By Jordan Hansen
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First, let’s make something clear: Wrestling is not a stat-heavy sport.
With that said, however, it isn’t devoid of numbers, and there are a few things that stand out in the No. 2 Iowa wrestling team’s start to the season.
Three undefeated starts
Thomas Gilman, Brandon Sorensen, and Nathan Burak have all started the season without a loss for Iowa.
Gilman, the 125-pounder, has perhaps been the most dominant of the three this season, winning 13-of-15 matches by bonus points. The only other wrestler on the team with double-digit bonus-point victories is the 149-pounder Sorensen, who has 10 such wins. Burak isn’t far behind with nine bonus-point wins at 197.
Those wins have translated into a plethora of dual points scored this season. Gilman has scored the most team points with 58, while Sorensen and Burak have 48 and 42, respectively.
The coaching staff continually challenges the team to go after bonus-point wins, and so far their words have not fallen on deaf ears. The 133, 174, 184, and 285-pound weight classes are a combined 59-7.
Cory Clark, a runner-up at 133-pounds last season, has just one loss on the year, and as long as he stays healthy, definitely looks like an All-American once again.
He’s 13-1 on the year with 44 dual points scored and eight bonus-point wins. Iowa also expected good things from 174-pounder Alex Meyer and the 184-pound Sammy Brooks.
Brooks has been the flashier of the two with five pins on the season. That’s the second-most on the team after Gilman and heavyweight Sam Stoll, who have six apiece.
Stoll and Brooks have both been on fire since conference meets started, combining for 43 match points in just five Big Ten duals. Each has made a significant leap from where he was a year ago, and it’s not ridiculous to think All-American honors are in their future.
In order for Iowa to have a real shot at a team national title in March, it will need to continue to get this level of production from its roster.
Trouble spots: The 141-, 157-, and 165-pounders are just 16-16 in dual meets.
There’s a weak spot on Hawkeyes, and it comes at three weight classes in which the team lost a senior to graduation last season.
Iowa seems to have found three regular starters at those weights: Topher Carton (141), Edwin Cooper Jr. (157), and Patrick Rhoads (165), but it seems unlikely that any of them will make waves during the national championships.
Head coach Tom Brands and the rest of the coaching staff do not have a whole lot of other options at any of those weights, which only accentuates the problem.
The biggest issue, however, is how they’ve competed against ranked competition. Carton has only faced one ranked wrestler so far this season (an 8-4 loss to currently No. 4 Anthony Ashnault), while Rhoads and Cooper have competed against 15 ranked opponents.
The pair have combined for just three wins in those 15 matches. Of those 12 losses to ranked competition, five have been bonus-point victories for their opponents.
While there is still a good portion of time left in the season, the picture of what this team is going to look like as it heads into the Big Ten and NCAA Championships is rapidly developing.
Follow @JordyHansen for Iowa wrestling news, updates, and analysis.
