From hanging out in the wrestling room of the high school team his dad coached to the NCAA Division I awards stand, wrestling has always been Michael Caliendo’s top sports love. He reached his second straight Soldier Salute finals Monday at Xtream Arena in Caliendo.
The second-ranked Iowa men’s wrestling team is getting an early start to the season, hitting the road for a dual at Oregon State. Gabe Arnold made his dual debut last year against the Beavers and is listed as the starting 184-pounder for Saturday.
Ben Kueter was a senior at Iowa City High when he won a U20 World Championship. The Hawkeyes’ heavyweight, who plays football, earned a shot at another world gold after claiming the age-level national title.
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.
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.
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.
Victor Voinovich III opened the season as the Iowa men’s wrestling 149-pound starter before being supplanted by teammate Caleb Rathjen. The transfer from Oklahoma State has continued to vie for the spot and produced a technical fall win in Iowa’s 34-6 throttling of Purdue Friday at home.
Patrick Kennedy returned from injury and filled in at 174 pounds in Iowa men’s wrestling duals before the holiday break. He looked strong at 165, reaching the semifinals at the Soldier Salute Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
Despite a knee injury and surgery that kept him from live wrestling for part of the season leading up to the Cy-Hawk series dual, Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy returned to the lineup and posted a key win.
No. 4 Iowa won six matches, including three straight from 174 to 197 that seal the victory, and defeated No. 8 Iowa State, 18-14, in front of 14,267 fans Sunday at Hilton Coliseum. The Hawkeyes earned their 19th straight win over the Cyclones.
Spencer Lee became the 19th three-time Big Ten Conference champion and Real Wood also remained unbeaten to claim his first Big Ten crown, helping the Hawkeyes to a runner-up team finish.
University of Iowa went 6-4 in the quarterfinals and tallied 6 1/2 bonus points to end the first session of the conference tournament in a first-place tie with Penn State. Both teams had 63.5 points through the first two rounds
Former Gopher fan Patrick Kennedy is now a “grown up” Hawkeye as No. 2 Iowa travels to Minnesota for a Big Ten dual.
University of Iowa sophomore Patrick Kennedy is taking over the 165-pound starting role. Kennedy is ready to continue to entertain fans like his predecessor, four-time Big Ten champion Alex Marinelli
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