By Jordan Hansen
[email protected]

With one session of wrestling in the books on March 5, the Hawkeye wrestling team seems to be in good position to make a strong push in the semifinal bouts. Both Penn State and Iowa will have seven wrestlers in semifinal matches this evening.

The Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes are head-to-head in three of those matches, which will be pivotal to deciding the team race. Iowa could survive if the team loses some of those matches, but then it will need bonus points in other areas.

Three other Hawkeyes will competing in the consolation bracket, against wrestlers of various skill levels. There’s still a lot of wrestling left in Carver-Hawkeye, but after one session, it’s obvious that this tournament isn’t even close to being decided.

“We have a round coming up, and we have to keep it going and every round, we have to get tougher,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said. “That’s been the philosophy for a long, long time, and as you get into the tournament you have to get tougher.”

Team scores:

1) Penn State (74.0)

2) Iowa (68.0)

3) Nebraska (63.0)

4) Ohio State (43.5)

T-5) Illinois (41.5)

T-5) Michigan (41.5)

7) Rutgers (27.5)

T-8) Minnesota (25.5)

T-8) Wisconsin (25.5)

10) Purdue (16.5)

T-11) Indiana (10.5)

T-11) Michigan State (10.5)

13) Maryland (4.0)

14) Northwestern (1.0)

(All rankings reflect seeds in the tournament)

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125 pounds

No. 2 Thomas Gilman major decision Conor Youtsey (Michigan), 14-4.

— Gilman got a first-round bye and didn’t wrestle until the second round but got to his offense and pushed the match to a bonus-point win. “Workman-like” would be the buzzword used to describe this match succinctly.

Up next: No. 3 Nico Megaludis (Penn State)

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133 pounds

No. 2 Cory Clark decision Johnni DiJulius (Ohio State), 7-3.

— After an early DiJulius takedown, Clark got a reversal in the 1st period to tie things up. An escape would give him a lead, which he didn’t relinquish for the rest of the match. Equally important to his moving on, it also knocked another wrestler from a contending school to the consolation bracket.

Up next: No. 6 Ryan Taylor (Wisconsin)

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141 pounds

No. 1 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) dec. Brody Grothus,  5-3.

— Grothus did absolutely everything he could against the No. 1 seeded Jordan. His defense was perhaps the most impressive part of his performance, though he couldn’t quite get his offense going, and because of that, he’s headed to the consolation bracket.

Up next: Consolation match versus No. 2 Tommy Thorn (Minnesota) 

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149 pounds

No. 2 Brandon Sorensen major decision Cody Burcher (Ohio State), 12-2.

— It took a while for Sorensen to pick up the major, but he averaged about two takedowns per period, which was more than enough. Another Buckeye wrestler in the consolation brackets makes this a double-win for the Hawkeyes.

Up next: No. 3 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska).

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157 pounds

No. 5 Edwin Cooper Jr. pinned Anthony Petrone (Northwestern) in 1:26.

— Cooper Jr. got out of the gates a little slowly, as Petrone took a quick shot and knocked him a little off balance. Then, however, Cooper got things going and got Petrone on his back. After that, it was just a matter of how long it would take for him to end things.

Cooper decision No. 4 Jake Ryan (Ohio State), 2-1.

— With this win, Cooper locked up a spot at nationals. Not much to say here, but he did ride Ryan most of the second period, which sealed riding time. An escape gave him the match-winning point.

Up next: No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State)

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165 pounds

No. 8 Patrick Rhoads decision (SV-1) Bryce Martin (Indiana)

— Rhoads was aggressive early and often, though could not finish a shot to save his life. Each wrestler picked up an escape during the last two periods (Martin in the second, Rhoads in the third), and the match went to overtime. Martin got an edge-of-the-mat stall warning, which awarded a point to Rhoads due to an earlier stalling call on the Indiana wrestler.

Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin) pinned No. 8 Patrick Rhoads in 6:36.

Up next: Consolation match versus Brandon Krone (Minnesota)

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174 pounds

No. 2 Alex Meyer technical fall No. 7 Nick Wanzek (Minnesota), 16-0.

— Meyer had the major decision locked up early in the third period. He then got near-fall points at the end of the match to push the win to a technical.

Up next: No. 3 Zach Brunson (Illinois)

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184 pounds

No. 3 Sammy Brooks pinned Matt Irick (Indiana) in 1:43

— Brooks wasted absolutely no time in pinning Irick. The Iowa wrestler came out strong early and led 4-1 when he got Irick into a tilt near the edge of the mat. From there, it didn’t take long

Brooks decision No. 6 Kenny Courts, 8-3.

— Brooks again looked solid, sending another Buckeye wrestler to the consolation bracket. Things get a little tougher for him from here, however.

Up next: No. 2 Matt McCutcheon (Penn State)

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197 pounds

No. 3 Nathan Burak tech fall Eric Peissig (Wisconsin) in 6:53, 22-5.

— With just less than half a minute remaining in the third period, Burak got Peissig on his back, pushing a 15-5 margin out to the final. This was another big-time match for Iowa, which needs every bonus point it can muster.

Burak decision No. 6 Mark Martin (Ohio State), 6-2

Burak was definitely threatened but kept Martin at an arms length to earn the birth into the semifinals.

Next up: No. 2 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota)

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Heavyweight

No. 3 Sam Stoll major decision Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 15-4.

— Stoll got off to a fast start, nearly getting a pin in the first period. Things slowed down a bit through the second period but got going again in the third when Stoll registered more near-fall points. Considering his questionable status coming in, a big win for Iowa.

No. 6 Collin Jensen (Nebraska) major decision Stoll, 14-5.

— Stoll got down big early and couldn’t quite recover. Stoll did, however, look decent at points during the match, and now Iowa has to hope he can pull some weight in the consolation bracket.

Next up: Consolation match against Dimitrus Renfroe (Michigan State)

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