Iowa
Iowa women’s wrestling crowns three champions at North Central College Open
Iowa wrestling coach Clarissa Chun breaks down pair of dual wins
Iowa wrestling’s Clarissa Chun holds press conference after pair of dual wins over William Jewell and Cornell College
Iowa women’s wrestling took a good portion of its squad to the North Central Open on Sunday, securing three individual titles from Nanea Estrella, Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker.
Bringing 13 wrestlers to the top division of the tournament, with Danni Swihart competing in the B-Division, 11 Hawkeyes finished on the podium in the top division. Even without several starters, the Hawkeyes took second behind only North Central’s mostly full squad.
Iowa’s stars who made the trip to Naperville, Illinois shined, as Estrella, Kilty and Welker combined to go 14-0. They outscored their opponents 131-1 combined.
Alivia White was a surprise, racing to take second at 203 pounds. She defeated teammate Katja Osteen by fall on her way to the finals. Even without Jaycee Foeller, the Hawkeyes had White, Osteen and Samantha Calkins all place at the tournament at 203 pounds.
Accounting for only the results from the A-Division, which housed top wrestlers from each team, North Central had 166.5 team points to Iowa’s 136.5.
It’s hard to compare Iowa and North Central, given the Hawkeyes and CArdinals had limited lineups. The Hawkeyes were without Sterling Dias, Brianna and Emilie Gonzalez, Skye Realin, Reese Larramendy, Kennedy Blades and Foeller to name a few. North Central did not have former Hawkeye Bella Mir or 203-pound No. 2 Traeh Haynes for example as well.
Regardless, having two champions and five finalists suggests the Cardinals will be a challenger once again come the postseason to the Hawkeyes.
Here are the individual results for each wrestler for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa women’s wrestling results from North Central Open
- Rianne Murphy – 2nd at 103 pounds (3-1)
- Val Solorio – 3rd at 110 pounds (5-1)
- Cali Leng – 6th at 124 pounds (3-3)
- Ava Rose – DNP at 124 pounds (1-2)
- Allie Baudhuin – DNP at 131 pounds (1-2)
- Emmily Patneaud – 6th at 131 pounds (2-3)
- Nanea Estrella – 1st at 138 pounds (4-0)
- Cadence Diduch – 3rd at 138 pounds (5-1)
- Danni Swihart (B-Division) – 5th at 138 pounds (3-2)
- Macey Kilty – 1st at 145 pounds (4-0)
- Kylie Welker – 1st at 180 pounds (6-0)
- Samantha Calkins – 4th at 207 pounds (4-2)
- Alivia White – 2nd at 207 pounds (3-1)
- Katja Osteen – 5th at 207 pounds (3-2, 3-1 vs. non-Hawkeyes)
Match-by-match results can be found on trackwrestling.com
This story was updated to add new information.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
Iowa
PODCAST: What’s ailing the Iowa basketball programs after tough losses
Video: Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery reacts to loss to USC
Fran McCaffery talks Iowa basketball’s 99-89 loss to USC.
Men’s basketball leads our conversation this week, following the Hawkeyes’ 99-89 loss to USC late Tuesday night.
The Register’s Chad Leistikow and Tyler Tachman look at the mercurial nature of Iowa’s play of late, wonder who Fran McCaffery trusts and look ahead to Friday’s game at UCLA.
Chad and Tyler also discuss Mark Gronowski’s surgery and its impact on the Iowa football quarterback derby.
To finish, Chad is joined by Dargan Southard to help find perspective and solutions surrounding the Iowa women’s basketball team’s three-game slide.
For a direct link to the podcast, click here.
Iowa
USC 99, Iowa 89: Still Winless on the Road
USC 99, Iowa 89: Still Winless on the Road
LOS ANGELES, CA — Iowa put together yet another dreadful defensive performance on the road, dropping Tuesday night’s matchup with USC (11-6, 3-3) by a score of 99-89. The Hawkeyes dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of and remain winless on the road in Big Ten play.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Still Winless on the Road
Iowa is 0-3 in true road games this season, all of which have come in conference play. With losses to Michigan, Wisconsin and now USC, all of Iowa’s losses in the Big Ten have come away from home.
“[USC] is a driving team,” Fran McCaffery said after the loss. “I thought our defense was not what it needed it be. … Our rebounding was not good.”
The latter portion of the quote is definitely accurate in all three road losses. Over the three games, Iowa has allowed an average of 100 points per game. In the same three contests, Iowa was out-rebounded by an average of 16 rebounds per game(opponents averaging 39.7 to Iowa’s average of 23.7).
“There are a lot of good teams in this league,” McCaffery added. “It’s not going to be easy to win on the road, so you try to protect home and stay in the fight. We made a nice comeback, had a chance, didn’t get it done. Onto the next.”
The teams Iowa has lost to aren’t slouches by any means — Michigan is the No. 20 team in the country, Wisconsin was ranked at one point and was able to hit 21 three-pointers against the Hawkeyes and USC is fresh off an upset win over No. 13 Illinois on the road.
However, if Iowa is going to be competitive in the Big Ten this season, they’ll need to start winning against teams with solid resumes, and if they’re going to make the tournament, they’ll need to start doing it sooner rather than later — and doing it on the road.
More Hot Shooting vs. the Hawks
Going into Tuesday’s contest, the Trojans were shooting 47.8% from the field. Against Iowa, they shot 64.9%. Prior to the contest vs. the Hawkeyes, USC was shooting 33% from three. They shot 66.7% from deep on Tuesday.
“They got comfortable,” McCaffery said. “They they made a bunch of threes tonight. It’s not typically their strong point, but they made them tonight and you can see that they’re a team that’s gaining confidence.”
Four Trojans scored in double-figures, with junior guard Desmond Claude leading the way with 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
“He dribbles a lot,” McCaffery said regarding the difficult of guarding Claude. “I thought a lot of things that I can’t say, but I want to give the kid credit because he’s a really good player. We had some success with the trap a little bit, but our reactions out of it were not good enough [to stop Claude].”
Redshirt-freshman guard Wesley Yates posted a career high 21 points on Tuesday night as well, hitting four 3-pointers, which was also a career high. Each of those triples came in the first half.
Dug Too Deep of a Hole
Iowa went into halftime trailing 48-32, an all too familiar scenario for the Hawkeyes, even within the last week.
With recent performances by senior forward Payton Sandfort that have earned him the nickname “Second Half Sandfort” — scoring 30 in the second half against Nebraska and 21 in the second half against Indiana — trailing by double-digits doesn’t seem terribly difficult to overcome for the Hawkeyes and their senior leader.
This time, it came back to bite them. With just five first-half points, Sandfort had trouble getting going early yet again.
“It’s hard for him because he’s getting mugged,” McCaffery said. “You try to screen for him, he’s getting held. But to his credit, he keeps moving and he keeps screening and he figures out a way. … We want to run stuff for him, but teams are really, really mugging him.”
With the Trojan defense so focused on the perimeter, things opened up inside for Owen Freeman, who looked to take advantage over USC’s center and former Iowa portal target, Josh Cohen.
The sophomore big did just that with a myriad of post moves, soft touch around the rim, going up strong for dunks and making his first three since December 12, to score 13 points in the first half and finish with a career high of 23. He also led Iowa in rebounds with six.
Thanks to the first half lead, and the continued advantage on the glass and from the perimeter, the Trojans were able to keep the Hawkeyes at arms length for the majority of the second half, building a lead of up to 19 points.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Iowa trimmed the deficit to nine points with just with 6:50 to go. The game, appearing to be within reach, was promptly taken over by guard Drew Thelwell. He hit the gas, scoring eight of his 16 points over the ensuing two minutes.
Not only did the Morehead State transfer drive to the bucket at-will, but he made four-of four free throws over that stretch — a rarity for the senior, who was shooting 64.2% going into Tuesday’s contest.
“I thought his energy level was really impressive at both ends,” McCaffery said. “He was really fighting defensively, pushing it hard, driving the ball, being aggressive offensively — that’s what we need from him. I’m really proud of him.”
Pair Sandfort’s trademark second half and adding 15 points, it looked as though McCaffery’s squad had a real opportunity to steal a win in the LA.
The attempt to will iowa to victory came up just short for Thelwell, as with 4:06 to go and the Trojan lead cut to five, he lost control of the ball and turned it over out of bounds. USC scored on the following two possessions to extend its lead to 89-81. It never felt as though Iowa had its chance to get back into the contest, and USC pulled away for the win at home.
NEXT: Iowa will travel across town to take on UCLA (11-6, 2-4) on Friday night at 8 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on FS1.
Don’t miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball, and recruiting coverage. Sign up with Hawkeye Beacon here.
Iowa
Former education department employee to receive settlement in discrimination case
The state of Iowa will pay $440,000 to settle a 2022 disability discrimination case from a former employee of the Iowa Department of Education.
Amy Williamson, the former deputy director of the Iowa Department of Education, resigned from her position in 2022 after allegedly facing retaliation for complaining to the governor’s staff about civil rights violations within the agency.
State records indicate that before she resigned, Williamson had worked for the Iowa Department of Education since May 2007. In October 2020, she was promoted to deputy director of the agency. She remained in that position until she resigned in February 2022.
Williamson, at a 2022 hearing on her claim for unemployment benefits after leaving the Department of Education, recounted she had concerns with some of the department’s human resources policies in early 2021. She also alleged her concerns were not taken seriously by the then-director of the Iowa Department of Education Ann Lebo. Lebo resigned from the role in February 2023 and currently works in the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
Williamson said Lebo later conducted an “employee review” to show she had not met certain mandatory deadlines. Williamson protested, arguing the deadlines had been met. She also alleged Lebo was “not pleased” after she relayed her concerns to the governor’s office in January 2022.
At the unemployment benefits hearing, Williamson said her role as deputy director was reduced after her meeting with Lebo. She was no longer responsible for managing K-12 education, and someone was to be hired to replace her in that role. Her oversight went from managing 138 people to supervising three administrative consultants and a secretary.
Two days after her duties were reduced, Williamson experienced gastrointestinal bleeding and was treated at an urgent care clinic and diagnosed with an acute stress reaction. Her doctor took her off work for six weeks.
While on medical leave, a job was posted for an administrator at the department with nearly identical duties to her position, including all of the responsibilities that had just been assigned to her by Lebo. She was advised by her doctor not to return to work because her illness was a direct result of work-related anxiety and stress.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Williamson submitted a letter of resignation. She later applied for and was denied unemployment benefits. Williamson appealed the decision and the Department of Education did not participate in the hearing.
According to Iowa Assistant Attorney General Christopher Deist, the state agreed to settle the appeal for a total of $440,000. As part of the settlement, Williamson will receive a $59,000 payroll check, a $200,000 settlement check, and $180,000 payable to Fielder Law Firm to pay for attorney fees and litigation costs.
The Iowa Department of Education will also be reimbursed $4,517.68 for Williamson’s share of FICA taxes.
Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.
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