Notes: No. 2 Iowa Set for Season Opener

ON THE MAT
The second-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team opens the 2022-23 season Sunday, hosting California Baptist at 1 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Mat inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The dual is sold out.
• The Hawkeyes will also send wrestlers to the Luther Open on Saturday in Decorah, Iowa. Action begins at 9 a.m. at Regents Center Gymnasium.

FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
• Sunday’s dual will be streamed on B1G+ — a paid subscription service.  Former Hawkeyes Kaleb Young and Alex Marinelli will be on the call.
• Iowa wrestling events are broadcast by KXIC and streamed on hawkeyesports.com via YouTube. Steven Grace and Mark Ironside will call the action for Hawkeye Sports Properties, a property of Learfield.
• Follow Iowa wrestling on social media via Twitter (@Hawks_Wrestling), Facebook/iowahawkeyewrestling and Instagram (@iowahawkeyewrestling).

No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes Probable Lineup vs. California Baptist

Wt.	Rank	Name	Yr.	Hometown/High School	2022-23 Record
125		Aidan Harris	Jr.	Layton, Utah/Layton (Iowa Central CC)	0-0
133		Brody Teske	Jr.	Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge (Penn State/UNI)	0-0
-or-	19/13/–	Cullan Schriever	So.	Mason City, Iowa/Mason City	0-0
141		Drew Bennett	Sr.	Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge (UNI)	0-0
149	8/7/8	Max Murin	RS Sr.	Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria	0-0
157		Caleb Rathjen	RS Fr.	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny	0-0
-or-		Cobe Siebrecht	Jr.	Lisbon, Iowa/Lisbon	0-0
165	17/14/18	Patrick Kennedy	So.	Kasson-Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville	0-0
174		Drake Rhodes	Fr.	Billings, Mont./Billings West	0-0
184	13/10/11	Abe Assad	Jr.	Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North	0-0
197	2/2/2	Jacob Warner	RS Sr.	Tolono, Ill./Washington	0-0
285	4/4/4	Tony Cassioppi	Sr.	Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah	0-0

 

NO. 2 IN PRESEASON
The Hawkeyes are ranked second in the preseason NWCA Coaches’ poll and by Intermat, WIN and FLO.
• Iowa finished third at the 2022 NCAA Championships with 74 points with five All-Americans. The Hawkeyes were also third at the Big Ten Championships with 129.5 points.

CHA FIRST-TIMERS
Five Hawkeyes in the probable lineup could make their Carver-Hawkeye Arena debuts Sunday against California Baptist. Aidan Harris, Brody Teske, Drew Bennett, Caleb Rathjen and Drake Rhodes will wrestle in a black Iowa singlet for the first time in front of the home crowd.
• Three wrestlers — Harris, Teske and Rhodes — could make their Hawkeye debuts.

ALL-AMERICANS
The Hawkeyes have six past All-Americans on the 2022-23 roster in three-time NCAA Champion Spencer Lee (125), Real Woods (141), Max Murin (149), Abe Assad (184), Jacob Warner (197) and Tony Cassioppi (285).
• Iowa has crowned at least one All-American in 51 consecutive tournaments, dating back to 1972.

NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC RETURNS
Three Hawkeyes — Real Woods, Jacob Warner and Tony Cassioppi wil compete at the 2022 NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 22 in Austin, Texas. The event will be held at FloWrestling and begin at 7 p.m. (CT).
• The NWCA All-Star meet is an exhibition event and the results do not count on any wrestlers NCAA record form or toward the season’s RPI.
• Woods will face Pittsburgh’s Cole Matthews. Matthews is ranked No. 1 and Woods No. 2 in the national rankings at 141 pounds.
• Warner will square off against Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan at 197 pounds in a rematch of last season’s NCAA semifinal bout — a 6-4 Warner win.
• Cassioppi will face Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet for the fourth time in his career. Cassioppi is 3-0 all-time against the Nittany Lion heavyweight.

NEWCOMERS
The Hawkeyes have 17 newcomers on the 2022-23 roster, including three transfers.
• Real Woods was a two-time All-American at Stanford University (2020, 2022). He finished sixth at 141 last season.
• Brody Teske was a two-time NCAA qualifier at Northern Iowa after beginning his career at Penn State. Teske is one of three Fort Dodge, Iowa, natives on the 2022-23 roster (Drake Ayala, Drew Bennett).
• Aidan Harris spent two seasons at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, where he was a two-time national qualifier. The Utah native placed fourth at 125 in 2021, winning six consecutive wrestle-back matches.

CASS EARNS WORLD BRONZE
Senior Tony Cassioppi won his second world age-group medal, earning a bronze at the 2022 U23 UWW World Championships on Oct. 23 in Spain. Cassioppi also won a gold medal at the 2021 UWW World Championships.

KENNEDY WINS U23 TITLE
Sophomore Patrick Kennedy went 7-0 at the 2022 World Team Trials to win the 74 kg title in June. Kennedy posted three victories over All-Americans and two more over NCAA qualifiers during the tournament.
• Kennedy, who will wrestle at 165 pounds this season, went 17-3 last season, wrestling unattached. He won three open tournaments — Harold Nichols Open, UNI Open and Last Chance Open.
• The four-time Minnesota state champion posted a 2-1 record in the varsity lineup during the 2020-21 season.

SOLD OUT X 2
Iowa wrestling season tickets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena are sold out for a second straight season. The Hawkeyes have led the nation in attendance every year since 2006-07. Iowa set an NCAA record, averaging 14,905 fans in 2021-22.

TV TIME
Nine Iowa duals will be televised during the 2022-23 season. The Hawkeyes will have eight duals televised on BTN and one on ESPNU.
• Iowa’s BTN appearances include home duals against Iowa State (1:30 p.m. (CT)), Nebraska (8 p.m.), Michigan (8 p.m.) and Oklahoma State (3:30 p.m.) and road duals at Purdue (1 p.m.), Wisconsin (TBA), Penn State (7:30 p.m.) and Minnesota (8 p.m.).
• The Hawkeyes’ home dual against Northwestern will be televised on ESPNU.

HAWKEYE WRESTLING HISTORY
The Hawkeyes have won 24 national titles and 37 Big Ten titles. Iowa’s 55 NCAA Champions have won a total of 85 NCAA individual titles, crowning seven three-time and 16 two-time champions.
• The Hawkeyes’ 117 Big Ten champions have combined for 208 conference titles. There have been eight four-time, 18 three-time and 31 two-time Big Ten champions from Iowa.
• Iowa’s 161 All-Americans have earned All-America status 357 times, including one five-time, 24 four-time, 38 three-time and 40 two-time honorees.

SPENCER LEE TARGETS FOURTH TITLE
Senior Spencer Lee won the 125-pound NCAA Championship in 2021, becoming the seventh three-time national champion in program history and putting an exclamation point on the Hawkeyes’ 2021 NCAA team title. Lee was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and won the Dan Hodge Trophy for the second straight season.
• Lee is the seventh three-time NCAA champion in program history, joining the ranks of Ed Banach (1981, 81, 83), Barry Davis (1982, 83, 85), Jim Zalesky (1982-84), Tom Brands (1990-92), Lincoln McIlravy (1993, 94, 97) and Joe Williams (1996-98).
• Only four wrestlers in NCAA history have won four Division I national titles: Oklahoma State’s Pat Smith (‘90-92, ‘94), Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson (‘99-02), Cornell’s Kyle Dake (‘10-13), and Ohio State’s Logan Stieber (‘12-15).

Iowa’s three-time champions include:

1. Ed Banach (177, 177, 190) 1980-81, 1983
2. Barry Davis (118, 126, 126) 1982-83, 1985
3. Jim Zalesky (158) 1982-84
4. Tom Brands (134) 1990-92
5. Lincoln McIlravy (142, 150, 150) 1993-94, 1997
6. Joe Williams (158, 158, 167) 1996-98
7. Spencer Lee (125) 2018-19, 2021

LIGHTING JOE EARNS HOF NOD
Three-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American Joe Williams will be inducted into the Class of 2023 for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Williams will inducted as a Distinguished Member at the 46th Honors Weekend on June 2-3, 2023, in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Williams finished his Hawkeye career with a 129-9 overall record and helped Iowa to back-to-back NCAA team titles in 1996 and 1997. He was named Outstanding Wrestler at the 1998 NCAA Tournament.

HAWKEYES AND CARVER-HAWKEYE ARENA
• Iowa is 119-13 (.902) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since Tom Brands took over the program prior to 2006-07. The Hawkeyes are 269-26 (.912) all-time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since moving from the UI Field House in 1983. Iowa finished 5-1 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2021-22.
• Carver-Hawkeye Arena has hosted two United States Olympic Team Trials, four Big Ten Championships (1983, 1994, 2005, 2016) and four NCAA Championships (1986, 1991, 1995, 2001). The Hawkeyes have won five tournament titles on their home mat, including the 1983 and 1994 Big Ten Championships, and the 1986, 1991 and 1995 NCAA Championships.
• In 2018, the University of Iowa hosted the UWW World Cup, an international dual tournament featuring eight of the top countries in the world.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will travel to New York for three duals next week. Iowa will face Army on Nov. 17 in West Point before squaring off against Albany and Buffalo as part of the Arm Bar at the Armory in Albany. All three duals will be streamed live on FLOWrestling.