AMES -- The stage was set for a changing of the guard in college wrestling, at least in the state of Iowa. Hilton Coliseum was sold out for a wrestling dual meet for the first time in several years. ESPN was broadcasting the dual, the first time the network had ever aired a regular season college wrestling dual meet. Kevin Dressser and #8 Iowa State were all set to end almost two decades of frustration at the hands of the Hawkeyes in front of a large crowd of home fans and a national TV audience.
Except Tom Brands and the #4 Iowa Hawkeyes had different plans.
The streak was not busted on Sunday afternoon in Ames; instead Iowa extended its incredible dominance over Iowa State to 19 consecutive dual meets dating back to 2005, earning a hard-fought 18-14 dual meet victory over the Cyclones.
Iowa won six of ten matches, three before intermission and three after, which was enough to offset Iowa State's advantage in bonus point wins (the Cyclones had major decision wins at 165 and 285, Iowa had zero bonus point wins).
The turning point for the dual meet proved to be Iowa head coach Tom Brands' decision to shake up the lineup at 174 and 184 for this dual meet. He inserted Patrick Kennedy, wrestling for the first time all season, at 174, where he picked up a wild 14-13 decision victory.
Then he had Gabe Arnold also wrestle up a weight, at 184, where Arnold pulled off another upset over a ranked wrestler, taking down #6 Will Feldkamp this week. Those two wins gave Iowa a 15-10 lead in the dual meet and when Zach Glazier finished off a very controlled 7-3 win at 197 lbs, he gave Iowa an insurmountable 18-10 lead in the dual with just one match remaining.
Those moves by Brands were a masterstroke that tilted the dual in Iowa's favor. Iowa and Iowa State traded wins in the early going -- the only consecutive wins by the same team all night where Iowa's three straight wins at 174, 184, and 197, which pushed an even-steven dual firmly in Iowa's favor.
The dual began at 125, where #17 Drake Ayala put the Hawkeyes on the front foot with a 7-2 decision win over #8 Kysen Terukina. Ayala controlled the middle of the mat and was the more aggressive wrestler; he used a takedown in the second period to take the lead, before scoring another takedown in the final seconds to extend his winning advantage.
Any early momentum Iowa had was squelched when #8 Brody Teske fell to #19 Evan Frost, 8-1. In the first two periods, Teske got to Frost's legs on a few occasions (and had a memorable scramble in the first period), but wasn't able to finish any of his attacks. That proved costly in the third, as Frost got to Teske's legs and did finish his attack, before also adding on a 4-point near fall tilt to win the match and tie the dual at 3-3.
Iowa turned to #1 Real Woods to stabilize the dual at 141 and while he got the win, it was anything but easy. After a scoreless first period, Woods used a quick escape to go up 1-0 in the second. There was a lot of handfighting in the first two periods, but not a lot of committed attacks from either wrestler. In the third period, #19 Anthony Echemendia took neutral, got more aggressive in his attacks, and was able to earn a stall point against Woods and tie the match at 1-1.
Echemendia (and Iowa State fans) thought he had scored the winning takedown in a scramble situation at the edge of the mat as time expired in the third period, but the refs called no takedown. In sudden victory, Woods didn't waste time and quickly attacked Echemendia's legs, securing the match-winning takedown a few seconds later.
"I found an opening, it was an opening that I could see during the match, but i was a little hesitant to capitalize on," said Woods after the match. "But I did and that's what matters right now, and moving forward I'll capitalize on it more often."
Woods was also asked to comment on the officiating and the two stall calls against him during the match that led to Echemendia being awarded a point. "As a competitor, you have to know that all the external circumstances shouldn't determine your match, regardless of who the refs is, regardless of whether they're biased one way or another, you have to persevere through that," said Woods.
Woods' sudden victory win put Iowa up 6-3, but that lead was short-lived, as #9 Victor Voinovich fell to #14 Casey Swiderski 6-3 at 149 lbs. Swiderski used a pair of first period takedowns to open up a significant lead, then kept Voinovich at bay for the remainder of the match -- though that wasn't too difficult as Voinovich didn't attempt many legitimate shots to try and even the score in the match.
Iowa took a 9-6 lead into intermission after #2 Jared Franek edged #18 Cody Chittum with a 4-2 decision. Franek also scored a first period takedown and relied upon that score to hold up, supplementing it with a quick escape in the third period. Franek stayed tight and compact near the center of the mat for much of the match, but nearly lost on another close call at the edge of the mat.
Chittum looked to get behind Franek for a quick takedown at the edge of the mat with time expiring in the third period, but the officials did not call it a takedown and stood by that call after video review. It was a tight decision and one that might have been avoided if Franek had tried to score more points in the match.
"We've got guys that have tremendous scoring ability, and I'm not sure that showed up out there," noted Tom Brands after the dual. "We were beat up in the stall call department and so we have a lot of work to do."
Brands' pointed comments felt like they were directed at the lighter half of Iowa's lineup, where there were too many scoreless first periods, too many stall warnings, not enough attacks, and not enough points, plain and simple. On paper, Iowa looked like the stronger team from 125-157, but they were a bit fortunate to win three of those five matches in this dual. Sharper, more aggressive wrestling from Ayala, Teske, Woods, Voinovich, and Franek will be needed as the season progresses.
After intermission, Iowa State took its first (and only) lead of the dual meet after #2 David Carr steamrolled #5 Michael Caliendo via 16-4 major decision at 165. Caliendo was an underdog against Carr, but it was jarring to see just how wide the gap between the two was; Carr got to Caliendo's legs with ease and finished with ruthless efficiency in every period. Caliendo has a lot of work to do to try and close the gap against Carr and the top wrestlers at this weight.
At 174, Brands made the first of his surprise moves, inserting Patrick Kennedy at 174 to take on #21 MJ Gaitan. Kennedy hadn't wrestled a match at 174 since his true freshman season in 2021 and hadn't wrestled a match all season at any weight before taking the mat against Gaitan. It looked like a genius move when Kennedy converted attack after attack against Gaitan and opened up a 12-4 lead with 1:22 of riding time after two periods.
Unfortunately, Kennedy's gas tank appeared to hit empty in the third period and Gaitan roared back with multiple takedowns of his own. He had Kennedy's lead cut to 14-13 with time winding down and had eliminated Kennedy's riding time advantage but he strangely chose to continue riding Kennedy rather than cutting him and trying for a match-winning takedown. After the match, Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser took responsibility for the blunder and said that the ISU corner had been confused and gave Gaitan bad advice at the end of the match.
Still, even if Kennedy was hanging on for dear life a bit by the end of the match, he looked very good in the first two periods and his attacking skills and ability to finish takedowns didn't appear to be negatively impacted by going up a weight or the rust of not wrestling for a while. Getting Kennedy's point-scoring ability back in the lineup was a much-needed boost.
A match later, Brands made his other big move, having true freshman Gabe Arnold wrestle up a weight at 184 against #6 Will Feldkamp. Once again, the move paid off enormously, as Arnold was able to secure a crucial 3-2 upset win over Feldkamp.
Arnold used skillful defense to keep Feldkamp at bay for much of the match and then showed off his impressive strength in lifting Feldkamp at the edge of the mat and taking him down for the only takedown of the match. Arnold is one strong dude and that was on full display in this match, where the legend of Gabe Arnold grew yet again.
"I'm built for these big moments, when the lights are on. Hell, I'm built for the moments when the lights aren't on," said Arnold in a post-match interview. He also said that Brands told him yesterday about the plan to move him up to 184 for this dual meet but he was eager to do whatever he could to help the team.
Arnold's win gave Iowa a 15-10 lead in the dual with two matches remaining. The Hawkeyes needed just one more win, which #22 Zach Glazier dutifully provided with a very controlled 7-3 win over #24 Julian Broderson. Glazier wrestled a very smart match, controlled the ties from start to finish, and used good attacks in the first and second periods to score takedowns to get the victory. It was a very workmanlike win, which was exactly what the situation called for.
At 285, #7 Yonger Bastida marched through Bradley Hill for a 17-6 major decision win with the outcome of the dual already decided. Bastida's explosive offense was too much for Hill, although he did well to at least avoid the technical fall.
After the dual meet, Real Woods praised the energy of the sold-out Hilton Coliseum and was excited about being able to perform on such a big platform -- a dual meet televised on ESPN. "I really feel an honor and I also feel that this is something that we need, to be able to have that platform (on ESPN)," said Woods. "I'd like to be a part of that as much as possible."
Iowa left the dual with several things to work on -- there were too many stall calls against Iowa wrestlers, especially at the lower weights, and not enough action. Too many scoreless first periods, too many matches that came down to 1-2 points, and too many matches that relied on an official's decision in the final seconds. But it's always better to work on improvements after a win and that's especially true after maintaining Iowa's relentless streak in the Cy-Hawk series and winning a 19th straight dual meet over the Cyclones.
On the mat, the state of Iowa remains a Hawkeye state.
#4 Iowa 18, #8 Iowa State 14
125: #17 Drake Ayala DEC (7-2) #8 Kysen Terukina
133: #19 Evan Forst DEC (8-1) #8 Brody Teske
141: #1 Real Woods DEC (3-1 SV) #19 Anthony Echemendia
149: #14 Casey Swiderski DEC (6-3) #9 Victor Voinovich III
157: #2 Jared Franek DEC (4-2) #18 Cody Chittum
165: #2 David Carr MAJ DEC (16-4) #5 Michael Caliendo
174: Patrick Kennedy DEC (14-13) #21 MJ Gaitan
184: Gabe Arnold DEC (3-2) #6 Will Feldkamp
197: #22 Zach Glazier DEC (7-3) #24 Julian Broderson
285: #7 Yonger Bastida MAJ DEC (17-6) Bradley Hill
