Iowa
Drake Ayala Increases Weight, Point-Scoring Emphasis For Iowa Wrestling – FloWrestling
It’s all about the points, Iowa’s Drake Ayala said.
The returning NCAA finalist, who moved up to 133 pounds for this season, opened the season last Saturday at Oregon State with a 26-10 technical fall over Damion Elliot. Ayala gave up an early takedown, then took control of the match.
“My mentality was just to keep scoring,” Ayala said Wednesday. “Even though I get taken down once here or there, that’s fine, but if I keep scoring, that’s when good things happen.”
It was a good start to the season for Ayala, an NCAA runner-up at 125 last season who moved up a weight class. And it was an example of what he says is “wrestling like Drake Ayala.”
“Scoring a lot of points,” he said. “I mean, just pouring it on our opponent, and just having fun doing that. I’ve done that ever since I was a little kid, so there’s no need to stop now that I get to college and we have better competition.”
Iowa coach Tom Brands said he enjoys Ayala’s relentlessness on the mat.
“He just kept going,” Brands said. “Right now, in my mind, I see the Energizer Bunny, something like that. You know, keep it going. Just keep wrestling that way.”
Brands said he saw that aggressiveness as Ayala rallied from the early takedown.
“Something did go against him, he got taken down, and he got back in the match and got the tech fall,” Brands said. “Good for him. Let’s keep it going. Keep that pace.”
Ayala went 27-5 last season, getting through to the national championship match before losing 7-2 to Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa.
“I think what you saw at Oregon State, it doesn’t matter how good the guy is, it doesn’t matter how bad the guy is,” Brands said. “All that matters is Drake Ayala. Goes out and wrestles like he’s capable of doing. And when that happens, he is explosive, he is dynamic, he’s a throttler, he’s a hammer. And those are all good synonyms for dominant wrestlers.”
The aggressiveness, Ayala said, comes from having worked with three-time national champion and Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee in practice.
“I think any time you wrestle Spencer Lee into practice, you elevate your level,” Ayala said. “So I think it’s good for me to wrestle him just to feel that. I mean, he was an Olympic silver medalist this year, so get to feel that level, you continue to improve.”
The move to 133 hasn’t affected Ayala.
“It’s still wrestling,” he said. “I can’t even really tell the difference in the weight class. I can tell in my workouts and my practices, I’m having a lot more fun and I’m focusing on the right things. So that’s a good thing for me.”
Ayala, ranked third at 133, gets #20 Tyler Knox (2-0) in Saturday’s dual against Stanford at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“There’s nothing to take lightly,” Ayala said. “They’re a talented team, and we got to go in there. That’s the next day down on our calendar. That’s the next big thing. So we’ve got to be ready to go.”
Bonding Time
The trip to Oregon State for the 30-7 dual win featured some “goofy flights,” Ayala said, but it was a good bonding experience for the team.
Ayala told about the early wake-up call the team had on Sunday morning to head back to Iowa City.
“We had a time change (for Daylight Savings Time),” Ayala said. “So we had a time change, and then we left for the airport from the hotel at, like, 2 a.m. They knocked on our doors at 2 a.m., we left at 2:30 and then it was just all of us hanging out in the airport at 4 a.m. with each other. It was a little goofy. It was fun though.”
Tunnel Walk
Saturday’s dual will be the first at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since the construction of the new tunnel between the arena and the Goschke Family Wrestling Training Center.
The Hawkeyes will come out of the tunnel located at the south end of the arena, instead of the usual tunnel entrance at the northwest corner.
“We had media day in there, so I got to see it and stuff,” Ayala said. “And there’s lights in there. It’s cool. It’s different. It’s on the other side of the arena. So that’ll be different too.”
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on offense, defense development
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on how the Cyclones offense and defense is developing.
After securing multiple commitments on the offensive side of the ball, Iowa State football has landed its first defensive commitment in the 2027 recruiting class.
Keaton Wollan, a three-star linebacker out of Amery, Wisconsin, committed to the Cyclones on April 21. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker announced his decision on social media.
He chose Iowa State over other offers from Texas Tech and North Dakota State. He previously visited Ames in March, but he also took recent visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As a junior at Amery High School, Wollan was a two-way standout and earned all-state honors for the 2025 season. Defensively, he racked up a team-high 125 total tackles, including nine for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also had four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
Offensively, he had a team-high 932 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 160 carries. He also caught 15 passes for 179 yards, and he was an impact player in the return game, logging more than 500 kick and punt return yards.
According to 247 Sports Composite rankings, Wollan is the No. 93 linebacker prospect in the country and the No. 11 overall recruit in his class from the state of Wisconsin.
Wollan is the sixth player to commit in the Cyclones’ 2027 recruiting class.
Iowa State football 2027 recruiting commitments
As of April 21
- Gavin Ericson-Staton, OL | Lombard, Illinois/Montini Catholic
- Isaiah Hansen, RB | Newton, Iowa/Newton HS
- Koen Hinzman, OL | Hudson, Michigan/Hudson Area HS
- Will Slagle, OL | Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell HS
- Bryson Thompson, WR | San Antonio, Texas/Claudia Taylor Johnson HS
- Keaton Wollan, LB | Amery, Wisconsin/Amery HS
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
Avoiding common car crashes
Discover the common causes of car crashes and learn how to avoid them.
Prepare for more overnight closures at the northeast mixmaster as the Iowa Department of Transportation closes the ramp connecting westbound Interstate 80 and northbound Interstate 35.
Here’s what to know.
When will the Iowa DOT close the westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 ramp?
The westbound I-80 to northbound I-35 ramp will be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning from April 21-24.
What’s the detour when the Iowa DOT closes the westbound I‑80 to the northbound I‑35 ramp?
During the closures, drivers wanting to go from westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 will follow a signed detour.
Instead of taking the closed ramp, motorists will stay on westbound I‑80, bypassing the northeast mixmaster connection. They’ll then exit at U.S. Highway 69, turn around, and head back east on I‑80, where they can connect to northbound I‑35 using the open portion of the northeast mixmaster.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
An Iowa women’s basketball transfer portal visitor committed to one of the Hawkeyes’ conference foes instead. Former Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare took a visit to Iowa during her transfer portal recruitment, but the 5-foot-9 guard committed to Indiana on Sunday night.
Hare had several visits throughout her transfer portal recruiting process, including trips to Michigan and Illinois State, but the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow reported that Hare also visited Iowa.
On3’s Talia Goodman reported Hare’s commitment to the Hoosiers.
Hare has one year of eligibility remaining. This past season with the Cyclones, in 32 games played and 31 starts, Hare averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game on 40.5% field goal shooting and 40% from 3-point range. A hip injury limited Hare to just 10 games during her first year with the Cyclones in the 2024-25 season.
The soon-to-be redshirt senior transferred to Iowa State before the 2024-25 campaign after spending two seasons at Marquette from 2022-24. Hare averaged a career-best 14 points per game on 45.5% field goal shooting and 42.5% 3-point shooting during the 2023-24 season with the Golden Eagles.
Had Iowa been able to lure the Naperville, Ill., native to Iowa City, Hare would have been another valuable addition to the Hawkeyes’ backcourt depth. But, Iowa has landed other backcourt reinforcements throughout this transfer portal cycle.
The Hawkeyes inked both Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Carnegie was a first-team All-SEC selection this past season at Georgia, averaging 17.8 points per game on 42.7% field goal shooting, 35.4% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. Whiting averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 42.5% field goal shooting, 32.1% 3-point accuracy, and 71.6% free-throw shooting.
As Hare joins a promising core of players in Bloomington, the Hawkeyes will once again face the former Cyclone at least once this upcoming season as part of their Big Ten regular-season slate.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
-
Detroit, MI23 minutes agoChris Simms projects Detroit Lions first-round NFL draft pick
-
San Francisco, CA35 minutes agoSan Francisco sets $3.4B price tag for public takeover of PG&E
-
Dallas, TX41 minutes agoGame Day Guide: Stars at Wild | Dallas Stars
-
Miami, FL47 minutes agoMay a steadying presence as Cards hold off Marlins in Miami
-
Boston, MA53 minutes agoTyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe flex in Boston: Takeaways from Celtics-76ers Game 2
-
Denver, CO59 minutes agoMotorcyclist seriously injured in Denver hit-and-run crash – AOL
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoBrock: 2 drafts fits at edge rusher for Seattle Seahawks
-
San Diego, CA1 hour agoJoseph Allen Oviatt – San Diego Union-Tribune