The Hawkeyes stayed in control over the Fighting Illini despite many close matches between the two programs. No. 28 Joey Cruz (125) got the Hawkeyes started on a strong start against Caelan Riley (ILL).

The Iowa women’s wrestling team continued its winning ways on Saturday evening, defeating the Augustana Vikings 44-1 in the second edition of the Iowa Duals inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Sterling Dias led off for the Hawkeyes at 103 pounds and secured a 5-0 victory,

Iowa wrestling's Drake Ayala and Joey Cruz discuss wins vs Illinois, including Ayala's over No.2 Lucas Byrd

It’s been a long, fulfilling week for members of the Iowa women’s wrestling program. On Wednesday, at the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville (Tenn.), Division I schools voted in favor making women’s wrestling the 91 official NCAA championship sport.

Following their dominating victory over Augustana in the opening dual of the Iowa Duals, the No. 1 Iowa women’s wrestling showed no signs of slowing down, defeating Grand Valley State 35-7 to maintain their perfect record and close out their home schedule on a high note.

The 2nd-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes kick off a big Friday night of wrestling on BTN with a top-10 Big Ten battle with the No. 9 Illinois Fighting Illini at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Ranked as Intermat's No. 10 dual team in college wrestling (No. 13 as a tournament team), the Fighting Illini present a worthy challenge for the No. 2 Hawkeyes with nine-ranked wrestlers, eight of whom are ranked 20th or higher.