There is nothing special, Iowa’s Gabe Arnold said, about his versatility.

Arnold has been at 174, 184 and 197 pounds for the Hawkeyes this season, posting an 11-2 record.

“It’s just wrestling,” Arnold said Tuesday. “It’s just wrestling. That’s all it is. I mean, there’s different weight classes. There’s this, there’s that, this guy’s huge … who gives a (expletive)? 

“It’s just wrestling, it's just competing. It's just one guy getting better, another guy getting better. It's just … that's all it is. It's just wrestling.”

It’s a mindset, Arnold said.

“I'll wrestle the #1 guy at ‘74. I’ll wrestle the #1 guy at ‘84, I'll wrestle the #1 guy at ‘97,” Arnold said. “If it really was up to me, I'd probably wrestle the #1 guy at heavyweight, too. But thankfully it's not. So they have to keep me safe for myself a little bit. But I’ve got no fear when it comes down to this stuff.”

The ability to put Arnold at different spots is something coach Tom Brands appreciates about the third-year sophomore.

“That is a great characteristic,” Brands said. “It is invaluable. And it does not go without saying. You have to give credit, because a lot of times there's a fight to get someone to do that. And as unselfish as he has been, as flexible as he has been, the communication lines are open. Not saying that he agrees every time with the method, but he stepped up every time. And so it's invaluable.”

Brands knows Arnold can handle wherever he is in the lineup.

“I think that when you're wired the right way, you will do what it takes when you're called upon to execute in your role,” Brands said. “And sometimes your role, in a team or in an organization, isn't what you want it to be, but you're called upon to do it. And so you accept the task with gusto, and you go do the job. It's more than a job. It's not just doing a job, it's doing the job at the highest level. So again, credit Gabe.”

Arnold wrestled at 184 all of last season, when he went 19-7 and qualified for the NCAA Championships, where he split his four matches. He started this season at 184, winning the Jim Koch Wisconsin Open in that weight class, then moved to 197 to win two matches at the “Uncivil War” in Hannibal, Mo. He finished second in 174 at the Soldier Salute, and lost to top-ranked 174-pounder Levi Haynes of Penn State in the Hawkeyes’ dual with the Nittany Lions.

Arnold was at 184 last week, defeating sixth-ranked Silas Allred of Nebraska 4-1.

Arnold is at 184 for the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes in their Friday home dual against ninth-ranked Minnesota. He’s slated to wrestle fourth-ranked Max McEnelly. Arnold lost in sudden victory, 4-1, to McEnelly last season.

“So yeah, we’ve got history,” Arnold said. “And how do you rewrite the script? How do you change it? I think I got a pretty good idea how. It's gonna take a lot of courage. It's gonna take a lot of strength, things I'm not afraid of, things I'm not new to, and I'm gonna go out there and try to punch him in the mouth, and we're gonna have fun competing against each other.” 

Arnold said he and McEnelly are “close friends.”

“I'm just gonna go out there and have fun and do what I did last weekend, and that's continue to move my hands, continue to move my feet, continue to compete with integrity and authority and passion and put my hands on a guy that's pretty dang good and see what happens,” Arnold said. “Whatever the outcome is, I'll be content with it, but I'm gonna get my hand raised Friday night. So that's all I'm focused on.”

It’s all about whenever, wherever, for Arnold.

“The only thing I fear is, is the man upstairs and the man that's given me so many opportunities to do this, and that's where my fear lies,” he said. “It's just all about competing and getting better. And that's really this whole year, that's what the focus has been on — getting better and continuing to get my hand raised the right way, not taking shortcuts in matches. Not letting off easy, making sure I'm attacking a guy, making sure I'm actually being what I preach and what we preach every single day in this room, and that's scoring points.

“I'm more disciplined this year, just a lot of good things have happened, and so my wrestling is just a small part of that. So just continuing to do the right things on and off the mat. And, that's my approach. That's why my name gets called so much to compete, because they know what I'm about. They know how I'm going to compete, and they know what I want to do, and that's getting my hand raised.”

The Home State

Iowa 174-pounder Patrick Kennedy is wrestling for the final time in a dual against the school from his home state.

“It’s a great rivalry,” said Kennedy, a graduate of Kasson-Mantorville (Minnesota) High School. “You know, going against your home state's important for me. You’ve got to make sure you go out there ready to go, because they want to take it to you, because they're trying to prove something too.”

Kennedy remembered watching a Minnesota-Iowa dual when he was in grade school.

“There was one time a bunch of family and friends got together and the Gophers were supposed to win, but we came out on top,” Kennedy said. “And so, looking back, I'm very happy for that. It was a dual where I think it would have been Mike Evans and Logan Storley. They went to overtime, and Evans got the takedown, and I remember we were all in the garage, and people were losing their crap in the garage because they thought it was a quick takedown or this or that happened, but the Hawks came out on top.”

Kennedy said there are plenty of family members who are still Gopher fans.

“They donate to the university, they have season football tickets,” he said. “I don't know if they have wrestling season tickets. My great uncle, he attended the University of Minnesota, so he cheers heavily for them, but he does cheer for me when I compete against the Gophers, so that's good.”

Ayala Bounces Back

Drake Ayala snapped a three-match losing streak with last Friday’s 12-6 win over Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee at 133 pounds.

“It is a testament to when he's doing what gives him the best chance to win, he is way better,” Brands said. “And he's doing that. He's addressing things. And you saw it, and we’ve got to keep seeing it. And of the guys in the room that we have that can do this job, he is one of those guys that can do this job. He's proven. You don't need a long memory. He's a two-time (NCAA) runner-up. We’ve got to get over the hump. And, I mean, he's got the goods, and so let's keep a good thing going.”