U23: Caliendo to represent the US at World Championships

06/04/2025 8:24 PM

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GENEVA, OH • Iowa Hawkeye National runner-up Michael Caliendo has been able to climb every ladder in front of him, and this past weekend at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, was no different. In his 132-man bracket at 74kg, Caliendo did what Caliendo has been known to do: make adjustments and win. And, by the end of it all, the three-time All-American defeated five of the top fifteen seeds, including the number one and two wrestler in the bracket as he wrestled himself onto the United States U23 Freestyle World Team.

The Batavia native opened his tournament with three consecutive technical superiorities, two by first period shutouts, and the third in the Round of 32 where he gave up his first points in a 15-4 win in 3:42.

Caliendo, now in the Round of 16, would be very familiar with his next opponent, University of Illinois Redshirt sophomore Braeden Scoles. The two wrestled in a B1G dual meeting this past January at 165 pounds inside of Carver Hawkeye Arena.

In that meeting, the Hawkeye controlled the pace, the offense, and the scoring. He dominated and, by the end, number two nationally ranked Caliendo had earned a 20-4 technical fall in 6:00 over Scoles, the then number ten wrestler in the country. However, entering the U23 challenge tournament, Scoles had earned the second seed in the bracket while Caliendo was thrown into the draw.

Prior to meeting up with Caliendo in the Round of 16, Scoles had earned himself three technical superiorities and appeared to be wrestling at a very high level and as the aggressor in his bouts. However, when the whistle blew, it was Caliendo on the attack as the aggressor. So much so that the Hawkeye earned a pushout point just eleven seconds into the match. Off the restart, Caliendo would freestyle himself into a single leg as Scoles defended in a quad-pod. Out of Caliendo forcing the position, Scoles would earn a two-point exposure before Caliendo would re-control the position and earn a two-point exposure of his own out of bounds.

Forty-nine seconds into the match, it was Caliendo with a 3-2 lead.

Off the restart, Caliendo’s attacks would continue, and Scoles’ defense was simply magnificent. Although he was unable to prevent Caliendo from getting to his legs, he was giving up on point pushouts and not conceding what seemed like guaranteed takedowns.

With one more takedown for Caliendo, and a one-point intention for butting heads against Caliendo and in favor of Scoles, the match headed into the break with a 6-3 lead for the Hawk.

In the second period, Scoles came out as the more aggressive wrestler with heavy hands and open shots. In this, thirty seconds into the final period, Scoles was in on a takedown, but was only awarded with a pushout point as Caliendo displayed his defense. Scoles had now closed the gap, 6-4.

From there, Caliendo would hold center, hand fight, and endure. In his ability to endure, Caliendo would score one more takedown with around one minute remaining and the match would close out with a Caliendo win, an 8-4 decision.

Now in the quarterfinals, Caliendo would contend with the seventh seeded Matthew Bianchi.

The opening period would not attract too much attention as Caliendo would take a 2-1 lead into the break; however, the second period would prove to be much more exciting.

Thirty seconds into the final period, Bianchi would take a 3-2 lead with a takedown of his own. About thirty seconds and a restart later, Caliendo would answer with a takedown and reclaim the lead, 4-3. However, as soon as Caliendo scored, Bianchi scored a two-point exposure and added another two-point exposure ten seconds later. Bianchi now held a 7-4 lead.

Off another restart, Caliendo would attack forward and score a takedown to cut the lead to one point, 7-6, with half the period remaining in what was becoming a back-and-forth affair that appeared to favor the wrestler who could ultimately score the last points before time expired.

With another restart and a little over one minute remaining, Caliendo would reclaim the lead, 8-8, on criteria with a takedown. The two would exchange one-point scores heading into the final thirty seconds and a 9-9 score.

Roughly eight seconds after the second to last restart of the match, Caliendo would earn a one-point pushout and take a 10-9 lead that would hold. His win would push him into the semifinals where he would need to win one more time to give himself the opportunity to wrestle in the best-of-three matchup for a chance at the U23 World Team.

His semifinal opponent would be the fourteen seeded e’Than Birden. Birden, the Ohio State Buckeye and former two-time Ohio state champion, had a strong true freshman campaign placing in the Clarion Open and the Midlands; however, even though he did not compete in the B1G Championships, he had shown his promise and ability to wrestle competitive matches against ranked wrestlers, including defeating number ten Breaden Scoles in a dual meet matchup.

In that semifinal bout, Caliendo continued his aggressive and high-pace offense. And once he scored a pushout twenty seconds into the bout, many were expecting Caliendo to increase that lead almost immediately. However, it would be Birden taking the next shot off the restart and scoring a pushout of his own to even up the score, 1-1.

And then, what appeared to be another good position for Birden turned into some Caliendo defense that transitioned into Caliendo offense that resulted in another pushout point. But, off the restart, it would Birden in on another shot, and one Caliendo could not fight out of. The result, another pushout point and a 2-2 match with a minute left in the first period.

The longer Birden appeared to be creating some difficulties for Caliendo, so Caliendo appeared to make some real-time adjustments that fended off Birden’s attacks. The period would end 2-2 with Birden holding criteria.

As the second period began, Caliendo looked to be more square and heavy with his hands and control ties. However, Birden would fly into a sweep single to Caliendo’s right leg and bring Caliendo down to the mat. But, in his own right, the feisty and quick-witted Caliendo worked his way to Birden’s leg, hung on, and forced a stalemate. From that restart, Caliendo fired into a shot, brought up Birden’s leg and walked him out for another one-point pushout. Caliendo now led, 3-2, with two minutes remaining.

The next minute would be a position battle on their feet for each wrestler. And with one minute remaining, Birden would try to push the pace. Caliendo, again strong and solid in his stance and motion and conditioning and hand fight, frustrated Birden and worked into another shot that he turned into a fourth step-out point with fifteen seconds left. From here, it was defense and a win.

Caliendo would now head to the best-of-three series against the number one seeded Daniel Cardenas. Cardenas, a Stanford All-American and Pac-12 champion, would come into the match high off an incredible tournament of his own, but he would need two wins over Caliendo if he was going to the be the U23 representative for the United States in Serbia.

In the first match, Caliendo would suffer his first loss, a 15-8 decision that displayed Cardenas’ ability to defend and turn that defense into an offense, score off his own offense, and defend and keep Caliendo at bay. As it wrestled out, Caliendo was going to need some strong adjustments if he was going to take the second match.

And when match two came, Caliendo, in true Caliendo form, improved and took to his coaching and came out more prepared for Cardenas.

When the whistle blew, Caliendo’s new approach was to close the gap with his heavy hands, force front head positions, and utilize a vicious hand fight with snaps and control ties in what appeared to be becoming a match of attrition—wear him down and then open him up.

Unfortunately, Cardenas would find his way into a shot and score with just under one minute gone in the first period. He would take a 2-0 lead before the match would be stopped for blood cleanup on Caliendo.

Off the restart, Caliendo’s hands would work to wear down and open Cardenas up. With his fakes and motion and hand fight, Caliendo, and his strength-maintained center, looked to be frustrating Cardenas who seemingly wanted a more open and high-paced match. As scheme may have had it, Caliendo would find his way to a shot and score a takedown of his own with about forty seconds left in the period.

The first period would end with in a 2-2 tie with Caliendo holding criteria—a vast difference from the pace and the scoring from the first match.

When the second period opened, Cardenas fired in on some shots, but Caliendo defended by alluding the offense and simply by keeping Cardenas in front of him and in tight where he could feel his motion and, ultimately, his offense. From there, Cardenas would force some straight on shots that played into Caliendo and his ability to defend. And as the period came into the final two minutes, Cardenas was slowly wearing; as it would go, Caliendo would find his hand fight and snaps enough to break Cardenas down to the mat as he scored his second takedown of the period for a 4-2 lead with 1:30 remaining.

Off the restart, Cardenas fired in again on a quick shot and got to Caliendo’s right leg, but Caliendo would defend by grabbing Cardenas’ leg, hold tight and extend, and create a stalemate.

After another blood timeout for Caliendo, the two began to freestyle it out in the middle of the mat and the hand fight continued as Caliendo created a two-point exposure out of a scramble. Caliendo would win, 6-2, but a challenge brock was thrown. Caliendo’s points would be confirmed, he would gain another point for a 7-2 win, and now it was down to one match for the right to represent the United States in Serbia.

When the third match arrived, so did Caliendo’s motor and offense. Within the first ten seconds, Caliendo had worked his hand fight and hands from offensive motion that allowed him to work in on a shot and, once Cardenas defended and tried to create a score for himself, Caliendo continued in motion and sat the corner, and came around for the final match’s first takedown.

Off the restart, Cardenas would get in deep on a shot, but Caliendo, more so his hips, defended the attack. About 1:15 into the period, Cardena worked himself into another shot, and this time he scored. The match would be tied, 2-2, and Cardenas would have criteria.

However, off the next restart, it would be Caliendo catching Cardenas reaching, hit a slide by, and turn it into a four-point move when he muscled Cardenas down to his back as he tried to turn back into the move. From there, Caliendo would score another takedown, basically running over Cardenas who was on his knees trying to defend, and that movement alone seemed to break Cardenas momentarily. Caliendo was now up 10-2, and while Cardenas seemed to be slowing down, Caliendo was picking up his pace.

The match would go into the break with Caliendo holding the eight-point lead, and once wrestling resumed, Cardenas came out with a burst that earned him a takedown with two minutes remaining, but Caliendo would answer at the one-minute mark with a takedown of his own. With another Caliendo blood timeout, and fifty-one seconds remaining, Cardenas was running out of time as he again trailed by eight.

Cardenas would score, this time a pushout, and the score was now 12-6, Caliendo. But Caliendo broke the match open with fifteen seconds remaining as he scored a takedown and closed the match out with a 12-6 victory and U23 National championship.

Caliendo would clap his hands in excitement, look around, and then head back to his corner.

“After I lost the first match,” Caliendo explained, “I just needed to wrestle smart and change some things up. I needed to get to my attacks and not get stuck underneath him. My coaches believe in me; they know I’m the better wrestler. I just needed to eliminate those go-behinds and keep the score gap closer. I trust my conditioning, and I’m always ready to go the full six minutes. There’s no way I’m going to quit out there on the mat.”

As for what the moment meant to Caliendo as he moves forward, “At the end of the day it’s wrestling, and I’m always trying to improve. This is a good building block because I’ll be wrestling freestyle after next season, so it’s good to get this experience.”

With Caliendo coming into his senior season at Iowa, this could be the experience and confidence builder that he needs to continue to grow and take that next step into becoming a national champion. He has come a long way in three years, and all that is next to see is how much more he can improve and where that takes him at the U23Worlds across the ocean in October, and then across the nation next season.

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Here is a look at Caliendo’s U23 tournament at 74kg:

Challenge Tournament

PRLM1 • Bye

PRLM2 • defeated Parker Kearns, CRTC / TS, 10-0 (1:08)

RD64 • defeated Anthony White, SKWC / TS, 13-0 (2:06)

RD32 • defeated Christop Crawford, INRT (15) / TS, 15-4 (3:42)

RD16 • defeated Braeden Scoles, ILRT (2) / Dec, 8-4

QTRS • defeated Matthew Bianchi, ARTC (7) / Dec, 10-9

SEMI-F • defeated e’Than Birden, ORTC (14) / Dec, 4-2

Best-of-three Finals

FINAL1 • defeated by Daniel Cardenas, CA RTC (1) / Dec, 15-8

FINAL2 • defeated Daniel Cardenas, CA RTC (1) / Dec, 7-2

FINAL3 • defeated Daniel Cardenas, CA RTC (1) / Dec, 14-6

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Looking Ahead to Serbia for Freestyle at 74kg

Looking ahead, here is the schedule for the U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, for all three divisions: Greco-Roman, Women’s Freestyle, and Men’s Freestyle. The championships will take place from October 20 through the 26th. All times listed are Central Daylight Times, and they are approximate and as closely aligned with UWW’s schedule as possible.

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Monday, October 10th

03:30 a.m. • Greco-Roman: Qualification Round, 60-67-72-82-97kg

11:00 a.m. • Greco-Roman: Semifinals

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Tuesday, October 11th

03:30 a.m. • Greco-Roman:Repechages, 60-67-72-82-97kg

03:30 a.m. • Greco-Roman: Qualification Round, 55-63-77-87-130kg

09:45 a.m. • Greco-Roman: Semifinals

11:00 a.m. • Greco-Roman: Finals, 60-67-72-82-97kg and Award Ceremonies

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Wednesday, October 12th