Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht is ready for the challenge of the Cy-Hawk Series. The redshirt freshman from Florida took the majority of the snaps in a 30-9 win over Northern Iowa. He will be the starter in Saturday’s 70th meeting against Iowa.

Becht was 10-of-13 for 113 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers. The Hawkeye defense figures to be an even tougher challenge.

The Cyclones look to make it two in a row over the Hawkeyes after a 10-7 win in Kinnick Stadium last season.

Becht has learned from the Iowa natives on the team how important this game is.

RIVERSIDE, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s golf team currently sits in third place after two rounds at the ANF Fall Classic. Three Hawkeyes are inside the top-20 on the leaderboard heading into the final round of the tournament at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course.

Iowa is 13 strokes back from the leader, Iowa State, at 574 (-3) through 36 holes of play.

Fifth year senior Mac McClear finds himself in third place on the leaderboard after making a second-round push. McClear faces a three-stroke deficit after carding an opening round 70 (-2). McClear followed up his opening round with a second-round 67 (-5). McClear is looking to defend his individual title from last year’s Iowa Fall Classic as he currently sits at 7-under par.

Freshman Noah Kent wasted no time making the best of his first career start as a Hawkeye. Kent opened his round by birdieing three of the first four holes. Kent currently sits in a tie for 14th place after two rounds of play.

Josh Lundmark, who is competing individually, started off the tournament with a bang as he birdied three of the first four holes. Lundmark is tied for 30th place through 36 holes. Lundmark, a graduate transfer, is also making his first career start as a Hawkeye.

As the first round came to an end, the Hawkeyes had four golfers inside the top-20 of the individual leaderboard. McClear and Kent both were 2-under par and sitting in a tie for 10th place. Hogan Hansen and Maxwell Tjoa were tied for 17th place with at 1-under par.

IOWA SCORECARD

*Competing individually

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH TYLER STITH
“We drove the ball really well; we were in play all day long. When it got windier our approach shots and putting let us down a little bit. Tonight, I am going to try and get them ready to go out and play well tomorrow. There is a lot more golf to be played.”

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

•      Cale Leonard tied for first in Par 3-hole scoring at 2-under par.
  ·      Mac McClear tied for first in consecutive birdies, where he made five birdies in a row in round two from holes 14 to 18.

UP NEXT
The final round of the ANF Fall Classic tees off tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. (CT) at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside.

Hawkeye Ten Conference:
Lewis Central 3 Atlantic, 0
Atlantic 3 Creston, 1
Lewis Central 3 Creston, 0
Clarinda vs Kuemper Catholic
Kuemper Catholic 3 Denison-Schleswig, 0
Clarinda 3 Denison-Schleswig. 0
Harlan vs Shenandoah

Pride of Iowa Conference: 
Lenox 3 Bedford, 0
Nodaway Valley 3 Mt. Ayr, 2
Central Decatur vs East Union

Corner Conference:
East Mills 3 Hamburg, 0 (Non-Conference)
East Mills vs Griswold
Sidney vs Essex

West Central Activities Conference: 
Van Meter 3 Panorama, 0
ACGC 3 West Central Valley, 0
Des Moines, Christian 3 Earlham, 0

Non-Conference:
Audubon 2 Madrid, 0
Glidden-Ralston 2 Audubon, 1
Underwood 3 Fremont-Mills, 0

Missouri River Conference: 
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 3 Sioux City, North, 1

Woodbine was the dominant team today at the Treynor Cross Country Invite. The next closest team to them was Tri-Center with a 40 point gap in-between and a nine minute difference of total time. The top 3 teams for the Boys at the cross country meet were:

1. Woodbine (23 points)
2. Tri-Center (63 points)
3. Missouri Valley (73 points)

The 5 fastest runners on the boys side were Landon Bendgen from Woodbine at first, Parker Heistertkamp from St. Albert at second, Owen Wise from St. Albert at third, Gunner Wagner from Woodbine at fourth, and Brennan Boden from Tri-Center at fifth.

On the girls side of the Invite Treynor would win by two points over AHSTW.

1. Treynor (57 points)
2. AHSTW (59 points)
3. Logan-Magnolia (71 points)

The fastest girl at first was Madison Sporrer from Logan-Magnolia, in second from Logan-Magnolia was Allysen Johnsen, in third from Treynor was Alyssa Kulesa, in fourth from West Monona Chloe Broer, and in fifth from Woodbine Addison Murdock.

THIS WEEK

University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country notes for this Saturday’s Badger Classic in Madison, Wisconsin. Competing Big Ten teams include Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State and Rutgers. The Badger Classic is held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, where this year’s 2023 Big Ten Championships will be held (Oct. 27). The men’s 8,000-meter race begins the day at 10:30 a.m. (CT) with the women’s 5,000-meter contest to follow at 11:10.

FOLLOW ALONG: For an inside look at the Iowa cross country program and to access exclusive coverage, “like” The University of Iowa Cross Country and Track & Field Facebook page and follow the Hawkeyes on Twitter (@IowaXC_TF) and Instagram (@iowaxctf). Follow live results on the official social media channels for Iowa Cross Country and at hawkeyesports.com/tracklive.

Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley says the Panthers need to develop a rhythm on offense as they prepare to host 9th ranked Weber State. The offense struggled in a 30-9 loss at Iowa State.

Farley says ISU ‘s defense was a factor in these problems.

Farley says the Panthers need to step up on both sides of the ball.

Weber State opened with a 35-10 win over Central Washington.

Farley expects Weber State to be a contender in the Big Sky Conference.

In the changing landscape of college athletics Iowa State coach Matt Campbell hopes there is still a place for the Cy-Hawk Series. Oklahoma’s move to the SEC is ending its series with Oklahoma State and the recent round of expansion is threatening several others. The Cyclones host Iowa on Saturday in the 70th meeting in the series.

Campbell says there is no way to predict how future changes will affect the series.

Campbell says the series is unique in terms of where it appears on the schedule.

The Cyclones snapped Iowa’s six game win streak in the series with a 10-7 victory, but Campbell says they did not look at it as “getting the monkey off their back”.

Redshirt freshman Rocco Becht took the majority of snaps at quarterback in the win over Northern Iowa but true freshman J.J. Kohl could also get some playing time as well.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says the series with Iowa State has been competitive the past 24 years and he does not see that changing. The Hawkeyes have a 13-11 edge in the last 24 games of a series that once saw the Hawkeyes win 15 straight.

Ferentz actually lost his first four games to the Cyclones as the Iowa coach.

Ferentz says there is always a lot of emotion for in-state games.

Iowa’s run game could only manage 88 yards in a win over Utah State and running it against the Cyclones will not be easy.

The last five games in the series have been decided by an average of just over five points.