Iowa
Iowa State Wrestling Finding Silver Linings In Injury-Riddled Season – FloWrestling
Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser’s learned a lot of things about wrestling during his more than four-decade relationship with the sport.
You can plan and prep and grind and grapple, but when fate takes a hand, resistance is futile.
Case in point, this season: Four Cyclone starters have been forced to sit out indefinitely because of injuries, and several others have missed time because of various maladies. Dresser said he’s been “scratching his head” as the unfortunate chain of events unfolded — not grousing or complaining, just adapting and patching holes in the lineup any way he can.
“(Last) year, just about everything went right and we probably had the same lineup 90 percent of the time,” said Dresser, whose team took home a trophy from the 2024 NCAA Championships for the first time since 2010. “And this year it completely flipped. I think what it does is it forces you to get tough, and it forces you to put guys in there that in the long run will be better now because we’ve had some guys who never would have got reps, and now they’re getting reps. So you always try to find a silver lining, and that’s my silver lining.”
Dresser eclipsed the 250-career dual wins mark last weekend as the patchwork Cyclones beat Arizona State and Pitt. Iowa State’s nearing full strength in terms of its remaining wrestlers, but will still be without veteran 125-pounder Kysen Terukina Friday at South Dakota State and Sunday at intrastate rival Northern Iowa.
As for that “silver lining,” Dresser said Terukina should be back before the Big 12 Championships — and top 157-pounder Cody Chittum will wrestle this weekend after battling a stomach bug.
“I was pretty bummed out sitting on the couch and vomiting,” said the 10th-ranked Chittum, who’s fought through an array of injuries and illnesses to be a bright spot for the Cyclones this season. “So, it’s way better.”
Chittum will face #18 Cobe Siebrecht of the Jackrabbits and fifth-ranked Ryder Downey of the Panthers this weekend, so he’ll need to be at his best to improve on his 13-2 mark this season.
“This (will) be a great test because this guy from UNI wrestles really smart,” Dresser said. “He’s really savvy, so you’ve got to beat him on the mat and you’ve got to beat him in the head game, so I’m really excited to see that match and I know Cody is, too.”
Iowa State may also see 14th-ranked 184-pounder Evan Bockman return to the lineup after being stricken with mono — and if he can go, he’ll also face stiff competition in South Dakota State’s #5 Bennett Berge and second-ranked Parker Keckeisen of UNI.
“We’ll definitely take two guys at ’84, but he’s feeling a lot better,” Dresser said of Bockman, who will be a match-time decision along with backup Caleb Helgeson. “I let him choose the week before and he went out there and wrestled with mono, so I’m not giving him any more choices.”
Dresser’s had to make some difficult choices with All-Americans Yonger Bastida (heavyweight), Anthony Echemendia (141/149) and Casey Swiderski (141/149) out for the season, along with up-and-coming freshman 165-pounder Connor Euton. But that spate of misfortunate has opened up opportunities for 141-pounder Jacob Frost and heavyweight Daniel Herrera, among others, and they help form that “silver lining” Dresser mentioned.
Frost — whose brother, Evan, earned All-American honors at 133 as a freshman last season — replaced Echemendia in the lineup and has risen to #9 at 141.
“He’s definitely a top-10 guy,” Dresser said of Frost, who will face #5 Cael Happel on Sunday. “This is gonna be a great test for him this weekend.”
Herrera — formerly a “fast food king” per Dresser — has completely transformed his body while sharpening his skills on the mat. The freshman from Indio, Calif., showed that last weekend when he went toe-to-toe with #5 Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State before falling, 3-0, and did the same with Pitt’s #17 Dayton Pitzer before dropping a 5-3 decision.
“(He took) a lot of butt-kickings in the room early,” Dresser said of Herrera. “Not that he still doesn’t take a few, but I found out — I think I said Sunday (after the dual) — what a competitor he is. He doesn’t like to lose and he competes really well.”
None of that would have revealed itself until Bastida suffered a knee injury that failed to heal up as expected, forcing him to join three of his teammates in seeking a medical redshirt. So Dresser will gladly take that “silver lining” along with several others, and won’t let the phrase “what might have been” creep into his mind. He’s excited about what’s happening now — as is Herrera, whose gas tank and potential grows stronger every day.
“Early in the year, I would get so tired, and it was really bad,” the 30th-ranked Herrera said. “One thing I’ve learned about that is it’s more of a mindset than it is physical. I developed that mindset of you’re not tired — and one way to get rid of that is just to be excited and compete. Be grateful for the opportunity and just go out there and show it.”
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Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.
5 key issues the Iowa Legislature faces in the 2026 session
Eminent domain, property taxes and DOGE cuts are all on the table for legislators this session.
Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.
House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.
Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.
“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”
Here’s what to know about the bill.
What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?
Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.
That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.
All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.
Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.
Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.
And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.
If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.
Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.
“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”
Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.
“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”
Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says
A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.
- FY 2027: $33 million
- FY 2028: $66 million
- FY 2029: $99 million
- FY 2030: $132 million
- FY 2031: $164.9 million
The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.
“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”
The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.
As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.
The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.
But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.
“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”
Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”
“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”
Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law
The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”
Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.
Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.
It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.
“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”
Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”
“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.
Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”
And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”
“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”
House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.
That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.
Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings
Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.
The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:
- The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
- The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
- The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
- The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
- The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
- The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
- The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket
The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.
The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.
And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.
A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.
His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.
They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.
They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.
His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.
Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.
The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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