In the words of UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer: It’s TIME!!!!!! The 2024 Olympic Trials are this weekend on Friday and Saturday, April 19-20 in State College, Pennsylvania. When the dust clears Saturday night the 2024 Olympic Team will be set for Team USA for the Summer Olympics in Paris, France on August 5-11. The Olympic Trials will be shown live on Peacock. Team USA has not qualified 57 kg for the Olympics at this time. The winner of the Olympic Trials will still have to compete to qualify USA for this weight so a lot is on the line. Step one is to make the team. Step two is to then qualif ..read more

The University of Iowa Wrestling program will participate in Take Down Homelessness. This is a great fundraiser where fans can bid in an auction to have dinner with one of their favorite Iowa wrestlers. All of the proceeds go to support Shelter House in Iowa City. In September of 2022 there were 5 Iowa wrestlers that participated in Take Down Homelessness. This year the list has grown to 18 Iowa wrestlers. An online auction will open at 10 AM CST on Monday, April 22 and close on Friday, April 26 for wrestling fans to bid on having dinner with one of their favorite Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers. I wil ..read more

It was a great weekend for the Iowa Wrestling team and incoming recruits at the 2024 U.S. Marine Corp Women’s National Championship in Spokane, Washington.  Two Hawks and two incoming recruits won titles at U20 Nationals. Brianna Gonzalez(53kg) and Reese Larramendy(65kg) won titles for the Hawks. Larramendy defeated teammate Ella Schmit in the finals. Nyla Valencia placed second at 50kg. Incoming recruits Cadence Diduch(62kg) and Naomi Simon(76kg) won U20 National titles. Diduch and Simon are in the Recruiting Class of 2024. The winner of each weight will represent Team USA at the 2024 U2 ..read more

Members of the Iowa Wrestling team will be competing in the 2024 U.S. Marine Corp Women’s National Championship in Spokane, Washington this weekend.  Ten Hawks will compete in the U20 Nationals and one in U23 Nationals. We will also have four members of the Recruiting Class of 2024 competing in U20 Nationals.  U20 competition will be on Saturday and Sunday. U23 is on Friday and Saturday. The winner of each U20 weight will represent Team USA at the 2024 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on September 2-8. FloWrestling will have coverage on their premium service. I ..read more

Hello wrestling fans.  I am looking for support for my Iowa Wrestling Fan blog.  What began as a single blog posted on Hawkeye Report on March 5, 2014 has continued to grow each year.  I cover anything and everything about Iowa Wrestling. From June 1, 2022 – May 31, 2023 I published 251 Iowa Wrestling Fan Blogs.  From June 1, 2023 – April 12, 2024 I have published 325 Iowa Wrestling Fan Blogs and counting. I do not know of anyone in wrestling or any other professional or amateur sport anywhere that has the coverage that I do produce for Iowa Wrestling especially at no charg ..read more

Incoming Iowa Wrestling recruits will be competing at the 2024 U.S. Marine Corp Women’s National Championship in Spokane, Washington this weekend.  We will have four members of the Recruiting Class of 2024 competing in U20 Nationals. Karlee Brooks, Cadence Diduch, Kiara Djoumessi, and Naomi Simon will compete in Session 4 and 5 on Saturday and Sunday. The winner of each weight will represent Team USA at the 2024 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on September 2-8. FloWrestling will have coverage on their premium service. I will have a follow up blog with results.   ..read more

Former Iowa Hawkeye All American Wes Hand has been named as the new head wrestling coach at Pleasant Valley. Hand joined the Pleasant Valley program as an assistant coach this past season. Pleasant Valley is a 3A school located in Riverdale, Iowa in the Quad Cities. Wes was a two-time All American for the University of Iowa at Hwt where he was an NCAA National Runner-up and Big Ten champ in 2000 and placed eighth in 1998. The University of Iowa won an NCAA team title in all five years of Hand’s career as a Hawkeye (1996-2000). After college Hand was an Assistant Coach at Virginia Tech and at t ..read more

The Iowa Women’s Wrestling Banquet and IWWC Casino Night will be on Saturday, April 27 at the Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa. This will be a great opportunity to meet the 2024 national champion Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers and coaches. You can support the Iowa Women’s Wrestling program by purchasing tickets, sponsoring a table at Casino Night, or by making a general donation.   Iowa Women’s Wrestling Banquet and IWWC Casino Night Saturday, April 27 Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa 5:30 PM – Doors open 6 PM – Dinner 6:30 PM – Iowa Women’s Wrestling Banquet 7:30 PM – IWWC Casino Night   ..read more

Former Iowa wrestler Edwin Cooper will compete in TUF 32. TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) is a production for the UFC. Cooper will be competing in the Featherweight division of 145 lbs. The two teams for TUF 32 will be coached by Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso. The season opener for TUF 32 will be Tuesday, June 4 on ESPN. TUF is a reality TV show with twelve episodes where the winner of each weight will receive a contract to compete in the UFC. Cooper is one of eight fighters in the Featherweight competition and the only American. Fighters from England, Lithuania, South Africa, Tajikistan, M ..read more

Nyla Valencia and Brianna Gonzalez from the University of Iowa won titles at the Last Chance Olympic Team Trials Qualifier in Fairfax, Virginia.  Valencia and Gonzalez will join seven teammates that will be competing at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials on April 19-20. Valencia won the title at 50kg with two tech falls before pinning Charlotte Fowler (Boilermaker WC) in 5:27 in the finals. Valencia is a redshirt freshman from Morgan Hill, California (Ann Sabrato HS) and did not compete for the Hawks this past season. Gonzalez won the 53kg bracket with a tech fall and 9-0 decision before defeat ..read more