Iowa wrestling has 6 major decisions, 2 technical falls in win over California Baptist
The Iowa men’s wrestling team raced to a 40-0 victory over California Baptist on the road to open the season Saturday.
The Hawkeyes put on a show for an impressive crowd in Riverside, Calif. Iowa won six bouts by major decision and two by technical fall.
Here are the results from Saturday’s dual:
125: Drake Ayala (IOWA) over Elijah Griffin (CBU) (MD 18-8)
133: Brody Teske (IOWA) over Hunter Leake (CBU) (MD 12-1)
141: Real Woods (IOWA) over Darren Green (CBU) (TF 15-0 2:04)
149: Victor Voinovich (IOWA) over Dayne Morton (CBU) (Dec 2-0)
157: Jared Franek (IOWA) over Drayden Morton (CBU) (Dec 8-1)
165: Mike Caliendo (IOWA) over Mateo delaPena (CBU) (TF 23-7 6:26)
174: Aiden Riggins (IOWA) over Peter Acciardi (CBU) (MD 18-4)
184: Brennan Swafford (IOWA) over Nathan Haas (CBU) (MD 15-4)
197: Zach Glazier (IOWA) over Eli Sheeren (CBU) (MD 11-2)
285: Bradley Hill (IOWA) over Max Acciardi (CBU) (MD 16-4)
Here are three takeaways from a dominant road victory for Iowa.
Drake Ayala looks stellar in season debut
No. 11 Drake Ayala had the toughest draw of the day, taking on No. 32 Elijah Griffin. Last year, Griffin beat Aidan Harris in the lone win for the Lancers against Iowa.
This time, Ayala had a major decision win over Griffin despite trailing 3-0 after a takedown from Griffin early on. Ayala had five takedowns in the win, with coaches and crowd yelling their best “three!” chants instead of the typical “two!” we’re all so accustomed to hearing. The NCAA decided this past summer to make takedowns worth three points starting with the 2023-24 season.
Ayala is aiming for bigger things this season, so Saturday was a great way to get rolling for the redshirt sophomore.
Real Woods dominates
Woods, an NCAA finalist last season, had an incredible season debut. He secured a technical fall victory over Darren Green in just 2 minutes 4 seconds. After an early takedown, Woods followed with three near falls to secure five team points for the Hawkeyes early on.
It’s far too early to start talking about the postseason, but for now Woods looks to be well on his way to competing for that elusive national title.
Unproven wrestlers take charge
Riggins, Swafford, Glazier and Hill all came into this one as the question marks of the lineup, unproven compared with the rest of the guys ahead of them in the lineup. However, they all answered the bell, each ending the night with a major-decision victory.
Riggins was up first at 174 and notched an 18-4 major-decision victory against Peter Acciardi. The redshirt freshman had five takedowns and controlled throughout the entirety of the bout. This is the kind of performance you would expect from the guy he’s filling in for, Nelson Brands.
Iowa wrestling has 6 major decisions, 2 technical falls in win over California Baptist
Des Moines Register
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1:58
The Iowa men’s wrestling team raced to a 40-0 victory over California Baptist on the road to open the season Saturday.
The Hawkeyes put on a show for an impressive crowd in Riverside, Calif. Iowa won six bouts by major decision and two by technical fall.
Here are the results from Saturday’s dual:
125: Drake Ayala (IOWA) over Elijah Griffin (CBU) (MD 18-8)
133: Brody Teske (IOWA) over Hunter Leake (CBU) (MD 12-1)
141: Real Woods (IOWA) over Darren Green (CBU) (TF 15-0 2:04)
149: Victor Voinovich (IOWA) over Dayne Morton (CBU) (Dec 2-0)
157: Jared Franek (IOWA) over Drayden Morton (CBU) (Dec 8-1)
165: Mike Caliendo (IOWA) over Mateo delaPena (CBU) (TF 23-7 6:26)
174: Aiden Riggins (IOWA) over Peter Acciardi (CBU) (MD 18-4)
184: Brennan Swafford (IOWA) over Nathan Haas (CBU) (MD 15-4)
197: Zach Glazier (IOWA) over Eli Sheeren (CBU) (MD 11-2)
285: Bradley Hill (IOWA) over Max Acciardi (CBU) (MD 16-4)
Here are three takeaways from a dominant road victory for Iowa.
Drake Ayala looks stellar in season debut
No. 11 Drake Ayala had the toughest draw of the day, taking on No. 32 Elijah Griffin. Last year, Griffin beat Aidan Harris in the lone win for the Lancers against Iowa.
This time, Ayala had a major decision win over Griffin despite trailing 3-0 after a takedown from Griffin early on. Ayala had five takedowns in the win, with coaches and crowd yelling their best “three!” chants instead of the typical “two!” we’re all so accustomed to hearing. The NCAA decided this past summer to make takedowns worth three points starting with the 2023-24 season.
Ayala is aiming for bigger things this season, so Saturday was a great way to get rolling for the redshirt sophomore.
Real Woods dominates
Woods, an NCAA finalist last season, had an incredible season debut. He secured a technical fall victory over Darren Green in just 2 minutes 4 seconds. After an early takedown, Woods followed with three near falls to secure five team points for the Hawkeyes early on.
It’s far too early to start talking about the postseason, but for now Woods looks to be well on his way to competing for that elusive national title.
Unproven wrestlers take charge
Riggins, Swafford, Glazier and Hill all came into this one as the question marks of the lineup, unproven compared with the rest of the guys ahead of them in the lineup. However, they all answered the bell, each ending the night with a major-decision victory.
Riggins was up first at 174 and notched an 18-4 major-decision victory against Peter Acciardi. The redshirt freshman had five takedowns and controlled throughout the entirety of the bout. This is the kind of performance you would expect from the guy he’s filling in for, Nelson Brands.
Swafford started slow in his match with Nathan Haas with a 0-0 score after the first three minutes, then exploded out of the gate in the second frame. With a reversal into a near fall followed by another takedown, Swafford took control in a matter of seconds and secured another major-decision win in relief of Abe Assad.
Glazier in particular was one to watch, as the one guy of the four who could be a more permanent fixture in this lineup. He didn’t wow as much as Swafford or Riggins, but slowly grinded out another major decision for the Hawkeyes by a 11-2 score. Hill rounded out a solid night for these four with another major-decision victory.
The bottom half of this lineup as currently constructed had more questions than answers coming in, but they were great in Saturday night’s victory.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
