College Wrestling: Six Hawkeyes to Quarterfinals

The University of Iowa wrestling team wrestling team advanced six wrestlers to the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships on last night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Austin DeSanto, Max Murin, Alex Marinelli, Michael Kemerer, Jacob Warner and Tony Cassioppi all won in the round of 16 and compete today for a chance to make it to the semifinals.

The first five Hawkeyes all won by decision. Cassioppi closed the top half of Iowa’s bracket with a 12-3 major decision at 285.

He totaled four takedowns and nearly four minutes of riding time to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Iowa is currently fifth in team standings behind Penn State, Arizona State, NC State and Michigan.

The Hawkeyes also have four wrestlers alive in the consolation bracket, Drake Ayala, Jaydin Eierman, Kaleb Young and Abe Assad.

Men’s College Wrestling: UNI in 6th Through First Day

UNI wrestling’s Parker Keckeisen remains in contention for an NCAA Division I Wrestling title at 184 pounds, and the team sits in sixth place after the first day of competition. 

Parker Keckeisen, UNI’s only returning All-American, is on a 16-match win streak that included six consecutive wins by major decision that came to an end in the second session of today’s tournament. 

Five more Panthers are alive in consolations in contention for third place. 

Men’s College Basketball: Iowa Ousted by Red-Hot Richmond

It’s one and done for the Big Ten Tournament champion Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa was stifled on both ends of the floor, leading to a 67-63 collapse to Atlantic-10 champion Richmond.

The Spiders held Iowa to just 6-of-29 shooting from three en route to the upset win.

“Probably the worst game we played all year — and I don’t think it’s close” senior guard Connor McCaffery said.

Iowa used an 11-0 run in the second half to take a brief lead the Spiders controlled nearly the entire second half.

Jacob Gilyard led Richmond with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Tyler Burton added 18 points and 11 boards.

Keegan Murray paced Iowa with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Patrick McCaffery chipped in with 18.

Iowa closes their year 26-10.

Richmond advances to Saturday’s Round of 32 where they’ll meet with Providence, who knocked off South Dakota State.

Men’s College Basketball: Otzelberger Readies Clones for LSU

It will be a homecoming tonight for Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger, as he readies his 11th seeded Cyclones for their first round tussle with 6th-seeded LSU.

Otzelberger, a Milwaukee native, started at Thomas More High School and played collegiately at Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“We know that a year ago the place our program was at, we take a lot of pride in turning this around. I expect them to play with that chip on their shoulder” Otzelberger said.

LSU comes into the scrap 22-11 overall but reeling after dismissing their head coach Will Wade for NCAA recruiting violations just days ago.

The Tigers are led by sophomore forward Tari Eason, who is 17 points and seven boards per game.

Today’s game will tip at 6:20 p.m.

You can listen on FM 98.5 and AM 1130, with coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Women’s College Wrestling: Wesleyan’s Nwachukwu Selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Adaugo Nwachukwu (San Jose, Calif./Iowa Wesleyan) has been selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week, USA Wrestling has announced.

Nwachukwu, a freshman for Iowa Wesleyan, won the 136-pound title at the NAIA Women’s National Championships over the weekend.

Entering the tournament as the No. 1 seed, she bonused her way to the semifinals, earning first-period pins in the Round of 32 and quarterfinals along with a 10-0 technical fall in the Round of 16. Nwachukwu shutout the No. 12 seed Diana Dzasezeva from Waldorf in the semis to punch her ticket to the finals.

There, she faced 2019 NAIA National champion and second-seeded Gracie Figueroa of Menlo, who was a 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist.

Nwachukwu seemed unfazed by the caliber of her opponent, using a four-pointer in each period to propel her to 13-3 technical fall for the national title.

Nwachukwu is Iowa Wesleyan’s first national champion in program history.

College Softball: Wesleyan Earns Win No. 1

The Iowa Wesleyan softball team earned their first win of the 2022 season yesterday, taking game one of a two game twinbill with the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis.

The Tigers picked up an 11-3 game one win, before dropping game two 6-2.

Adrianna Jarrett’s first inning double that scored former New London prep Kara Krieger put Wesleyan on front — a lead they would not relinquish.

All told, Wesleyan scratched home eight first inning runs, then added one in the third and two more in the fourth.

Ariana Wolfard was the winning pitcher.

The right-handed hurler worked five innings, tap-dancing around 13 hits allowing just three runs and striking out one.

Wolfard also helped her cause at the plate, tripling and driving home three runs.

In game two, Julia Hill’s two hit performance was not enough in the 6-2 defeat.

Hill was the losing pitcher, working just one inning allowing four earned.

Jordan Morthland limited the damage the rest of the way, tossing five innings of two run ball.

Wesleyan is now 1-11 on the year.

The Tigers will be in action again Saturday, March 19th as they take on the Harris-Stowe State University in a doubleheader.

The game is set to be played in St. Louis, with the first game starting at 1:00 p.m.

College Baseball: Tigers Swept by Tommies and Mustangs

The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team suffered a pair of losses yesterday, losing to St. Thomas 14-1 and Mount Mercy 17-2.

Against the St. Thomas, Wesleyan cut the lead to 2-1 before the Tommies scored 12 unanswered runs to earn the victory.

In game two, Mount Mercy put up 17 runs in six innings.

Angel Marquez took the loss, allowing six hits and nine runs over 2.1 innings.

Wesleyan is now 8-19 on the year, they’ll look to right the ship Friday when they play two against Lincoln Christian University.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Women’s College Basketball: Clark, Joens Named AP All-Americans

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Ashley Joens of Iowa State have been named AP All-Americans.

The publication announced All-American teams Wednesday night.

Clark was nearly unstoppable this year, dropping 27.4 points, eight boards and eight assists per game for Iowa.

Joens was equally impressive, leading Bill Fenelly’s Iowa State Cyclones.

Joens, an Iowa City native, scored 20 points and added just south of 10 boards per game.

Both Iowa and Iowa State will open their NCAA Tournament push tomorrow.