Iowa
Northern Iowa wrestling drops dual to Oklahoma State, but records two top-10 victories
UNI wrestling coach Doug Schwab discusses loss to Columbia at home
UNI wrestling coach Doug Schwab discusses loss to Columbia at home
No. 22 Northern Iowa wrestling lost a tough one to No. 5 Oklahoma State, dropping its first Big 12 dual of the season by a score of 22-12 to the Cowboys.
The Panthers lost six of the 10 bouts, with three of those being bonus-point defeats. In total, UNI faced five top-10 wrestlers in Stillwater and lost to three of them. However, they won some of the biggest matchups on paper.
Cael Happel, a 141-pound junior, drew No. 9 Tagen Jamison in his match. Tied at one with less than a minute to go in the third, both Happel and Jamison took a shot. Happel was able to readjust down to Jamison’s upper thighs and bring him down for a 4-1 lead and eventually the 4-2 win by decision. That is Happel’s third victory over a top-10 ranked opponent this season, with his previous two coming against No. 7 Brock Hardy (Nebraska).
The headliner of this dual was at 184 pounds, between Northern Iowa’s No. 1 Parker Keckeisen and Oklahoma State’s No. 2 Dustin Plott. Keckeisen entered this bout undefeated and left it the same way. Trailing 5-4 at one time, Keckeisen scored on an escape and two takedowns to rally for his 29th-consecutive regular season victory. In no uncertain terms, Keckeisen has cemented himself as the best in the nation at 184 pounds.
Still, those wins were not enough as the Panthers picked up just two other wins from outside of their top guys. No. 14 Ryder Downey (157 pounds) won over No. 18 Teague Travis while No. 23 Wyatt Voelker (197 pounds) defeated unranked Jersey Robb.
UNI will have a chance to bounce back against Oklahoma on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Here are the full match-by-match results of UNI’s loss to Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State 22, Northern Iowa 12
- 125: Troy Spratley (OKST) over Trever Anderson (UNI) (Dec 3-2)
- 133: Daton Fix (OKST) over Julian Farber (UNI) (MD 18-4)
- 141: Cael Happel (UNI) over Tagen Jamison (OKST) (Dec 4-2)
- 149: Jordan Williams (OKST) over Adam Allard (UNI) (TF 20-5 6:02)
- 157: Ryder Downey (UNI) over Teague Travis (OKST) (Dec 4-1)
- 165: Izzak Olejnik (OKST) over RJ Weston (UNI) (MD 12-2)
- 174: Brayden Thompson (OKST) over Jared Simma (UNI) (Dec 6-3)
- 184: Parker Keckeisen (UNI) over Dustin Plott (OKST) (Dec 12-6)
- 197: Wyatt Voelker (UNI) over Jersey Robb (OKST) (Dec 5-1)
- 285: Konner Doucet (OKST) over Tyrell Gordon (UNI) (TB-1 4-3)
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
Arrests made in SD in Iowa courthouse incident
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Two suspects in the incident at the Lyon County, Iowa, courthouse were arrested in Spearfish, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post earlier Saturday.
The sheriff’s office identified two suspects as Brandon Lyle High Pipe, 39, and Luciano Eliseo Sanchez, 18, in a social media post on Thursday. Nationwide warrants were issued for the two suspects.
The sheriff’s office said on Tuesday the courthouse had burglarized overnight. The damage inside includes writing on walls, broken glass, tipped-over Christmas trees and other items tossed around.
The incident caused the courthouse to be closed for at least one day.
The sheriff’s office said on Saturday morning that more information should be released later.
Iowa
Iowa City West sweeps City High in a pair of close contests
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Grace Fincham led the West High girls to a second-half comeback in a 60-51 win over City High, giving the Trojans a win on their rival’s home floor.
The Trojans improve to 6-2 with the win. The Little Hawks drop to 6-2.
In the boys’ nightcap, the Little Hawks’ comeback attempt fell short, as the Trojans held on for a 53-51 win.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
Iowa football dissects LeVar Woods succession plan
The loss of LeVar Woods, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ long-time, elite special teams coordinator, cannot be dismissed. The Hawkeyes have consistently been among the nation’s best special teams units, from punting to kicking to owning the return and field position battle.
With LeVar Woods departing Iowa for Big Ten foe, the Michigan State Spartans, the Hawkeyes have a big hole to fill, and head coach Kirk Ferentz spoke to the media this week on what that succession plan may look like.
“Yeah, it’s not a light decision. The trick will be to find the next LeVar Woods. He’s done a fantastic job. He didn’t have the profile necessarily maybe at that point to predict what he was going to do, but he’s done all the work. It’s like a good player; players do the work. LeVar has done a great job immersing himself and learning every aspect and then growing with each and every turn. So I guess I’m describing what we’re looking for, a guy who’s a good coach, who’s eager to take a challenge on, and immerse themselves in that world.
“Special teams is a unique niche, if you will. I’m sure we’ll have good candidates. It’s not pressing right now in my mind. What is pressing is the next two weeks getting ready for the game, and then after that we’ll have eight plus weeks or eight plus months actually to get it right. I don’t plan on waiting until August to fill it, but we’ll figure that out when we get in the new year,” Ferentz said about LeVar Woods.
The past few seasons, Iowa has been elite on special teams with kicker Drew Stevens being incredibly consistent, the punting game flipping fields, and the run of returners consisting of Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Charlie Jones, Cooper DeJean, and Kaden Wetjen.
The Hawkeyes have won more than their fair share of games relying on this unit, and to continue that success, Ferentz needs to hit on this hire.
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 Riley on X: @rileydonald7
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