IOWA CITY, Iowa – The top-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team advanced to Round 32 of the NCAA Tournament after defeating 16-seeded Holy Cross, 91-65, on Saturday afternoon inside a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Four Hawkeyes scored in double figures as Caitlin Clark led the way with 27 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds. Kate Martin added 15 points with 14 rebounds. Addi O’Grady finished with 14 points and Gabbie Marshall downed three three-pointers to add 11.

Holy Cross stuck with the Hawkeyes through the first five minutes of the game with four lead changes and two ties. Iowa pulled away going up by nine with 2:32 left to play in the first, until the Crusaders went on a 10-3 run to end the first bringing the score to 23-21 going into the second.

The Hawkeyes came out hot in the second going on a 10-0 run. The Hawkeye defense held the Crusaders to only nine points in the second to go into halftime with a 48-30 lead. Clark led the half with 13 points and Martin added 11.

The game was played evenly in the second half. The Hawkeyes scored over 20 points in every quarter, and every available Iowa player contributed minutes to secure its first round win to advance for the ninth time out the last 10 NCAA Tournaments

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will face the winner of 8-Seed West Virginia/9-Seed Princeton on Monday in Iowa City at 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.

BOYS TOWN INVITATIONAL 

Treynor’s Junior Jordyn Boswell placed 1st in the 2 mile, 14:16.67

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 4 Iowa State (29-7, 13-5 Big 12) advanced to its second Sweet 16 in the past three seasons under head coach T.J. Otzelberger on Saturday night, defeating No. 25 Washington State (25-10, 14-6 Pac-12) by a score of 67-56. Coach Otzelberger becomes the first ISU head coach to take two Cyclone teams to the Sweet 16.

The Cyclones were tested early, as they fell behind 7-0 and were held to just two field goals in the first 11 minutes of action. ISU adjusted and outscored the Cougars by 11 in the second half to claim its 29^th victory of the season – making this season the second most-winningest in school history.

ISU moves to 23-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament appearances and 7-6 in second round games. The team earned its seventh Sweet 16 appearance in school history.

Iowa State moved to 30-1 under Coach Otz when four or more players finish in double figures, as Tamin Lipsey (15), Curtis Jones (14), Milan Momcilovic (10) and Keshon Gilbert (10) powered the Cyclone offense. The post trio of Hason Ward, Tre King and Robert Jones combined for 21 rebounds, and they handled WSU’s leading scorer, holding Isaac Jones to just eight points.

Washington State was led by Jaylen Wells who had a game-high 20 points on 8-17 shooting from the floor. Redshirt freshman Myles Rice had 13 points with a pair of assists while the aforementioned I. Jones had eight points and nine rebounds

Up Next

With the win, Iowa State advances to the Sweet Sixteen and East Regional semifinals in Boston. Mass. The Cyclones will face one of either No. 10 Illinois or 11-seeded Duquesne.Game date and time are yet to be determined.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 4 David Carr defeated Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, 9-8, to win his second national title Saturday night inside the T-Mobile Center. He becomes the 17^th Cyclone to win multiple national titles and the first since 2010 (Jake Varner, 2009-10).

His path to the title included wins over the No. 1, 2 and 5 seeds, and four of his five opponents in the tournament were All-Americans.

Carr is the first five-time All-American in program history and the 12th Cyclone to finish on the podium four times. The Cyclone legacy never placed worse than third at the national tournament, following his 2021 national title with a third-place finish in 2022, a runner-up in 2023 before securing a second title in 2024.

The Canton, Ohio native finishes his career with a 120-5 record, tied for the 15th-most wins in school history, and as a three-time national finalist. His .960 career winning percentage ranks fourth in program history behind Cael Sanderson (1.000), Dan Gable (.990) and Tim Krieger (.967).

Carr, along with his father Nate who won three national titles for ISU from 1981-83, are one of four father-son duos in Division I history to win two-plus national titles. Carr’s title is the 71^st individual wrestling title in Iowa State history.

Carr led the resurgence of a program which finished tied for 57^th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. In his final season, Iowa State finished in fourth place with 68.5 team points, it’s best finish and point total since 2010 when the Cyclones placed third with 75.0 points. ISU placed four wrestlers on the podium, its most since 2009.

The Cyclones finished just outside the top three of Penn State (172.5), Cornell (72.5) and Michigan (71.0). Rounding out the top five was Iowa with 67.0 points.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – University of Iowa wrestler Drake Ayala finished as the NCAA runner-up at 125 pounds on Saturday night at the 2024 NCAA Championships in the T-Mobile Center.

Ayala dropped a 7-2 decision to eighth-seeded Richard Figueroa of Arizona State in the finals. After a scoreless first period, Figueroa escaped after choosing down and earned a takedown on the edge right before the buzzer sounded. Ayala earned an escape to start the third period but another takedown from Figueroa with 14 seconds remaining sealed the match.

“It is too early to get analytical,” said head coach Tom Brands. “I say that a lot. You don’t just start talking about what needs to happen. He is dealing with a lot right now. That is what competitors do. He will deal with it. He is an extraordinary competitor. We will go forward from here.”

The finals appearance was the first of Ayala’s career and he finished the tournament as an All-American for the first time. He went 1-2 in 2021 as the 13 seed. He finished the 2024-24 season with a 27-5 record.

Ayala was one of four Hawkeyes to reach the medal stand. He advanced to the title bout winning a pair of bonus point victories (one major decision and one technical fall) and two decisions. His appearance in the championship round extended Iowa’s streak of NCAA finalists to 34 consecutive tournaments.

Iowa placed fifth in the team race with 67 points.

“I think our guys handled it as well as you can handle that stuff,” said Brands. “That is what life is about. You can talk about all that, but they handled it well. They went forward with it. It is too early to talk about next year. Drake Ayala has two years of eligibility left. He was in the national finals. He wants to find a way to win that match. Didn’t happen. Have to go forward.”

GRADUATING SENIORS
Iowa’s NCAA lineup included three graduating seniors. Those seniors include Brody Teske (133, four-time NCAA qualifier), Real Woods (141, four-time All-American, 2023 NCAA finalist) and Jared Franek (157, two-time All-American, five-time NCAA qualifier)

OF NOTE
– The Hawkeyes have 69 top 10 finishes in program history.
– Iowa has had an NCAA finalist in 34 consecutive national tournaments (every year since 1990).
– Iowa has crowned at least one All-American in 53 consecutive tournaments, a stretch dating back to 1972. Iowa has totaled 327 All-Americans during that stretch.
– Iowa has had at least four All-Americans in 16 straight seasons and 16 times in Brands’ 17 years.

ALL-AMERICANS
2nd – Drake Ayala (125)
4th – Real Woods (141), Michael Caliendo (165)
8th – Jared Franek (157)

NCAA FINALS RESULTS
285 | #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) major dec. #10 Lucas Davidson (Michigan), 13-4
125 | #8 Richard Figueroa (Arizona State) dec. #3 Drake Ayala (Iowa), 7-2
133 | #6 Vito Aruja (Cornell) dec. #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), 5-3
141 | #1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) dec. #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), 4-1
149 | #4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) major dec. #6 Austin Gomez, 15-7
157 | #1 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. #2 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State), 5-0
165 | #4 David Carr (Iowa State) dec. #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State), 9-8
174 | #9 Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec. #6 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State), 2-0
184 | #1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) major dec. #3 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State), 14-5
197 | #1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) dec. #2 Trent Hidlay (NC State), 6-0

TEAM STANDINGS – TOP 10
1. Penn State, 172.5
2. Cornell, 72.5
3. Michigan, 71
4. Iowa State, 68.5
5. Iowa, 67
6. Arizona State, 64.5
7. Virginia Tech, 64
8. Ohio State, 62
9. Nebraska, 60.5

10. Oklahoma State, 56

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa softball team split a Saturday doubleheader over Wisconsin at Pearl Field to earn a Big Ten series win.  The Hawkeyes won the opener, 10-4, before falling 2-0 in the series finale.

Junior Devyn Greer had a career day in the opener, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Jaylee Ojo (3-1) earned the win in the circle, allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out four over 4 1/3 innings.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to from March 29-31, hosting Michigan State for a three-game series at Pearl Field.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Iowa baseball team knocked off Purdue, 4-3, in thrilling fashion at Alexander Field on Saturday afternoon. 

All three phases of the game contributed to Iowa’s victory, beginning with a strong start from sophomore Cade Obermueller on the mound.

“I was happy with how our guys bounced back today,” head coach Rick Heller said. “This was a good team win where we showed a lot of toughness and grit. Our team cleaned things up defensively and held them to five hits. We came out ready to play and put some runs up in the first inning. We had a good start from Cade Obermueller. He battled and logged some innings for us.”

Obermueller pitched five innings, giving up four hits and three earned runs. The Iowa City, Iowa, native struck out four Boilermaker batters. Iowa was led offensively by designated hitter Davis Cop, who went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Andy Nelson collected three singles and reached base four times, while SamPetersen had a pair of hits for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa scored first, plating two runs in the first on a two-RBI single by Cop. The Boilermakers would answer with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. An RBI-single by Petersen in the second inning gave Iowa the lead once again. Purdue would tie the game again in the fourth.

Obermueller turned duties over to the bullpen in the sixth in a 3-3 game. In the seventh inning, Kyle Huckstorf led off with a single. He would advance to third base after two wild pitches. Cop collected Iowa’s clutch hit with a single to bring home Huckstorf, giving Iowa the 4-3 lead.

Aaron Savary earned the win by firing 2 1/3 innings, striking out two batters and allowing just one hit. Jack Young followed and got the Hawkeyes out of trouble in the eighth. After Purdue put two runners on base, Young was called in from the bullpen. The Leclaire, Iowa, native allowed another runner to reach, setting up a bases-loaded situation for Purdue with one out. Young would secure a strikeout and a sharp lineout to Ben Wilmes in right field to end the threat unscathed.

“The bullpen was outstanding today,” Heller added.  “Aaron Savary did a really nice job and then Jack Young bailed us out in the eighth. It was a tough situation, but Jack continues to do a great job out of the bullpen for us.”

Benjamin DeTaeye came in with the save opportunity for Iowa in the ninth inning. Leadoff hitter Mike Bolton Jr. sent a fly ball to deep center. Huckstorf turned and sprinted towards the warning track before making an over-the-shoulder catch to keep Bolton Jr. off base. DeTaeye earned his first save of the season after forcing a groundout and flyout to secure the win.

“We are pleased to have Ben (DeTaeye) back in the mix. He’s feeling confident and beginning to throw like we all knew he could,” said Heller. “He came in and closed the door. Huckstorf made an unbelievable, Willie-Mays-like catch and that completely changed the ninth inning.”

Iowa outhit Purdue, 14-5. The Hawkeye pitching staff stranded nine Boilermaker baserunners.

UP NEXT: The Hawkeyes (12-10, 1-1 B1G) go for the series win over Purdue on Sunday at Alexander Field. First pitch is slated for Noon (CT) in West Lafayette.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Iowa volleyball team opened its spring scrimmage season with two wins on Saturday, knocking off Drake and Wayne State.

“This was a really nice start to our spring scrimmages,” head coach Jim Barnes said. “We demonstrated great teamwork and tenacity. We had kills from every player and I was impressed with our offensive performance.”

Newcomer Claire Ammeraal led the Iowa offense with 84 assists and 11 kills. Redshirt freshman Alyssa Warden registered a team-high 17 kills, whileGabby Deery and Nataly Moravec notched 13 and 12, respectively.

“Claire showed that she is a game-changing setter,” Barnes added. “She can set, attack and block. She also features a jump serve that produces aces. Claire disrupts the opponent blocks.”

Arizona transfer Joy Galles led the team in digs and passed well for the Hawkeyes. Defensively, Anna Davis paced the team in blocks. Davis also had a strong hit percentage of .345.

“Joy led our team on defense and in serve receive,” said Barnes. “Her veteran leadership combined with the leadership from Anna, Claire and MichelleUrquhart has improved our team quickly.”

The Hawkeyes continue their spring schedule with a scrimmage in Ames, Iowa, on March 30.