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Iowa wrestling weekend preview: 5 ranked duals on busy Saturday

by:Tanner Lafever•01/24/25•

TannerLafever

Patrick Kennedy
Iowa's #5 Patrick Kennedy has arguably the standout match of the weekend, as he'll take on Ohio State's #6 Carson Kharchla in a battle of unbeaten 174-pounders. (Photo Credit: Carly Schrum/Daily Iowan)

Clear your Saturday schedule, people – because Iowa wrestling has got you covered with a smorgasbord of intriguing dual matchups.

Other than the Soldier Salute a few weeks ago – when both Iowa programs competed side-by-side in Coralville – Hawk fans haven’t dealt with an overlap like this since early-November.

Of course, neither have I. So, consider this pep talk to be directed just as much toward me as it is you guys.

We can do this. It’s just going to take some dexterity to pull off.

First on Saturday’s ledger will be the top-ranked Iowa women. Fresh off a dominant Senior Night showing last weekend, the 15-0 Hawkeyes head east to Albany (NY) for the Journeymen Duals.

Joining Clarissa Chun’s squad (see below) will be a quartet of top-20 ranked teams – headlined by #6 Presbyterian. Iowa will dual them all over the span of roughly five hours.

A strong, 15-woman Iowa contingent heads to New York this weekend.

Amidst the action on the East Coast, the Hawkeye men face their own significant test back home.

Iowa City plays host to a showdown of unbeatens, as #2 Iowa (8-0, 2-0 B1G) welcomes #4 Ohio State (11-0, 3-0 B1G) to the less-than-hospitable confines of Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Both programs will be looking for not only a huge interconference dual victory, but to keep pace with fellow Big Ten unbeatens Penn State and Maryland.

(Yes, Maryland!)

If both the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes are at full strength (more on that in a bit), we could see 20 ranked wrestlers take the mat.

Add all that to a historical context (Iowa owns a 42-4 all-time series lead) in which the Buckeyes haven’t won in Iowa City since 1929 and there’s plenty on the line this Saturday.

So, let’s dive in.

#1 Iowa women @ Journeymen Duals (Saturday, Jan. 25th, 11:15 a.m. CT start)

In what’s set to be the Hawkeyes’ final duals of the 2024-25 season, they’ll get plenty of bang for their buck.

Four duals, four ranked opponents and plenty of quality matchups to test Iowa wrestlers.

As fortune would have it, the order of things also breaks down quite nicely for the purposes of this preview.

Iowa’s first three foes this Saturday are all located between 2.5 and 4.5 hours from Albany – and all bring appreciable credentials to this event.

#12 Lock Haven (7-5)

  • Finished 13th at National Duals, 7th at NCWWC’s in 2024 – incl. three All-Americans
  • Top wrestlers incl. 131-pounder Lily Sherer (a 2023 All-American) and third-ranked Alyssa Favara (207)

#15 Sacred Heart (7-6)

  • Finished 11th at National Duals, 6th at NCWWC’s in 2024 – incl. four All-Americans
  • Returned 11/13 national qualifiers and 3/4 All-Americans
  • Top wrestlers incl. 124-pounder Alexandra Fitzgerald (returning All-American), 160-pounder Love Daley (returning All-American) and #5 Madison Sandquist (180)

#19 Elmira (5-3)

  • Finished 10th at National Duals, 17th at NCWWC’s in 2024 – incl. one All-American
  • Top wrestler is #7 Zoey Lints (145), a returning fifth-place All-American

The most well-rounded foe should be Sacred Heart, whose relative struggles this season I’ve been surprised by. The Pioneers finished last year on a heater and returned most of their top talent.

From an individual standpoint, watch out for #3 Alyssa Favara (Lock Haven) – who’s having an excellent true freshman season at 207 pounds – and returning All-American Madison Sandquist (Sacred Heart), ranked #5 at 180.

Favara presents a great litmus test at heavyweight for Iowa backup #6 Alivia White, and Sandquist a payback opportunity for #6 Naomi Simon.

Simon (24-2 as a true freshman) lost their previous matchup, 10-8 at the Last Chance Olympic Trials qualifier in April.

A top-six matchup to close things out

Iowa’s final dual on Saturday will present its greatest challenge.

#6 Presbyterian (10-3) is coming off its best finish (fifth) in program history at National Duals.

The (fellow) Division I program has continually improved in recent years, and its 2024-25 squad represents its best team yet.

The ‘Blue Hose’ returned 6/7 national qualifiers and all three All-Americans from their 2024 eighth-place NCWWC showing. Not only that, but they added a stellar freshmen class (which is already producing major results) plus another former All-American who missed last postseason due to injury.

Here’s how it’s shaken out this year for one of the up-and-coming programs in women’s college wrestling:

  • 103 – Chiara Barbieri (2024 national qualifier)
  • 110 – #10 Chloe Dearwester (#1 recruit at 105lbs)
  • 124 – #5 Alyssa Mahan (2024 national qualifier)
  • 131 – #9 Cassia Zammit (5th place AA in 2024)
  • 138 – #5 Carina Giangeruso (#20 recruit at 135lbs)
  • 145 – #10 Paige Wehrmeister (3rd place AA in 2023)
  • 160 – #4 May Cuyler (#13 recruit at 155lbs)
  • 160 – #6 Maddie Kubicki (4th place AA in 2024)
  • 180 – Henlee Haynes (8th place AA in 2024)
  • 207 – #10 Ella Beam (2024 national qualifier)
  • 207 – Maria Aiono (#10 recruit at 190lbs)

Presbyterian is solid across the board and touts real depth at several weights. They also have at least four different wrestlers (Dearwester/Zammit/Kubicki/Haynes) who’ve beaten current (high-level) Hawkeyes within the past 21 months.

Last season, Iowa won a pair of duals between the two by a combined score of 83-5.

This Saturday could get sideways on the scoreboard once again, but it wouldn’t reflect the massive leaps Presbyterian continues to make.

#2 Iowa men vs. #4 Ohio State (Saturday, Jan. 25th – 1:00 p.m. CT)

Assuming we get nothing but ranked-versus ranked matchups on Saturday (as projected), I’ve broken down the 10 individual bouts into three separate categories for this preview’s purposes.

First up – greatest intrigue.

No weight fits this category’s namesake better than 157 pounds.

For Iowa, will Saturday mark the long-awaited return of top-ranked Jacori Teemer?

The Arizona State transfer has been out since November 23rd due to a leg injury but has provided several recent hints on social media that a return is near. He’s done so again this week, which, in conjunction with his inclusion on the probable lineup has me believing we’ll see him against the Buckeyes.

Teemer’s potential opponent, #17 Sammy Sasso, is amidst his own return from adversity. The two-time NCAA finalist was shot during a carjacking back in 2023, and is just now getting back on the mat (to mixed results).

The two met once before, way back in 2018 – an 8-6 win by Teemer.

Another highlight match is 133, where #3 Drake Ayala could see either of two dangerous Buckeyes.

#10 Nic Bouzakis is capable of big moves/points at any moment, while true freshman Ben Davino is also listed as an option.

Davino (12-1), a premier 2024 recruit, even defeated Bouzakis at an open tournament earlier this season.

Bump up to 174 and you’ve got perhaps this dual’s truest ‘toss up’ match.

#5 Patrick Kennedy (8-0) takes on #6 Carson Kharchla (7-0) in a battle of unbeaten upperclassmen. A win here for Kennedy would go a long way toward Iowa’s chances at victory.

And finally, what do we see from #11 Ben Kueter at heavyweight?

It’s been a solid, if unspectacular start for the redshirt freshman thus far, and #6 Nick Feldman presents a huge opportunity for Kueter’s best win yet.

Press the advantage

Another quartet of bouts I’ve ‘siloed’ aside are ones in which Iowa enters as the prohibitive favorite.

Is 149 a top-10 matchup between #2 Kyle Parco (12-0) and OSU’s #9 Dylan D’Emilio (14-1)? Absolutely.

That said, their lone previous meeting was an 11-1 major decision for Parco (then at Arizona State) early last season.

He’ll certainly be favored to get the job done once again – this time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And if bonus points are in the cards, all the better for Iowa.

Another two-versus-nine matchup (and bonus point opportunity) awaits at 165.

There, #2 Michael Caliendo (12-0) faces #9 Paddy Gallagher (11-3) – the latter having recently swapped spots with Sammy Sasso.

Caliendo already has four wins this season over similarly (or higher) ranked opponents, half of those coming via bonus. It wouldn’t shock me to see him approach that territory against Gallagher on Saturday.

184 pounds represents another sizable favorite for the home team as #5 Gabe Arnold (10-1) draws #19 Ryder Rogotzke (4-3).

Arnold hasn’t shown nearly the offensive output (yet) to make one believe bonus points are likely here. However, I wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility, either.

Perhaps of greater focus for Iowa fans, though, should be his opponent’s big-move potential.

As a freshman, Rogotzke won 16/20 matches via fall – a total that tied him for fourth on the OSU single-season record list with four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber.

He’s dangerous and totally willing to let it fly at any moment. Arnold/Iowa will know that, but it bears repeating, nonetheless.

Lastly, there is no more advantageous matchup for Iowa this weekend than at 197 pounds.

#1 Stephen Buchanan (12-0) has been a bonus point machine as a Hawkeye, and I expect no different against #17 Seth Shumate (9-4) on Saturday.

Limit the damage + path(s) to victory

The third category I’ve designated is unquestionably the least glamorous.

However, that doesn’t make it any less important to the outcome of this dual.

First off, would I be stunned if #28 Joey Cruz (10-6) upset #16 Brendan McCrone (16-5) at 125? No – not based on Cruz’s recent uptick in performance.

The redshirt sophomore soundly defeated #18 Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) two weeks ago, and on opening weekend had his opportunities to knock off now-10th-ranked Maximo Renteria (Oregon State).

But this particular matchup could be tricky based on McCrone’s strong top game and Cruz’s own struggles on the mat.

Sure, a win would be great for Iowa. But Hawkeye fans shouldn’t be upset with a (decision) defeat – especially given its team score ramifications.

And if 125 if a (relative) ‘molehill’ in terms of the challenge at hand for Iowa than 141 is most definitely a ‘mountain.’

#1 Jesse Mendez (19-0) is the returning NCAA champion at the weight and has looked every bit of it in his follow-up season.

Meanwhile, #31 Ryder Block (2-3) has only five collegiate matches under his belt. After a nearly two-month absence, the redshirt freshman performed admirably in his return last Friday (a 4-3 loss to #12 Danny Pucino of Illinois).

It’ll take (much) more than that to hang with Mendez, who nearly made the Olympic Trials final last spring.

Any bonus points that Block (and Cruz) can limit are crucial because it means the rest of Iowa’s lineup merely needs to hold serve.

If Hawkeyes win their favored matches at 133/149/157/165/184/197 they’ll win the dual – barring some wild bonus-point discrepancy.

Prevail in any of three feasible upsets/tossups (125/174/285) and the odds increase significantly.

But if mayhem ensues (both teams winning five bouts), it could come down to bonus points prevented/earned by the Hawkeyes.

How to watch

As I mentioned in the intro – you’re going to need to be nimble this weekend, folks.

(At least if you’re trying to catch all the Iowa wrestling action live like I will be.)

Saturday’s full slate of action gets going at 11:15 a.m. (CT) with the Iowa women taking on #12 Lock Haven.

75 minutes later (at 12:30 p.m.) the Hawkeyes are scheduled to face #15 Sacred Heart – and a similar pattern will follow at 1:45 p.m. (#19 Elmira) and 3:00 p.m. (#6 Presbyterian) after that.

All four duals will take place on Mat 2 – side by side with some New York high school girl’s matchups.

That latter part is important, because it could confuse some folks searching for the event on FloWrestling – where it’ll livestream on Saturday.

If you don’t use the above link directly, search for ‘2025 NYS Girl’s Duals’ on Flo’s schedule page and that should take to where you need to go.

Conversely, it’ll be your standard, no frills Big Ten Network showcasing the Iowa men on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. (CT).

Shane Sparks and Jim Gibbons will have the TV call. And on the Hawkeye Radio Network you’ll have your usual Steven Grace/Mark Ironside combo on AM 800 KXIC or streaming at the link below:

Short time (and a shoutout)

I’ll try and limit any sort of witty close to this weekend’s preview – in part to spare you all, but mostly because I want to highlight someone else’s work.

Per usual, you can follow me all weekend long on social media for updates on the Iowa wrestling action.

I’ll have (at least) one recap up on Saturday, and perhaps both. I haven’t decided yet on the order either, so stay tuned to Hawkeye Report and you can be surprised!

Anyway, to the more important final note:

Earlier this week, Iowa assistant director of Strategic Communications, Leandra Harasta, was named Division I Wrestling Sports Information Director (SID) of the Year by the National Wrestling Media Association (NWMA).

In so doing, Harasta became the first-ever winner of the award with a primary focus of a women’s wrestling program.

Speaking from my own experience, the NWMA couldn’t have recognized a better individual.

I became a wrestling ‘beat reporter’ for the first time a little over a year ago. There was plenty that I didn’t (and still don’t) know about various aspects of my own job, much less the sport/program I cover.

But through it all, Leandra has been an incredible, generous resource – making my job both infinitely easier and me significantly better at it.

And so, I just wanted to give her a shoutout for this well-deserved accomplishment.

We all know about the great athletes/coaches involved with the Iowa wrestling programs. But just like Harasta, there’s an equally talented staff behind the scenes doing their part as well.

That’s it for me this week.

Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll be back soon to dissect another busy weekend on the mat.

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