Articles Tagged: Iowa men’s wrestling

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.

Real Woods has been forged in the fires of his experiences. The successful and smooth stints have been much more prevalent than the rough and bumpy stretches, but both have built him into the wrestler — and person — he is today.

Iowa, Iowa State, UNI and former Iowa preps have compelling stories that could play out at the NCAA Division I Wrestlin Championships this week at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.

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.

Brody Teske’s college career has included three programs in two states. He has also earned three trips to the NCAA Championships. In his sixth and final season, Teske will represent Iowa at 133 pounds for the Big Ten Championships this weekend at Maryland.

A big weekend is ahead for wrestling fans in the state of Iowa. The National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships come to Cedar Rapids and the Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa men compete in their respective conference tournaments. We preview them all on this week’s episode of the Pinning Combination podcast.

Iowa has six wrestlers seeded third or better and the competition for postseason spots has been settled. The Hawkeyes will look to try to improve last year’s runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships March 9-10 at Maryland.

The Big Ten Conference announced the pre-seeds Monday for conference tournament this weekend at University of Maryland in College Park, Md. The Hawkeyes have six seeded third or better.

The road to the NCAA Division III national tournament is tough for midwest programs compared to other regions in the country. Pre-seeds have been released for the Big Ten and Big 12 conference tournaments. Grand View men’s team wins 12th NAIA title. Upper Iowa advance two to nationals in the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

It’s all about the postseason now on the Pinning Combination podcast, a show about all things wrestling in Iowa with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs. This week’s episode has takeaways from Iowa’s win over Oklahoma State and Iowa State and UNI’s wins over Missouri and looks ahead to their respective conference tournaments.

Spencer Lee dominated the Pan-Ams, the Iowa men’s team capped the regular season with one of its best performances, UNI and Iowa State ended dual competition with wins and Iowa and North Central qualified 15 each for the NCWWC tournament during the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

Fourth-ranked Iowa won seven matches, including Michael Caliendo’s victory over No. 3 Izzak Olejnik at 165, Patrick Kennedy’s major decision at 174 and a sudden victory decision by 125-pounder Drake Ayala, in a 22-9 win over No. 2 Oklahoma State Sunday in Stillwater, Okla.

Jared Franek knew a few wrestlers from North Dakota that made the NCAA Division I level, including former Iowa Hawkeyes Terry and Troy Steiner and family friend, Scott Schiller, who wrestled for Minnesota. Now, he looks to set an example for young North Dakota wrestlers with NCAA D-I aspirations.