Iowa’s Michael Caliendo, Iowa State’s Daniel Herrera capture U23 freestyle wrestling national title

University of Iowa’s Michael Caliendo and Iowa State’s Daniel Herrera struck offseason gold.

Each captured a men’s freestyle title at the U23 National Championships Sunday at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Caliendo claimed the 74-kilogram title, while Herrera won at 125 kg.

This is a good springboard into more freestyle and his final season with the Hawkeyes.

“I’m always trying to improve,” Caliendo said in a post-match interview with media. “This is a good building block. I’m going to be wrestling freestyle after this next year, so it’s good to get that experience under my belt.”

Caliendo, of Hawkeye Wrestling Club, won his first six bouts to set up a best-of-3 series with Stanford’s Daniel Cardenas. Caliendo dropped the first match, 15-8. He battled back to win the next two, 7-2 and 14-6, for the age group crown. The three-time All-American, including twice with the Hawkeyes, and 2025 NCAA runner-up opened with three straight technical falls and followed with three decisions.

“They always believe in me,” Caliendo said when asked about what coaches said to him between the first two matches. “They know I’m the better wrestler.

“Just wrestling smart. … I trust my conditioning.”

Iowa’s Kael Voinovich, a former Iowa City High state champion, went 5-3 to place sixth at 70 kg in freestyle. Caliendo said he has benefited from strong partners in the wrestling room.

“We’re all hungry,” Caliendo said. “We all want to win. I’m wrestling guys like (Alex) Marinelli and Kaleb Young every single day. Those guys help me tremendously in the room, especially when I’m trying to work on my freestyle.”

Herrera swept his best-of-3 series against Crew Howard, of the Nebraska Golden Eagles Wrestling Club. Herrera, an NCAA qualifier for the Cyclones as a freshman, won the first match, 6-3, and closed with a 10-0 technical fall.

“It (training) it was hard,” Herrera said about workouts leading up to the national tournament. “I’ve been training with Yonger Bastida. Cody Merrill came in and trained with me, too. I was thankful to have those guys. Thankful God put those people in my life so I can get better.”

Panther Wrestling Club’s Cameron Geuther, a former 2023 state champion for West Delaware, placed third in the U20 Greco-Roman World Team Trials. Geuther posted a 2-1 record. He lost his first match on tiebreaker criteria. Geuther rebounded with an 8-3 decision over Arkansas Regional Training Center’s Kaden Darwin and ended with a 56-second fall over Curby 3 Wrestling Club’s Cameron Groncki.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com