Five Takeaways from the 2024 Cy-Hawk Dual
Saturday night was one of the most-anticipated duals of the collegiate regular season as #9 Iowa State traveled into Iowa City to take on #2 Iowa. The dual lived up to the hype as there were some upsets, some twists and turns, a few unforeseen appearances, and lots of good action.
The Cy-Hawk dual did provide us with some takeaways (five of them) as we move on with the rest of the season. So let’s get to them!
1. Jacori Teemer’s injury
Perhaps the biggest story pertaining to this dual - in a big picture perspective - is the injury to the top-ranked 157 lber in the country, Jacori Teemer. While attempting to defend an elevated single leg from Paniro Johnson, Teemer appeared to injure his hamstring.
After getting attention from the Iowa training staff, Teemer made his way back on the mat ready to continue. He gave it another try but had difficulty even getting down in the top portion of referee’s position. Shortly after the restart, with Teemer in obvious discomfort, the Iowa staff pulled the pull and defaulted.
At the time, it looked like this result would turn the tides towards Iowa State in the dual; however, the Hawkeyes swept the next four weights.
Teemer will obviously miss some action for the Hawkeyes. Iowa’s next dual(s) are on December 6th against Army West Point and Princeton. Not having Teemer in the lineup for either of those duals should not put the dual result in question. Beyond that, losing Teemer or having him very limited, during the Big Ten schedule and potentially the postseason could have huge implications.
The 157 lb weight class isn’t exactly loaded with contenders like some other weights are. Right behind Teemer is Cornell All-American Meyer Shapiro who needed to injury default out of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic two weeks ago. He didn’t participate in the Big Red’s dual with Buffalo on Saturday afternoon. Could the top-two wrestlers at the weight have their long-term status in flux?
Three through eight at this weight are Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), Tyler Kasak (Penn State), Peyten Kellar (Ohio), Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa), Tommy Askey (Minnesota), and Ed Scott (NC State). Even Kasak’s status is unknown as Penn State also has Alex Facundo available and Kasak has yet to redshirt. Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson entered the weekend ranked #10. Things might get really interesting here.
Circling back to Iowa, the Hawkeyes used Caleb Rathjen in their season-opening dual to fill-in at 157 lbs. I’d assume he gets the first call if Teemer is out for any period of time. It’s worth noting that a previous option, Cobe Seibrecht, transferred to South Dakota State late in the summer - once the Teemer addition was finalized.
2. Patrick Kennedy’s return
All summer and preseason we’ve tried to make sense of 174/184 for the Hawkeyes. It seemed like Gabe Arnold would make sense at 174 lbs with Nelson Brands at 184. Brands had his sights set on regaining the starting role at 174 lbs, so he was thrown into the mix with Arnold and the incumbent, Patrick Kennedy.
Head Coach Tom Brands said he would let the wrestlers sort it out in the room and it looked like that may have been the case with Nelson getting the call at 174 and Arnold at 184 lbs in each of the first three duals for the Hawkeyes.
With Iowa trailing 12-9 heading into 174 lbs, Tom Brands threw a curveball and sent out Kennedy to face former Hawkeye teammate Aiden Riggins. Brands was obviously privy to tons of live-go’s between the two and thought Kennedy would be a better matchup than his nephew, Nelson. Or perhaps, Nelson has still been trying to knock the rust off after missing the entire 2023-24 campaign. Would he have been able to post a tech fall win over Riggins? I think he wins, but probably not via tech. At the time, those two bonus points looked like they could be huge heading into 184 lbs with a veteran in the mix for Iowa State. Which brings us to….
3. Angelo Ferrari’s Carver-Hawkeye debut
If putting Kennedy out at 174 lbs was a curveball from Brands, unleashing Angelo Ferrari was one of those wipeout sliders that starts in the middle of the plate and ends up behind a batter’s back foot - making him look foolish when he swings.
The tech fall at 174 lbs gave Iowa a 14-12 lead coming down the home stretch. For Iowa State to win, they would need to win either 184 or 197 lbs and hope their heavyweight wins, as you would expect. 184 seemed like a better bet with #15 Evan Bockman presumably against #7 Arnold, rather than #20 Christian Carroll beating #2 Stephen Buchanan.
So in a match that could make the heavyweight result irrelevant Brands chose to send out true freshman Angelo Ferrari rather than Arnold. And for full transparency, Ferrari isn’t some walk-on from the back of the roster. He was one of the top overall recruits in the Class of 2024, but he hadn’t been truly tested in a live match with an opponent of Bockman’s caliber. It seemed like it may be riskier than going with Arnold.
It didn’t take long to see that Ferrari not only belonged in the match, but he was the better wrestler and might be able to manage bonus points. He came up just short in that regard, but still produced a convincing decision and got the Carver-Hawkeye excited for the future - and in the moment.
With Kennedy’s performance and the possibilities that Ferrari presents, it sort of muddied the waters at 174 and 184 lbs, once again.
4. Echemendia’s a title contender
One of the matches I was looking forward to the most was the 149 lb contest between All-Americans #4 Kyle Parco and #7 Anthony Echemendia. Echemendia earned All-American honors last year at 141 lbs and moved up this season. Normally, I am concerned about a wrestler changing weights, because there is a lot that can go wrong for them. I worried about Echemendia and the size/strength factor much less than others because he intended on wrestling 149 lbs last season - even appearing in his first two matches there.
His early returns in 2024-25 have been favorable with an 11-5 win over #12 Jaden Abas (Stanford) and a tech fall over Navy’s starter Kaeman Smith.
Even though Echemendia came out on the wrong side of a 4-3 loss to Parco, I actually feel better about his chances of a deep NCAA run this season. The Cyclone got the only takedown of the bout on a body lock that was finishing immaculately. The difference in the bout was a penalty point for locking hands, immediately followed by a point for an illegal cut-back. Of course, his top game and match savviness will have to improve, but I don’t see either being emblematic of a deeper issue.
149 lbs is a weight class that is currently looking up at returning champion Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech). Also ahead of Parco are Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) and Ty Watters (West Virginia). Big Ten champion Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) is right behind Parco. At this point of the season, I think there are multiple wrestlers from that group capable of standing on the top step of the podium in late-March. Echemendia should be in that group.
Whether you agree or disagree with the sentiment, we should get a preview soon. All but Van Ness and Parco are on teams headed to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in two weeks. That could end up shaking up the rankings or perhaps reinforcing what we already know now.
5. It’s not over for the Cyclones
No one wants to lose matches…individually and as a team. It’s a tough burden to carry a 20-match losing streak to your biggest rival. It stings.
At the same time, Iowa State’s season is far from over. In the grand scheme of things, because of the way college wrestling is currently constructed, all that matters from this dual is bragging rights for fans and maybe some fodder for the Iowa staff to use on the recruiting trail. That’s it.
For proof, you need to look back allllll the way to……2023.
I remember interviewing Kevin Dresser after the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. As he spoke to the media, you could still sense the hurt in his voice from losing to Iowa. The 2023 installment was particularly painful.
As a partial observer, I thought Iowa State stood a much better chance against the Hawkeyes last year than this year. The dual was on their home turf. It was the final Cy-Hawk dual for program-changing senior David Carr. After Carr’s major decision at 165 lbs, the Cyclones led 10-9. Winning one of the next three matches, would put the dual in All-American Yonger Bastida’s hands - who was in a relative mismatch. It appeared that Iowa State would have the advantage at 184 and 197 lbs; however, they ended up losing both and the dual, 18-14.
Because of the timing of the 2023 dual and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Iowa State only had a few days to lick their wounds before heading to Vegas. Actually, only four days of rest.
And the reason I spoke to Dresser after CKLV - his team won the entire thing. In a tournament that was rightly called the toughest in-season tournament in over a decade was won by Iowa State, less than a week after getting their hearts broken by their rival.
Later in the year, Iowa State won their first Big 12 Championship since 2009. Less than two weeks after that, they finished fourth in the nation, a slot ahead of Iowa. At the time, we didn’t think that Dresser’s team earned an NCAA team trophy - prior to 2023 the NCAA awarded trophies to the top-four teams, but stated they would only salute the top-three teams due to budgetary constraints. A few months later, the NCAA changed course and the Cyclones received their trophy. It was the first of Dresser’s tenure in Ames.
Iowa State fans, the loss hurts. The streak sucks. But it’s not the end of the world. The Cyclones can still have an incredibly successful season.
Like last season, CKLV is looming on the Iowa State schedule. There’s a longer break between the two (Dec. 6/7), so they might even have a couple of team members that were banged up for yesterday’s dual, but ready for Vegas. Even before the calendar turns over to 2025, ISU has a dual with North Dakota State at Dresser’s old high school and the Collegiate Duals where they’ll face Lock Haven, #23 North Carolina, and #6 Ohio State.
We’re at the point in Dresser’s tenure at ISU where he expects his team to win every single time they toe the line. The loss stings, but it only defines the season if they let it do so.
