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Iowa and Iowa State tied for 2nd in team standings after opening day of NCAA wrestling
Cyclones have 5 in Friday’s NCAA wrestling quarterfinals, Hawkeyes 4, UNI 2
KANSAS CITY — There was something very similar about the Iowa and Iowa State wrestling teams’ performances during the second round of the 2024 NCAA Division I Championships Thursday night at T-Mobile Center.
That may be why the two schools still have all nine wrestlers alive and are tied for second place with 24 1/2 points. Two-time defending champ Penn State, which sends eight wrestlers to Friday morning’s semifinals, leads the field with 34 1/2 points.
After both the Hawkeyes and Cyclones went 6-3 in Thursday morning’s first round, Iowa went 7-2 during Thursday night’s action, which included consolation action. Iowa State, meanwhile, was 8-1 in the evening session, including five Cyclones who advanced to the quarterfinals.
“Tomorrow is jockeying day, but today was nice,” said ISU coach Kevin Dresser. “I’m excited about a lot of what happened today but tomorrow is the big day.”
Iowa State’s second-round victories included All-Americans David Carr (165) and Yonger Bastida (285), who scored bonus-point victories, while a trio of wrestlers — Evan Frost (133) and Anthony Echemendia (141) and Casey Swiderski (149) — who all won by decision.
Meanwhile, all three Cyclones in the wrestlebacks also won their matches, including two who scored bonus points: Cody Chittum, who earned a technical fall at 157 pounds and M.J. Gaitan, who scored a fall at 174 pounds.
But it was Swiderski’s 8-5 tiebreaker victory over Cornell’s Ethan Fernandez that spoke volumes about the sophomore, who has learned to control his emotions in Kansas City.
“I think (his victory) was a great example of that,” said Dresser. “He kept his stuff together. It was good for him. He kept his composure in a big environment and that is progress.”
Iowa has 4 NCAA wrestling quarterfinalists
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes will send four wrestlers to Friday morning’s quarterfinals and three of those wrestlers scored bonus points in the second round: a 19-4 technical fall by Drake Ayala against Stanford’s Nico Provo at 125 pounds, an 8-0 major decision by Real Woods over Arizona State’s Jesse Vasquez at 141 pounds and a 26-10 technical fall by Michael Caliendo over Bucknell’s Noah Mulvaney at 165.
Also, Jared Franek showed he could win close after the graduate All-American seeded 10th beat Ohio’s Peyten Keller, 4-3, at 157 pounds.
And despite the fact that two Hawkeyes — Brody Teske (133) and heavyweight Bradley Hill — lost their second-round match, they will join three other Iowa wrestlers who scored bonus points in their wrestlebacks on Friday night: 149-pound Caleb Rathjen, who won by injury default, 174-pound Patrick Kennedy, who won by technical fall and 197-pound Zach Glazier, who scored a major decision.
Iowa Coach Tom Brands said his team did a good job preparing for the evening session after taking a few hours after the morning session.
“You are resting, fueling and hydrating and repeating,” Brands said. “You are doing everything you can to make sure the mind and body are ready to go.”
Brands also said he liked how Ayala “opened it up” which helped ignite Iowa’s second-round effort.
“We got to keep doing that. Give (Ayala) credit and keep a good thing going.”
Brands also tried to keep things in perspective. There are lot of things to do before the tournament wraps up Saturday night.
“It’s one match at a time,” he said. “Focus on the things you can do and focus on having a blast. That’s part of it. Enjoy it. Focus on the things you can control and do your job.”
UNI’s Parker Keckeisen, Jared Simma advance to quarterfinals
Northern Iowa also saw two of its wrestlers advance to the quarterfinals.
One was three-time All-American Parker Keckeisen, the No. 1 seed who defeated Iowa State’s Will Feldkamp by a 19-4 technical fall. The other continued to be UNI’s biggest surprise of the 2024 nationals. No. 28 seed Jared Simma defeated North Carolina’s Tyler Eischens, 6-5, on a last-second reversal, one round after the Panther upset Harvard’s No. 5 seed Philip Conigliaro.
While Ryder Downey lost in the second round at 157 pounds, two other Panthers stayed alive: Cael Happel (141) and Wyatt Voelker (197), who scored a technical fall in his second bout.
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