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Varmints exterminated: #3 Iowa trounces #6 Minnesota, 23-11

by:Tanner Lafever•about 20 hours•

TannerLafever

Joey Cruz
Joey Cruz got Iowa off to the perfect start on Friday with his upset victory over #13 Cooper Flynn. (Photo Credit: Iowa Wrestling Twitter)

Look, am I saying that the Iowa wrestling team took notes from the great Carl Spackler before trekking north for Friday’s dual at sixth-ranked Minnesota? No.

But I’m not ‘not saying it’ either.

If memory serves, Spackler’s famous quote went something like this:

“Licensed to (defeat) (Golden) gophers by the government of the United Nations. A (wrestling team), free to (defeat) gophers at will. To (win), you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit – ever. They’re like the Viet Cong – Varmint Cong. So, what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to fall back on superior firepower and superior intelligence. And that’s all she wrote.”

Again, I can’t prove this theory – but it sure seemed like the #3 Hawkeyes took those words to heart.

With its latest victory, Iowa (12-1, 6-1 B1G) has now won 11-straight duals against Minnesota (10-2, 6-2 B1G) – including six-in-a-row in Minneapolis.

On this occasion, the visitors jumped ahead early and never looked back, winning 7/10 bouts. Of those, all seven came versus ranked opponents – including a pair of top 10 foes.

I wrote in my weekend preview that this dual had the potential to get dicey for the Hawks if they didn’t take care of business where expected.

Well, they did that (and then some) en route to win that felt pretty much cemented after six matches.

Here’s how Tom Brands’ squad silenced the (considerable) musings from earlier this week about a possible upset brewing in Minneapolis.

Cruz starts Hawks off hot (again)

Not so dissimilar to his match three weeks ago against Ohio State, Joey Cruz controlled a top-16 opponent to get Iowa started off in fine form on Friday night.

The 26th-ranked sophomore was the aggressor (almost) from start-to-finish against #13 Cooper Flynn.

Cruz constantly took ground, got to legs and had the Gopher on the defensive. A first-period takedown (and ride out) plus a lengthy third-period ride had him effectively leading 4-1 when Wells finally converted his lone attack of the bout with just six seconds remaining in regulation.

But rather than hang his head, Cruz continued to keep his foot on the gas. Yet another leg attack proved fruitful, as he methodically improved his position before converting the winning takedown some 44 seconds into the extra period.

Iowa still would’ve been favored on paper to win this dual had Cruz lost. Instead, the 125-pounder helped the Hawkeyes come flying out of the gates to a lead they’d never relinquish.

Lower weights build the advantage

On several occasions this season Iowa has had to overcome an early deficit in duals.

That’s no knock on the first half of lineup, just a reality of how the strength of the team has shaken out in 2024-25.

Against the Gophers though, the ‘top of the order’ was swinging some lumber of its own.

Following Cruz’s win, #3 Drake Ayala took care of business at 133 with a scoreboard-can-be-deceiving 9-5 victory over #19 Tyler Wells.

The reigning NCAA finalist was in control throughout the match, pursuing a major decision in its latter stages. But the junior got caught a little flat-footed, perhaps, and Wells struck for a third-period takedown to put any bonus point hopes to rest.

Meanwhile, the opposite played out for Iowa at 141. There, Cullan Schriever was smack dab in the thick of bonus-point territory – trailing #8 Vance Vombaur, 13-3 with just 50 seconds remaining.

Clearly the Iowa senior had no plans to merely accept his fate, as the Mason City native scored not one, but two takedowns to close the match.

Twice, Schriever countered Vombaur attacks, closing the final deficit to 14-10 with just one second left.

I realize ‘moral victories’ aren’t exactly touted in wrestling, but this was big for Iowa to both prevent bonus points and (maybe) inject Schriever with some real confidence as he tries to solidify 141 entering the postseason.

At 149/157 a pair of one-takedown matches both went in favor of the Hawkeyes to extend their lead to 12-3 entering intermission.

#3 Kyle Parco got his in the first period, then put a saddle on #29 Drew Roberts to complete a 5-0 shutout.

#3 Jacori Teemer got his in the third to cement a 4-1 win over #8 Tommy Askey.

Nail meets coffin

Michael Caliendo seems like a super nice guy from every interaction I’ve seen the junior 165-pounder have during his Iowa career.

That said, it sure felt like familiarity may’ve bread a bit of contempt for his opponent on Friday evening.

At least that’s the impression the scoreboard gave, as #2 Caliendo lambasted #11 Andrew Sparks, 21-5.

These two wrestlers had met on four other occasions prior to their latest tilt – each won by Caliendo.

  • 11-10 (2022)
  • 5-2 (2022)
  • 2-1 (2022)
  • 7-5 (2024)

The last of those came barely 1.5 months ago at the Soldier Salute.

This go around wasn’t nearly as close.

Already leading 7-2 in the second period, Caliendo hipped into a Sparks reattack and wound up holding the Gopher on his back for a seven-point sequence. That, plus two more takedowns gave Caliendo a winning margin (16) that more than doubled the combined total of their four previous meetings.

Talk about a statement made.

Immediately thereafter, #11 Patrick Kennedy pushed Iowa’s bout-winning streak to four with an 8-4 win over #22 Clayton Whiting.

Much like Ayala at 133, PK figures to be frustrated by giving up a third-period takedown while in pursuit of the major decision.

It’s a little thing, sure – and both still won comfortably. But the little stuff matters too.

Said Tom Brands of their situational hiccups post-dual, “We’ve got to be a little bit freer there, that’s what I have to say.”

Kennedy’s victory also extended Iowa’s lead to 20-3 in the team score – a deficit unlikely to be overcome by any wrestling team in history against the final three members of the Hawkeye lineup.

Big boy battles

The highest ranked wrestlers on this year’s Minnesota team just so happen to also occupy its three uppermost weight classes.

#4 Max McEnelly (184), #8 Isaiah Salazar (197) and #1 Gable Steveson (285) entered Friday with a combined record of 42-3 this season.

Iowa would counter with some heavy hitters of its own in #8 Gabe Arnold, #1 Stephen Buchanan and #11 Ben Kueter.

On this night, the Gophers got the better of things (if only barely), while the Hawkeyes got to head home with the dual win in hand.

Arnold and McEnelly wrestled what I thought was an incredibly compelling one-takedown match ultimately won by the Minnesotan in sudden victory.

Gabe looked fast and strong against a redshirt freshman opponent who entered their match having yet to lose in his college career – one who’d also scored bonus points against 15/17 foes this season.

It wasn’t until sudden victory that an extended shot by Arnold allowed McEnelly to capitalize for the winning reattack score.

At 197, Stephen Buchanan continued to show why he’s the top dog at the weight. His 5-1 win over reigning (184-pound) Big Ten champ Isaiah Salazar may not have been sexy, but it was ruthlessly tactical and well executed.

The #1 ranked Hawkeye put on a tough third-period ride to build his riding time over a minute. Then, with the eighth-ranked Salazar forced to chase (effectively trailing 2-1) Buchanan sought his own offense to slam the door shut.

The win would be Iowa’s seventh and final of the night as Ben Kueter underwent the whole Gable Steveson experience at heavyweight.

It turns out, the best heavyweight wrestler in the WORLD is still a bridge (or five) too far for the Hawkeye redshirt freshman at this point in their careers.

(You’re not alone, Ben.)

Short time

There you have it, folks.

Iowa is now 81-28-1 all-time against the Gophers – presumably thanks (once again) to “superior firepower and superior intelligence.”

(Oh, and some pretty darn good wrestling too.)

The Hawkeyes will return to the mat this Sunday for their second dual of the weekend and last of their 2024-25 Big Ten schedule.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena will play host to the Northwestern Wildcats starting at 1:00 p.m. – also streaming live on B1G+.

I’ll be back to cover all the action in full.

Until then, I leave you with the sage wisdom of Carl Spackler – whose words I’m sure all Iowa fans will appreciate:

Full dual results

#3 Iowa – 23, #6 Minnesota – 11

125 – #26 Joey Cruz (I) dec. #13 Cooper Flynn (M), 7-4 SV1
133 – #3 Drake Ayala (I) dec. #19 Tyler Wells (M), 9-5
141 – #8 Vance VomBaur (M) dec. Cullan Schriever (I), 14-10
149 – #3 Kyle Parco (I) dec. #29 Drew Roberts (M), 5-0
157 – #3 Jacori Teemer (I) dec. #8 Tommy Askey (M), 4-1
165 – #2 Michael Caliendo (I) tech fall. #11 Andrew Sparks (M), 21-5
174 – #11 Patrick Kennedy (I) dec. #22 Clayton Whiting (M), 8-4
184 – #4 Max McEnelly (M) dec. #8 Gabe Arnold (I), 4-1 SV1
197 – #1 Stephen Buchanan (I) dec. #8 Isaiah Salazar (M), 5-1
285 – #1 Gable Steveson (M), #11 Ben Kueter (I), 22-3

Officials: Jeron Quincy, Jay Cox

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