By Jordan Hansen
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The Hawkeyes will send four wrestlers to compete for a Big Ten Championship on the afternoon of March 6 after a session filled with ups and downs.
Iowa’s Cory Clark (133), Brandon Sorensen (149), Sammy Brooks (184), and Nathan Burak (197) will compete for titles. For Clark, Brooks, and Burak, it will be the first time they’ve been in the individual finals.
Burak’s match was one of the most intense of the evening and went into overtime. It’s a place he’s been before but has never been able to capitalize on.
“I’ve been in semifinals before … this is the fourth time in a row, every single time I lost it in overtime,” Burak said. “Every time, I was really close. I told myself, I’m not losing, this is my time, I’m making it to the championship.
“So that’s what I did, praise the Lord.”
It’s also the first time Brooks and Clark have made it to the Big Ten title round. The 184-pounder has wrestled very well for Iowa throughout the tournament and beating Matt McCutcheon — a Nittany Lion wrestler — only helped things.
There is, however, quite a bit of work for the Hawkeyes to do in the team race. Iowa trails Penn State by 27 points and needs quite a bit to go right for it to win a title. We’ll have more on that on the morning of March 6, but rest assured — a lot has to go right for Iowa to be victorious in the team race.
“There’s a lot to digest now, so we’ll get ready to go tomorrow,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said on March 5. “We have to come back strong tomorrow; there’s a lot on the line right now.”
Team standings:
1) Penn State (133.0)
2) Iowa (106.0)
3) Ohio State (100.0)
4) Nebraska (97.5)
5) Rutgers (90.5)
6) Illinois (78.5)
7) Michigan (70.0)
8) Wisconsin (53.0)
9) Minnesota (38.0)
10) Purdue (30.0)
11) Indiana (26.0)
12) Michigan State (10.5)
13) Northwestern (8.0)
14) Maryland (7.5)
(All rankings reflect seeds in the tournament)
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125 pounds
No. 3 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) decision No. 2 Thomas Gilman in tiebreaker, 4-3.
— Disappointment for Gilman. An extremely intense match that ended regulation 1-1. Megaludis then got an escape in the first tiebreaker and then a reversal in the second tiebreaker. For Gilman, it’s a crushing disappointment and hurts Iowa’s team title chances.
Up next: Consolation semifinal against No. 5 Elijah Oliver (Indiana)
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133 pounds
No. 2 Cory Clark decision Ryan Taylor (Wisconsin), 10-7
— Clark wasn’t happy with his performance afterwords and it wasn’t hard to see why. He didn’t wrestle Taylor particularly well, and if not for a late takedown, very well might have lost. While he declined to meet with media afterwards, a short statement from him afterwards says all he wanted anyone to know.
“I’m not satisfied,” Clark said. “I’m not going to make a big deal about reaching the finals. That’s not my goal. This tournament is not over.”
Up next: Big Ten Championship against No. 1 Zane Richards (Illinois)
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141 pounds
No. 2 Tommy Thorn (Minnesota) decision Brody Grothus, 7-5
— Grothus couldn’t get to any kind of offense, and as a result, he’s done for the tournament. While he did get one of the hardest draws of the tournament (he faced the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds), it just feels like he could pulled at least one of the upsets.
Up next: Nothing. Grothus likely won’t get an at-large NCAA spot and his career is, for all intents and purposes, over.
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149 pounds
No. 2 Brandon Sorensen decision No. 3 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska), 5-2.
— Sorensen got through the match relatively unscathed and gets a very tough match March 6.
Up next: Big Ten Championship against No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State)
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157 pounds
No. 1 Jason Nolf technical fall No. 5 Edwin Cooper Jr. in 6:02, 21-3.
— Cooper never had a chance. Nolf got after him immediately and ended things early. Outside of losing another wrestler in the finals, it also gave the Nittany Lions quite a few bonus points, further hurting Iowa’s chances to walk away with a team title.
Up next: Consolation semifinal against No. 3 Richie Lewis (Rutgers)
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165 pounds
No. 8 Patrick Rhoads major decision Brandon Krone (Minnesota), 15-7
— Aggressive and looking to score throughout the match, Rhoads turned an early 2-0 deficit into a reversal and never really looked back. He had more than three minutes of riding time and gave Iowa some much-needed bonus points.
Up next: Seventh-place match against No. 7 Geno Morelli (Penn State)
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174 pounds
No. 2 Alex Meyer pinned by No. 3 Zach Brunson in 2:00.
— Meyer wasn’t ready for the match, and it was pretty much that simple. He couldn’t get anything going, Brunson caught him in a bad position, and Meyer is headed to the consolation bracket.
Up next: Consolation semifinals against No. 5 Nate Jackson (Indiana)
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184 pounds
No. 3 Sammy Brooks decision Matt McCutcheon, 6-1
— Late in the second period, Brooks got McCutcheon to put himself up 3-0. It ended up being all he needed to send him to the Big Ten title match. This is quite a bit further than Brooks got a year ago and is a huge step forward for him.
Up next: Big Ten Championship against No. 4 T.J. Dudley (Nebraska)
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197 pounds
No. 3 Nathan Burak decision No. 2 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota) in overtime, 3-1
— In overtime, in the semifinals, once again. Burak, however, wasn’t going to lose this time. He got in on a shot in overtime and after failing to finish one earlier in the match, slammed Pfarr to the ground for a win. Burak is headed to his first finals match.
Next up: Big Ten Championship versus No. 2 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota)
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Heavyweight
No. 3 Sam Stoll pinned Dimitrus Renfroe (Michigan State) in 1:56
— From the beginning of the match, it was obvious who was going to win. It was only of a question by how many points. Stoll got Renfroe on a takedown and then completed the turn and by then, Renfroe’s shoulders were on the ground and the match was over. A big win for Iowa.
No. 7 Brooks Black (Illinois) decision Stoll, 3-0.
— Stoll couldn’t get to his offense, and he couldn’t hold off Black’s shot.
Next up: Seventh-place match against Brock Horwath (Wisconsin)
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