Iowa Wrestling Weekend That Was: More from the Cy-Hawk series

Iowa and Iowa State were not exchanging cookie recipes after their dual Sunday. Coe put a hurting on a pair of top-10 teams. UNI’s Cael Happel posted a memorable college debut. Local wrestlers earned gold at the Donnybrook during the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

Hullabaloo at Hilton

The latest installment of the Cy-Hawk Series dual between top-ranked Iowa and No. 13 Iowa State ended with a brief post-meet face-to-face standoff between the two teams.

The Hawkeyes won the dual 22-11, capping it with Tony Cassioppi winning by disqualification over Sam Schuyler due to stalling. The ensuing scrum provided a little extra excitement to a heated dual, but amounted to no more than a few minor shoves, posturing and jawing back and forth.

Iowa Coach Tom Brands was asked why there was more “juice” to this year’s dual, but wasn’t sure that was the case.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Brands said. “I don’t look at the juice. I look at it as 125, they win the first match, the crowd’s in it. Big noise at 197, crowd’s in it. Final score (22-11) with a disqualification stall call to end the dual. A lot of juice for the Hawks.”

Iowa State Coach Kevin Dresser said the Cyclones competed hard and he liked their fight. He said they didn’t “bow down” to the defending national champions.

“I think the other side doesn’t like to see us doing what we’re doing,” Dresser said. “That is probably how things ended the way they did, but that’s all right. When there is a bully in the playground, you’ve got to hit the bully back, so we hit the bully back tonight and they don’t like it. That’s how sports goes sometimes.”

Iowa State NCAA champion David Carr said both teams have a similar love for wrestling, which led to the late commotion. Teams withdrew to the locker rooms and avoided any major incident.

“We love our guys, so I think both teams are very passionate,” Carr said. “It just kind of got a little rowdy a little bit. I think that’s normal when people love their teammates, they want to have their back.”

Another item of note from the dual. Iowa State broke out the old warm-up robes that they donned in the past. They also wore the old red singlet with the block gold “I” on the front.

“It was special to wear the robes,” said Carr, son of ISU NCAA champion Nate Carr. “My dad wore the robe. To wear the (gold) ‘I’ on the new singlets today. Everything was very special.

“I’m blessed to be able to wrestle and represent Iowa State. It’s truly amazing to wrestle in a Cy-Hawk. It’s a dream come true.”

Sunday produced another memorable moment in the wrestling rivalry.

Kohawks soar

Coe recorded a pair of big-time wins Saturday. The fifth-ranked Kohawks defeated No. 2 North Central (Ill.) and No. 6 Wisconsin-La Crosse on Saturday. Coe opened with a 27-19 win over North Central and beat the Eagles, 30-13.

Third-ranked heavyweight Kaleb Reeves, No. 5 Alex Friddle (125), No. 10 Tristin Westphal at 174 and 184-pounder Ryan Schott went 2-0. Reeves posted a pin and major decision. Friddle and Schott each posted a pin and technical fall.

The Kohawks won six matches against North Central, receiving a pin from freshman Jared Voss at 197 and decision from A.J. Patterson (157). They took seven in the dual against the Eagles, including Brayden Parke’s 5-0 win over 10th-ranked Sawyer Sarbacker at 133.

Coe returns to action Wednesday, hosting Buena Vista.

Cael Happel tops ranked foe

Northern Iowa had a rough weekend in its first dual competitions of the season. The Panthers fell to third-ranked Missouri, 25-16, and to No. 10 Virginia Tech, 39-3.

Among the four wins in the opener, was Cael Happel’s 9-7 decision over No. 12 Allan Hart at 141.

The four-time state champion from Lisbon made his college dual debut against the two-time NCAA qualifier, who was seeded sixth at the national tournament in March. Happel stormed back from a 5-2 deficit early in the second period. He used two takedowns to tie it, 6-6, before the third, adding a takedown and riding-time point in the third.

“I felt good coming in,” Happel said. “Pretty confident that I’d get the result that I did. I just have to brush the nerves aside and go out and compete. That’s the first time I’ve felt good competing, going out wrestling loose and having fun.”

UNI’s Brody Teske went 2-0. He beat Virginia Tech All-American Sam Latona, 7-4, and pinned Missouri’s No. 18 Noah Surtin.

Local duo win Donnybrook

The inaugural Dan Gable Donnybrook tournament was held Friday and Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The 33-team event included some of the top teams in Iowa and from bordering states.

More than 100 ranked wrestlers competed. Two Eastern Iowa wrestlers defended their home turf. Iowa City West’s Hunter Garvin and Iowa City High’s Ben Kueter claimed titles.

Garvin dominated his way to the finals, recording three pins and a major decision, beating Logan Vaughan, of Kasson-Mantorville (Minn.), 11-5, for the 152-pound championship.

Kueter had two pins and two technical falls to reach the 220 final against Gavin Nelson, of Simley (Minn.). Kueter scored a takedown in sudden victory to win the battle of nationally-ranked foes, 3-1.

Waverly-Shell Rock continued its strong start to the season. After a 49-21 dual win over West Delaware on Thursday in Manchester. The Go-Hawks traveled to Coralville that night. They handled the hectic schedule well, placing second behind Liberty (Mo.), 419.5-372.

Waverly-Shell Rock received titles from Ryder Block (138) and 160-pounder Aiden Riggins. The Go-Hawks’ McCrae Hagarty (195), Layne McDonald at 220 and heavyweight Jake Walker all placed second.

Tate Naaktgeboren and Luke Gaffney led Linn-Mar in the event. Naaktgeboren was runner-up ay 170 and Gaffney was third at heavyweight.

Lots of wrestling

The Cliff Keen Independence Invitational is another two-day event with about 30 teams from Iowa and neighboring states. The tournament had 370 wrestlers entered that competed in 1,456 total matches Friday and Saturday.

West Delaware dominance

Class 2A top-ranked West Delaware dominated its home tournament Saturday. The Hawks crowned five champions, pushed 10 into the finals and won the Bob Murphy Invitational with 294 points, topping DeWitt Central by 118.5.

Carson Less (120), freshman Brent Yonkovic (145), Logan Peyton (160), Kyle Cole at 170 and 220-pounder Wyatt Voelker all won titles for the Hawks. Voelker, a defending state champion, had two first-period falls and a 22-7 technical fall over Muscatine’s Evan Franke in the final.