Ben Kueter’s first crack at a U20 World title was an exercise in balance. 

It was two summers ago. Kueter was about to start his senior year at Iowa City High School, where he had just wrapped up his track and baseball seasons and preseason football workouts were underway. 

His divided responsibilities proved to be a small obstacle. Kueter navigated his way to the 97-kilogram title in Bulgaria, where he won a bracket that included Iran’s Amir Azirpira, who defeated Kyle Snyder for bronze at the Paris Olympics. 

Kueter’s track and baseball days are now a thing of the past, and he’s put his college football career on hold until next spring to take a full-throttle attempt at a second U20 title and Division I glory at Iowa. When he takes the mat next week in Spain, he’ll do so with his longest stretch of uninterrupted wrestling training under his belt. 

The former four-star linebacker recruit played both sports during his first year with the Hawkeyes. But after Iowa’s three starting linebackers all opted to exercise an extra year of eligibility, Kueter decided to go all-in on wrestling until next spring. 

“I thought it would be more of a grind and hard, but it isn’t and I’m falling in love with (wrestling) again and I can feel my wrestling getting better each day and I’m surprising myself some days, especially recently,” he said. “I’m surprising myself with how good I can be sometimes and that makes it fun.” 

Kueter is scheduled to compete Saturday morning in Pontevedra, Spain, where he’ll try to join Spencer Lee and Mark Hall and become the third American to win multiple men’s freestyle World titles in the U20 division. 

This is a different challenge than the one Kueter encountered two years ago. He’s wrestling in the 125-kilogram class now and he’s tipping the scales around 230 pounds (104.3 kilos). He’s in a bracket with full-grown heavyweights now. 

“(Heavyweights likely) want it to slow down a little bit more and make it more of a handfight,” Kueter said. “Wrestling 97, guys can move pretty well and I’m not saying heavyweights can’t, but I’m expecting it to be at a slower pace — and that’s not where I want to be. 

“That’s the opposite of what I want. The more wrestling I do, the better, the more it favors me.” 

Kueter said he hasn’t locked in yet on match planning for specific opponents, but he’s well aware of some of the others in the bracket, particularly Iran’s Amirreza Masoumi. The four-time age-group World champ won the U20 heavyweight title each of the past two years. 

“I know a bit about him,” Kueter said. “I think he’s a good wrestler. He has a game plan and he executes his game plan pretty well. I don’t think he’s been pushed too hard recently. I’m looking forward to doing that.” 

'I'm Loving Wrestling Right Now'

While Kueter is competing in Spain, his Iowa football teammates will be gearing up for the annual Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State. Kinnick Stadium is where Kueter initially figured he’d be this coming Saturday. 

But those plans began to shift last winter. All-American linebacker Jay Higgins elected to utilize his extra COVID-19 year of eligibility. All-Big Ten linebacker Nick Jackson learned he was eligible for an extra season stemming from his time at Virginia, where the Cavaliers’ 2022 season got cut short after three players were shot and killed by a former player. 

The two incumbents returned to the core of the Iowa defense, leaving the top six on the linebacker depth chart unchanged from last season and reducing Kueter’s odds of getting significant snaps this fall.   

“I probably would’ve stayed (with football this season if Higgins and Jackson had moved onto the NFL),” Kueter said. “I think them coming back on top of all that other stuff makes it easier to just wrestle this year. I probably could’ve played special teams, but I also looked at it like, I don’t want to just sit on my ass for the next three months when I could be in the (wrestling) room getting better.” 

Kueter’s performance at the U20 Trials solidified those thoughts. He rallied back after the break to beat Aden Attao in the Challenge Tournament semifinals and handled Nick Sahakian before taking out Jimmy Mullen in two straight bouts to win the tournament. 

Two days later, Kueter announced his plans to take a 10-month break from football to concentrate solely on wrestling. He said he still intends to rejoin the Iowa football program next spring after the NCAA Championships. 

For now, however, his attention is on the pursuit of a second U20 belt. Kueter said his recent training has been focused on wrestling out of unfavorable situations, par terre defense and “learning how to manage matches with these bigger guys overseas.” 

It’s not the routine Kueter is accustomed to this time of year. 

“It’s the first time I haven’t been doing anything football-wise this time of year, so it’s kinda tough,” he said. “But I’m loving wresting right now, so it makes it a little easier.”