Notes: Hawkeyes Set for Big Ten Championships

ON THE MAT
The University of Iowa wrestling team travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the 2023 Big Ten Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Crisler Arena. The two-day event begins Saturday at 9 a.m. (CT) and Session II starts at 4:30 p.m. Session III is slated to start at noon on Sunday followed by the finals at 3:30 p.m.
• Sessions I, II and IV will be televised by BTN. All four sessions are streamed live via B1G+.

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
Brackets and team standings will be available throughout the tournament at bigten.org and hawkeyesports.com.

BIG TEN RELEASES PRE-SEEDS FOR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Eight University of Iowa wrestlers are seeded fifth or better in the pre-seeds for the 2023 Big Ten Championships.
The Hawkeyes have two No. 1 seeds and two No. 3 seeds. Spencer Lee is the No. 1 seed at 125 and Real Woods is the No. 1 seed at 141 pounds. Patrick Kennedy (165) and Tony Cassioppi (285) enter the postseason both seeded third.
Max Murin is the No. 4 seed at 149 pounds and Iowa has three No. 5 seeds in Cobe Siebrecht (157), Abe Assad (184) and Jacob Warner (197). Nelson Brands is the No. 7 seed at 174 and Brody Teske is the No. 8 seed at 133.
Siebrecht and Kennedy are both making their postseason debuts, while Woods and Teske are making their Big Ten postseason debuts.
The Hawkeyes have won 37 team conference titles, more than twice as many as the next school (Illinois, 17). Lee is a two-time Big Ten champion, winning the 125-pound title in 2020 and 2021.
The complete tournament brackets and official seeds will be released Friday afternoon following the Big Ten Conference coaches meeting. For more information on the 2023 Big Ten Wrestling Championships visit bigten.org.

No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes B1G Championships Lineup

Wt.	B1G Pre-Seed	Name	Yr.	Hometown/High School	2022-23 Record
125	1	Spencer Lee	RS Sr.	Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional	14-0
133	8	Brody Teske	Jr.	Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge (Penn State/UNI)	6-2
141	1	Real Woods	Sr.	Albuquerque, N.M./Montini Catholic (Ill.) (Stanford)	13-0
149	4	Max Murin	RS Sr.	Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria	17-3
157	5	Cobe Siebrecht	Jr.	Lisbon, Iowa/Lisbon	10-4
165	3	Patrick Kennedy	So.	Kasson-Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville	16-2
174	7	Nelson Brands	Sr.	Iowa City, Iowa/West	6-4
184	5	Abe Assad	Jr.	Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North	15-2
197	5	Jacob Warner	RS Sr.	Tolono, Ill./Washington	13-4
285	3	Tony Cassioppi	Sr.	Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah	17-2

 

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
The Big Ten Championships is one of seven NCAA qualifying tournaments across the country. The NCAA has awarded the conference 88 of the 284 automatic qualifying bids for the national championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 16-18.
The Big Ten was allotted more bids than any other conference. The league will have seven automatic qualifiers at 184, eight at 165, nine at 125, 133, 141, 149, 184, 197 and 285 and 10 at 157.
After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
Coaches’ ranking and RPI are two of several criteria that will be evaluated during the at-large selection and seeding process along with head-to-head competition, quality wins, conference tournament placement, results versus common opponents and win percentage.

BIG TEN COACH OF THE YEAR
Tom Brands has been named Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year five times in his career, more than any other coach in school history. Brands was recognized in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2020 and 2021 following conference titles. Iowa has six Big Ten championships under Brands (2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2021).

Brands’ six Big Ten titles ties for sixth all-time in conference history.

Titles Coach, School
21 – Dan Gable, IOWA
9 – Cliff Keen, MICH
8 – W.H. Thorn, IND
7 – Paul Prehn, ILL
7 – Grady J. Peninger, MSU
6 – Tom Brands, IOWA
6 – H.E. Kenney, ILL
6 – C.C. Reeck, PUR
6 – J. Robinson, MINN
6 – Cael Sanderson, PSU

WRESTLER OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Since 1989, the year the Big Ten record book first recognizes the award, nine different Hawkeyes have been named Wrestler of the Big Ten Championships. Alex Marinelli won the award in 2019 after winning the 165-pound bracket. He shared the award with Penn State’s Jason Nolf. Head coach Tom Brands won the award in 1989 following his 126-pound conference title. Associate head coach Terry Brands won the honor following his 126-pound Big Ten title in 1992. Brent Metcalf is the only Big Ten athlete to win the award twice (2008, 2009).

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
The Hawkeyes’ 117 Big Ten champions have won a total of 208 conference titles. There have been eight four-time, 19 three-time and 31 two-time winners. The Hawkeyes have won 37 team titles, twice as many as the next closest school (Illinois, 17). Iowa won 25 consecutive conference championships from 1974-1998.

Iowa’s most recent Big Ten Champion by weight:
125: Spencer Lee, 2021
133: Cory Clark, 2016
141: Jaydin Eierman, 2021
149: Pat Lugo, 2020
157: Derek St. John, 2012
165: Alex Marinelli, 2022
174: Michael Kemerer, 2021
184: Sammy Brooks, 2017
197: none since weight was introduced in 1999.
285: Blake Rasing, 2011

TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
The Hawkeyes return six wrestlers with Big Ten Championship experience in 2023. Iowa has four new faces in the lineup in Brody Teske (133), Real Woods (141), Cobe Siebrecht (157) and Patrick Kennedy (165).
• Spencer Lee, Max Murin and Jacob Warner will be competing at the Big Ten Championships for the fifth time in their Hawkeye careers.
• Lee returns to the postseason lineup for the first time since 2021. He is a two-time Big Ten champion, winning titles in 2020 and 2021. He finished third in 2018 as a true freshman and was runner-up in 2019. Lee is 11-2 all-time at the conference tournament, winning his last six matches.
• Warner has finished in the top four in each of his four previous tournaments. He placed third in 2019, 2020 and 2021 before finishing fourth last season. The Illinois native has a 16-5 career record in the event.
• Murin tallied the highest finish of his career in 2022, finishing third at 149 pounds. The Pennsylvania native was also seventh in 2019 and fifth in 2020. Murin is 11-7 all-time at the tournament.
• Tony Cassioppi will be making his fourth tournament appearance. He finished third in 2020 and 2021 and was the runner-up last season after medically forfeiting in the final. Cassioppi is 10-2 all-time at the championships.
• Abe Assad is heading to his third Big Ten Championships in 2023. The Illinois native placed fourth as a freshman in 2020 and seventh in 2022. He is 6-4 at the tournament in 10 career matches.
• Nelson Brands will be making his second tournament appearance, as he previously placed fourth in 2021 after going 4-2 in six matches.
• Teske and Woods are making their third conference championship appearance, but first in the Big Ten. Teske competed in two Big 12 Championships during his time at Northern Iowa, winning a Big 12 title at 125 in 2021 before finishing as the runner-up last season. Woods won two Pac-12 titles at Stanford, winning at 141 pounds in 2020 and 2022 and he was runner-up in 2021.
• Siebrecht and Kennedy will be making their postseason debuts.

BIG TEN TEAM RECORDS
• Iowa holds the record for most individual champions in a single conference championships with nine in 1983. The Hawkeyes had eight in 1985, and crowned seven in 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1986.
• The conference record for most falls in a tournament belongs to the Hawkeyes, who recorded 12 pins in 1979. The largest margin of victory by a champion also belongs to Iowa. The 1983 Hawkeyes scored 200 points, 118.5 more than second-place Michigan State (81.5).

A LOOK BACK AT 2022 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hawkeyes placed third as a team at the 2022 Big Ten Championships, finishing with 129.5 points. Alex Marinelli won his fourth career Big Ten title, becoming the eighth Hawkeye to accomplish the feat. All 10 Iowa wrestlers placed in the top eight, including runner-up finishes by Austin DeSanto (133), Jaydin Eierman (141) and Tony Cassioppi (285), third place from Max Murin (149), fourth by Kaleb Young (157) and Jacob Warner (197), sixth by Michael Kemerer (174), seventh by Abe Assad (184) and eighth by Drake Ayala (125).

52 STRAIGHT
Senior Spencer Lee won his 52nd consecutive match in a 51-second pin of Oklahoma State’s Reese Witcraft on Feb. 19 in Iowa City. The fall was Lee’s eighth fall of the season, 34th of his career. He now has 28 career first-period falls and 11 falls in under one minute.
• Lee has six victories over ranked opponents — No. 9 Matt Ramos (fall), No. 3 Michael DeAugustino (fall), No. 7 Liam Cronin (fall), No. 6 Eric Barnett (D, 7-1) and No. 14 Jack Medley (MD, 11-2).
• 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 Ramos, DeAugustino, Cronin and Barnett.
• His pin over Cronin came in just 38 seconds — tied for the third-fastest fall of his collegiate career.
• The Pennsylvania native is 14-0 with 13 bonus point victories — eight falls (in a combined 14:22), two technical falls and three majors. In 14 matches, Lee is outscoring his opponents, 142-28, and has been on the mat for 49:54.
• The Pennsylvania native has won 52 consecutive matches dating back to the 2019 season, where he has outscored his opposition, 605-69. 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 92-5 in his collegiate career with 79 bonus point victories — 34 pins, 30 technical falls and 15 majors (85.9 percent). He finished his career with a 26-0 record in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and a 34-0 record in Big Ten duals.CASS’ CAREER HIGH
Senior Tony Cassioppi has a career-high 10 falls (in 19:73) this season. 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 to secure a tech fall. He cut the Husker with 30 seconds left before taking him down feet to back to complete the fall.
• Cassioppi is 4-2 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 took 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 17-2 on the year with 13 bonus point victories.

REAL DEAL
• No. 2 Real Woods has won 13 consecutive matches — the second-longest streak of his collegiate career. The New Mexico native won 15 straight matches during the 2019-20 season at Stanford.
• Woods is 13-0 on the year with eight bonus point victories — four tech falls, three majors and one pin.
• He won five consecutive matches over ranked opponents from Jan. 13 to Feb. 3 and is 7-0 over ranked foes on the year. He has victories 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, Penn State’s No. 8 Beau Bartlett (4-1), Minnesota’s No. 15 Jake Bergeland (8-1) and Oklahoma State’s No. 13 Carter Young (11-0).
• Woods won his 50th career match in his 4-2 win over Hardy on Jan. 20. He is 55-8 in his collegiate career.

MAD MAX
Senior Max Murin has a career-high 10 bonus point victories in his 17-3 this season. The 17 wins are tied for a career-high. 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 17th win — a 4-3 victory over No. 18 Victor Voinovich of Oklahoma State on Feb. 19. It was his fourth ranked win this season — Penn’s No. 10 Doug Zapf (D, 6-4), Penn State’s No. 12 Shayne Van Ness (D, 4-1) and Minnesota’s No. 15 Michael Blockhus (D, 11-7).
• 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.

COBE AT 157
Junior Cobe Siebrecht is 10-4 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 his third top 10 victory of the season when he scored a sudden victory takedown to defeat Michigan’s No. 10 Will Lewan, 3-1, on Feb. 10 in Carver.
• He has six victories over ranked foes this season, which includes top 10 wins over Penn’s No. 10 Anthony Artalona (fall – 4:02), Northwestern’s No. 9 Trevor Chumbley (D, 6-3). He is 6-3 against ranked foes.
• Siebrecht was rated as high as No. 10 in the national rankings on Feb. 14, the highest ranking of his career.

PK PUTS ON A SHOW
• Sophomore Patrick Kennedy has scored 200 points — 11.1 points per match — in his 18 matches this season. The Minnesota native is 16-2 with three technical falls, four majors and three falls this season.
• Kennedy recorded his third pin of the season after locking up a cradle and sticking Michgan’s Alex Wesselman in 2:31 on Feb. 10.
• 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 as high as No. 7 for the highest ranking of his career.

ABE RETURNS
Junior Abe Assad returned to the lineup on Feb. 19 against Oklahoma State after missing three duals because of injury. He posted his fifth ranked win — a 4-2 win over No. 7 Dustin Plott.
• Assad has tallied a bonus point victory in seventh of his 15 victories this season. The Illinois native has four majors, two falls and one technical fall.
• Assad is 5-1 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 recorded his first technical fall victory as a Hawkeye after rolling to a 19-3 victory over Michigan’s Wilfried Tanefeu on Feb. 10. The win was Teske’s sixth as a Hawkeye.
• Teske is 6-2 with one major and one technical fall.
• He is 1-2 against ranked opponents on the year, posting a 4-0 decision over No. 28 Taylor LaMont of Wisconsin.

WARNER’S 13TH WIN
Senior Jacob Warner closed out his career in Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a 3-2 victory over No. 19 Luke Surber of Oklahoma State on Feb. 19. It was Warner’s third victory over a ranked foe this season and the 43rd of his career.
• Warner is 13-4 with a career-high nine bonus point victories this season — four majors, three techs and two falls.

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.
• Lee was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for a third time this season on Feb. 21 following his 51-second pin of Oklahoma State’s Reese Witcraft in his final match in Carver. Lee finished his career with a perfect 26-0 record in CHA.

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

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.

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.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2023 NCAA Championships from March 16-18.