It’s been a growth year for Drake Ayala. 

Physical growth into a new weight class. Mental growth into a new realm of wrestling freedom and confidence. Growth into an expanded leadership role with the Iowa Hawkeyes. 

“I think that I’ve just kinda grown up a lot,” Iowa’s junior 133-pounder said Friday night after booking a return trip to the NCAA finals. “I feel like I’m maturing, I’m growing into a leader, I’m growing into just a man. 

“Me from last year — this very seat last year to now — it’s just night and day different. It doesn’t matter the weight class. I said at the beginning of the year I wasn’t coming up to 133 to throw my hat in the ring, I’m coming to win it all.”

He’ll get that opportunity Saturday night against top-seeded Lucas Byrd of Illinois. Ayala punched his pass to the finals with a 6-1 victory Friday night against Wisconsin’s Zan Fugitt to assure Iowa of an NCAA finalist for the 35th straight year. 

Ayala kept that streak intact last year in Kansas City, where he beat Badger Eric Barnett in the 125-pound NCAA semis before dropping a 7-2 decision in the title bout against Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa. 

This year he has a lot more company. Iowa went 3-for-3 in the semifinals as Michael Caliendo and Stephen Buchanan also secured spots in Saturday night’s championship round. 

Caliendo built a seven-point cushion in the first two minutes and downed #2 seed Peyton Hall of West Virginia 14-10 at 165 to set up a rematch with Penn State’s top-seeded Mitchell Mesenbrink. The Nittany Lion sophomore has won each of their five previous encounters and notched a pair of technical falls, but the most recent meeting — a 4-1 victory for Mesenbrink in the Big Ten title bout — was their closest match yet. 

“I know I can wrestle with him,” Caliendo said. “I know I can take him down. I just haven’t been able to put it all together in one match. I don’t think it’s a matter of skill, I think it’s just a matter of how I approach the match, strategy going into it.”

Buchanan clipped 2021 NCAA champ A.J. Ferrari of Cal State Bakersfield 3-0 at 197, collecting his points on a second-period rideout that yielded a riding-time advantage, a locked hands point early in the third period and an escape shortly thereafter. 

“For me, it’s just another match,” said Buchanan, who won for the first time in three career tries against Ferrari. “He comes with a lot of noise, so it was difficult to stay focused, so all the videos that you see online, or whether you’re getting ready for a match right beside him. He’s a talker and he does a good job of it, and he brings in people to the sport. So I can respect him on that front, but from a competitor standpoint, just another match.”

Buchanan will face Penn State freshman Josh Barr in the title bout. The Hawkeye won a 4-1 decision when he battled Barr in January. 

“He’s a young cat who can wrestle,” Buchanan said. “He has great coaches behind him, great team. You see him take losses and then come back and win, so that shows that he’s not scared to wrestle on all fronts, in all positions. So just looking forward to the match. I guess my biggest takeaway is he’s a competitor just like I am, and we are going to battle.”