Future Hawkeye Ben Kueter becomes four-time state champion
Future Hawkeye Ben Kueter is now a four-time state wrestling champion. The Iowa City High senior is the 32nd wrestler in Iowa high school history to accomplish the feat and only the 7th to go through his entire prep career undefeated, finishing 111-0. Kueter wrapped up his place in history with a 19-4 technical fall over Joseph Lewis of Dubuque Hempstead in the Class 3A championship at 220 pounds on Saturday night.
Kueter, who plans to compete in both football and wrestling in college at Iowa, won his previous three matches at state by fall this year. He finishes his high school career at City High with state titles at 160 pounds in 2020, 195 pounds in 2021, and 220 pounds in 2022 and 2023.
Now, the focus starts to turn towards college for Kueter, who will come in as the top prospect for both Iowa football and Iowa wrestling in the Class of 2023.
In football, Kueter is a four-star prospect with an On3 Consensus Rating of 90.50 in the final 2023 rankings. An Under Armour All-American, he committed to the Hawkeyes in September of 2021, choosing Iowa over offers from Iowa State, Minnesota, and Missouri. As a senior this past fall, the linebacker finished the season with 93.5 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, and seven sacks for City High.
In wrestling, Kueter is the No. 1 overall recruit in the pound-for-pound rankings by MatScouts in the Class of 2023. Last summer, he joined some elite company by winning a U20 Men’s Freestyle World Title in Bulgaria. The only other wrestlers since 2000 to win a junior world championship prior to their senior year of high school are Spencer Lee, Gable Steveson, and Kyle Snyder. Both Steveson and Snyder went on to win Olympic gold as well as multiple NCAA titles and Lee is currently on a quest to win his fourth NCAA title with the Hawkeyes.
It is safe to say the future is bright for Kueter, both on the mat and on the football field.
More State Wrestling Notes
Future Hawkeye defensive tackle Maddux Borcherding-Johnson also won a state title on Saturday night with a 3-1 decision over Jake Walker of Waverly-Shell Rock in the Class 3A 285 pound championship. Borcherding-Johnson finishes his senior year with a 36-0 record for Norwalk.
Also, in the state of Indiana tonight, future Hawkeye offensive lineman Leighton Jones won a state championship for Brownsburg at 285 pounds. Jones finished second last year as a junior.
Placing in state of Iowa, Class of 2024 Iowa offensive line commit Cody Fox finished sixth at 285 pounds in Class 1A for East Buchanan. Class of 2023 walk-on fullback Rusty VanWetzinga IV was fifth at 220 pounds in Class 3A for Pleasant Valley and walk-on defensive lineman Cael Winter from Waukee Northwest finished seventh in the same weight class.
Last, but not least, Iowa walk-on commit Nolan DeLong qualified for the state tournament at 285 pounds for Durant in Class 1A and won his opening match, but did not end up placing. What is especially impressive though is DeLong, who weighs about 200 pounds but wrestled at heavyweight, is mostly known as a basketball player, averaging 20.0 points per game this season, but took on the challenge of competing in both sports this winter and made it all the way to the state tournament.
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