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.”

Women’s Basketball

March 21, 2025

Michigan vs. Iowa State – First round NCAA tournament extended highlights

March 21, 2025

Watch the highlights from No. 6 Michigan and No. 11 Iowa State’s matchup in the first round of the 2025 women’s NCAA tournament.

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (KCRG) – No. 14 seed Lipscomb will look to pull the upset over No. 3 seed Iowa State by doing what they do best – shoot three’s.

“(They are) obviously a great shooting team. They shoot a great percentage, shoot great free-throw percentage, they move the ball super well, they can space the floor really well,” said junior Tamin Lipsey. “For us, just being on a string on the defensive side, communicating so we know where the shooters are.”

“Shooting with confidence and letting it rip,” said Lipscomb senior Joe Anderson on his team’s hot shooting. “We just go out there and let it rip from the jump, and that’s what we’re gonna try to do, shoot everything with confidence.”

Throughout the year, Lipscomb was at the top of the Atlantic Sun Conference in terms of field goal percentage.

“Just staying between you and your guy, not letting them get an advantage. because when they get an advantage that’s when you get in rotations, and that’s when open shots happen,: said senior Nate Heise. “As long as the guy guarding the ball is able to stay in front of the ball that kind of stops that from happening.”

Lipscomb boasts the ASUN player of the year, senior Jacob Ognacevic.

”I think just stretching the floor is going to be huge,” said Ognacevic. “When we hit the three the floor is going to open up for everyone. and we’re gonna be able to get our offense going and we can start rolling from there.”

The Cyclones will take on Lipscomb on Friday at 12:30 PM. The game is on TNT.

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