Kyle Parco was never worried about the adjustment to wrestling at Iowa.

Parco, wrestling for his third school with his final season of eligibility, has gone 18-1 with the Hawkeyes this season at 149 pounds, so yeah, it was a smooth transition.

“I always like to think of myself like a chameleon — if you drop me anywhere, I'll fit in,” Parco said during the Hawkeyes’ media availability on Tuesday. “So I think, of course, it took a little bit, maybe a couple weeks, for me to get used to the place. But, you know, you could put me in Antarctica, I'd be just fine there.”

The four-time NCAA All-American is heading into his final postseason, beginning with this weekend’s Big Ten Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

Parco, who grew up in California and wrestled for Fresno State and Arizona State before joining the Hawkeyes, has grown to appreciate what he calls “the culture of excellence and high-level wrestling” in Iowa.

“I'm from California and the West Coast, so it's more football, basketball over there,” Parco said. “And you come here and everyone knows you. Everyone loves wrestling. Wrestling is the sport. It’s not a guy who just plays football and that's just it. The kids are wrestling here. So it's really cool to see that. The experience has been mind-blowing.”

Parco’s lone loss this season was a 17-6 defeat against Shayne Van Ness in the Hawkeyes’ 30-8 defeat at Penn State. But even in defeat, Iowa coach Tom Brands learned a lot about Parco.

“I think he learned, maybe a little baptism by fire when we were out east in State College and some of our guys let that environment get to them,” Brands said. “And I think he realized it's not that big of a deal. Just go out and wrestle your match. And you know what, talk to yourself the right way and keep things in perspective and take a deep breath and have some fun and go out and kick some butt.”

Brands said Parco’s self-analysis has been helpful.

“He always has a really good after action report in his head,” Brands said. “So when the event is over, he dissects it, and then he moves on. And it makes him better. And that is a conversation with himself, but also he'll bring the coaches in, or he's open-minded, so when the coaches bring him in, it's all positive. So he does move forward quickly. He's not always easy on himself, but that's also healthy. So just don't want to be too hard on yourself, but he wants to be where he wants to be.”

“I think as I was getting into high school wrestling, and then into my later years in college, I started to really analyze wrestling a little bit more, and analyze the technique and break stuff down,” Parco said. “I think you're never really truly a master of the sport, and every day I'm trying to learn something new. I'll pick something from everyone. But after a match or a tournament, especially the bad matches or matches that I knew I could have done a lot better, I like to fixate on those things I could have done better.”

Parco did admit that sometimes he’s too hard on himself.

“I think sometimes I need to smell flowers a little bit more, kind of appreciate where I am, and recognize I'm a good wrestler,” he said. “And I'm doing a lot better than I give myself credit for, but being hard on yourself is part of the game, is part of getting better. But I think it's required that you need to pat yourself on the back a little bit, give yourself that confidence that you're doing good and you know you're going to be doing better.”

His journey almost complete, Parco appreciates where it is going to finish.

“I think if I told my high school self that I'd be wrestling at the University of Iowa, I'd be really surprised,” Parco said. “I didn't really know what to expect going into college, but this definitely wasn't it. But I’ve been super blessed to be able to do this, to be able to be at  such a good program like this, and then get to wrestle at Big Tens. And then, a fifth year at the (NCAA) Championships) is really cool. It's a really good thing that I've been able to do. So I'm really thankful.”

Big Ten Experience

Parco pointed out how the PAC-12 tournament was just a one-day event, while the Big Ten Championships run for two days.

“It’s definitely a lot more of a tournament than I've been used to,” Parco said. “But I'm really excited to get to wrestle better opponents a lot earlier (in the postseason), a couple weeks earlier (than the NCAA Championships). But it's exciting. My first time at it. So I don't know what to expect, but I’m just going in with the same mindset.”

Parco went 7-1 in Big Ten duals competition this season.

We’ll Know Wednesday

Seedings for the Big Ten Championships will be released Wednesday, but Brands wasn’t going to let anyone know the names he submitted for Iowa’s lineup.

“You’re going to see the seeds come out, and that’ll answer those questions,” Brands said, smiling.