Notes: No. 2 Hawkeyes Face Gophers on Friday

ON THE MAT
The second-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team heads to Minneapolis on Friday to face No. 12 Minnesota in the team’s final road dual of the season. Action will begin at 8 p.m. (CT) from Maturi Pavilion.

FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
• Friday’s dual will be televised live on BTN with Ray Flores (play-by-play) and Tim Johnson (color) on the call.
• Iowa wrestling events are broadcast by AM-800 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).
• Live results will be available via TrackWrestling with a link available on hawkeyesports.com.

BACK POINTS
• Two Hawkeyes — Spencer Lee (125) and Real Woods (141) — are unbeaten on the year. Lee is 11-0 with 11 bonus point wins, while Woods is 10-0.
• Lee is riding a 49-match winning streak dating back to the 2019 season — the ninth-longest streak in program history. Lee is 11-0 with 11 bonus point victories this season. He is rated as the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation (regardless of weight) by FLO.
• Woods has won four straight matches against ranked opponents, including downing Penn State’s Beau Bartlett last Friday to hand the Nittany Lion his first loss.
• Sophomore Patrick Kennedy is returning to his home state on Friday. Kennedy was a four-time Minnesota high school state champion at Kasson-Mantorville High School.
• The Hawkeyes have won eight straight duals over the Golden Gophers.

No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes Probable Lineup at No. 12 Minnesota

Wt.	Rank	Name	Yr.	Hometown/High School	2022-23 Record
125	1/1/1/1	Spencer Lee	RS Sr.	Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional	11-0
133	–/17/–/13	Brody Teske	Jr.	Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge (Penn State/UNI)	4-1
-or-		Cullan Schriever	So.	Mason City, Iowa/Mason City	7-6
141	2/2/2/2	Real Woods	Sr.	Albuquerque, N.M./Montini Catholic (Ill.) (Stanford)	10-0
149	10/6/7/10	Max Murin	RS Sr.	Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria	14-3
157	17/15/11/12	Cobe Siebrecht	Jr.	Lisbon, Iowa/Lisbon	8-3
165	9/7/7/8	Patrick Kennedy	So.	Kasson-Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville	13-2
174	16/16/15/16	Nelson Brands	Sr.	Iowa City, Iowa/West	4-4
184		TBA
197	7/7/9/10	Jacob Warner	RS Sr.	Tolono, Ill./Washington	11-3
285	3/3/3/3	Tony Cassioppi	Sr.	Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah	16-1

(WIN/Intermat/AWN/FLO rankings)

LAST MEET
The Hawkeyes won four matches and led 14-9 through the first six matches before No. 1 Penn State claimed the final four bouts to post a 23-14 dual victory on Jan. 27 in University Park. Spencer Lee (125) had a first-period technical fall and the Hawkeyes got decisions from Real Woods (141), Max Murin (149) and Patrick Kennedy (165) in the dual.

THE SERIES — MINNESOTA
• Iowa leads the all-time series 78-28-1 and has won the last eight meetings, including four straight in Minneapolis. Iowa has outscored the Gophers, 109-38, on Minnesota’s home turf in the last four meetings.
• The Hawkeyes won the most recent meeting, 22-10, on Jan. 7, 2022, in Iowa City.
• Minnesota’s last win in the series was a 19-15 victory in Iowa City on Jan. 25, 2014.
• Iowa head coach Tom Brands is 16-4 all-time against the Gophers.

PREVIOUS INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS
• Spencer Lee is 1-0 all-time against Patrick McKee, pinning the Gopher in 1:53 during the 2020-21 season.
• Max Murin is 2-0 all-time against Michael Blockhus, winning by a 8-0 major decision in 2018-19 (when Blockhus was at Northern Iowa) and 5-1 in 2020-21.
• Jacob Warner is 1-0 all-time against Michial Foy, winning 6-4 during the dual last season in Iowa City.

TOP 10 MATCHUPS
Friday’s marquee matchup will be at 125 pounds where top-ranked Spencer Lee will face No. 5 Patrick McKee. McKee, a two-time All-American, is 10-2 this season with losses to Purdue’s Matt Ramos (4-2) and Nebraska’s Liam Cronin (11-6).

49 STRAIGHT
Senior Spencer Lee stayed unbeaten after posting an 18-2 technical fall victory over Penn State’s Marco Vespa on Jan. 27 in Happy Valley. Lee wrapped up the tech fall in 2:14, ending the match early for a seventh consecutive match.
• Lee had a career-best six straight falls from Dec. 30 to Jan. 22. Four of the pins came over top 10 ranked foes, including No. 9 Matt Ramos, No. 3 Michael DeAugustino, No. 7 Liam Cronin and No. 6 Eric Barnett.
• His pin over Cronin came in just 38 seconds — tied for the third-fastest fall of his collegiate career. It was Lee’s 10th career fall in under one minute and it was his 27th first-period fall.
• The Pennsylvania native is 11-0 with 11 bonus point victories — seven falls (in a combined 13:31), two technical falls and two majors. In 11 matches, Lee is outscoring his opponents, 122-25, and has been on the mat for 35:03.
• The Pennsylvania native has won 49 consecutive matches dating back to the 2019 season, where he has outscored his opposition, 585-66. It is the ninth longest winning streak in Iowa wresting history: Jim Zalesky (89), Troy Steiner (74), Tom Brands (69), Brent Metcalf (69), Mark Ironside (67), T.J. Williams (67), Lincoln McIlravy (56) and Joe Williams (53).
• Lee is 89-5 in his collegiate career with 77 bonus point victories — 33 pins, 30 technical falls and 14 majors (86.5 percent).

CASS’ CAREER HIGH
Senior Tony Cassioppi has a career-high 10 falls (in 19:73) this season — tied for the fourth most in the NCAA. Nine of Cassioppi’s 10 pins have come in the first period. He is the first Hawkeye since Sam Stoll and Michael Kemerer in 2017-18 to have 10 falls in a single season.
• The Illinois native recorded pin No. 10 in Iowa’s 34-6 win over Nebraska when he stuck Cale Davidson in 6:39. Cassioppi nearly won via a stall out early in the match before building a 16-2 lead with riding time secured for a tech fall. He cut the Husker with 30 seconds left before taking him down feet to back to complete the fall.
• Cassioppi is 4-1 against ranked foes this season with victories over Penn’s No. 24 Ben Goldin (MD, 9-0), Iowa State’s No. 9 Sam Schuyler (9-2), Northwestern’s No. 4 Lucas Davison (3-2) and Wisconsin’s No. 11 Trent Hilger (4-1).
• Cassioppi has taken the mat three times with the dual in the balance. He responded with a win against Iowa State, a stall out against Illinois’ Matt Wroblewski and a decision over Hilger, 4-1, to tie the dual (and Iowa won via criteria).
• Cassioppi had five consecutive falls for the first time in his career with a fall over Chattanooga’s Logan Andrew before pinning his way through the Soldier Salute with four first period falls where he was on the mat for a grand total of 7:38.
• Cassioppi had a career-long 17 match winning streak dating back to the 2022 season before dropping a 4-1 decision to No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State on Jan. 27.
• Cassioppi is 16-1 on the year with 13 bonus point victories.

REAL DEAL
• No. 2 Real Woods has won four consecutive matches over ranked opponents to improve to 10-0 this season. He is 5-0 over ranked foes on the year with wins over Iowa State’s No. 10 Casey Swiderski (4-2), Northwestern’s No. 6 Frankie Tal-Sharar (TF-17-2), Nebraska’s No. 4 Brock Hardy (6-4), Wisconsin’s No. 26 Joseph Zargo (9-2) and Penn State’s No. 8 Beau Bartlett (4-1).
• Woods’ handed Bartlett his first loss of the 2022-23 season.
• The New Mexico native is 10-0 with bonus point wins in six of his 10 matches. He has four technical falls, one pin and one major decision.
• Woods won his 50th career match in his 4-2 win over Hardy on Jan. 20. He is 52-8 in his collegiate career.

MAD MAX
Senior Max Murin has a career-high 10 bonus point victories in his 14-3 start to the 2022-23 season. He has a career-high four pins and four technical falls to go along with two major decisions. (Murin had one career technical fall prior to this season.)
• Murin notched his 14th win in his return to his home state, posting a 4-1 decision over No. 12 Shayne Van Ness on Jan. 27.
• All three of Murin’s losses have come against top 10 ranked opponents — Iowa State’s No. 8 Paniro Johnson (3-1, SV1), Northwestern’s No. 5 Yahya Thomas (3-2) and Wisconsin’s No. 2 Austin Gomez (5-2).
• In December, Murin cruised to the Soldier Salute title at 149 pounds with two pins, a technical fall and two decisions. He downed teammates Joel Jesuroga and Caleb Rathjen in consecutive decisions to win the crown.

LAST MEETING | #1 IOWA 22, #14 MINNESOTA 10 | JAN. 7, 2022 | IOWA CITY, IOWA
165 – #1 Alex Marinelli (UI) dec. Cael Carlson (MINN), 6-5
174 – #2 Michael Kemerer (UI) dec. #23 Bailey O’Reilly (MINN), 9-2
184 – #18 Abe Assad (UI) major dec. Sam Skillings (MINN), 12-4
197 – #5 Jacob Warner (UI) dec. #30 Michial Foy (MINN), 6-4
285 #1 Gable Steveson (MINN) major dec. #6 Tony Cassioppi (UI), 17-7
125 – #7 Patrick McKee (MINN) dec. #14 Drake Ayala (UI), 8-6
133 – #3 Austin DeSanto (UI) dec. #24 Jake Gliva (MINN), 7-5
141 – #2 Jaydin Eierman (UI) dec. #19 Jake Bergeland (MINN), 6-2
149 – #12 Max Murin (UI) dec. #25 Michael Blockhus (MINN), 3-1
157 – #4 Brayton Lee (MINN) dec. #12 Kaleb Young (UI), 4-3

COBE AT 157
Junior Cobe Siebrecht is 8-3 this season, posting bonus point victories in five matches with two pins and three major decisions. The Lisbon native won his first six matches of the 2022-23 season.
• Siebrecht notched the highest ranked victory of his career when he defeated No. 9 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern, 6-3, on Jan. 13.
• Siebrecht is 4-2 against ranked foes this season with two top 10 victories – Penn’s No. 10 Anthony Artalona (Fall – 4:02) and Chumbley.

PK PUTS ON A SHOW
• Sophomore Patrick Kennedy has scored 176 points — 11.7 points per match — in his 15 matches this season. The Minnesota native is 13-2 with three technical falls, four majors and two falls this season.
• Kennedy notched his fourth ranked win in Iowa’s road dual at No. 1 Penn State, downing No. 13 Alex Facundo, 2-1 in tiebreakers. He is 4-2 against ranked opponents this season, including posting a 15-4 major decision over Illinois’ No. 11 Danny Braunagel on Jan. 6 in Iowa City.
• His two defeats came against Iowa State’s No. 3 David Carr (10-4) and Wisconsin’s No. 6 Dean Hamiti (4-3).
• Kennedy is squarely in the top 10 of the rankings for the first time in his career, coming in at No. 9 by WIN, No. 7 by Intermat and AWN and No. 8 by FLO.

BONUS ABE
Junior Abe Assad has tallied a bonus point victory in half of his 14 victories this season. The Illinois native has four majors, two falls and one technical fall. Assad did not wrestle in the road dual at No. 1 Penn State.
• Assad is 4-1 against ranked opponents, including a 6-5 win over No. 13 Lenny Pinto of Nebraska. It was Assad’s 50th career victory.

BT AT 133
Junior Brody Teske competed in back-to-back duals for the first time this season against Nebraska and Wisconsin, notching a pair of decisions. His 4-0 win over No. 28 Taylor LaMont of Wisconsin was his first ranked win of the season.
• Teske is 4-1 on the year.

HAWKEYE HONOREES
• Junior Cobe Siebrecht was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 30 after defeating the highest ranked opponent of his career, pinning No. 10 Anthony Artalona of Penn to cap the Hawkeyes’ 26-11 dual victory on Nov. 26. Siebrecht got caught in a headlock early in the second period before rolling through and sticking Artalona in 4:02. It was his second pin and fourth bonus point victory of the season.
• Spencer Lee was named the Big Ten Co-Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 11 — his fifth career honor. He earned the distinction after going 2-0 with two first-period falls in wins over Illinois’ Maximo Renteria and Purdue’s ninth-ranked Matt Ramos. Lee fought back from an 8-1 deficit to pin Ramos in 2:54 for his fourth fall of the season.
• Lee was named the NCAA, Big Ten and USA Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 24 after pinning a pair of top-10 opponents in dual wins over No. 11 Nebraska and No. 16 Wisconsin. Lee stuck No. 7 Liam Cronin in 38 seconds and No. 6 Eric Barnett in 4:38 for his fifth and sixth consecutive falls.

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

 

SOLDIER SALUTE SUCCESS
The Hawkeyes crowned eight individual champions and had 18 wrestlers post top six finishes at the Soldier Salute in Coralville, Iowa, on Dec. 29-30. Iowa won the team title, accumulating 228 points during the two-day tournament.
• Iowa’s champions were Spencer Lee (125), Cullan Schriever (133), Real Woods (141), Max Murin (149), Patrick Kennedy (165), Abe Assad (184), Jacob Warner (197) and Tony Cassioppi (285).
• There were three Hawkeye vs. Hawkeye matchups during the finals with Drake Ayala (125), Caleb Rathjen (149) and Kolby Franklin (197) finishing as tournament runner-ups.

TRUE FRESHMEN IN VARSITY LINEUP
Five true freshman have competed in the varsity dual lineup this season. Drake Rhodes won his Hawkeye debut against California Baptist at 174 pounds, Carson Martinson competed at 174 at Army and Joel Jesuroga at 149 at Chattanooga. Aiden Riggins won his varsity dual debut, downing Purdue’s Stoney Buell, 9-4, on Jan. 8.
• Iowa had two freshmen in the varsity lineup at No. 16 Wisconsin — a first for the Hawkeyes under head coach Tom Brands. Rhodes competed at 174, while Kolby Franklin made his varsity dual debut at 197.
• Rhodes also competed at 184 in the road dual at No. 1 Penn State.

FRESHMAN TRACKER
Nine Hawkeye freshman have competed as attached competitors during the 2022-23 season. Under new NCAA guidelines, freshmen can compete in five dates of competition during the student-athlete’s initial year of collegiate enrollment without using a season of competition.
• Here is a list of attached competitions for Iowa’s freshmen in 2022-23: Jace Rhodes (4), Gage Marty (4), Kolby Franklin (4), Drake Rhodes (3), Easton Fleshman (3), Aiden Riggins (3), Joel Jesuroga (3), Bradley Hill (2), Mickey Griffith (1), Carson Martinson (1), Carter Martinson (1) and Jude Link (1).

IOWA AT OPEN TOURNAMENTS
The Hawkeyes have won eight tournament titles at open competitions this season.
• Sophomore Cullan Schriever and freshman Jace Rhodes both won 133-pound titles at the Luther Open on Nov. 12 in Decorah, Iowa. Schriever, who was competing unattached, won the elite division, while Rhodes won the silver (freshman-only) bracket.
• The Hawkeyes won two more titles at the Lindenwood Open when Rhodes (133) and Joel Jesuroga (149) won the black (freshman) brackets.
• Sophomore Drake Ayala went 2-0 to claim the 125 pound title at the UNI Open. He posted major decisions in both matches.
• Ayala (133), Aidan Riggins (165) and Bradley Hill (285) won titles at the Pat “Flash” Flanagan Open on Jan. 28 in Dubuque. Ayala had a fall, two tech falls and a decision, Riggins went fall, tech, tech, decision and major and Hill had four straight falls before winning a decision in the final.

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.
• 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.

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.

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.

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.

HAWKEYES AND CARVER-HAWKEYE ARENA
Iowa is 125-13 (.906) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since Tom Brands took over the program prior to 2006-07. The Hawkeyes are 275-26 (.914) 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 return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for their final two duals of the regular season, beginning with a Feb. 10 matchup against Michigan at 8 p.m. (CT).