Hawkeye wrestling take fifth at NCAA's
The final day of Iowa’s 2024 NCAA Championships could be described using a whole lot of sentences strung together – as you’re about to see right here in just a few moments.
But it could almost just as easily be summed up using numbers as opposed to words.
Even numbers, that is.
The story for the Hawkeyes on Saturday was even numbers, which will make more sense to any quizzical folks out there as we go along with this third and final recap of the national tournament.
One odd number, however, is fifth – that being Iowa’s finish in the team standings, just four points shy of the newly reduced top-three trophy positions.
Rather than belabor the point, let’s dive right into the sequence of events that resulted in said finish – what I’m sure is already a major source of consternation both within and outside of the Iowa program.
Session V
Three Hawkeyes would take the mat on Saturday morning, and unfortunately none of them would finish their 2024 national tournament on a winning note.
It was always going to be a one-and-done session for Jared Franek, who could advance no further than the seventh-place match at 157 pounds.
The graduate transfer from North Dakota State was pitted against Nebraska’s #8 Peyton Robb for the third time this calendar year (excluding a medical forfeit at Big Tens), but unlike their previous meetings would come out on the losing end of things this go-around.
Robb was able to secure takedowns in all three periods for an 11-2 win, ending the Hawkeye’s college career with an eighth-place finish.
Franek amassed a 119-28 record across his time in Fargo/Iowa City, including back-to-back All-American finishes in his final two seasons.
Iowa’s other two competitors in the session – Real Woods and Michael Caliendo – could each climb as high as third on the podium with a pair of wins. They’d only get halfway there, however.
For Woods, another senior, Saturday began with a 4-0 victory over #5 seed Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) – his second this season – as he was able to come out on top of a big throw attempt by the talented Cyclone late in the second period, getting the ride out to boot.
That score (plus an escape to open the third) would hold up as the winner with Echemendia unable to break down the Hawkeye’s defenses over the remaining two minutes.
The victory also meant that Iowa would finish the weekend undefeated (3-0) in matches versus the other two in-state Division I schools – UNI and Iowa State.
Woods’ second bout (for third place) would run back a matchup fans have seen about a million times over the past two seasons. But for the very first time the familiar story would have a different ending, as a re-attack late in the third period by Nebraska’s #8 Brock Hardy caught Woods a bit off-balance, resulting in the deciding score of a 7-6 Husker win.
The New Mexico native would end his collegiate career with an 85-14 record and a quartet of All-American honors – including second and fourth-place finishes in his two years as a Hawkeye.
If they don’t realize it already, Iowa fans were incredibly fortunate to watch Real Woods take the mat in a Black & Gold singlet.
At 165 pounds, Caliendo would prevail in a rematch of his own, defeating #7 Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State) for the second time in less than a month.
A slick counter by the Cowboy gave Olejnik the lead in the early going, but Caliendo was able to get away and respond with a takedown of his own to hold a 4-3 lead after the first period.
The two would trade escapes to begin the second/third periods, and the Hawkeye’s one-point advantage would carry into the final 50 seconds of action. There, Caliendo would blow through Olejnik on a re-attack to extend his lead to 8-4 – and most crucially, would build his riding time up over one minute shortly thereafter.
That last score and the additional point for riding time meant that a slip in the final five seconds that Olejnik was quickly able to cover for a takedown wouldn’t prove costly for the Hawkeye, a 9-8 winner.
(Maybe that’s why these coaches are always yelling about ‘building your lead’ and stuff like that.)
The victory would set up a third-place match with one of the nation’s very best – Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole.
Seeded first in the 165-pound bracket as an undefeated, defending national champion, O’Toole dropped an absolute classic in the semifinals (8-6) to Iowa State’s David Carr (himself a previous national champ).
His four other matches this weekend prior to facing Caliendo? Three pins and a 17-1 technical fall.
This one appeared headed in a similar direction after the Tiger built a 10-2 lead on the back of a trio of first-period takedowns and an early escape to start the second.
But Caliendo apparently had other ideas, responding with back-to-back takedowns of his own to narrow the deficit to 11-8 (12-8 after intentionally releasing O’Toole). He’d continue to press forward during the final minute-and-change of action, though he’d ultimately be unable to draw any closer.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Michael Caliendo is a damn good wrestler, and Hawkeye fans should be thrilled at the prospect of watching his continued growth over the next two seasons.
You never want to end a tournament with an even number next to your name because it means the last match didn’t go your way.
Unfortunately, each of Franek (8th), Woods (4th) and Caliendo (4th) hold that distinction from this weekend. That said, all three still have plenty to be proud of walking out of Kansas City as Division I All-Americans.
Another session of action also meant another wild swing of events in the team race for pretty much everyone other than Penn State.
A half-point ahead of fourth place and 3.5 out of second entering the morning, Iowa would add seven points to its team total during Session V, leaving it in fourth entering the evening’s NCAA finals.
The only ‘bullet’ left in the chamber for the Hawkeyes, 125-pound national finalist Drake Ayala.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL RESULTS
141 | #3 Real Woods (Iowa) dec. #5 Anthony Echemedia (Iowa State), 4-0
165 | #6 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) dec. #7 Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State), 9-8
THIRD PLACE RESULTS
141 | #9 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) dec. #3 Real Woods (Iowa), 7-6
165 | #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) dec. #6 Michael Caliendo (Iowa), 12-8
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SEVENTH PLACE RESULTS
157 | #8 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) major dec. #10 Jared Franek (Iowa), 11-2
Session VI
Entering Saturday night, the goal was simple for Iowa’s redshirt sophomore 125-pounder:
Add his name to a list of 55 other Hawkeyes who’ve won an NCAA individual title.
Then again, you know what they say about the best laid plans…
After seven minutes of mat time and a 7-2 defeat against Arizona State’s #8 Richard Figueroa, Drake Ayala will have to wait another 12 months to hopefully realize that goal.
It would be mid-first period that the Hawkeye would have his best scoring opportunity – a lefty single leg that the Fort Dodge native worked and worked to finish but was ultimately stymied when a limp-arm attempt gave Figueroa a window of opportunity to kick away.
From there, meaningful shot attempts were minimal from both wrestlers until a sequence with nine seconds left in the second period that likely decided the match.
On the edge near the Iowa corner Figueroa would hit a slide-by that Ayala immediately sought to counter from a merkle-type position with the Sun Devil still in on his leg. But Figueroa continued to work, leaving Ayala to bail in hopes of kicking away out of bounds and/or long enough for time to expire.
Figueroa somehow managed to both snatch and hang on to the Hawkeye’s other foot by seeming inches amidst the flurry of action to secure a takedown with no more than a second left in the period.
A challenge from the Iowa corner would prove unsuccessful, keeping the deficit at 4-0 entering the last two minutes.
An escape would leave Ayala with roughly 90 seconds to chase down a match-tying score, but his ‘closest’ opportunity to do so only came amidst a scramble off a Figueroa single leg that the Sun Devil would ultimately finish for the clinching takedown.
Second place – another even number for the Hawkeyes.
Not that it really needs be said, but one can only imagine how crestfallen Ayala and nine other finalists from tonight must feel after climbing the exhaustive ‘mountain’ that is the Division I wrestling season and subsequent NCAA Championships only to fall short just feet from the summit.
Hell, the mental fortitude necessary just to attempt the climb in the first place is beyond most people’s comprehension.
So, while Saturday night may not have gone Drake Ayala’s way in Kansas City, somehow, I imagine he’ll come back from this disappointment even stronger than before.
FINAL RESULTS
125 | #8 Richard Figueroa (Arizona State) dec. #3 Drake Ayala (Iowa), 7-2
Short time
Look, I see the chatter (both rational and irrational) on social media and other forums.
A fifth-place NCAA team finish, four All-Americans, one finalist and zero champions are not the kind of results that anyone invested in the Iowa wrestling program will be satisfied with – most importantly the athletes and coaches who pour their daily efforts into winning at the highest level of the sport.
Iowa went 25-18 as a team this weekend, tallying 12 bonus point wins (zero falls).
Nobody is trying to piss on your boots and tell you it’s raining, OK?
But realistically speaking, based solely on pre-seeds this was about the tournament performance that was expected – probably even a slightly better one.
Six of Iowa’s nine competitors wrestled to/above their seed, while another – #3 Real Woods – finished just one place below (4th).
Now, how others may digest that nugget of information based upon their own expectations of this Iowa lineup could certainly differ. I’d just encourage everyone to ‘keep their eye on the ball’ in terms of the discourse surrounding the 2023-24 team as opposed to the entire program (both at present and moving forward).
On a personal note, this was my very first go at covering the men’s national tournament.
Don’t worry, I’m not fishing for any plaudits for my efforts.
(My mom already texted that she was proud of me during Saturday’s final session, so I’m pretty much good as far as positive reinforcement goes.)
I just wanted to thank everyone who followed along the past few days, not to mention over the course of this season at large. Your engagement and passion have been (surprisingly?) rewarding despite the vast expanse of the ‘interwebs’ that lies between us.
My greatest hope is that I’ve been able to feed those characteristics with my coverage of the Hawkeyes because this truly is an amazing sport that just about anyone would be better off for taking an interest in.
That’s all I’ve got for my third and final 2024 daily NCAA recap.
Keep checking in during the upcoming days/weeks as I’ll have much more thoughts and analysis on both this latest men’s wrestling season as well as the future ahead.
Thanks again (as always) for reading, and I’ll see you guys real soon.
