IOWA CITY, Iowa – The second-ranked University of Iowa men’s wrestling team won seven of 10 matches – including six via bonus points – in a 32-9 win over No. 20 Stanford on Saturday afternoon in its home opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes tallied up three technical falls, two major decisions, a forfeit and a decision, while having a 25-10 advantage in takedowns.
“We have to get better,” said head coach Tom Brands. “We had some good things that happened, maybe asleep at the wheel at other times. We dug ourselves out of a big hole at 165, that shows the firepower that Caliendo has. We were asleep at the wheel in a couple other places, and we need to wake up.
No. 31 ranked Kale Petersen accepted a forfeit at 125 pounds to get the dual started for the Hawkeyes.
Stanford got on the board with #23 Tyler Knox upsetting #7 Drake Ayala, 15-10. Aden Valencia knotted things up for the Cardinal defeating #31 Ryder Block, 11-6.
Fourth ranked Kyle Parco got the Hawkeyes back on top with a technical fall at 141 pounds. A second period ride out and 12 near fall points set him up for the bonus point victory early in the third period.
“You see everything from the YouTube clips and the Instagram reels but there is nothing like it when you get out there,” said Parco. “The fans here are so passionate and so proud. I am thankful that I got the opportunity today… There is no other place that loves wrestling like Iowa.”
At 157, No. 1 Jacori Teemer added on another bonus point victory for the Hawkeyes in his Iowa debut. He notched four takedowns to defeat Gregor Cholakyan, 13-3, to send the Hawkeyes to the break leading 15-6.