Real Woods named Iowa’s Most Valuable Wrestler
Stanford transfer finished runner-up at 141 pounds and 20-1 overall
By Hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Senior Real Woods was named the recipient of the Mike Howard Most Valuable Wrestler Award on Friday night at the University of Iowa wrestling team’s annual awards banquet in the Feller Club Room at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Woods was the 141-pound runner-up at the 2023 NCAA Championships last week in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He earned his third career All-America honor and reached the finals to extend Iowa’s streak of consecutive NCAA finals appearances to 33 straight national tournaments.
The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native finished his first season as a Hawkeye with a 20-1 record with 12 bonus point wins. Woods tied for the team lead with six major decisions, and he won 12 matches against ranked opponents on the year.
Woods was one of six Hawkeyes presented All-America awards. Spencer Lee and Jacob Warner earned their fifth career All-America honor, Tony Cassioppi became a four-time All-American, Max Murin earned his second All-America distinction and Nelson Brands reached the podium for the first time.
Cassioppi finished fourth at the NCAA Championships at 285, Nelson Brands (174) and Warner (197) were fifth and Murin (149) and Lee (125) both finished sixth. Lee and Warner are the second and third five-time All-Americans in program history, while Cassioppi is the 25th four-timer.
Iowa has crowned at least one All-American in 52 consecutive NCAA Championships.