Mike Finn

One might say that Iowa State’s David Carr and Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen also provided redemption for their wrestling programs when they won national championships Saturday night at the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Three Iowa wrestlers and three Iowa State wrestlers placed between third and eighth place in their weight classes in Saturday’s first session at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Iowa’s Drake Ayala declared the 125-pound weight class “mine” earlier this season. He’s one win away from making that statement reality at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Iowa State’s David Carr and Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen advanced to the finals for a second straight year after settling for second in 2023.

The 2024 NCAA All-American representing the state of Iowa who had to make the longest trip to this state is Iowa State’s Anthony Echemendia. After leaving Cuba, he first spent two years at Ohio State before transferring a year ago to Ames, redshirting while adjusting to Midwest life.

Iowa and Iowa State still have all nine wrestlers alive and are tied for second place with 24 1/2 points after the first day of the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Kansas City.

Competing in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships for the first time can be a challenge for some and success for others. Iowa State, Iowa and Northern Iowa learned that Thursday during the first round of the 2024 nationals held in T-Mobile Center.

After Iowa saw five of its six semifinalists lose Saturday night at the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Coach Tom Brands challenged his wrestlers to fight back and get the next best thing during Sunday’s final rounds at Xfinity Center. And that’s what happened.

Zach Glazier, perhaps the least heralded of the Iowa wrestlers going into this season, salvaged an otherwise tough night for the Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships as the 197-pound senior clinched a spot in Sunday’s finals.

With an 11-5 victory over Purdue’s Dustin Norris in his second match of the first session, Iowa’s Brody Teske qualified for Saturday night’s semifinals, which means he’ll finish as high as sixth in the Big Ten and automatically earn a spot for the Hawkeyes at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Overall, Iowa sent six wrestlers to the semifinals as the Hawkeyes stood in third place behind tournament-leading Penn State and Michigan.