IOWA CITY — The No. 3-ranked Iowa wrestling team defeated No. 10 Minnesota 22-9 on Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to remain undefeated on the season.
The final match, despite the dual being well in hand for the Hawkeyes, was by far the highlight of the night for fans as football/wrestling dual-sport athlete Ben Kueter made his Iowa wrestling debut. The four-time state champion and Junior World champion from Iowa City High secured a 5-3 victory in front of a raucous crowd.
As a kid growing up, Kueter dreamed of being one of the wrestlers to don a Hawkeye singlet. On Monday, he finally got that chance. It was a nerve-wracking, dream-like moment for Kueter and his teammates. Iowa's 125-pound sophom*ore, Drake Ayala, described having goosebumps as Kueter took the mat on a night when Ayala earned a victory himself.
"It was pretty tough just sitting around all day and just waiting for this," Kueter said. "It's something I've been dreaming of ever since I was a kid at a young age, and now to actually get to do it, it's pretty surreal."
More on Ben Kueter:Hawkeye freshman rises to occasion in debut victory, but said he was disappointed in his performance
Here's a match-by-match breakdown of how Kueter and Iowa got it done against the Golden Gophers. Iowa wrestlers listed first.
125 pounds: No. 5 Drake Ayala vs. No. 18 Patrick McKee
Opening the night with the best matchup on paper, this bout did not disappoint.
Ayala defended some shots from McKee down low in the first, until McKee finally connected low on Ayala's ankle and brought him down for three points. Ayala did get the quick escape before the end of the first, but was held down for the opening minute and a half of the second to give McKee a distinct riding-time advantage.
Ayala then found his offense, going down for a single-leg takedown on McKee's left leg, making it a 5-3 lead heading into the third frame. After McKee got an escape in about 14 seconds to begin the third period, Ayala fired again for the right leg of the Golden Gopher and took him down for an 8-4 lead. Ayala held on for the 8-6 victory.
With that win, Ayala made a strong argument to be ranked No. 1 at 125 in the various polls with so many other contenders losing. We're set up for a fun match Friday with Purdue's Matt Ramos, who was the preseason No. 1 in the class.
More:Iowa wrestling's Drake Ayala ranked No. 1 at 125 pounds, ready for Purdue challenge
133 pounds: Kale Petersen vs. No. 29 Tyler Wells
Petersen made his Carver-Hawkeye Arena debut in this match, racing out to Rihanna's "Talk that Talk" to the applause of the Iowa faithful. With uncertainty at 133 pounds following Brody Teske's loss to Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska, this was a big chance for the true freshman to prove he can be the guy if Teske is not.
Petersen dropped a 6-4 bout, but he flashed some good things in this match, getting two minutes of riding time in the second period to give himself a chance down 3-1 entering the third period. Still, Wells picked up another takedown in the third to seal the deal in this one.
Petersen still has four more dates he can wrestle before burning a year of eligibility, so he might still have some matches in the future to try to be the guy here. If he does, you'll want to see more offensive firepower from the true freshman to slot him over Teske or Cullan Schriever.
141 pounds: No. 1 Real Woods vs. No. 19 Vance VomBaur
The version of Woods we have seen this season is a guy that is calm, cool and collected. Undefeated on the year, he's controlled just about every match he has wrestled, with maybe the exception of the Anthony Echemendia match during the Cy-Hawk dual.
This one wasn't any different, taking just seven seconds to fire and bring down VomBaur for a takedown. He then held VomBaur down for 1:37 to get a firm riding-time advantage entering the second. Picking up two escapes, VomBaur had a fighting chance early in the third period. Woods, however, fended off VomBaur's attacks and did just enough to end with a 5-2 win by decision as he fought off a near takedown as time expired.
He hasn't necessarily been the offensive dynamo fans are used to seeing, but Woods just looks entirely comfortable working through a match in every phase. Good sign for a guy looking to win an NCAA title.
AJ Ferrari makes his way into stands
Midway through this match, AJ Ferrari made his entry into Carver-Hawkeye Arena to watch the dual. From there, many young fans made their way down near the floor to get autographs and pictures with Ferrari. Pretty stark contrast to the fiasco at the Soldier Salute just a couple of weeks ago, where Ferrari gave middle fingers to a Hawkeye-heavy crowd.
What this means for him and his future in Iowa, we'll have to see.
149 pounds: No. 12 Caleb Rathjen vs. No. 13 Drew Roberts
After dropping a bout to the No. 1 guy at 149 pounds against Nebraska, how was Rathjen going to respond? He did in a pretty big way, defeating Roberts with a pair of takedowns, including a double-leg takedown where he wrapped around the upper thighs of Roberts and thrusted him down for a 7-2 lead early in the third. Outside of a quick escape from Roberts, Rathjen comfortably glided to a win late (7-3 decision).
It was a tough but understandable loss to Ridge Lovett on Friday. This is exactly the response the coaching staff was looking for from the Ankeny product, helping the team take a 9-3 lead.
157 pounds: No. 2 Jared Franek vs. No. 11 Michael Blockhus
The one complaint early on about Franek was his lack of offensive firepower in matches, and this may be a good example of why.
Franek got in on a shot midway through the first period for a takedown. From there, Franek really didn't take another until midway through the third when up 4-2. Blockhus (four-time high school state champion from New Hampton) fought it off and got back into a neutral position. Blockhus wasn't entirely offensive either, but connected on a shot, swung his way on top of Franek with just 19 seconds left when it mattered most and held on for a 5-4 win. That was the first loss of Franek's Hawkeye career, allowing Minnesota to cut within three at 9-6.
The North Dakota State transfer fell to 15-1, with his defense being the main component of getting him there. His lack of offense despite controlling most of the match allowed Blockhus to hang around and escape with a win. If Franek wants to reach that next gear and challenge Penn State's Levi Hanes to win a national title, firing away more on takedowns is that next step.
165 pounds: No. 7 Michael Caliendo vs. No. 30 Blaine Brenner
After Caliendo took some hands to the face following an escape in the second period to make it 2-0 (penalty point added), he quickly fought his way into a single-leg takedown to go up 5-0. Outside of a quick escape in the third for Brenner, Caliendo wrestled a clean, efficient match here for a 5-1 decision to make it 12-6.
Caliendo is 14-1, with his lone blemish coming against former national champion David Carr.
174 pounds: Iowa's Patrick Kennedy vs. Minnesota's Sam Skillings
Kennedy continues to look more and more like the NCAA-qualifying guy we saw last year, running out to a 13-2 win over Skillings. In this match, Kennedy racked up two takedowns that were both fairly impressive, including one near the end of the first period in which he rolled Skillings into a two-point near fall.
This was the first bonus-point win of the night for either team, putting up Iowa 16-6 with three bouts to go.
184 pounds: Aiden Riggins vs. No. 10 Isaiah Salazar
Riggins has had tough sledding recently for Iowa, at 9-7 coming into this dual. It didn't get any easier in this match against a top-10 opponent. He dropped a 7-0 decision, but didn't give up any bonus points to keep it at 16-9 for Iowa. He may not be winning, but he's not conceding a lot of points.
Riggins was listed at 157/165 pounds to start this season. It appears that 184 pounds probably isn't the spot for him and his frame. It's an honorable sacrifice Riggins is making to fill that role as of now, helping Gabe Arnold hold on to appearances before burning a year of eligibility. It is time to wonder, however, if/when Arnold will make that switch this season to 184 full-time.
197 pounds: No. 16 Zach Glazier vs. No. 24 Garrett Joles
A solid 4-2 win here for Glazier, who yet again clinched a dual for Iowa by going up 19-9 in the team score. Glazier is 15-0 and four duals clinched by him. He picked up one takedown and an escape in this bout.
285 pounds: Ben Kueter vs. No. 29 Bennot Tabor
The debut Hawkeye fans have been waiting for finally happened.
He quickly got to work, twisting Tabor down to the ground and rolling back up on top for three points.
Kueter opened the second period up 3-1, exchanging some big mat returns before Tabor added another escape. Kueter went on bottom to start the third and after conceding a minute of riding time, Kueter picked up a nifty reversal to get a 5-3 lead and eventually the win.
Kueter said he was disappointed in his debut despite the win. He felt he had more to offer to the fans inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That's a scary proposition for opponents and an exciting one for Iowa wrestling fans.
As for what this means going forward for Kueter, we will see. He has four more appearances before burning a year of eligibility. He certainly has the credentials to be an instant-impact guy in this lineup, but how he develops in the room as a smaller heavyweight will be a point of conversation in how much we see Kueter going forward.
Monday was a good time to roll out Kueter, against another smaller heavyweight. The Nebraska dual, in which the opponent was 285-pound Noah Hutmacher, would have been a size mismatch for Kueter. That's why we saw Bradley Hill take the mat Friday in Lincoln.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him atEmckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@EMcKown23.
