout with one more takedown early in the third period. Caliendo had a 4-0 record against Sparks before the match, but many of these wins were very narrow; this was his first win over Sparks where he truly dominated from start to finish.
#11 Patrick Kennedy made it four straight wins for Iowa and six of seven in the dual at 174, where he dispatched #22 Clayton Whiting with a workmanlike 8-4 win. Like Ayala at 133, Kennedy opened up a comfortable lead with takedowns in the first and second periods and was hunting another takedown in the third period before getting caught and taken down himself. Kennedy improved to 9-0 against Minnesota wrestlers during his career; he's really enjoyed wrestling Gopher wrestlers during his Iowa career.
184 continued a familiar recent trend for #8 Gabe Arnold: a match going to overtime. Friday's match was Arnold's fourth straight to go to sudden victory or tiebreakers and he's now 2-2 in those bouts after losing 4-1 to #4 Max McEnelly. The match followed a familiar pattern: 0-0 first period, quick escapes in the second and third periods, then a takedown in sudden victory. Arnold only has one takedown in his last four matches, which is a concerning stat.
Iowa's last win of the dual came at 197, where #1 Stephen Buchanan edged #8 Isaiah Salazar in a 5-1 decision win. After a 0-0 first period, Buchanan got a quick escape to go up 1-0 in the second, but was unable to penetrate Salazar's defense to score from neutral. After using his mat dominance to rack up over a minute of riding time in the third period, it looked like he might earn a 2-0 or a 2-1 win, but Buchanan didn't settle for that and finally got to Salarzar's legs and finished late in the match to earn a more comfortable 5-1 victory.
At 285, Gable Steveson happened. There's not much else to say beyond that. He was the best heavyweight in the world before he retired a few years ago -- and he's still the best heavyweight in the world now. The top-ranked Steveson dominated #11 Ben Kueter from start to (quick) finish on Friday, chaining together a slew of rapid-fire takedowns and a few near fall points to pick up a 19-3 technical fall in the first period.
This was a much better overall performance than Iowa's win over Nebraska last week, even with just one bonus point win. Cruz continues to do a nice job of solidifying Iowa's prospects at 125. It was disappointing to see Ayala and Kennedy fail to get bonus point wins and concede late takedowns, but the overall attacking approach was much better than the flat effort against the Cornhuskers. Parco and Teemer provided solidity in the middle of the lineup, Kennedy got a solid bounce-back win, and Caliendo and Buchanan remain linchpins in the Hawkeye lineup.
NEXT: Iowa returns home to wrap up Big Ten dual meet competition against Northwestern (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) on Sunday at 1 PM CT. BTN+ ($) will air the dual.
