Wrestling Mailbag: Iowa women's wrestling recruiting, West Gym's future, Bout at the Ballpark and more

Fun fact: This week was supposed to be Clarissa Chun's first week as the Iowa women's wrestling head coach. Her original start date was Feb. 7, but she started a month early to get a jump on recruiting.

The results? Three big-time commitments by Feb. 6:

– Kylie Welker, a Junior world champ and the No. 1 pound-for-pound women's high school wrestler in America

– Ella Schmit, a three-time Iowa state champ from Bettendorf and the current face of Iowa's high school women's wrestling movement

– Reese Larramendy, a 16U national champ, Junior national finalist, and the No. 1-ranked 144-pounder in the country

Not bad, coach.

Of course, naturally, the easy question is: Who's next?

Here are some names to keep an eye on, which is basically an incomplete list of who's visited:

• Kennedy Blades, a Junior world champ who attends Wyoming Seminary

• Katie Gomez, a Cadet world champ from California

• Korina Blades, a Junior bronze medalist who also attends Wyoming Seminary

• Emma Bruntil, a two-time NCAA women’s national champ for McKendree who announced she'd be transferring and listed Iowa as one of the schools she's considering

• Brianna Gonzalez, a Junior national champ from California

• Emilie Gonzalez, a Junior national champ from California

• Jennifer Soto, a Junior national finalist from California

• Faith Cole, a Junior All-American from Missouri

I don't have any inclination about who will be next. I honestly wasn't sure when the first one would drop. I had an idea of when Schmit might commit, but only because I kept in contact with her during the season about a number of things, which included recruiting.

Chun and the Hawkeyes beat every other Power Five school to the punch by being the first to launch a women's program. Then came another big swing by starting her job a month early and making inroads with the nation's top women's wrestling prospects.

Imagine where they could be a month from now.

Now then, on to the Wrestling Mailbag. Strap in for a wicked sprint. We've got regional duals today (Tuesday) and Wednesday, Iowa State-Northern Iowa on Friday, districts plus Iowa-Oklahoma State on Saturday, state brackets drop on Sunday, then state duals next Wednesday and the state championships begin next Thursday.

Please give me a follow on Twitter and I’ll keep you up to date on all things wrestling in Iowa. Don't forget to tune into the Register's wrestling podcast, In the Room, each week. You can find the latest episodes below.

Thanks for your help here, and for reading.

► MORE WRESTLING FROM THE DES MOINES REGISTER

• HS WRESTLING: Takeaways from sectionals, looking ahead to districts

• HAWKEYES: On Senior Day, Iowa thumps Wisconsin, 29-6, at Carver

• BIG 12: Iowa State tops Air Force; Northern Iowa beats Air Force

• WOMEN: National champ Reese Larramendy commits to Iowa women's team

Iowans starting for Iowa, Iowa State, UNI

This week's mailbag roll call was a nod to all three of the state's Division I teams, Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa, who are a combined 22-2 in duals since Jan. 1. Dr. Ron here followed with a intriguing question about native Iowans in the starting lineups.

If we're strictly using what we believe will be their postseason lineups, there's 11.

– One for Iowa: Drake Ayala, from Fort Dodge.

– Three for Iowa State: Isaac Judge, from South Tama County; Joel Devine, from Valley; Marcus Coleman, from Ames.

– Seven for Northern Iowa: Brody Teske, from Fort Dodge; Kyle Biscoglia, from Waukee; Cael Happel, from Lisbon; Derek Holschlag, from Union; Austin Yant, from Waverly-Shell Rock; Lance Runyon, from Southeast Polk; and Tyrell Gordon, from Waterloo East.

Obviously Doug Schwab and the Panthers have made it more of a priority than the other two programs to recruit in-state kids. We could see more in the future at all three teams; a lot of Iowa's 2022 high school senior class is going to all three schools:

Iowa has Waverly-Shell Rock's Aiden Riggins, Des Moines Lincoln's Mickey Griffith, Southeast Polk's Joel Jesuroga, Carter Martinson and Carson Martinson, Bettendorf's Bradley Hill, West Lyon's Easton Fleshman and Mason City's Jace Rhodes all signed.

Iowa State has Crestwood's Carter Fousek, Gilbert’s Fernando Villaescusa and Xavier's Christian Stanek, and Northern Iowa has North Butler's Chet Buss, West Delaware's Wyatt Voelker, Ankeny's Trever Anderson and Don Bosco's Garrett Funk.

It's always cool to see Iowa kids earn opportunities to rep their school and state on the Division I level. Get ready to see more of it in the not-so-distant future.

The murky future of UNI's West Gym

Based on everything I've heard … things don't look good.

For those who don't know, Northern Iowa capped wrestling's season tickets at the West Gym this season due to capacity restrictions, and they are looking at the long-term feasibility of the West Gym. UNI said at the beginning of the season that the West Gym is structurally safe, but needed modifications to its upper level to meet building codes.

One issue that was relayed to me is that the the railings on the upper level are both not tall enough and the gaps between bars are too wide — and my first thought was, "Well, how much does it cost to fix it?" It seemed like a lazy answer to me, but I digress.

In any case, the Panthers only had four home duals this season at the West Gym, one of the more iconic and historic wrestling venues in the country. Their final two duals will be at the McLeod Center — on Friday against Iowa State, then next Thursday against Wisconsin.

Here's what Doug Schwab said after the Panthers' 31-10 win over West Virginia last Saturday. He was asked if that dual would be the last at the West Gym:

Two thoughts from that all of that:

One, Schwab is a company man who clearly has a lot more to say but doesn't want to get in trouble with his bosses.

Two, Schwab is resigned to the idea that the West Gym will no longer house the UNI wrestling program sooner rather than later.

Then Schwab was asked what the plan was for the West Gym moving forward and what it could mean for next year (shoutout to IAWrestle's Nic Ryder for asking both questions):

"That, I'm not certain of," Schwab said. "Those are things above me. All we can control is what we can … but when you have a team competing top-to-bottom like we have been, then you start to get, 'Is this place big enough?' That's a great problem to have, too."

I'd like to think the Panthers have one or two more years in the West Gym if UNI is serious about moving them out. They would need that time, if not more, to figure out a new home for the program, because currently, UNI's practice room, locker rooms, lounge, coaches' offices and more are all located in the West Gym.

There's currently no plan, that I've seen at least, about where their new home would be — and, again, I'm talking practice and workout facilities, team common areas, coaches' offices, all that. Obviously they would compete at McLeod. I'm not totally against that. Even Schwab has mentioned that a growing fan base needs more seats.

(And also, reach out to me if you have any extra information and cool West Gym stories. Because, yes, I plan on writing something longer on this, too.)

Iowa vs. Oklahoma State wrestling at Bout at the Ballpark in Texas

Honestly, I can't get the duals-running-simultaneously thing out of my head.

The Bout at the Ballpark is a great opportunity to showcase the sport of wrestling in the state of Texas, which doesn't have any Division I programs but has clearly shown interest due to high participation numbers at the high school level and rabid support behind Texas natives winning on big stages (Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Bo Nickal, AJ Ferrari, etc.).

But they've said from the get-go that the Iowa-Oklahoma State dual and the men's freestyle dual between the U.S. and now a compilation of international wrestlers who are mostly based in the U.S. after the matchup with Iran fell through will run simultaneously, and I just find that to be a strange thing to go all-in on.

Think about it: You're going to run them at the same time and force fans to pay attention to one or the other, and then confuse them by showcasing two different styles of wrestling, collegiate folkstyle and international freestyle?

Why?

The amount of star power they're bringing to this event should be commended, and we should definitely give USA Wrestling kudos for keeping the men's freestyle competition on the card even after the USA-Iran matchup fell through. The men's freestyle dual might be a bloodbath, but at least it's still happening.

But the amount of star power should mean that each competition gets its own stage so everybody can focus and watch each one on their own.

There's a women's dual, between the U.S. and Mongolia, plus a single Greco-Roman match between G'Angelo Hancock, a 2021 world bronze medalist, and Ahmed Hassan, a 2017 Egyptian world-teamer. Then the men's freestyle card, then Iowa-Oklahoma State, which can sell out Carver-Hawkeye Arena or Gallagher-Iba Arena on its own.

Running the college dual and men's freestyle dual at the same time is just weird to me, and I don't have a good feeling about it going off cleanly. I'm open-minded and curious enough to see how it'll go, but I just don't think the final product will be what the folks at REV Entertainment want it to be.

Maybe I'm wrong. Hopefully I'm wrong. But I just find that schedule structure to be odd.

Anyway, you asked about the Iowa-Oklahoma State matchups. I'm excited to see 133: Austin DeSanto and Daton Fix; 149: (potentially) Max Murin and Kaden Gfeller, who's been wrestling very well; 157: Kaleb Young and Wyatt Sheets; 165: Alex Marinelli and Travis Wittlake; and 184: Abe Assad and Dakota Geer.

I think you can give Oklahoma State the upper-hand at 125 (unless Ayala wrestles) and 133, then give Iowa the edge at 141, 174, 197 (unless Ferrari is back) and 285. I know the Cowboys have struggled lately — three losses in their past four duals — but this lineup still has a lot of talent.

Maybe getting up for a dual against Iowa will snap them out of their mini-funk and we'll see a fun dual on Saturday night.

Are we talking about this if Oklahoma State wins it in 2013?

Look back at that national tournament. Penn State won the team title with 123.5 points, four whole points better than the second-place Cowboys.

It wasn't the best tournament for either team — the Nittany Lions had just five All-Americans, but all five were in the finals, and two won titles, Ed Ruth and Quentin Wright. Oklahoma State finished with seven All-Americans, and also two champs, in Jordan Oliver and Chris Perry.

Hindsight is 20/20, but if Alex Dieringer beats Derek St. John in the semifinals at 157, or if Chris Chionuma wrestles to his No. 9 seed at 184, there's a real chance Oklahoma State wins that year, giving Smith his sixth title as the Cowboys' coach and breaking up the blue-and-white dynasty.

It's been eight years since then, so maybe your point still stands. But starting with the 2007 NCAA Championships, Oklahoma State has nine top-five finishes in the past 14 national tournaments. Only two teams have more top-five finishes in that span: Iowa, with 13, and Penn State, with 10.

That kind of consistency is hard to come by — and they've done all of that while still wrestling in the Big 12 Conference.

I imagine that John Smith is feeling a lot of pressure, most of it from himself, and we've seen them adapt over the years — like bringing Tyler Caldwell on as the recruiting coordinator, which has led to them bringing in guys like Fix and Ferrari and others. They continue to recruit at a high level and continue to field teams that are full of talent.

I know they took third last year, and that's not a title, but Oklahoma State wrestlers went 19-5 on Friday to position themselves for third. Still finished with six All-Americans, and weren't mathematically eliminated from title contention until Saturday.

I know Oklahoma State is a title-or-bust program, just like Iowa. I don't have a full read on their fan base like I do on Iowa's three Division I programs. But I don't think John Smith is going anywhere.

I remember after last year's national tournament, I talked myself into a three-team race between Iowa, Penn State and the Cowboys. That was before Michigan made some serious moves and before Oklahoma State stumbled over the past month. But the talent is still there, especially if Ferrari can come back in any capacity.

There's a path for them to beat Iowa on Saturday and to win another trophy in March.

Big Ten Network's wrestling coverage and storytelling

I want them to profile Cael Sanderson, and I don't really have any close second or third option.

I want Big Ten Network to give Sanderson the same treatment they gave Tom and Terry Brands and the Alex and Eli story. I want them to dive into his history, his upbringing in Utah, his spotless Iowa State career, his Olympic run, his coaching tenure with the Cyclones and his Gable-like impact by jumping from Ames to State College.

Sanderson is notorious for closing himself off to the media, so I imagine this would be an insanely tough assignment for BTN, but that's the next story everybody wants to hear — the how and why behind Sanderson building his Penn State dynasty.

There are other fun ideas, I suppose. This year is the 100th anniversary of Michigan's wrestling program, and they just so happen to be the host school for the NCAA Championships in Detroit. I would watch a well-told documentary on Cliff Keen.

If BTN wanted to profile Rutgers' Sebastian Rivera, Ohio State's Sammy Sasso, Nebraska's Ridge Lovett or Michigan State's Peyton Omania, that'd be really cool. Thinking out loud here as I type this, but a big story on Michigan's Nick Suriano would be really intriguing, too, just on his process of joining the Wolverine program.

Wisconsin's Austin Gomez has a fantastic story, too, after losing his youngest brother Santiago in 2009. His sister also wrestles for Grand View. There's a lot of fruit to pick from that tree.

But give me a documentary on Sanderson and Penn State before any of that if they can swing it.

Iowa high school wrestling district tournaments

I tweeted this on Sunday, but Class 2A's District 4 looks like a total bruiser.

Check out who's wrestling there at 145 pounds:

• #1 Cooper Sanders, Vinton-Shellsburg

• #2 Eric Kinkaid, Camanche

• #4 Michael Macias, Davenport Assumption

Those three will wrestle for two state-qualifying spots. There's a chance they all wrestle each other. Sanders-Macias will go first round, and the winner likely sees Kinkaid in the final. If Sanders wins both and Macias takes third, it's Kinkaid-Macias for true second.

Life ain't always fair, but that's pretty cruel.

The other one that stuck out is 182 pounds in 2A's District 1:

• #2 Fernando Villaescusa, Gilbert

• #3 Gabriel Christensen, Ballard

• #6 Riley Hoven, Winterset

Villaescusa beat Christensen, 3-0, in the sectional finals, setting up Christensen vs. Hoven in a crucial first-round matchup at districts on Saturday.

I haven't combed through all of Class 3A to see where everybody is going, but the first one that jumped out after a quick glance is 170 pounds in District 1, at Carlisle:

• #3 Colin Driscoll, Waukee

• #4 Kasey Ross, Urbandale

• #5 Mike Slade, Southeast Polk

And also 113 pounds in District 5, at Johnston:

• #4 Bowen Downey, Indianola

• #5 Connor Fiser, Bondurant-Farrar

• #6 Jabari Hinson, Ames

Both instances, again, have three top guys wrestling for two spots. Brutal.

There are probably more like that as you scan each district, but part of proving you are one of the best in the state is to take the first step and qualify for the state tournament. That's the challenge for the thousand wrestlers that are wrestling this Saturday.

Good luck to all of them.

This week, I'm grateful for Olly sleep gummies. A lot of long days and late nights are on the way, and to survive this sprint, a consistent sleep schedule is critical.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Wrestling Mailbag: Iowa women's recruiting, West Gym, Bout at Ballpark