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Iowa men's wrestling wallops Wisconsin, 45-0 in Big Ten opener

by:Tanner Lafever•01/12/25•

TannerLafever

Stephen Buchanan pin at Wisconsin
Stephen Buchanan's 0:40 pin at 197 pounds highlighted a dual of Hawkeye dominance against Wisconsin. (Photo Credit: Iowa Wrestling Twitter)

When it comes to Iowa men’s wrestling, more often than not the Hawkeyes are the ‘hammer’ rather than the ‘nail.’

That was certainly the case on Sunday afternoon in Madison, as #2 Iowa blanked hosts Wisconsin, 45-0.

The Badgers (4-5, 0-1) on the other hand? They may not recognize a hammer if you smacked them in the head with one.

At minimum, they sure didn’t recognize the ‘hammers’ donning Black & Gold singlets in today’s Big Ten opener – at least until it was too late.

With the victory, the Hawkeyes (7-0, 1-0) extended a winning streak in Madison that dates back to World War II (1945). The all-time series record is now 83-8-3.

I didn’t sugarcoat how this dual was likely to go in my weekend preview, but even I was taken slightly aback by how things transpired. Wisconsin’s lone two takedowns of the dual were in matches that it (obviously) lost – both by technical fall.

Alas, Iowa continues its unbeaten 2024-25 dual season to date – one with far sterner tests yet to come.

Here’s how things unfolded this afternoon, headlined by a trio of unheralded Hawkeyes who earned career firsts on Sunday.

Cruz, Rhodes, Estrada earn first Big Ten dual victories

If Wisconsin had any hope of making Iowa sweat at all in this matchup, it needed to win at 125, 141 and 157 pounds.

Instead, Iowa promptly eliminated all hope whatsoever – starting with the very first match of the dual.

Joey Cruz took a first step toward giving Iowa fans/coaches a bit more confidence in the typically rock-solid 125-pound weight class with his win over previously unbeaten #18 Nicolar Rivera on Sunday.

After getting to the legs several times but failing to finish, Cruz finally broke through late in the second period. That seemed to open the floodgates, as he’d score a second takedown (and nearly a third) late in the bout in a near-major decision.

Said Iowa head coach Tom Brands of Cruz post-dual, ““His attitude is bedrock solid. We love that. We love the kid.”

“We’ve got to get that weight class going, and that was a good show.”

Two weights later, another sophomore got their first Big Ten dual win for the Hawkeyes, as Jace Rhodes prevailed 6-3 in sudden victory at 141 pounds.

Rhodes, whose parents made the trip to Madison to see his Big Ten debut, scored off a reattack in the extra period to seal the win.

The Mason City native also flipped a previous result against Wisconsin’s Brock Bobzien – whom he was pinned by in 2022.

And finally, Miguel Estrada joined the mix of lesser-heralded Hawkeyes to earn wins on Sunday.

The freshman 149-pounder bumped up to 157 to defeat Badger Luke Mechler, 10-4.

Estrada – a three-time California state champ – will be one to watch in the future. For now, he’s part of the effort to tide things over until Jacori Teemer returns, which appears closer by the day.

Hop aboard the bonus point train

Iowa’s other seven wins all came via bonus points – the ‘least’ of which was a Ben Kueter major decision at heavyweight.

Both #4 Drake Ayala and #4 Kyle Parco actually gave up the first takedown in their respective matches. Each ‘recovered’ for runaway tech. falls – Ayala by 21-6 margin over #24 Zan Fugitt (careful with that pronunciation, folks) and Parco by a 19-3 score over Royce Nilo.

Minus the early deficit, but like Ayala/Parco, #5 Patrick Kennedy earned his own tech. fall at 174 pounds, 19-4 over #31 Luke Condon.

A match prior at 165, #2 Michael Caliendo did all three of them one better. Rather than take longer than one period to end a match (which is just lazy), Mikey packed 21 points into a crisp 2:50 to wipe aside Gavin Model.

Each of those early terminations merely set the stage for the highlight(s) of the afternoon at 184/197.

Not known as a big pinner, #5 Gabe Arnold’s 1:27 fall was hopefully just the beginning of things to come in 2025.

“It’s pretty simple, how do you want the rest of the season to look like?” said Arnold post-match. “I think that was a good starting point for me.”

“That’s the type of wrestling I want to do.”

Not to be outdone, Wisconsin native #2 Stephen Buchanan took half as long to secure a fall of his own at 197.

Among plenty of friends/family there to support him, one stood out:

“My dad, actually, which is crazy,” said Buchanan when asked who was in attendance that hadn’t seen him compete in a while.

This homecoming presented an in-person viewing opportunity which hadn’t existed during Buchanan’s more distant previous stops at Wyoming and Oklahoma.

Short time

Following its Badger blowout, the Iowa men’s wrestling team turns attention toward far tougher Big Ten competition on the horizon.

Next up, #10 Illinois visits Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Friday, January 17th at 6:00 p.m. CT).

The unbeaten Illini (6-0) are having an excellent season thus far and tout a rock-solid, top-to-bottom dual lineup.

Here’s hoping Sunday’s shellacking was enough of a warmup for the Hawkeyes.

As someone tweeted at me during today’s dual, my typing fingers may have been more tired trying to keep up with the points being scored than were the Iowa wrestlers doing the scoring.

(The sacrifices I make to do this job…)

Anyway, thanks as always for following along and enjoy what’s left of your weekend.

The Hawkeyes certainly did their part to give folks something to smile about.

Match-by-match results

#2 Iowa 45, Wisconsin 0

125 – Joey Cruz (I) dec. #18 Nicolar Rivera (W), 8-2

133 – #4 Drake Ayala (Iowa) tech. fall #24 Zan Fugitt (W), 21-6

141 – Jace Rhodes (I) dec. Brock Bobzien (W), 6-3 SV1

149 – #4 Kyle Parco (I) tech. fall Royce Nilo, 19-3

157 – Miguel Estrada (I) dec. Luke Mechler (W), 10-4

165 – #2 Michael Caliendo (I) tech. fall Gavin Model (W), 21-6

174 – #5 Patrick Kennedy (I) tech. fall #31 Luke Condon (W), 19-4

184 – #5 Gabe Arnold (I) pinned Dylan Russo (W), 1:27

197 – #2 Stephen Buchanan (I) pinned Niccolo Colucci (W), 0:40

285 – #12 Ben Kueter (I) major dec. Gannon Rosenfeld (W), 8-0

Attendance: 3,377

Officials: Curt Frost, Michael Frederiksen

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