Iowa wrestling’s Gabe Arnold on Carver-Hawkeye Arena debut
Here’s what Iowa true freshman Gabe Arnold had to say after a stellar Carver-Hawkeye Debut:
Iowa. Iowa State. The Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
Enough said.
Iowa has dominated Iowa State in this rivalry. The Hawkeyes are 68-16-2 all-time, including winning 48 of the last 50 and 18 straight over the Cyclones.
However, this is one of the best on-paper lineups the Cyclones have trotted out in the Kevin Dresser era. Thus far in 2023-24, Iowa State has defeated Cleveland State, Davidson and Wisconsin by a score of 135-3. Iowa State has recorded 117 takedowns in duals, while only conceding eight.
Iowa is still a behemoth of a team to bring down, with five top-10 ranked wrestlers set to start for the Hawkeyes. So far, Iowa has defeated opponents by a combined team score of 65-11.
Follow along with our live updates here throughout the dual, which is expected to be competitive down to the final match.
197 pounds: Iowa’s Zach Glazier defeats Julien Broderson, 7-3
Gutsy.
That’s what Tom Brands told Glazier after the Glazier match, which clinched a victory for Iowa in the Cy-Hawk dual. The senior had two takedowns on Broderson to end the day for Iowa, which has now won 19-consecutive duals over ISU.
184 pounds: Iowa’s Gabe Arnold defeats Will Feldkamp, 3-2
If Arnold didn’t shock the world last week, he sure did now, defeating No. 6 Feldkamp 3-2.
For a true freshman to defeat not only a bigger wrestler, but one of the strongest guys in the sport, that’s incredibly impressive. Feldkamp continued to try an impose his will on Arnold, pushing down on the head of Arniold with the height and weight advnatage, but the true freshman continued to lock arms and hold his own. His takedown to open the first period wad enough to sneak out a win.
That upset win puts Iowa firmly in the lead here at 15-10, putting a lot of pressure on Julien Broderson and Yonger Bastida to finish strong.
174 pounds: Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy defeats MJ Gaitan, 14-13
Take a bow Kennedy, who narrowly escaped with a 14-13 win in his season debut for the Hawkeyes.
Kennedy was stellar to open, recording three takedowns in the first period. It seemed like the Hawkeyes make swing back with a bonus point victory over their own, but Gaitan picked up three takedowns of his own to keep the match within striking distance. Kennedy would hold on to win what was the most entertaining match of the afternoon.
Gaitan chose to held on at the end instead of cutting Kennedy for another shot at a takedown, something coach Kevin Dresser said was a mistake on ESPN following the match. We’ll see if that comes back to bite them.
Iowa is back on top, leading 12-10.
165 pounds: Iowa State’s David Carr defeats Michael Caliendo, 16-4
This was the first major decision victory for either side, with Carr digging deep into his bag of tricks for takedowns.
First, he got down near mat level to strike like a cobra at Caliendo for a takedown and a 3-0 lead. From there, Carr got ahold of the legs of Caliendo to prop him up on one leg and thrust him down for three points on three more occasions for the 16-4 win.
Carr’s had the best performance of the day, and put Iowa State in a really goods position for the rest of the match.
157 pounds: Iowa’s Jared Franek defeats Cody Chittum, 4-2
Franek got an early takedown in the first period to take the lead. Throughout the match, Franek’s big frame was tough for Chittum to break, as the NDSU transfer held the freshman in a headlock for long stretches.
As the time ticked to zero, Chittum made his move late by planting the knees of Franek on the ground near the edge of the mat and maneuvering on top for control. Officials reviewed the takedown, but ruled that time had expired to leave Franek the winner.
You can be the judge of whether Chittum got the takedown before the clock hit zero:
That’s was the second crucial decision late in the match by officials, both going in favor of Iowa for victories.
Iowa leads 9-6 at intermission as a result.
149 pounds: Iowa State’s Casey Swiderski defeats Victor Voinovich, 6-3
The question coming in as whether Voinovich could finish his shots. In this one, Swiderski took two early for takedowns and never looked back.
Despite the lead, Swiderski continued to look for opportunities for more points, while Voinovich was picking up the stalling calls and just never looked confident in taking opportunities. Brands had wanted the Oklahoma transfer to finish more of his chances, but there’s just wasn’t much room for Voinovich to get an opportunity to do so.
This was a huge victory for Iowa State, as the pressure is getting put on the Iowa guys at the bottom of this lineup.
141 pounds: Iowa’s Real Woods wins 4-1 over Anthony Echemendia in overtime
This one went to overtime after an escape from Woods and a stalling point was awarded to Echemendia seconds before the end of the third. It appeared Echemendia may have gotten a takedown before the buzzer, but referees blew the whistle with a second to go to prevent that from happening. Dresser and the coaching staff chose not to challenge.
Woods immediately took a shot for the right leg of Echemendia in overtime, and got the sudden victory win with a takedown to give Iowa a 6-3 lead.
Ultimately, the Hawkeyes would have liked to have seen more from Woods here, who didn’t take many shots for a guy who’s known to produce fireworks, but a win is a win.
133 pounds: Iowa State’s Evan Frost defeats Brody Teske 8-1, ties the dual at 3-3
The Cyclone program has been talking up Frost all offseason, and he showed exactly why.
Frost was selective, but made his one moment count. Taking his first real shot of the match, the freshman secured a takedown in the third period, then rolled Teske onto is back for a moment to pick up a near-fall and eventually an 8-1 victory over the senior.
If you’re Iowa State, you would have loved to get some bonus points with a pin there, but a win puts them in good shape with the projections down the lineup.
125 pounds: Iowa’s Drake Ayala defeats Kysen Terukina, 7-2
Tom Brands demanded his team dictate matches last week after defeating Oregon State, and that’s exactly what Ayala did.
After feeling each other out in the first period, Ayala scored a takedown near the edge of the mat in the second period to take control. Terukina never took a real shot till near the end of the third period, where Ayala countered and got ahold of Terukina’s leg and brought him down for a second takedown and a 7-2 victory before the buzzer.
This was a huge result for Iowa, who needed wins before the bottom half of this lineup where the Cyclones have an advantage.
2:15 p.m. update: The Cy-Hawk dual has been shifted from ESPN2 to ESPN now that basketball is over.
2:00 p.m: Match to begin on ESPN2
The Cy-Hawk dual will start on ESPN2 because college basketball is running late on ESPN. After the basketball game between Virginia Tech and Florida Atlantic ends, it is expected that Iowa-ISU wrestling will shift over to ESPN.
1:05 p.m: Coaches shift lineups ahead of dual
The probable lineups were a bit of a diversion earlier this week, as both coaching staffs have shaken up their starters ahead of the dual.
Here are the full starting lineups for the afternoon. Iowa State wrestlers listed first.
- 125: #8 Kysen Terukina vs. #17 Drake Ayala
- 133: #19 Evan Frost vs. #8 Brody Teske
- 141: #19 Anthony Echemendia or Jacob Frost or Zach Redding vs. #1 Real Woods
- 149: #14 Casey Swiderski vs. #9 Victor Voinovich III or Caleb Rathjen
- 157: #18 Cody Chittum vs. #2 Jared Franek
- 165: #2 David Carr vs. #5 Michael Caliendo or Drake Rhodes
- 174: #21 MJ Gaitan vs. Patrick Kennedy
- 184: #6 Will Feldkamp or Caleb Helgeson or Tate Naaktgeboren vs. Gabe Arnold or Aiden Riggins or Will Carano
- 197: #24 Julien Broderson vs. #22 Zach Glazier
- 285: #7 Yonger Bastida vs. Bradley Hill
Most notably, Kennedy will be making his season debut for the Hawkeyes. The NCAA qualifier will wrestle at 174 pounds, bumping Arnold, Riggins or Carano to be the starter at 184 pounds. That sets up a number of intriguing options for Iowa State, who has thrown Hegelson and Naaktgeboren as potential starters at 184 with Feldkamp. Arnold and Naaktgeboren are quite familiar with each other, having wrestled four times last year in high school.
For Iowa, Rathjen (149 pounds) and Rhodes (165 pounds) are listed as an or with the typical starters at those weight classes. Iowa State also has three wrestlers listed at 141, with Echemendia, Jacob Frost and Zach Redding each as an option.
There’s going to be a lot of mind games and crucial coaching decisions to look back on after this dual.
1:00 p.m: Match to begin at 125 pounds
125 pounds was one of our four matchups to watch in our Cy-Hawk preview, so right from the jump, one of these teams is going to take control of the match.
Terukina has been stellar to begin the year, winning his first two matches by technical fall in a Cyclone singlet and upsetting then No. 5 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin. Dresser challenged his 125 pounder earlier in the year, citing he hadn’t done the little things outside of wrestling to reach his potential. So far, he’s answered that bell.
He’s going to have one of the toughest opponents he’ll face this year in Ayala, who associate head coach Terry Brands said is coming off of one of his best weeks of practice he’s had since losing to Oregon State’s Brandon Kaylor.
“He came back in and went to work right away,” Terry Brands said. “He was accountable to it.”
The winner here is going to go a long way into either team coming away with a win.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
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