The Brands twins were hard-charging sophomores in 1990 when they pushed their way onto college wrestling’s biggest stage — Terry at 126 pounds and Tom at 134.

One night, they reached the NCAA finals. The next, they finished the job — both winning national titles.

It became a defining moment for Iowa wrestling, and the start of a streak that has stretched across generations. The year before, the Hawkeyes had been shut out of the NCAA finals for the first time since 1974. It was a rare absence for a program built on championship moments. Since the Brands brothers broke through in 1990, Iowa has never been missing from the final round at the NCAA Championships. 

Nearly two decades later, Tom Brands helped launch another defining run.

In 2008, during his second season as Iowa’s head coach, Brands led the Hawkeyes back to the top of the NCAA heap. The title sparked a three-year championship run, and since 2008, the Hawkeyes have not finished outside the top five at the NCAA Championships.

Keeping those streaks alive next week in Cleveland, however, will likely require Iowa to outperform the numbers.

When the brackets for the 2026 NCAA Championships were released Wednesday night, the Hawkeyes found themselves in unfamiliar territory. For just the fourth time since 1975, Iowa does not have a wrestler seeded first or second in the tournament. History suggests that may not matter as much as it seems.

In each of the previous three instances, an Iowa wrestler rose above his seed to reach the NCAA finals.

In 2005, fourth-seeded freshman Mark Perry delivered one of the tournament’s biggest moments when he knocked off returning national champion Troy Letters in the 165-pound semifinals.

A decade later, Cory Clark — one of three #3 seeds for Iowa in 2015 — made the first of his three career trips to the NCAA finals.

And in 2024, Drake Ayala followed a similar path, reaching the finals as the #3 seed at 125 pounds.

Here’s a look at the bracket paths for the Hawkeyes next week in Cleveland. 

125 pounds — #8 seed Dean Peterson 

Peterson is trying to break through to the podium in his first and final season with the Hawkeyes after losing in the blood round twice in three trips to the NCAA Championships for Rutgers. This is the first time he’s been a single-digit seed, and he has a manageable path to earn All-America status. Peterson opens the tournament against #25 seed Kael Lauridsen of Nebraska. They collided in the consolation quarterfinals at the Big Ten Championships, where Peterson used a takedown early in the third period to claim a 4-3 win. If he gets past Lauridsen, Peterson will have either #9 seed Maximo Renteria of Oregon State or former Rutgers teammate Ayden Smith, the #24 seed, in the round of 16. A win there would likely set Peterson up with another at top-seeded Luke Lilledahl of Penn State in the quarterfinals. Though Peterson notched a win against Lilledahl last season, the Nittany Lion has posted 11-5 and 8-3 wins in their two previous bouts this year. 

133 pounds — #6 seed Drake Ayala 

Ayala preserved Iowa’s finalist streak in 2024 when he reached the 125-pound title bout as the lone Hawkeye on the Saturday night stage. He got back to the finals last year at 133. He’s still chasing that elusive NCAA title. His senior season has been filled with challenges. Ayala enters the NCAA Championships with a 13-8 record, matching the number of defeats he suffered in the previous two seasons combined. But he’s won nine of his last 12 bouts and avenged a pair of early-season losses on his way to a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, defeating Wisconsin’s Zan Fugitt twice and beating Illinois’ Lucas Byrd in a rematch of last year’s NCAA title match. That showing elevated Ayala to the #6 seed, which puts him on the loaded bottom side of the 133-pound bracket, which includes both of last year’s finalists and super-talented freshmen Ben Davino of Ohio State and Marcus Blaze of Penn State, a duo with two combined losses, both of which came in their season split. 

Ayala opens the tournament against #27 seed Marcel Lopez of SIU Edwardsville in a battle of multi-time Iowa state high school champions. A win there would set up Ayala with a Thursday night bout against #11 seed Tyler Ferrara of Cornell or #22 seed Zach Redding of NC State. If Ayala gets through the first two rounds, Blaze could be waiting in the quarterfinals. Their previous two bouts were tightly contested with Blaze winning a 4-2 decision in January and a 4-1 sudden-victory decision in the Big Ten semis. 

141 pounds — #7 seed Nasir Bailey 

Bailey missed the final month of the regular season after suffering an injury in a Jan. 30 major decision loss to Minnesota’s Vance VomBaur. He returned for the Big Ten Championships and arguably wrestled better than he had at any previous point in the season. Bailey defeated a pair of All-Americans — Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin and VomBaur — en route to a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. With that, he elevated himself to a #7 seed, which puts him in better position to earn All-America honors for the second time in his career after placing fourth at 133 in 2024 for Little Rock. Bailey opens the tournament against Army’s Braden Basile, the #26 seed. If he passes that test, Bailey would get a round of 16 match against either #10 seed Jack Consiglio of Stanford or #23 seed Dylan Chappell of Bucknell. A win there could set up a rematch between Bailey and Oklahoma State undefeated true freshman Sergio Vega. They tangled throughout seven scoreless minutes at the National Duals Invitational in November before Vega wiggled free from a Bailey attack in overtime and countered with a takedown of his own for a 3-0 win. 

149 pounds — #15 seed Ryder Block 

Block’s sophomore season has been a wild ride. He’s 13-8, but he’s been in the match with an opportunity to win in nearly every bout he’s wrestled this year. He’s been on the verge of closing out some monumental victories — he led undefeated #1 seed Shayne Van Ness of Penn State before getting hit for stalling in the closing seconds in the Big Ten quarterfinals — and he’s had some head-scratching defeats, too. There’s certainly All-American upside here if he can solve the issue leading to his inconsistency. Block’s tournament begins with an opening-round bout against Morgan State’s Eugene Harney. A win there likely sets him up for a Thursday night battle with #2 seed Jaxon Joy of Cornell. If Block can get to the quarterfinals, there’s a possibility for a third meeting of the season against Ohio State’s Ethan Stiles, who used a third-period takedown to come from behind to beat Block 3-2 in November and scored an overtime takedown to win a 4-1 decision in their February meeting. 

165 pounds — #3 seed Michael Caliendo 

Caliendo was likely headed toward a spot on the top side of the bracket after losing last month to Purdue’s Joey Blaze, but he avenged an early-season loss to Oklahoma State freshman Dee Lockett to close the regular season and then reached the Big Ten finals, elevating himself to the #3 seed. That gives Caliendo — the highest-seeded Hawkeye — a path to the finals that doesn’t include returning NCAA champ Mitchell Mesenbrink, who has won all eight of their meetings during the past three seasons. There’s plenty of work yet to be done for Caliendo to get back to the finals again. He opens the tournament against The Citadel’s Thomas Snipes, the #30 seed. A win there sets up a second-round bout against #14 seed Andrew Barbosa of Rutgers or #19 seed Noah Mulvaney of Bucknell. Caliendo scored an 11-3 major decision win against Barbosa in the Big Ten semifinals and posted a 26-10 technical fall victory against Mulvaney in last year’s national tournament. Nebraska freshman L.J. Araujo, the #6 seed, or Northern Iowa’s Ryder Downey, the #11 seed, could be waiting in the quarterfinals with a possible rematch with Blaze looming in the semifinals. 

174 pounds — #5 seed Patrick Kennedy 

Fun fact about the 2025 NCAA Championships: Of the 10 wrestlers who placed fourth last year, six were double-digit seeds. Kennedy was in that group after entering the tournament as the #11 seed in a star-studded 174-pound bracket. The Iowa senior enters this year’s tournament as the #5 seed with an 18-4 record. Kennedy can pepper opponents with high-paced attacks, but he’s had problems at times with those who can fend off his attacks and extend scrambles. He dodged those types with his draw as the #5 seed. He’ll open the tournament against Princeton’s #28 seed Holden Garcia. A victory there would set up a second-round bout with #12 seed Carter Schubert of Oklahoma or #21 seed Lenny Pinto of Rutgers. If Kennedy can get through the tournament’s opening day unscathed, he could run into Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla for the fourth time this season in Friday morning’s quarterfinals. Kennedy won 4-1 in overtime and 2-1 in their first two bouts before Kharchla scored a 7-3 win in the third-place match at the Big Ten Championships. The winner there could collide with Penn State’s top-seeded Levi Haines, who is undefeated against Big Ten opposition during his career with the Nittany Lions. 

184 pounds — #7 seed Angelo Ferrari 

Ferrari was seeded eighth at the Big Ten Championships, placed eighth and then moved up a notch for the NCAA Championships, putting him in the loaded bottom side of the 184-pound bracket. The Iowa freshman enters the tournament with an 11-3 record but only has two contested defeats this season — a pair of tiebreaker losses to top-seeded Rocco Welsh of Penn State. Ferrari was ranked #1 nationally at the time of the first defeat, and he suffered an apparent lower-leg injury in that match that sidelined him for the final seven duals of the season. 

Ferrari’s first assignment in Cleveland comes against #26 seed Chase Kranitz of Pittsburgh. Teammate Gabe Arnold wrestled in Ferrari’s place in November in Iowa’s dual win against Pitt and posted a 15-5 major decision win against Kranitz. A Ferrari win would send him into the second round, where he’d face either #10 seed Caleb Campos of American or #23 seed Ceasar Garza of Cal Poly. A trip to the quarterfinals could mean a rematch with Missouri’s second-seeded Aeoden Sinclair, whose only loss in 31 matches this season was a 3-2 tiebreaker against Ferrari in November. The bottom side of the bracket also features Minnesota’s third-seeded Max McEnelly, who began the season ranked #1 after placing third last year. 

197 pounds — #27 seed Gabe Arnold 

Arnold won matches for the Hawkeyes at three weights during the regular season, winning his first four bouts at 184 and moving up to 197 for a pair of wins before descending to 174 in December. He wound up moving back up to 184 for the final month of the regular season to fill in for Ferrari before settling in at 197 for the postseason. The lack of matches at 197 hurt Arnold's seeding, but he found a path to Cleveland. His journey to the podium won’t be easy, though. He opens the tournament against sixth-seeded Justin Rademacher of Oregon State with a second bout looming against either #22 seed Devin Wasley of North Dakota State or Nebraska’s 11th-seeded Camden McDanel, a Big Ten finalist. 

285 pounds — #8 seed Ben Kueter 

Kueter was shelved during the offseason after undergoing hip surgery, which limited his mat time early in the season. He entered the Big Ten Championships as the #10 seed with a 5-5 record before a fourth-place finish elevated him to the #8 seed for the national tournament. Kueter kicks off the tournament against #25 seed Alex Semenenko of Brown. A win there would likely set up a third meeting against Penn State’s Cole Mirasola in the second round. Mirasola defeated Kueter 4-3 in January before Kueter evened the series with a 2-0 win in the Big Ten consolation semifinals. If Kueter can get past the second round, top-seeded Yonger Bastida of Iowa State could be looming in the quarterfinals. Bastida downed Kueter 11-4 in November. A quarterfinal loss would knock Kueter into the blood round, where he could run into the likes of #11 seed Devon Dawson of Northern Illinois or #19 seed Nate Schon of Drexel. A second-round loss would make Kueter’s path back to the podium more challenging. He could potentially have to get past Big Ten champ Taye Ghadiali of Michigan or #6 seed Nathan Taylor of Lehigh to earn All-America honors for the second time.