Iowa won’t have to go far to get back into competition after a long break.

The Hawkeyes, who haven’t competed since Dec. 6 duals against Princeton and Army, will be at the Soldier Salute in Coralville on Sunday and Monday, an event they have dominated the previous two years. Iowa won team titles in both years as well as 16 individual championships.

Iowa is one of 12 teams in the event, which also includes entries from fourth-ranked Nebraska, #7 Minnesota, #10 Northern Iowa, #13 Iowa State, #14 South Dakota State and #19 Missouri.

“Being in our hometown is great from a travel perspective and all that,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said Friday. “(The event) is growing. It's becoming more legit, and that's what you do. When you start something, you stay with it — just keep it on the same date — and you build it. And it's building.”

A total of 29 Iowa wrestlers will be competing, either attached or unattached. Among that group, the Hawkeyes will have five 125-pounders (Joey Cruz, Kale Petersen, Dru Ayala, Keyan Hernandez and Anthony Avezzola) and five 149-pounders (Koye Grebel, Kyle Parco, Caleb Rathjen, Miguel Estrada and Kael Voinovich) competing.

The chances of seeing head-to-head matches could be important as Brands looks to solidify his lineup heading into the Big Ten schedule.

“We look for guys that compete the right way, get their hand raised the right way,” Brands said. “We look for guys that are consistent. This is an important stepping stone to solidify yourself or grab hold of, maybe, a spot, but you’ve got to be consistent also. We want guys that want to compete. We want guys that are hungry for the mat every time out. And that's really, really important.”

Among Iowa’s competitors are seven nationally-ranked wrestlers — Cruz (#27 at 125), Drake Ayala (#3 at 133), Parco (#4 at 149), Michael Caliendo (#2 at 165), Gabe Arnold (#5 at 184), Stephen Buchanan (#1 at 197) and Ben Kueter (#13 at 285).

“This is a tournament where there's things that can happen that you can't control, or that you're not predicting that could happen,” Brands said. “How are you going to come back after adversity? Finishing strong is important, not that we want to be on the backside, but if you find yourself in a place you don't want to be in the end, how are you going to compete to come back? 

“And then the other part of it is you have an opportunity here, with some big names coming in. What are you going to do with those opportunities? So we have a chance to knock some guys down that are pretty high ranked from other places.”

Battle At 184

One of the head-to-head matches that could happen might be at 184, where Arnold (5-0 this season) and Angelo Ferrari (6-0) are competing.

“There’s a lot that has to happen there,” Brands said. “We have two options there that we love. Both those options, wherever those guys end up, I know they're going to help us, whatever their role is, and that's something that we talk about.”

Asked if this tournament could play a role in determining who is at that spot for the rest of the season, Brands said: “That’s a really good question, because it's like getting to the core of maybe a quarterback controversy. But we like our situation there, and we're gonna put the best guy on the mat, and that means for the team, and, more importantly for the individual.”

Not In the Lineup

Two wrestlers who weren’t listed among the competitors were 141-pounder Ryder Block and 174-pounder Nelson Brands.

Block is 2-3 this season. Brands is 3-1.

Tom Brands didn’t go into specifics for the absences of the two, saying, “There’s reasons they're not on the mat. I mean, we’ve got to consider health, and we will consider health, and we have a great medical team, as you know.”

Fenton’s First 

Isaiah Fenton, Iowa’s lone 157-pounder in the event, will be competing for the first time this season. 

Fenton had a 5-1 attached record last season as a freshman, finishing second in the Soldier Salute’s 157A Silver Bracket. He finished fifth at 165 wrestling unattached in the Pat “Flash” Flanagan Open.

“I have to see him more on the mat,” Brands said. “We're ironing some things out always with all of our guys, we're ironing things out with him. And he has an opportunity here. Take advantage of your opportunity.”

Fenton was an Iowa Class 2A state champion at 152 for Notre Dame-West Burlington in 2023. He had a 39-0 record as a senior, and won 140 matches in his high school career.

Back From Break

Brands said getting that time off in the middle of the season was crucial.

He said after last Thursday’s workouts, everyone got away for the holiday weekend.

“Guys went home for four or five days,” he said. “We had some guys come back that went home Thursday or Friday and came back on Monday. … They went home for three or four days and recharged.”

That, Brands said, is important as the Hawkeyes get into Big Ten competition. Iowa opens the conference schedule Jan. 12 at Wisconsin.

“We encourage it,” Brands said of the time off. “Thanksgiving, we want them in town. We keep them in town. But Christmas, it's a good midseason break. The work can be done as R&R, or it can be done as you're on the mat working as well. But they all got a little bit of a break, and that's important.”