Ben Kueter won a world championship his senior year at Iowa City High.

University of Iowa wrestling’s heavyweight, and dual-sport athlete, has earned a chance for another.

Kueter posted a 5-0 record, sweeping a best-of-3 series with Virginia Tech’s Jimmie Mullen to win the 125-kilogram men’s freestyle title at USA Wrestling’s U20 World Team Trials on Saturday at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy won the U23 79-kilogram freestyle title, while former Iowa City West prep Hunter Garvin and University of Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker made the Greco-Roman U23 national team.

Kueter earned 5-4 and 5-3 victories to secure a spot to compete in the age-level World Championships sept. 2-8 at Pontevedra, Spain.

“I was joking with my coach,” Kueter said in a post-match interview with USA Wrestling. “I don’t remember the last time I wrestled five matches in a day. It’s funny. (Iowa assistant coach Ryan) Morningstar, he coaches us in Junior Duals. I think that was the last time I wrestled five matches in a day. It’s a good three years ago.”

Kueter, who was 3-1 for the Hawkeyes in his redshirt season, opened with a 10-0 technical superiority over Indiana’s Connor Barket and outscored his first three foes by a combined, 29-9. He beat Mullen in the first two bouts, avoiding a winner-take-all finale.

“It felt good,” Kueter said. “I think my first match was my slowest and sluggish. After that I just kept getting better. My composure was better.”

Kueter also plays linebacker for Iowa football. The World Championships conflicts with the Iowa-Iowa State football game on Sept. 7, according to flowrestling.com’s Andy Hamilton. Kueter was able to train and compete at Worlds in 2022 and returned to play for the Little Hawks’ football team. He has hopes it will work with the Hawkeyes but will trust the football and wrestling staffs to make the best decision.

“It might be a little different this year,” Kueter said. “Maybe I can’t go. Just talk to the coaches but the football coaches are all about wrestling and the wrestling coaches are all for football.

“At the end of the day, they’re going to make it work. I’m there to compete for the University of Iowa.”

Kennedy went 7-0 to win the 79-kg title. He blanked Cornell University’s Julian Ramirez, of Spartan Combat Regional Training Center, 10-0, in two straight matches of the best-of-3 series.

Kennedy scorched the competition, outscoring his opponents, 75-4, overall. He said Iowa Coach Tom Brands preaches a lifestyle to help look back and be able to accept with the results. Kennedy was.

“I feel satisfied with how I competed,” Kennedy said. “So, it was good.”

Interestingly, Kennedy wasn’t expecting to compete until a conversation with Iowa NCAA finalist and Hawkeye Wrestling Club member Jacob Warner. Kennedy was considering an international tournament when Warner expressed his regret not getting to compete in a past U23 tournament due to injury.

“That was kind of the turning point,” Kennedy said. “It’s never hard for me to be in the room and be around the guys but sometimes you need expert advice, and Jacob Warner has expert advice.”

Garvin, a three-time state champion and four-time finalist for West and an All-American for Stanford in March, won Greco-Roman and Freestyle titles. He earned the 77-kg spot on the U.S. National Team, competing at the U23 Pan American Championships on June 21-22 in Colombia.

Garvin swept Brendon Abdon, of Arkansas RTC, recording a pin in the first match and ending it with an 8-4 decision.

“I love it,” said Garvin, who added a freestyle national crown. “I’m out there having fun. I’m having a blast. I love that I’m just trying to put on a show for people, my teammates, friends, loved ones or whoever just watching.”

Garvin was joined by Voelker, a former West Delaware two-time state champion, who competed at the U20 World Championships in 2023. Voelker beat New York Athletic Club’s Michael Altomer, 7-5 and 8-0, for the 97-kg spot.

UNI’s Cory Land and John Gunderson and Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson won age-level titles. Johnson claimed the U23 70-kg championship in freestyle.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com

What the Supreme Court did NOT do was find that we broke the law. But that’s what the GOP put into a news release, which they waved in front of the media while screaming. The media fell for it.

Twice in the past four years, the Democratic National Committee has asked my office to turn over allegations of wrongdoing by Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. Guess what: We didn’t give them a dang thing. 

Why? Because Iowa law requires the Auditor’s Office to “keep confidential” allegations of misconduct and information received in the course of an audit. That information is protected, regardless of whether the person requesting it wants to attack the alleged wrongdoer or the tipster letting us know where to point our flashlights.

The people who passed this law thought confidentiality was so important there’s a section in the Iowa Code that says people working in the Auditor’s Office can be fired for breaching it. Those tipsters, some of them scared to speak out against powerful interests, need to know we will protect their identity so they can offer information without fear of retribution.

So, you might understand the frustration I felt when the Auditor’s Office was sued for trying to follow our obligation not to turn over confidential records, which might make future whistleblowers think we’d sell them out. The lawsuit stemmed from an open records request, made by the same conservative who claimed when I ran in 2018 that, if elected, I must legally be impeached, period. We responded the same way we do for everyone asking for open records: We turned over what we could, and withheld records protected by the law. 

The first judge to hear the case ruled we followed the law. On appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court ordered a “re-do,” ruling it didn’t have enough evidence to make a decision, sending the case back to the lower court for more proceedings. What the Supreme Court did NOT do, was find that we broke the law. But that’s exactly what the GOP put into a news release, which they waved in front of the media while screaming. The media fell for it. We appreciate the corrections issued by two Iowa media entities, but in this day and age, complete lies can travel around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

There’s one other aspect to the suit — whether or not we should have turned over an email sent from a private account, about entirely public information, that was already public and already in the hands of the person who filed the lawsuit. You might think that’s a silly reason to file a lawsuit — to get a copy of something already in your possession — but some lawsuits are all about politics.

So, we’ll make our case soon in another courtroom as to why we were legally required to withhold those records, both the emails from our office and the allegations about the governor. I’ll also keep fighting to protect whistleblowers. And, because truth doesn’t mind being questioned, I’ll be at a town hall in your community in the coming months. The dates, times, and locations of all 100 are already posted on our website. Come on out to compliment me, criticize me, or provide a confidential tip. If you’ve read this far, you know you can trust us to keep it confidential.

Rob Sand is Iowa’s auditor of state.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Cedar Rapids woman is hitting the pavement to run a 4x4x48 challenge for the third year in a row, and it’s all for a good cause. Vanessa Vega is set to start the challenge, a four-mile run every four hours for 48 hours, this upcoming Friday at 8 pm.

It all started in 2022, when Vega started the challenge. It was originally to raise money to open a free school for children in Sierra Leone, Africa.

Now the goal is to continue keeping the school running.

Since the race last year, the school has grown from just 74 students to now over 200.

Vega said their goal is to raise $20,000 again this year. Enough to keep the school going for a full year.

”They are just absolutely thriving. They want to be in school, it is, it is such a joy to see the growth that has happened so far in the school,” said Vega. “We want to continue to see it grow. It just helps the sustainability for the school and it’s also a really cool, fun, hard event for people that, you know, want to want to reach a goal physically as well.”

Vega’s last 4-mile run will be June 9th at 4 pm. If you’re interested in participating, you don’t have to do the full challenge, you can sign up for just one of the 12 four-mile runs.

You can find more information by clicking here.

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