College Achievers: All-American Caliendo off to a hot start
Mikey Caliendo, who won Batavia High School’s first individual boys wrestling state title in 2021, is having a great college career at the University of Iowa.
A junior, at 165 pounds he’s a two-time All-American, placing fourth in Division I last season after taking third in the Big Ten. Caliendo came to Iowa after two seasons with North Dakota State, redshirting his freshman year and finishing seventh in the nation in 2023.
Entering Sunday’s match at Maryland, Caliendo had a collegiate record of 70-12. He was the nation’s consensus No. 2 ranked wrestler at 165 pounds.
As a Batavia senior, Caliendo went 36-0 and in his third all-state finish won the Class 3A 160-pound bracket in the tournament held by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association. The IWCOA took up the mantle for the Illinois High School Association following IHSA finals cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Friday, in front of 15,998 fans at the sold-out Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa., Caliendo and the entire Hawkeyes squad ran into a buzz saw against No. 1 Penn State, three-time defending Division I champion and winner of 11 of the last 13 national titles.
Iowa, which in 2021 interrupted the Nittany Lions’ title run, entered the match No. 2. The clash at 165 pounds also featured the top two Division I wrestlers in that weight class, No. 2 Caliendo against top-ranked Penn State sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink, each man 13-0 on the season.
Mesenbrink, the 2024 Big Ten freshman of the year, had gone 3-0 against Caliendo last season, including a major fall in the 2024 NCAA semifinals on the way to a second-place finish.
Mesenbrink broke the ice with a takedown at 1:33 of the first period in a match shown on the Big Ten Network. The Penn State wrestler built a 10-2 lead by the end of the second period.
Mesenbrink eventually won by technical fall, 19-4, with 36 seconds left in the match. Overall, Penn State beat Iowa 30-8 as Caliendo and the Hawkeyes looked to regroup in Maryland.
Fahey for 3
D3hoops.com had New York University ranked No. 1 in its most recent women’s basketball poll, unbeaten at 17-0 through Friday. Senior guard Mary Kate Fahey (Hersey) has found her niche as a shooter off the bench for the Violets. Through those 17 games, slightly over half the season, the senior guard had already surpassed her previous high with a team-leading 37 three-point baskets. She was shooting 54% beyond the arc and 93% from the foul line, averaging 9 points.
Illinois Wesleyan was No. 2 in the women’s D3hoops poll, now 19-0. Of the four Titans who had started every game, each scoring at least 10 points a game, three of them were senior guards Lauren Huber (Glenbard East) and Kate Palmer (Geneva), and junior guard Ava Bardic (Stevenson). Huber averages 15.7 points and 7.6 rebounds; Bardic averages 14.5 points with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.38.
Getting up there
Pole-vaulter Kait McHale (Naperville Central) is off to a good start in her sophomore year at the University of Northern Iowa. The 2023 girls Class 3A state champion who competed at the University of Michigan as a freshman, McHale on Dec. 13 won her first indoor competition at Iowa State. She followed with a second-place finish but at a better height (3.75 meters; 12 feet, 3½ inches) at Iowa’s Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Jan. 25.
He’s back
We’ve noted Minnesota State offensive lineman Marshall Foerner (Marmion) before, earning first-team D2Football.com Elite 100 honors and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s All-Academic with Distinction honor. On Jan. 28, the 6-foot-7, 305-pounder earned College Sports Communicators first-team Academic All-America for Division II. Along with paving the way for 2,592 yards rushing and 32 touchdowns this season, Foerner has a 3.63 grade-point average toward his master’s in business administration, after finishing his undergraduate degree with a 3.75 GPA.