Wrestling mailbag: Is Iowa wrestling falling behind in recruiting? Who to watch at Fargo

Hello again, wrestling fans of Iowa!

Before we hop into our mailbag questions, I want to take a quick moment to highlight my recent story on the culture of wrestling in Iowa. In this 2,600-word article, I chronicled the history of wrestling in the state of Iowa and how the sport became so beloved. It was a project that took about a month and a half of research, interviews and writing. I had the privilege to speak with some amazing people for this, including Dan Gable, Jim Gibbons, Terry Brands, Mike Chapman and many others. A huge thanks to them and everyone who had a hand in it. If you haven’t had a chance, check it out!

Wrestling season is in a bit of a lull as we await the 2024 Olympics, but a big weekend in Fargo is coming and recruiting continues to heat up, so there’s plenty still to discuss.

Is Iowa wrestling falling behind in recruiting?

Let’s do an exercise here. Here’s where Iowa ranked by year in Flowrestling’s recruiting class rankings dating to 2012, followed by the team’s finish in that year’s NCAA Championships.

• 2012 – 1st (class rankings) and 3rd (NCAA Championships finish)
• 2013 – 21st and 4th
• 2014 – 12th and 4th
• 2015 – 9th and 2nd
• 2016 – 3rd and 5th
• 2017 – 2nd and 4th
• 2018 – 9th and 3rd
• 2019 – 21st and 4th
• 2020 – 2nd and canceled due to COVID-19
• 2021 – 3rd and 1st
• 2022 – 4th (counted Cody Chittum before late flip to ISU) and 3rd
• 2023 – 3rd and 2nd
• 2024 – 6th (includes Kyle Parco as a transfer) and 5th

As you can see, fairly static finishes in recruiting and NCAA finishes over the last 13 years, give or take a class here or there.

However, take the four recruiting classes into account from before the 2021 NCAA title for Iowa, the bulk of which made up the championship squad, vs. the four classes that made up the majority of the 2024 team from this past season.

If you average the rankings out, the classes that made up the bulk of the 2021 squad (2nd in 2017, 9th in 2018, 21st in 2019 and 2nd in 2020) averaged between 8 and 9 on a given year. In 2024 (2nd in 2020, 3rd in 2021, 4th in 2022, 3rd in 2023), it averages out to a ranking of 3rd.

The 2021 team won a team title. The 2024 squad took 5th.

Even when taking out the outlier year of 2019 when the class ranked 21st due to a small size, while still including three eventual NCAA qualifiers in Abe Assad, Zach Glazier and Cobe Siebrecht, 2021’s classes average between 4th and 5th. Any way you want to look at it, it was perceived that when those guys left high school, Iowa’s classes weren’t as good in the 2021 season as they were in 2024, even though the final result was a team title in 2021.

The point I’m making here is that finding the right guys for your program and developing them is more important than talent alone. Take for example the 2017 class of Spencer Lee, Max Murin and Jacob Warner. That was rated the same as the 2020 class that is headlined now by Patrick Kennedy and Cullan Schriever, while Jesse Ybarra, Bretli Reyna and other top recruits of that class haven’t panned out how they were expected to as of yet.

Bradley Hill, from the 2022 class, is a guy that Tom Brands has pointed to time and again as an example of someone they identified early in the process and got committed before he became a bigger name after winning a Fargo title. Hill was missing from some recruiting big boards but rose late after his commitment and has won NCAA matches for Iowa.

“We liked him early on and he proved us right in his last tournament in high school,” Brands said in December. “We’re relying on him heavy now. We need him.”

Understandably, when you compare Iowa’s 2024 haul to Penn State’s with a pair of Olympic Team Trials members in Connor Mirasola and Luke Lilladahl as well as Cole Mirasola and Zack Ryder (beat Gabe Arnold for U20 World Team spot), the Nittany Lions outdid the Hawkeyes as of now. The talent coming in to Happy Valley is an absurdity at this point.

I think with David Taylor heading to Oklahoma State to coach, we’re going to see some top-end talent start to head back to Stillwater. This generation of young wrestlers grew up watching Taylor, and they might be drawn to the idea of wrestling for him. With Lee’s stardom growing, future recruits might be enticed by the idea of working out with him at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club.

The talent pool in each recruiting class could start to spread out more, particularly in an age where NIL and the transfer portal create more fluidity in rosters than ever.

Even before we could see some of that residual effect, the Hawkeyes’ early returns on their most recent classes have been solid, like 2023’s class. Arnold was a thrill last season. Ben Kueter is about to compete for another World title. Ryder Block should be back from injury. Kale Peterson competed strongly as a true freshman against veterans Schriever and Brody Teske.

The Hawkeyes have a really nice base of talent, but guys like Angelo Ferrari, Block, Kueter, Miguel Estrada, etc., need to start to pop as the Warners, Murins and Cassioppis did to uplift Iowa in the following years. If they do and Iowa wins an NCAA title, nobody will remember the Hawkeyes finishing behind Penn State in recruiting.

Glazier was nearly outside the top 100 of his recruiting class, and he’s a Big Ten finalist now and will be expected to become an All-American next season. Hill was 87th on Matscouts’ big board but won some matches at NCAAs as a redshirt freshman. On the flip side, Kolby Franklin was a top-30 guy, and injuries derailed his career through no fault of his own. Reyna was a massive recruit as a Super 32 champion, he’s now at Chattanooga looking to capitalize on a fresh start.

College recruiting in any sport can be a total shot in the dark. Rankings and accomplishments serve as a baseline and show potential, but it doesn’t mean a guy will live up to those expectations.

That’s why you’re seeing schools like Iowa be more reliant on the transfer portal, too. Most coaches, in any sport, will tell you that you either use the portal to fill holes or you fall behind. Brands added two All-Americans in Jared Franek and Michael Caliendo when the gambling probe wrecked havoc on the roster, and it’s fair to say Caliendo is now one of their core pieces for the next two seasons. When you use the portal for guys who have wrestled at the college level, you know what you’re getting.

Sure, the Hawkeyes might have liked grabbing some more blue-chip guys for the 2024 class. But I think they really like what they have coming down the pipeline and will continue to invest more time and energy into the transfer portal to land “sure things” such as Real Woods, Parco, Caliendo, etc.

Iowa fans just have to hope Kueter, Ferrari, Arnold, etc., continue to live up to their billing to fill out future lineups, along with some surprise risers from the Otto Blacks, Brody Sampsons and Kael Voinoviches of their classes.

What’s your projection for Drake Ayala? 125 or 133 pounds?

For those unfamiliar, Ayala wrestled at 61 kilograms (around 134 pounds) at U23 Nationals, up from his 125 pounds from the college season. That suggests Ayala could be trying to make a move up to 133 pounds for the upcoming collegiate year.

There’s been a lot of chatter about Iowa’s lineup and where guys should slot in. 174 pounds seems to be a logjam. Gabe Arnold has said 174 is his preferred spot, but has also said he will do whatever the staff asks of him. Patrick Kennedy secured a World Team spot around 174 pounds, and Nelson Brands told Flowrestling he wants to wrestle at 174. 141 pounds also has a lot of options.

As Nelson Brands said in his interview with Flowrestling, these things have a tendency to work themselves out. Heck, even Kennedy was still vying for the 165 spot in late December. Iowa will find a way to get its best guys in the lineup by the postseason. I don’t think there should be any cause for concern for Hawkeye fans.

With who is on the roster currently, I think Ayala’s best spot for the team is at 125. That allows a veteran in Cullan Schriever to slot in at 133. He was the preferred option at one time and submitted into the Big Tens over Brody Teske before Teske won a late wrestle-off and made the bloodround at NCAAs. That allows Kale Petersen and Ryder Block to fight it out for 141. If healthy, either would be a solid starter in my opinion.

If Ayala were to bulk to 133, that would leave Joey Cruz as the probable guy at 125. He took seventh at U23 Nationals with losses to Iowa State’s Ethan Perryman and UNI’s Trever Anderson. Both are good wrestlers, but neither was an NCAA qualifier. Ayala at 133 would also leave only 141 for Schriever, Block and Petersen.

For the team’s sake, Ayala at 125 makes more sense to me at this time. If the weight cut is too tough, it may force Iowa’s hand.

Is David Carr one of Iowa State’s most impactful wrestlers ever?

I think so.

Carr winning the Big 12’s Bob Bowlsby Award for his leadership and excellence on and off the mat this past year got me thinking about this and a portion of a story I wrote back in March after NCAAs:

(Carr) joined this program shortly after Dresser took over. Then, the Cyclones weren’t even finishing in the top 40. Saturday, the Cyclones ended the season with four All-Americans (Carr, Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia and Casey Swiderski), the most the program has had since 2009. With team trophies handed only to the top three programs instead of the long-standing four, the Cyclones fell short of their ultimate goal of getting that piece of hardware. However, this was the first time since 2007 that the Cyclones finished ahead of rival Iowa in the final standings at the NCAAs.

That right there is what Nate Carr Sr. wanted to instill in his son, referring to a quote he once heard that has stuck with him though the years.

“Legacy is not what you leave for someone, it’s what you leave in someone,” Nate Carr Sr. said.

Carr, a two-time NCAA champion, isn’t the most accomplished wrestler at Iowa State. That goes to Cael Sanderson and his four NCAA titles. Even his father, Nate Carr Sr., has more with three NCAA titles of his own. And of course we all know Dan Gable wrestled for the cardinal and gold.

However, when you look at how Iowa State wrestling got back to what it is now, Carr is perhaps the biggest piece of that.

If you ask Yonger Bastida why he came here from Cuba, most of the reason was Carr’s recruitment of him. Suddenly, the Cyclones have an influx of high-end Cuban talent with Bastida, Anthony Echemendia and now Osmany Diversent. Carr played a major factor in a lot of the guys who are on the roster now coming to Iowa State, a team that was finishing outside the top 40 before he got here and placing as high as fourth by the time he stepped off the mat for the final time. The roster coming back for Iowa State next season and the foreseeable future is going to be one to reckon with in the NCAAs as a result of that.

There’s an argument out there for Carr to be thought of as one of the most impactful wrestlers at Iowa State for the work he did to help Kevin Dresser bring this program back to relevancy.

Reese Larramendy is training with Kennedy Blades?

NCWWC champion Reese Larramendy of Iowa is Kennedy Blades’ training partner for the 2024 Olympics. Blades is just 20 years old and will represent Team USA at 76 kilograms after defeating six-time world champion Adeline Gray for the spot. Kennedy’s younger sister, Korina, is also a U15 world champion and junior world medalist. The Bladeses are among the most talented wrestlers the U.S. has right now.

Both sisters considered Iowa for college, along with North Central College and Arizona State. The Sun Devils do not have a women’s wrestling program, but the Bladeses decided to attend ASU for college and train with the Sunkist Kids RTC in 2022.

However, their connection with many of Iowa’s wrestlers runs deep. They attended Wyoming Seminary in high school along with Ava Bayless and Larramendy. Incoming freshman Rianne Murphy also attended Wyoming Seminary. The school is known for producing some of the country’s best wrestlers. Larramendy and Kennedy Blades became close friends and are now training partners ahead of the Olympics.

Not only a cool opportunity for Larramendy to go through the Olympic process with one of her best friends, but she also will get the best training she could possibly find ahead of the 2024-25 college season for Iowa.

Larramendy wrestled as well as anyone on Iowa’s roster last season, pinning or winning by technical fall in each of her matches at nationals. Train with the country’s best athlete in the weight class is only going to continue her rapid development.

Wrestlers to watch at Fargo

Starting Saturday, 16U and Junior Nationals will get underway for the nation’s best youth wrestlers. The state of Iowa is sending more than 200 wrestlers to Fargo, according to USAWrestling. Here are some I’m really interested in watching.

The Hawkeye men have Kael Voinovich, Brody Sampson and Dru Ayala competing in Fargo. Watching Voinovich this past high school season, I felt he was getting overlooked a bit nationally in recruiting as he rolled against Iowa competition. This will be a good chance to see if I’m right. Sampson, a late-depth addition for the Hawkeyes at 197 pounds, has a chance here to show improvement. At Junior Duals, Sampson was 7-2, so we’ll see how it carries over.

The other Hawkeye-to-be I am watching is Kiara Djoumessi. She has said previously that she felt her freestyle was always much stronger than her folkstyle capabilities, so this is a good measuring stick of that ahead of her freshman season. Her sister, Amalia, is competing in the 16U division. Kiara Djoumessi said her sister takes her down in practice often, so this could be a great opportunity for Amalia Djoumessi on the national stage.

Daniel Herrera will represent for the Cyclones and should be a threat at Fargo. “Peanut” rolled everyone he faced in his lone high school season in Iowa and has some really high potential as he looks to be Bastida’s heir at heavyweight.

As for some high schoolers I’ll be interested in watching, the Schwab brothers Hayden and Hendrix of Don Bosco will be competing in the same weight class (106 pounds) in the 16U division. Hayden made the U16 World Team this spring and will be a threat. They are both entertaining wrestlers to watch, emulating a bit of what their father did in his time.

Another young guy from Don Bosco to watch is Dawson Youngblut. He’s a nationally relevant recruit after winning a state title in his freshman season.

Another name that will be familiar to Iowans is Calvin Rathjen, brother of Hawkeye Caleb Rathjen. Like his brother did in high school, Calvin Rathjen competes with the Sebolt Wrestling Academy.

Southeast Polk’s Nico DeSalvo and Humboldt’s Broedy Hendricks are a pair of youngsters who really impressed me this past season for their high school teams. This will be the first time I can evaluate them better on a national stage, so I’m interested to see how they wrestle.

On the girls side, Violet Diaz and Katie Biscoglia are in the 16U freestyle division. Each time they wrestle, it is a barnburner, going down to the wire twice during the high school season. Biscoglia is ranked 10th nationally in her weight class, but Diaz is just behind her in 20th nationally. Look for both of them to be in contention for making the podium.

Wahlert Catholic’s Isabella Miller is described by many Iowa coaches as a phenom. I’m excited to see that potential on a national stage as well after she pledged that she would be a four-time state champion in Iowa after winning her first last winter.

Dubuque Wahlert freshman Bella Miller confident in her skills

Dubuque Wahlert freshman Bella Miller: “I’m going to be a four-timer, I promise you that.”

There are many more names I could list here such as Jake Knight, Chloe Sanders, Kyler Knaack, etc., but those are a few I will be keeping a close eye on. Full rosters can be seen here.

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