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Iowa's Bowling IV, Caliendo win titles at U20 Trials/U23 Nationals

by:Tanner Lafever•06/02/25•

TannerLafever

Michael Caliendo
Michael Caliendo won eight matches over two days to earn a U23 National title at 74 kilograms. (Photo Credit: Sam Janicki/USA Wrestling)

A pair of current/future Iowa wrestlers won titles last weekend at the remote locale of Geneva, Ohio – population 5,866.

Site of the U20 World Team Trials and U23 Nationals, the Spire Academy hosted nearly 1,200 athletes across two divisions/disciplines. When it was all said and done, two of the 40 who emerged as champions did so representing the Hawkeyes.

At 74 kilograms, returning NCAA runner up Michael Caliendo won eight matches over two days to earn a U23 National title. And before him, 2025 commit Leister Bowling IV dominated his best-of-three final to earn a spot on the U20 Greco-Roman World Championship team.

*Caliendo will only get the U23 World team spot if both Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) and Joey Blaze (Purdue) turn down the spot at 74 kilograms, first.

They, along with three others, combined to tally Iowa’s six placers.

Here’s your recap of all the action in Geneva.

Mikey Freestyle

One of my greatest curiosities entering the weekend was how Michael Caliendo would perform.

We know he’s been absolutely nails across a pair of seasons in Iowa City, but prior to this summer he’d been absent from the freestyle scene since 2022. That changed a few weeks ago when he competed at the Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament – where he went 0-2 against a pair of past NCAA All-Americans whom you’d have made him a significant favorite over in a folkstyle setting.

As it turns out, he’d get a similar opportunity at U23 Nationals, and this time very much passed the test.

Caliendo cruised to the Round of 16 with three-consecutive technical falls, where he defeated recent NCAA blood round finisher Braeden Scoles (Illinois), 8-4.

Next up, a back-and-forth quarterfinal win over Little Rock All-American Matthew Bianchi:

Of the 19 total match points scored, 16 came in the second period – with Caliendo finally taking the lead for good with 1:08 left.

A 4-2, step-outs-only semifinal victory over Ethan Birden (Ohio State) moved Mikey into the best-of-three finals. There, yet another formidable foe awaited.

Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) redshirted last season after finishing fourth at NCAAs the year prior. He also bonus’d his way to a U23 Pan-American title in 2024.

In Bout 1, the Hawkeye quickly found himself up against it – trailing 9-2 at intermission in an eventual 15-8 defeat.

Adjustments were clearly made between matches, as Caliendo shut down Cardenas’ offense and scored a trio of dogged takedowns in a 7-2 win to tie the series at one-apiece.

That left a winner-take-all Bout 3 to determine the U23 National Champion.

With the stakes at their highest, Caliendo left no doubt – erupting for 10 first-period points to effectively salt things away in a 14-6 decision.

Lights out Leister

When 2025 Iowa commit Leister Bowling IV (pronounced LEE-stir) ran away with a US Open title last month he did so without wrestling an entire six-minute match.

Well, apparently that experience made an impression on the Colorado native, because he kept at it this past weekend.

Sitting out until the U20 Greco-Roman best-of-three final at 77 kilograms thanks to his victory at the Open, Bowling welcomed challenge tournament victor Julian Slaastad – and in rude fashion, I might add.

Given a chance on top in par terre in the first period, the incoming Hawkeye made it count:

Shortly thereafter, he’d do it again in Bout 2.

An early four-point lift from par terre put Bowling comfortably in front. And after gamely defending his lone instance bottom in the second period, he led 6-1 with 0:15 on the clock.

Like I said, he apparently has something against wrestling full six-minute matches these days. So instead, the two-time Colorado high school state champion hit one more four-pointer in the waning moments, then settled in for the fall with one second remaining.

Just like that, Leister Bowling IV had punched his ticket to Sofia, Bulgaria (August 18-24) for the 2025 U20 World Championships as part of Team USA.

Your 77-kilogram U20 Greco-Roman World team representative for the United States, Leister Bowling IV. (Photo Credit: Sam Janicki/USA Wrestling)

Star 2026 commits fall short in repeat World team bids

A year ago at this time, Bo Bassett and Michael Mocco were officially members of Team USA.

Later that summer, both would go on to win age-level World medals overseas – Bassett U20 bronze and Mocco U17 gold.

This go around, both will be watching from home after finishing second and fourth respectively at U20 Trials in Ohio.

For Bassett (ranked #1 nationally at 144 pounds), an agonizing finish concluded a grueling run at 65 kilograms.

The Pennsylvania native’s opening match of the challenge tournament came against the #2 ranked wrestler in the country at his weight – Virginia Tech signee Noah Nininger. His second happened to be against third-ranked Daniel Zepeda (headed to NC State).

In both instances, Bassett won by technical fall – including a first-period thrashing of high school rival Zepeda:

It took all of that just to reach the challenge tournament final against Stanford freshman Aden Valencia.

Valencia, mind you, has almost exclusively competed on the Senior freestyle scene for the past year-and-change, owning wins over highly credentialed opponents – including a pair just last month over Iowa alum Real Woods (who’ll wrestle for a spot on the Senior World team in two weeks).

But when Valencia – the younger brother of Iowa women’s wrestler Nyla Valencia – has dipped down to age-group tournaments of late, Bassett has proved to be his kryptonite.

That held true again on Saturday, with as Bassett securing a clutch counter-takedown off a deep Valencia shot to go ahead with a minute remaining.

A 5-4 winner, there was little time to celebrate (or rest) for the future Hawkeye, whose attention turned immediately toward the best-of-three final.

In that series, Lehigh All-American Luke Stanich stood in his way – having defeated Bassett 5-2 at the US Open in April.

This time around Stanich would up his winning streak to two, only for Bassett to respond via identical 3-2 scoreline. In both matches, the winner took a 3-0 lead shortly after intermission and held off a late charge from their opponent.

But the rubber match was a far different story. An early Stanich takedown put Bassett behind the eight-ball and things really snowballed from there.

Several decent shots by the high schooler were either stymied or countered. And in the second period perhaps the pressure of the moment began to mount. Bassett’s attacks grew increasingly less dynamic, and Stanich was able to capitalize on the aggression. Before you knew it, a 4-0 lead at the break turned into a 10-0 technical fall.

While disappointment will likely be the overriding sentiment – especially after an unceremonious finish – the six-match run by Bassett, much less in the condensed time frame in which it took place, was pretty darn impressive in its totality.

As for Michael Mocco, a loaded field at 125 kilograms warded him off in his first attempt at a U20 World team.

A five-point suplex helped Mocco to a quarterfinal victory over Lehigh commit Dean Bechtold (ranked #8 at 285 pounds). That win set up a rematch with fellow U17 World champ Koy Hopke.

When they met at the US Open last month a 6-2 loss was largely decided on a takedown-to-turn sequence by the Minnesota freshman. And wouldn’t you know it, the same held true this weekend.

Hopke followed a first-period takedown with a gut wrench, then tacked on another 2+2 with a leg lace in the second. Those sequences proved decisive in a 9-6 defeat.

Mocco would dominate his consolation semifinal, then drop a 9-0 decision to Californian Coby Merrill – who’d been ranked #1 in the country as recently as last month.

Merrill, a shorter, stouter foe, controlled center throughout – an area of improvement for the future Hawkeye heavyweight.

The Massoma (Endene) mystery continues

If you were hoping (like I was) to emerge from this weekend with a clearer indication of how Massoma Endene may translate to the Division I level next season, well, you’re out of luck.

That’s OK, too, but it is the reality.

Here were the three-time Division III national champion (and returning U23 World teamer’s) stats across five wins at U23 Nationals:

  • Combined margin of victory = 52-0
  • Average match length = 53 seconds

The lone occasion in which Endene didn’t run through his opponent was also his only loss. In that instance, a 3-1 semifinal lead over South Dakota State’s Thomas Dineen vanished in the span of 12 seconds late in the second period.

Dineen was awarded a caution-and-one penalty point, then scored a step out to take the lead on criteria. After a lengthy injury timeout taken by Endene, he was unsuccessful in his attempts at the winning score as the final 33 seconds ticked away.

Presumably, this will be the last event at which Endene will not have Iowa coaches in his corner. We’ll see how much difference that makes the next time he takes the mat, but more importantly how much dividends will be paid between now and next season thanks to Endene training full-time in the Iowa room – and with a collection of elite upper weight talents to boot.

Voinovich makes a run

Iowa’s sixth and final medalist of the weekend was freshman Kael Voinovich.

The Iowa City High graduate opened his U23 tournament with five consecutive wins at 70 kilograms. Along the way, he notched victories over Stanford freshman EJ Parco – younger brother of 2025 Iowa starter Kyle Parco – and Penn State reserve Connor Pierce.

That set up a semifinal against two-year Minnesota starter Drew Roberts.

Roberts scored the bout’s first six points as Voinovich struggled to find his offense. And while the Hawkeye narrowed the margin to as little as three during the second period, it ultimately wasn’t enough in a 12-7 defeat.

For undetermined reasons, Voinovich went on to medically forfeit both of his consolation matches thereafter. Thus, a sixth-place finish was his ultimate result.

Other results

Of Iowa’s six other U23 entries, none advanced beyond the Round of 32.

Joey Cruz (57kg), Koye Grebel (70kg), Isaiah Fenton (74kg), Joseph Kennedy (74kg) and Sebastian Robles (79kg) all won at last one match. So too, did 2026 commit Owen McMullen – who went 2-2 at 70kg as he continues to make his return to form from a lengthy injury.

And in U20 competition, Iowa’s third and final competitor – Brody Sampson – went 0-2 in the challenge tournament at 92kg.

Short time

Alright folks, there you have it.

The next big summer freestyle event will be Final X on June 14th in New Jersey.

There, a total of seven past/present Iowa wrestlers will compete for spots on the Senior World team.

I’ll have plenty of coverage in the lead up to what should be an awesome event, but until then, thanks as always for reading/following along.

I’ll talk to you guys again real soon.

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