PREVIEW: future Hawkeyes head to Fargo for summer finale

sdvike

All-Conference
Feb 23, 2016
1,095
2,400
113
The referee didn't appear to be a Mocco fan. Sure called him early no action after he took about 4 single leg attempts and a few slide bys.
 
Jan 10, 2023
243
402
63

Congrads to these young men.

As an Iowa fan is this a note worthy result? Can these stats be compared with other rivals including Penn St, Okie St, UNI (present). and others? Would be interesting to see. Heck SDSU had a silver, almost gold. I suspect a disappointing comparasion for Iowa fans.
 

Tanner Lafever

All-American
Jan 4, 2024
2,171
8,689
113
Congrads to these young men.

As an Iowa fan is this a note worthy result? Can these stats be compared with other rivals including Penn St, Okie St, UNI (present). and others? Would be interesting to see. Heck SDSU had a silver, almost gold. I suspect a disappointing comparasion for Iowa fans.
I‘ve only covered the last three editions of this event, but 2026 was by far Iowa’s best performance in recent memory.

In (small) part that was due to the volume of commits in action. But mostly the guys performed quite well - perhaps a reflection of the recent recruiting uptick (esp. the Class of 2027).

As for a comparison to other schools, here’s who had the most finalists among finalist in the Boys JR division:

3 - Iowa, Ohio State
2 - Nebraska, UNI, Virginia Tech
1 - Little Rock, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Penn, South Dakota State, Wisconsin

Keep in mind that there were plenty of top committed prospects who did not compete at Fargo - esp. from schools like Penn State and Oklahoma (and also Iowa).
 

Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
1,145
3,089
113
Congrads to these young men.

As an Iowa fan is this a note worthy result? Can these stats be compared with other rivals including Penn St, Okie St, UNI (present). and others? Would be interesting to see. Heck SDSU had a silver, almost gold. I suspect a disappointing comparasion for Iowa fans.
For a class that is supposed to be a reason the program can't risk moving off the current staff, the results feel disappointing.
 

Tanner Lafever

All-American
Jan 4, 2024
2,171
8,689
113
With Bachmanns placement, is he injured or nursing an injury? I’m kinda shocked with his placement.
Lost a couple of really close matches to the eventual 2nd/4th place finishers, so it’s not like he was terrible.

And while he may not be the most offensive guy, I wonder how much that can be attributed to his massive jump in weight classes over the past year.

He won a his 2025 PIAA state title at 127lbs, his 2026 title at 152 this March and then competed at 165 at Fargo. That’s a pretty drastic change over a short period of time.
 

vhsalum

All-Conference
Nov 14, 2002
1,550
3,684
113
Lost a couple of really close matches to the eventual 2nd/4th place finishers, so it’s not like he was terrible.

And while he may not be the most offensive guy, I wonder how much that can be attributed to his massive jump in weight classes over the past year.

He won a his 2025 PIAA state title at 127lbs, his 2026 title at 152 this March and then competed at 165 at Fargo. That’s a pretty drastic change over a short period of time.
You can attribute 0% to the jump in classes. It's who he is.

Just not an offensive dynamo.
 
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Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
1,145
3,089
113
You can attribute 0% to the jump in classes. It's who he is.

Just not an offensive dynamo.
I'd argue it's as much if not more of a reason than him just being a better folk style prospect. That reasoning has been overused forever... how many folkstyle studs have been duds in free over the past decade or two? The guys competing for and winning ncaa folk titles are the same guys at the top in free.
Yes there are definitely guys better at one vs the other but it's rarely very extreme.
152 to 165 is very significant in size and strength. Good for him for bumping up.
 

VakAttack

All-Conference
Jun 30, 2025
505
1,949
93
I'd argue it's as much if not more of a reason than him just being a better folk style prospect. That reasoning has been overused forever... how many folkstyle studs have been duds in free over the past decade or two? The guys competing for and winning ncaa folk titles are the same guys at the top in free.
Yes there are definitely guys better at one vs the other but it's rarely very extreme.
152 to 165 is very significant in size and strength. Good for him for bumping up.
It's not like he's bad at Freestyle, lol.
 
Jan 10, 2023
243
402
63
I‘ve only covered the last three editions of this event, but 2026 was by far Iowa’s best performance in recent memory.

In (small) part that was due to the volume of commits in action. But mostly the guys performed quite well - perhaps a reflection of the recent recruiting uptick (esp. the Class of 2027).

As for a comparison to other schools, here’s who had the most finalists among finalist in the Boys JR division:

3 - Iowa, Ohio State
2 - Nebraska, UNI, Virginia Tech
1 - Little Rock, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Penn, South Dakota State, Wisconsin

Keep in mind that there were plenty of top committed prospects who did not compete at Fargo - esp. from schools like Penn State and Oklahoma (and also Iowa).
Thank you for the reply.
 

Boomhawk52

Sophomore
Apr 22, 2019
88
168
33
I'd argue it's as much if not more of a reason than him just being a better folk style prospect. That reasoning has been overused forever... how many folkstyle studs have been duds in free over the past decade or two? The guys competing for and winning ncaa folk titles are the same guys at the top in free.
Yes there are definitely guys better at one vs the other but it's rarely very extreme.
152 to 165 is very significant in size and strength. Good for him for bumping up.
I agree. Good recruit but not a Melvin miller. That Sammy Sanchez who whipped Schwab was nasty.
 

AndEEss

Senior
Jun 12, 2020
184
504
93
I agree. Good recruit but not a M̶e̶l̶v̶i̶n̶ m̶i̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ Jayden James. That Sammy Sanchez who whipped Schwab was nasty.

Fixed it for you.

Sanchez is really impressive, too. There are a lot of U17 world champs floating around those weights; it'll be interesting to see where they eventually end up weight-wise. Could make for some wild 125/133 brackets in coming years.
 
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