On Saturday January 25th at 1 PM the 2nd ranked Hawkeyes host the 6th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at Carver Hawkeye Arena, in what should be an epic battle between two national power houses. The dual features 20 ranked wrestlers with 3 top 10 bouts!
Don’t Miss: 133, 149, and 174 should all be exciting bouts. I’m particularly interested in the 174 bout as Kennedy gets to prove himself against another All-American.
Keys To Victory: Iowa needs to win the close ones and not give up any bonus points along the way. Ohio State needs bonus points at 141, and they have to win at 174, while keeping the loses to a 3 point decision. Both teams have a path to victory, Iowa appears to have a little more room for error. A big question that plays a role in this one is the health of Jacori Teemer. He could be a deciding factor in the outcome of this dual.
125 Joey Cruz #28 VS Brendan McCrone #12
133 Drake Ayala #2 VS Nic Bouzakis #10
141 Ryder Block #20 VS Jesse Mendez #1
149 Kyle Parco #4 VS Dylan D’Emilio #10
157 Jacori Teemer #1 or Caleb Rathjen VS Sammy Sasso #19
165 Michael Caliendo #2 VS Paddy Gallagher #13
174 Patrick Kennedy #5 VS Carson Kharchla #6
184 Gabe Arnold #5 VS Ryder Rogotzke #20
197 Steven Buchanan #1 VS Seth Shumate #18
285 Ben Kueter #11 VS Nick Feldman #5
Conclusion: This has the potential to be a fantastic dual meet. Iowa is favored in 6 of the 10 matches. The 174 match-up is particularly interesting and could play into NCAA seeding. I see Iowa winning the dual 23-12 and winning 7 matches. 157 is a big question mark right now for Iowa. This could effect the team score and make it 20-15.