Kueter to focus strictly on wrestling for next 10 months
University of Iowa two-sport athlete Ben Kueter announced that he will focus strictly on wrestling for the next 10 months and not play football in the fall. He will rejoin the football team next spring.
"First off, I would like to thank Coach (Seth) Wallace and Coach (Kirk) Ferentz for letting me live out a dream of mine," Kueter wrote on social media. "Coach Wallace is the reason I chose to play football at Iowa. Secondly, I would like to thank my football brothers for making this last year so enjoyable. I've made bonds with those guys that will last a lifetime. With that being said, I would like to announce that I will be transitioning to just wrestling for the next 10 months in order to win a World title, NCAA title, and a NCAA team title. To meet those goals will require my full attention for the next 10 months, but this is not the end of my football career. I will start back up in spring ball. Thank you to the best in fans in the world and GO HAWKS!"
As a true freshman this past season, Kueter played for the Iowa football team in the fall before wrestling for the Hawkeyes in the winter. He posted a 3-1 record as a redshirt at 285 pounds. This past weekend, Kueter went 5-0 en route to winning a gold medal at the U20 World Team Trials in freestyle at 125 kilograms. He was a U20 world champion in 2022 and will look to win his second U20 world title at the Junior World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain, in September.