For the second straight year, Iowa wrestling will compete in front of a fully packed house.
The University of Iowa athletics department announced Wednesday that season tickets for the 2022-23 Hawkeye wrestling season are sold out for a second consecutive season.
The Hawkeyes set an NCAA wrestling attendance record in 2021-22, averaging 14,905 fans. The capacity for Carver-Hawkeye Arena this year is, you guessed it, 14,905.
🔥 🔥 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓 🔥🔥🔥#Hawkeyes | https://t.co/qLdC9IHC3T pic.twitter.com/Wld5tdeywZ
— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling) October 26, 2022
For all of the national attention and headlines that the football and basketball teams of Iowa receive, wrestling truly is the embodiment of the University of Iowa. Iowans live and breathe the sport of wrestling, its tough nature the personification of the Hawkeye state.
The Hawkeyes are tied with the history and legacy of college wrestling as much as any other University. Iowa ranks second all time in collegiate wrestling national championships with 24. Oklahoma State leads with 34 national titles, but the Cowboys have been crowned just seven times since 1975 when Iowa won their first.
Wrestling legend Dan Gable helped establish a dominant grappling culture in the Hawkeye State. First winning two national championships for Iowa State, losing only once in his career, Gable won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He would lead Iowa to 21 Big Ten championships, and 15 national championships.
Current coach Tom Brands has kept Iowa as a top wrestling school despite Penn State‘s dominance in the current Cael Sanderson era, managing to win six Big Ten championships. His fourth national championship came in 2021.
The Hawkeyes finished third in both the Big Ten championship and NCAA championship this past season, and will once again look to win it all. They return a stacked roster that features three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee, as well as five other returning All-Americans.
They open up their season on Nov. 13 against the California Baptist Lancers.
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