Wrestling at Fargo: Analysis and results for Team Iowa, Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Panthers

After an entire week of wrestling in Fargo, N.D., a whole bunch of Iowans and future Iowans walked away with some hardware.

The 2024 Junior and 16U Nationals, better known as just Fargo, saw some of the nation's best square off for the highly desired stop-sign plaque. In total, Team Iowa brought home five of those. Don Bosco rising sophomore Hayden Schwab, the son of Northern Iowa coach Doug Schwab, was the highlight by bringing home freestyle and Greco-Roman titles, one of just a few to do so.

Behind his efforts, Team Iowa's 16U teams took third in freestyle and won the team title in Greco-Roman. They outscored second-place California by 62 in Greco-Roman behind titles from Schwab and Iowa City West's Alexander Schwab and 17 total Fargo All-Americans.

Alongside some strong performances from native Iowans were also future Hawkeye, Cyclone and Panther commits, so let's go ahead and dive into some of those results.

Freestyle

On the Junior Freestyle side of things, Waukee Northwest alum and Oklahoma commit Koufax Christensen had a stellar outing, taking second for Team Iowa. In the quarterfinals, Christensen took out World champion Christian Castillo of Arizona, who also happens to be an Iowa State commit, by a 7-4 score. After falling short in the state championship finals, Christensen had a strong week in North Dakota.

As for the Hawkeye men's side of things, Dru Ayala, younger brother of Drake Ayala, was the only All-American for the Hawkeyes; he took seventh. Brody Sampson, at 190 pounds, had a nice outing by reaching the Round of 16 and defeating the No. 1-seeded Aiden Cooley in the Round of 32. Cooley is a former World team member, so a win there showed some potential for Sampson to be a more than just depth if he continues to develop.

The Hawkeye women had a great outing from Karlee Brooks as she took first at 125 pounds for Arizona. She cemented herself as one of the few freshmen who may have a chance at cracking the Iowa lineup, particularly as 124 pounds looks to be lighter on depth than others at the moment. Val Solorio, a 100-pound Hawkeye commit from Pennsylvania, also took second after medically forfeiting out of the finals mid-match.

Ames' Daniel Herrera, a Cyclone commit, was dominant before dropping a close one in the finals. In six matches, he outscored his opponents 64-2 before the finals. It's going to be a little bit before you see Herrera as a full-time starter in the lineup with the depth the Cyclones have at heavyweight, but he's going to be a good one at some point. After losing to Christensen, Castillo came back to take third for Iowa State.

For Northern Iowa , Carter Freeman took sixth after making the semifinals at 138 pounds. Freeman was oh-so-close to being Iowa's latest four-time champion, but he bounced back nicely with a good performance at Fargo and should be a strong 141- or 149-pounder for the Panthers in time. He's expected to redshirt next season, but he's got a chance to compete right away in 2025-26 with Cael Happel and Colin Realbuto entering their final seasons.

Union's Jace Hedeman also took eighth as a future Panther, but has one more year of high school before he gets ready to head to Cedar Falls.

On the 16U freestyle side of things, Team Iowa walked away with three champions in Schwab, Southeast Polk's Justis Jesuroga and Bettendorf's Brayden Koester. Schwab outscored his opponents 63-5 in freestyle, facing zero resistance until the finals, where he earned a 2-1 win over the No. 10 seed.

Jesuorga, the younger brother of former Hawkeye Joel Jesuroga, outscored his opponents 49-8. He had an up-and-down sophomore season for Southeast Polk, but this tournament was a huge sign of growth for the Ram and a scary proposition for teams like Bettendorf trying to catch up to Southeast Polk. However, Koester's title and a second-place effort in Greco-Roman were highlights for Bettendorf.

On the 16U girls side , Bella Miller of Dubuque Wahlert did nothing to dispute her claim that she'll be a future four-time champion in Iowa by taking fifth. Only East Buchanan's Miley Walz, who went from not placing at the state tournament to taking fourth at Fargo, did better.

Here are full results of freestyle, broken down between division and where recruits are pledged at the moment.

Team Iowa Junior Freestyle

• Koufax Christensen (Waukee Northwest)- 2nd
• Daniel Herrera (Ames) - 2nd
• Carter Freeman (Waukee Northwest) - 6th
• Dru Ayala (Fort Dodge) - 7th
• Kaiden Belinsky (Wapsie Valley)- 7th
• Jace Hedeman (Union) - 8th
• Caleb Olson (Union) - 8th

Team Iowa 16U Freestyle

• Hayden Schwab (Don Bosco) - 1st
• Justis Jesuroga (Southeast Polk) - 1st
• Brayden Koester (Bettendorf) - 1st
• Maximus Dhabolt (Ankeny Centennial) - 2nd
• Alexander Pierce (Iowa City West) - 3rd
• Dawson Youngblut (Don Bosco) - 5th
• Lucas Feuerbach (Solon) - 6th
• JT Kelso (Forest City) - 7th
• Cruz Gannon - 7th

Team Iowa 16U Girls Freestyle

• Miley Walz (East Buchanan) - 4th
• Violet Diaz (Denver) - 5th
• Isabella Miller (Dubuque Wahlert)- 5th
• Siera Becker (Indianola) - 6th

Iowa commits

• Dru Ayala - 7th
• Brady Benham (Oklahoma) - DNP
• Kenyan Hernandez (Montana) - DNP
• Brody Sampson (Ballard) - DNP
• Kael Voinovich (Iowa City High)- DNP

Iowa women commits

• Karlee Brooks (Arizona) - 1st
• Val Solorio (Pennsylvania) - 2nd
• Kiara Djoumessi (Waverly-Shell Rock) - DNP
• Mia Goodwin (Virginia) - DNP

Iowa State commits

• Daniel Herrera - 2nd
• Christian Castillo (Arizona) - 3rd
• Adrian Meza (Arizona) - DNP
• Carlos Stanton Jr. (Arizona) - DNP

Northern Iowa commits

• Carter Freeman - 6th
• Jace Hedeman - 8th
• Kyler Knaack (Don Bosco) - DNP
• Grant Stromberg (Wisconsin) - DNP

Greco-Roman

The story of the Greco-Roman division was the 16U team of Iowa bulldozing the competition.

Schwab was once again brilliant, scoring 47 points and allowing just three in six matches to win his second 16U Fargo Greco-Roman title. Iowa City West's Alexander Pierce had a standout moment as well by taking first. After his narrow loss in the state tournament finals to Norwalk's Tyler Harper, you could see how much it meant for him to take first, making it rain with fake dollar bills, doing a back flip and giving a flex to the Fargo Dome after his 14-5 tech fall in the finals. He's already a one-time state champion, but he continues to show why he's one of the most talented rising juniors.

Between a third-place finish in freestyle and their first-place finish in Greco-Roman with 17 All-Americans, Iowa's 16U wrestlers proved to the country that they have a very strong crop of youngsters coming up.

The Hawkeyes had just one commit wrestle in this division, with 2025 commit Leister Bowling IV taking fourth. He's one of a pair of Colorado commits with Greco-Roman prowess, along with 2024 commit Otto Black, who is a Team USA Greco-Roman world team member. They are both intriguing prospects to watch develop over time and could be nice finds as they continue to produce some good results in Greco.

Northern Iowa heavyweight commit Grant Stromberg fell just short of All-American status in freestyle, but came back to take third in Greco. UNI has a lack of depth at that position, with Adam Ahrendsen and Jose Valdez the only ones coming back to have starts at the weight. His development will be crucial, so this was a good outing for him.

Team Iowa Junior Greco-Roman

• Brenden Heying (Benton) - 4th
• Max Riggins (Southeast Polk) - 5th
• Bas Diaz (Waverly-Shell Rock) - 5th
• Henry Christensen (Ballard) - 8th

Team Iowa 16U Greco-Roman

• Hayden Schwab - 1st
• Alexander Pierce - 1st
• Dawson Youngblut - 2nd
• Dokken Biladeau (Southeast Polk) - 2nd
• Brady Hagan (Dowling Catholic) - 2nd
• Parker Casey (Johnston) - 4th
• JT Kelso - 4th
• Jaxon Miller (Carlisle) - 4th
• Andy Franke (Muscatine) - 4th
• Gavin Landers (Denver) - 5th
• Brayden Koester - 5th
• Mason Koehler (Glenwood) - 6th
• Damien Yeoman - 6th
• Coy Mohlert (Union) - 6th
• Max Dhabolt - 7th
• Gage Spurgeon (Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) - 7th
• Ethan Humphrey (West Branch) - 7th

Iowa commits

• Leister Bowling IV (Colorado) -4th

Iowa State commits

• Christian Castillo - DNP
• Adrian Meza - DNP

Northern Iowa commits

• Grant Stromberg - 3rd

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Wrestling at Fargo: Analysis and results for Team Iowa, Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Panthers