Hawkeyes bringing 9 to Philly for nationals

By DANA BECKER

dbecker@messengernews.net

PHILADELPHIA — Led by returning national runner-up Drake Ayala, the Iowa wrestling team will bring nine athletes to the NCAA Championships inside the Wells Fargo Center.

Ayala, a former three-time state champion for Fort Dodge Senior High, has earned the No. 2 seed at 133 pounds. He will face Kade Moore of Missouri in the opening round, which airs live on ESPNU and streams on ESPN+ Thursday.

Joining Ayala will be Hawk teammates Joey Cruz, Kyle Parco, Jacori Teemer, Michael Caliendo, Patrick Kennedy, Gabe Arnold, Stephen Buchanan and Ben Kueter. Iowa has qualified at least nine grapplers each of the past 13 seasons and 17 times overall since Tom Brands first became head coach in 2007.

For Ayala, this is another opportunity to prove himself on the big stage.

“I’m super excited,” he said. “This is the greatest time of the year. It’s like Christmas for me.

“It’s going to be a fun week.”

As a sophomore, Ayala went 27-5 and finished second at 125 pounds following a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. This year, he was a Big Ten runner-up, owns a record of 17-2 and has eight wins over ranked opponents.

“The big thing is to take it match by match,” Ayala said. “You can’t look forward, you can’t look backward. I did a good job of that last year, and plan to do the same this (time around).

“I’ve been here before, been (a part of) Saturday night (in the finals). I’m just excited.”

One of Ayala’s biggest challenges will be Lucas Byrd of Illinois, who topped him in the conference finals. Ayala does own a win over Byrd earlier in the year. He also also defeated Iowa State’s Evan Frost.

Lehigh’s Ryan Crookham held the No. 1 spot at 133 for much of the season before opting out of the postseason with an injury. Ayala replaced him before falling to Byrd, who enters nationals in that top spot. Byrd is a two-time All-American.

Tyler Knox of Stanford, who is the other wrestler to defeat Ayala this year, is on Byrd’s side of the draw as the 13 seed. Ayala’s second round opponent would be either Anthony Noto of Lehigh or Northern Iowa’s Julian Farber while Frost, Arkansas-Little Rock’s Nasir Bailey and Virginia Tech’s Connor McGonagle are also in the mix to challenge the former Dodger.

Caliendo is the only other returning All-American from a Hawkeye team that finished fifth last year. He was fourth at 165 pounds and faces Aiden Riggins of Iowa State in the opening round on Thursday.

Teemer, who squares off with Johnny Lovett of Central Michigan at 157, was a runner-up last year while competing for Arizona State.

Another Iowa vs. Iowa State first round matchup takes place at heavyweight, where Kueter takes on Daniel Herrera.

Cruz faces North Carolina State’s Vincent Robinson at 125; Parco gets Big Ten rival Dylan Gilcher from Michigan at 149; Kennedy takes on Nick Incontrera of Penn at 174; Arnold gets Indiana’s Donnell Washington at 184; and Buchanan faces Remy Cotton from Michigan State at 197.

All sessions of the NCAA Championships stream live on ESPN+ with multi-mat access. The morning sessions also air on ESPNU, with the evening sessions on ESPN or ESPN2.