Wrestling Weekend That Was: University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State victorious as their Big 12 Clash approaches

University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State handle foes to stay on collision course. Random thoughts on Iowa’s win over Nebraska. Wartburg women win tournament title and state tournament notes in the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

UNI, IOWA STATE WIN TO SET UP BIG 12 CLASH

University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State notched victories ahead of their clash Sunday at McLeod Center in Cedar Falls. The Panther Train rolled into Fargo, N.D., at high-speed Saturday for its Big 12 Conference dual against North Dakota State.

Fifth-ranked UNI thumped the Bison, 33-6. The Panthers won eight of 10 bouts, including technical falls from Colin Realbuto (149), Jared Simma (174) 184-pound NCAA champion Parker Keckeisen and former West Delaware prep Wyatt Voelker at 197. Heavyweight Lance Runyon capped the dual with a major decision.

Interestingly, UNI wrestled without a couple ranked starters. Carter Freeman stepped in at 141 for NCAA qualifier and former Lisbon prep Cael Happel. He posted a 4-1 decision in sudden victory-1. Cael Rahnavardi bumped up a weight and wrestle for 157-pounder Ryder Downey, losing a two-point decision.

Cory Land got the nod at 133 and dropped a one-point match to No. 24 Kyle Burwick. Land is competing with Julian Farber for the starting job. UNI’s two losses were by a combined three points. Considering neither will wrestle in the postseason, it was an impressive showing for UNI.

No. 14 Iowa State managed wins over Arizona State Friday and Pitt Sunday. The Cyclones disposed of Arizona State, 26-15. They followed with a similar, 23-14, win over No. 15 Pitt.

Iowa State won seven matches against the Sun Devils, including a pin from Carter Fousek (157) and major decisions from Aiden Riggins and M.J. Gaitan at 165 and 174, respectively. The dual victory was Kevin Dresser 250 th in 19 seasons as a college head coach and 90 th during his eight years at Iowa State.

Dresser added one more win to his totals. The dual against Pitt was a little more competitive but Iowa State still ground out six wins, dropping the final three matches to still win comfortably by nine.

Evan Frost (133), Jacob Frost (141), Paniro Johnson at 149, Riggins and Gaitan each went 2-0 for the week. The Frost brothers, who are from Metairie, La., and attended West Des Moines Dowling, each extended their win streaks to 10 matches. Jacob leads the Cyclones with 24 wins this season. Johnson has won 13 straight bouts, owning a 10-0 mark this season.

Despite being hampered by injury this season, Iowa State has done well, improving to 10-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12. The Cyclones do wrestle No. 11 South Dakota State on Friday in Brookings, S.D., before the in-state battle with the Panthers.

UNI is 12-1 and 6-1 in the conference. Like Iowa State, the Panthers lone Big 12 loss is to Oklahoma State. The Cyclones have won the last five duals against UNI, including a 27-14 triumph in Ames a year ago. The Panthers’ last win in the series was 22-13 on Feb. 21, 2019 in the West Gym.

IOWA PULLS OUT WIN OVER NEBRASKA

Third-ranked Iowa pulled out a 19-16 victory over No. 7 Nebraska Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. This really has been the biggest challenge – outside of the loss to juggernaut Penn State. Iowa has rolled through two previous top-10 opponents, posting decisive wins against then-No. 9 Illinois and previously No. 4 Ohio State. Maybe it was a good attention-getter after the tough dual versus the Nittany Lions.

Stephen Buchanan has been a great addition. So has Kyle Parco (149) and Jacori Teemer, when healthy and able to compete, but Buchanan has been a consistent contributor. He’s topped highly-ranked foes (like Oregon State’s Trey Munoz and Penn State’s Josh Barr) and stockpiled bonus points against others. Twelve of his 15 wins are by bonus points, consisting of six technical falls, three pins and three major decisions.

Ben Kueter’s win was a positive step forward. The 11 th-ranked heavyweight beat No. 21 Harley Andrews, 8-0, for a major decision and to secure the dual win. He tied his fourth-highest point total in a match this season and the most since the Wisconsin dual. It was his third major decision. Kueter has a tough road ahead in NCAA champions Gable Steveson, of Minnesota, and Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson in the final three regular-season duals.

Miguel Estrada might be keeping the seat warm for Teemer but it’s hard not to be impressed by his toughness. He has wrestled tough, earning a win over Illinois’ Jason Kraisser, who was ranked 20 th at the time. Estrada was also within a takedown in loss to North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil, who was No. 6 at 149, Maryland’s No. 6 Ethen Miller and No. 5 Antrell Taylor. Estrada fell, 4-2, Friday but he continues to display heart and grit at 157.

WARTBURG WOMEN WIN TOURNAMENT TITLE

Wartburg women’s wrestling team won the D-III National Invitational tournament Saturday and Sunday. The Knights boasted 14 placewinners, including 207-pounder Rewa Chababo, who defeated Simpson’s Savannah Sistad, 10-0, in the final.

Liannette Ortiz (124), Kylie Rule (131) and 138-pounder Aniyah Kelly earned runner-up finishes for the Knights, who scored 182 ½ points, 35 ½ more than second-place University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Simpson, coached by former Iowa Hawkeye and Iowa City High four-time champion Jeff McGuiness, was third with 146 ½. Cornell finished 22 nd with 10 points.

STATE TOURNAMENTS ATTENDANCE

High school wrestling programs enjoyed a three-day wrestling extravaganza at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union held its third sanctioned state tournament Thursday and Friday. The Iowa High School Athletic Association followed with its State Duals competition Saturday.

The girls’ state tournament sold 13,948 tickets over the two-day, four-session event, which doesn’t include seating reserved credentialed personnel like wrestlers, coaches and administrators. The highest total was for the semifinal Friday morning, drawing 3,899 paid fans. The first session for Class 1A Thursday drew 3,831 paid fans. The finals welcomed 3,576 Friday night.

State Duals was one session with multiple rounds Saturday, consisting of all three classes. The team competition drew 3,254 paid fans with an extra 250 credentialed spectators.

STATE TOURNAMENTS AT XTREAM ARENA

The girls’ tournament was highlighted by a number of story lines. Oakland Riverside’s Molly Allen, formerly of Underwood, won her third IGHSAU title to go along with an Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association crown. Reanah Utterback dominated her way to another title, giving her two IGHSAU championships, an IWCOA gold and a medal from the IHSAA tournament in her career. Undeniably, Utterback is in a league of her own.

One of the best overall moments was when Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Mackenzie Childers and Union Community’s Jillian Worthen pinned their finals opponents within moments of each other on adjacent mats. They hugged each other as they went to leave the arena floor. Worthen and Childers won titles two years ago but a concussion forced Childers to default from last year’s tournament and Worthen suffered a couple upsets to place fifth. A result that had affected her over the last year. They shared in the redemption wins and ended their careers on top of the podium.

State Duals was full of exciting meets. Regular players captured titles. Don Bosco won 1A for its 15 th State Duals crown. Southeast Polk rolled to the 3A title as expected. Algona in just its second State Duals appearance won its first championship. The Bulldogs beat three Wamac Conference teams. They opened against Mount Vernon (52-17), No. 4 Williamsburg (32-27) and No. 2 West Delaware (28-25). Algona heavyweight Jack Limbaugh had a stellar day. He entered the day unranked and pinned Mount Vernon’s second-ranked Ethan Wood in 5:48. He added a pin over Williamsburg’s Trenton Davies and a 10-3 decision over the Hawks Owen Pettlon.

Speaking of 2A Duals, many considered it a wide open brackey. Algona held its top seed but most of the dual were won by a razor-thin margin.

Multiple duals were decided in the final bout, including West Delaware’s first two wins, and 10 were decided by less than 12 points, which means only one match needed to be reversed for the other team to win.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com