Iowa Hands Minnesota First Loss of the Season, 22-9

It was a rare edition of Monday Night Wrestling on the Big Ten Network as undefeated conference rivals Iowa and Minnesota squared off last night in Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa took seven of ten individual matches and was never in danger of dropping their first dual of the year to the Gophers. 

In one of the marquee matches of the evening, Drake Ayala overcame an early deficit to down Patrick McKee for the second time this season. McKee had won the previous four meetings between the two. 

The dual was bookended by talented two-sport star Ben Kueter, who made his Hawkeye debut at 285 lbs. Kueter knocked off 29th ranked Bennett Tabor to end the dual and tally his first career win in an Iowa singlet. Kueter recently joined the team after spending the last few months on the football field for Kirk Ferentz’s team. 

The bright spot for Minnesota was an upset at 157 lbs as Iowa-native Michael Blockhus handed second-ranked Jared Franek his first loss of the season. 

Iowa will close out the week by hosting Purdue on Friday night, while Minnesota faces Nebraska back at home. 
 

Iowa 22 Minnesota 9

125 - Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Patrick McKee (Minnesota)  8-5

133 - Tyler Wells (Minnesota) dec Kale Peterson (Iowa)  6-3

141 - Real Woods (Iowa) dec Vance VomBaur (Minnesota)  5-3

149 - Caleb Rathjen (Iowa) dec Drew Roberts (Minnesota)  7-3

157 - Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) dec Jared Franek (Iowa)  5-4

165 - Michael Caliendo (Iowa) dec Blaine Brenner (Minnesota)  5-1

174 - Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) maj Sam Skillings (Minnesota)  13-2

184 - Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) dec Aiden Riggins (Iowa)  7-0

197 - Zach Glazier (Iowa) dec Garrett Joles (Minnesota)  4-2

285 - Ben Kueter (Iowa) dec Bennett Tabor (Minnesota)  5-3