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Vegas baby: Iowa wrestling flies 41 strong to US Open

by: Tanner Lafever04/21/26TannerLafever

Welcome, one and all, to the busiest week of the year to be an Iowa wrestling fan.

That’s right, folks.

The NCAA Championships have nothing on the scope of action you’re about to be tasked with following. Shoot, you could combine the men’s and women’s championships from last month and you’d still fall halfway short

And that’s because the behemoth that is the 2026 US Open has arrived.

Hosted out in Las Vegas, the annual wrestling extravaganza will feature thousands of athletes across countless divisions/disciplines – among them, 41 different past/present/future Hawkeyes.

Yeah – it’s a lot.

Over five days in Sin City (April 22-26), they’ll match wits against the very best competition from around the country. And when it’s all over, we’ll have a clearer picture of several things on the precipice of summer:

  • Positioning for the 2026 Senior World team
  • Jumps made since the college season
  • Levels of incoming/future recruits

All 41 of these Hawkeyes have something to prove, and there’s no better stage upon which to make a statement.

What’s even better – Iowa fans (and yours truly) get to sit back and watch it all unfold.

So, let’s get into the rundown of everything to come, starting with who’s registered to compete.

Meet the team (women’s edition)

All told, 21 different Hawkeyes are registered across the Senior Women’s Freestyle and Girls High School Showcase divisions this week.

A whopping 19 of them will be on Iowa’s 2026-27 roster this fall.

For Senior Women’s Freestyle (April 23-24), any athlete who navigates their bracket to a first-place finish will automatically earn a berth at Final X this June.

There, a best-of-three winner at each weight will earn their spot on the 2026 Senior World team.

(As a reminder, Kennedy Blades and Kylie Welker already sit in Final X thanks to their World bronze medals last year.)

Meanwhile, the Girls High School Showcase (April 22-23) offers another high-profile, highly competitive event on the heels of Women’s Nationals a week-and-a-half ago.

The stakes now set, here’s who to be on the lookout for this Wednesday-through-Friday:

*denotes incoming freshman

Senior Women’s Freestyle (April 23-24)

  • 50kg – Sterling Dias, Emilie Gonzalez, Rianne Murphy, Val Solorio, Felicity Taylor                                                                                           
  • 53kg – Isabella Gonzales, Harlee Hiller, *Taylor Whiting
  • 55kg – Cali Leng, *Everest Leydecker
  • 57kg – Karlee Brooks
  • 59kg – Emily Frost, Bella Williams
  • 62kg – Macey Kilty, Skye Realin
  • 65kg – Cadence Diduch, Reese Larramendy
  • 68kg – *Nora Akpan
  • 76kg – Naomi Simon

Girls High School Showcase (April 22-23)

  • 100lbs – *Madison Nieuwenhuis
  • 135lbs – *Carley Ceshker

Meet the team (men’s edition)

Continuing in chronological order, the men’s side of things will run from April 23-26 across four separate divisions.

Among the entries with Iowa ties, 10 will be members of next year’s roster, seven are post-grads and another three are Class of 2027 commits.

As with the women, Senior Men’s Freestyle winners earn a spot at Final X.

(2025 World bronze medalist Real Woods awaits the US Open winner at 65 kilograms.)

Conversely, Senior Men’s Greco-Roman will set the 2026 World team for the United States – concluding with a best-of-three series between its two finalists at each weight class.

Both U20 divisions (Freestyle/Greco), meanwhile, will send winners to a best-of-three series to be held in late May.

Regardless of the style/format, Iowa will have a whole lot of representation in Las Vegas.

(20 Hawkeyes’ worth, in fact.)

*denotes commit/signee

Senior Men’s Freestyle (April 24-25)

  • 57kg – Joey Cruz, Spencer Lee, Brody Teske
  • 61 kg – Austin DeSanto
  • 65kg – Kale Peterson
  • 79kg – Patrick Kennedy
  • 92 kg – Harvey Ludington
  • 97kg – Stephen Buchanan
  • 125kg – Tony Cassioppi

Senior Men’s Greco-Roman – Group A (April 23-24)

  • 60kg – Dean Peterson

U20 Men’s Freestyle (April 25-26)

  • 57kg – Keyan Hernandez, *Paul Kenny
  • 61kg – Anthony Lavezzola, *Shamus Regan
  • 65kg – *Dawson Youngblut
  • 70kg – *Bobby Duffy
  • 74kg – Claudio Torres
  • 79kg – Joseph Kennedy
  • 125kg – *Michael Mocco

U20 Men’s Greco-Roman (April 23)

  • 77kg – Leister Bowling IV

How to watch

**all times Central Standard**

April 22-26 – @ 2026 US Open

  • Location: Las Vegas, Nevada (The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas)
  • Time: All Day
  • TV/Streaming: FloWrestling
  • Brackets/Results/Mat Assignments/etc: USA Bracketing
  • Additional event details: Available HERE

Wednesday, April 22

Session I: 12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

  • High School Girls Showcase (Preliminaries & Consolations)

Session II: 6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

  • High School Girls Showcase (Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Consolations)

Thursday, April 23

Session III: 12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

  • Senior Women’s Freestyle (Preliminaries, Quarterfinals & Consolations)
  • Senior Men’s Greco-Roman – Group A (Preliminaries, Quarterfinals & Consolations)
  • U20 Men’s Greco-Roman (Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Consolations)

Session IV: 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

  • Senior Women’s Freestyle (Semifinals, Consolations & Consolation-Semis)
  • Senior Men’s Greco-Roman – Group A (Semifinals, Consolations & Consolation-Semis)
  • High School Girls Showcase (Championship Finals & Medal Matches)
  • U20 Men’s Greco-Roman (Championship Finals & Medal Matches + Consolations)

Friday, April 24

Session V: 12:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.

  • Senior Men’s Freestyle (Preliminaries, Quarterfinals & Consolations)
  • Senior Women’s Freestyle (Medal Matches)
  • Senior Men’s Greco-Roman – Group A (Championship Finals Round 1 & Medal Matches)

Session VI: 6:00 p.m. – 10:15 p.m.

  • Senior Women’s Freestyle (Championship Finals)
  • Senior Men’s Freestyle (Semifinals & Consolations)
  • Senior Men’s Greco-Roman – Group A (Championship Finals Round 2 & 3)

Saturday, April 25

Session VII: 12:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

  • Senior Men’s Freestyle (Consolations, Consolation-Semis & Medal Matches)
  • U20 Men’s Freestyle (Preliminaries & Consolations)

Session VIII: 6:00 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.

  • Senior Men’s Freestyle (Championship Finals)
  • U20 Men’s Freestyle (Championship Rounds & Consolations)

Sunday, April 26

Session IX: 12:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

  • U20 Men’s Freestyle (Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Consolations & Consolation-Semis)

*Feeds directly into*

  • U20 Men’s Freestyle (Championship Finals & Medal Matches)

What to watch for – title favorites

Of Iowa’s 40-plus entries this week, four stand out as strong title favorites.

We’ll start with Spencer Lee (Men’s Freestyle) – the back-to-back World/Olympic rep for Team USA.

Even at his diminutive stature, the three-time NCAA champion stands head and shoulders above the field at 57kg.

Out of some familiar collegiate foes and up-and-coming youngsters, Lee’s biggest test would likely come in the form of Penn State sophomore Luke Lilledahl – whom he handily swept (7-2 and 6-0) at Final X last year.

Hop over to women’s freestyle and soon-to-be Hawkeye Everest Leydecker (55kg) could join 2025 graduate Macey Kilty (62kg) as US Open champs.

The former has been on a tear for a calendar year – including double titles at Women’s Nationals earlier this month. And with last year’s nemesis Cristelle Rodriguez dropping down to 53kg, Leydecker owns wins over the other top contenders in the field.

Two of those came at this event in 2025 – including a 10-0 tech. fall over multi-time age-level medalist and collegiate champion Amani Jones and a 2-1 decision over 2024 World teamer Areana Villaescusa.

Of course, Leydecker was just 17 years old at this time a year ago. And she’s only gotten better since.

Meanwhile, Kilty drops down from the weight (65kg) at which she’s made each of the past three World teams.

The new digs have been of little detriment thus far, as Kilty has looked excellent through a pair of tough Ranking Series events in early 2026.

She could face fellow 2025 World teamer Adaugo Nwachukwu in Vegas – whom the Hawkeye previously defeated (6-2) at the 2024 Olympic Trials.

Iowa’s final favorite is freshman Leister Bowling IV (U20 Greco).

A redshirt this season, Bowling steamrolled onto the U20 World team last summer, then placed fifth at the World Championships.

What to watch for – title threats

There’s an argument for Stephen Buchanan (MFS – 97kg) and Felicity Taylor (WFS – 50kg) to deserve ‘favorite’ status as well.

After all, Buchanan just defeated an all-time great in his most recent international outing and Taylor made last year’s World team up at 53kg.

The only hesitation with Buchanan – who tore cartilage in his rib in late March – is his health, plus his relative inexperience on the freestyle scene.

As for Taylor, this is her first competition at 50kg in quite some time – and it’s without question the deepest bracket in the women’s field.

Iowa’s first champions of the week could certainly come via the Girls High School Showcase.

There, Madison Nieuwenhuis (100 pounds) and Carley Ceshker (135 pounds) will at worst be co-favorites at their respective weight classes.

For Nieuwenhuis, she’ll get the opportunity to compete at her most natural weight after finishing in the Round of 12 at U20 World Team Trials.

(The Michigan native competed 10 pounds above where she’ll take the mat in Las Vegas.)

Ceshker, meanwhile, reached the U20 best-of-three final at 62kg – losing to Iowa freshman Bella Williams.

Depending on the draw, another major test could await her this week in U17 Trials champion Landri Von Gonten.

Switching over to a pair of Iowa men’s recruits – keep tabs on 2026 signee Michael Mocco (125kg) and 2027 pledge Paul Kenny (57kg) in the U20 freestyle division.

Both youngsters are previous U17 World champions – Mocco in 2024 and Kenny the year prior.

And while the competition in their respective brackets will be littered with top high school and young collegiate talent, it would not be a shock if either emerged with a title.

What to watch for – credentialed contenders

With 10 wrestlers in the title favorite/threat categories, I’m calling this next group of 10 ‘credentialed contenders.’

Does ‘contending’ mean for first place this week? In most cases, probably not.

That said, every single wrestler in this next group – sans two – has previously made an age-level World team. And that sort of accomplishment breeds confidence in a setting like this.

Senior Women’s Freestyle

  • Val Solorio (50kg), Taylor Whiting (53kg), Karlee Brooks (57kg), Bella Williams (59kg), Skye Realin (62kg), Reese Larramendy (65kg), Naomi Simon (76kg)

Senior Men’s Freestyle

  • Austin DeSanto (61kg), Patrick Kennedy (79kg), Tony Cassioppi (125kg)

Starting with the Iowa women, each of Val Solorio, Taylor Whiting, Karlee Brooks and Bella Williams enters the week on a recent hot streak.

Solorio took home an NCAA title at 103 pounds in early March – capping an excellent 35-2 season.

Meanwhile, Whiting, Brooks and Williams all impressed en route to U20 World Team Trials titles 10 day ago.

None of them will be among the favored amidst loaded, Senior-level fields, but it’ll be interesting to see if they can raise their game yet again – this time against an even higher quality of opponent.

As for Larramendy/Simon, both have previously made two U20 World teams – with Simon having medaled (bronze) back in 2024. Both also enter off recent disappointment(s) – Larramendy being pinned in the NCAA finals and Simon placing fifth at U20 Trials.

And can Realin (fourth at U23 Nationals) replicate the form she displayed in a 5-4 loss to returning Senior World teamer Nwachukwu?

On the men’s side, Austin DeSanto has never made a World team during his international career. But he is wrestling at a world-class level of late – winning three international tournaments dating back to late-2025.

And how about Wisconsin assistant coach Tony Cassioppi and recent graduate Patrick Kennedy?

Can Cassioppi (U23 World gold in 2021, bronze in 2022) make a dent in a bracket featuring multiple world-class heavyweights – each of whom wound up with the upper hand during their days as collegians?

Or does PK (seventh at U23 Worlds in 2024) make some noise in his first competition following the last (and best) NCAA Championships of his college career?

What to watch for – final tidbits

For fear of extending this preview even further beyond the limits of readers’ attention spans, I’ll truncate Iowa’s 21 other entries into a few final tidbits.

Starting with Senior Women’s Freestyle:

  • How do Sterling Dias, Emilie Gonzalez and Rianne Murphy fare amidst the absolute meatgrinder at 50kg?
  • Can either freshman Isabella Gonzales or Harlee Hiller (seventh and fifth at U20 Trials) knock off a senior-caliber foe at 53kg?
  • Who makes the deepest run among Cali Leng (fourth at U23 Nationals), Emily Frost (sixth at U23s) and Cadence Diduch (medically forfeited at U20s)?
  • What does the Senior-level debut look like for late-blooming 2026 recruit Nora Akpan?

Senior Men’s Greco/Freestyle:

  • Can Harvey Ludington hang with a strong field at 92kg – inspiring some confidence for his potential ascension into Iowa’s starting lineup next season?
  • How do recent lightweight graduates Brody Teske (Freestyle – 57kg) and Dean Peterson (Greco – 60kg) fare?
  • Do 2025-26 reserves Joey Cruz (57kg) and/or Kale Peterson (65kg) give us any reason to pause about the presumptive starters at their weight(s) next season?

U20 Men’s Freestyle:

  • Possible flashes amongst second-year reserves Keyan Hernandez (57kg), Anthony Lavezzola (61kg) and Joseph Kennedy (79kg)?
  • How about greyshirt Claudio Torres (74kg)?
  • And after not placing at the US Open/World Team Trials a year ago, who makes the biggest leap out of Iowa recruits Bobby Duffy (2026), Shamus Regan (2027) and Dawson Youngblut?

Short time

And there you have it.

41 different Iowa wrestlers with a thought (or two) on every single one of them.

They said it couldn’t be done – yet here we are.

On a programming note, I will have my usual expansive recap in the days following the US Open. However, due to the vast nature of the event – and my being out in Las Vegas to work with the team at USA Wrestling – that recap might be finished a day or two later than usual.

My running coverage may also be impacted slightly over the next five days. But fret not, I’ll still be providing pertinent Iowa-related updates whenever I can on both Twitter and our Hawkeye Report Wrestling Instagram account.

I’ll also be grabbing as many photos/interviews/etc. as I can manage amidst all the mayhem.

Combine everything together and it should make for one heck of a first US Open experience for yours truly.

So, as always, thank you guys for reading – and in advance for following along.

I’ll do my very best to keep you informed/entertained every step of the way. Then when it’s all over, let’s meet right back here for a for a big ‘ol recap of it all.

Sound good?

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