By Pete Ruden
The Iowa wrestling team took care of business in dominating fashion at the Iowa City Duals Friday, beating Iowa Central 55-0 and Cornell College 45-0.
Seniors Thomas Gilman and Cory Clark got both duals off to a fast start for the Hawkeyes, pinning their opponents in the first period. Once the two veterans established what the meet would be like, the rest of the team never looked back.
“It always feels good going out there and accomplishing what I want to accomplish, especially getting two falls,” Gilman said. “Picking up three falls last weekend and adding two more today, I think is important moving forward, not only to keep the momentum going for me and my team, but also to put myself in the books, be remembered for something.”
The Hawkeyes finished their dual against Iowa Central just five points away from perfection, as there were falls in six of the ten matches that took place.
In addition to Gilman and Clark’s pins, Brandon Sorensen, Michael Kemerer, Jeremiah Moody, and Mitch Bowman all recorded falls, with Sorensen’s coming in 37 seconds, the fastest of his college career.
Bowman wrestled at heavyweight for the Iowa Central dual, and despite being outweighed by nearly 100 pounds, still pinned Iowa Central’s Amari Latimer in 1:32.
In the second dual against Cornell, Iowa kept their momentum going as they recorded four pins on their way to shutting their opponent.
Even though Iowa’s performance was dominant, athletes and coaches alike know there are things to improve on and do differently.
“I think it’s a big learning experience,” Sorensen said. “There’s some things that maybe you don’t get to hit on the best guys in the country, and you hit it here, kind of work on it in the practice room… Then you hit it in these types of matches, then you’re hitting it on the best guys in the nation.
“It’s hard to walk away from a match like that and not be happy, but like I said, there’s things you can still work on.”
One of the most important things Iowa did at the meet was making it out without any major injuries. The Hawkeyes were plagued with minor injuries and knee tweaks before this meet, so now they have time to recover before going to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on Purdue next weekend.
Gilman said earlier in the week that it was important for him and his team to stay focused and to not take anyone lightly, which would lead to fewer injuries. Today, it turns out he was right.
“It always feels good coming out without any injuries, and I credit that to being ready to go,” he said. “There were a couple matches there, like Alex Meyer, he wrestled up at 184. That’s no excuse. The guy’s rolling, he’s grabbing his ankle. Was that guy’s intention to hurt him? Maybe not, but in my mind it was. I’m a hostile person. Guys are out there trying to knock my block off… It always feels good to not get hurt, but it feels better to realize I didn’t get hurt because I put pressure on the guy.”
With more teams on the schedule, the Hawkeyes aren’t done yet. They have some good competition coming up on the schedule that will try to prevent them from winning a national championship.
While that national title is the main goal in the end, the team is happy with how they’ve performed thus far.
“Hard to be satisfied in this sport when you’re trying to be a national champion,” senior Cory Clark said. “I sometimes wish I would’ve maybe kept the guy and got some more takedowns just to get more mat time maybe, but you can’t really be disappointed by pinning the kid in the first period.”
No. 3 Iowa – 55, Iowa Central – 0
- 125 No. 1 Thomas Gilman pinned Joseph Sibomana, 1:33; 6-0 Iowa
- 133 No. 1 Cory Clark pinned Zak Hensley, 2:05; 12-0 Iowa
- 141 Topher Carton tech. fall Nick Santos, 16-1 in 3:48; 17-0 Iowa
- 149 No. 2 Brandon Sorensen pinned Keenan Cook, 0:37; 23-0 Iowa
- 157 No. 7 Michael Kemerer pinned Carlos Champaign, 2:01; 29-0 Iowa
- 165 Joey Gunther tech. fall Jonah Egli, 21-6 in 6:45; 34-0 Iowa
- 174 No. 6 Alex Meyer maj. dec. Antrez Clagon; 38-0 Iowa
- 184 Jeremiah Moody pinned Anthony Jones, 1:10; 44-0 Iowa
- 197 Cash Wilcke tech. fall Jacob Becker, 24-8 in 5:49; 49-0 Iowa
- 285 Mitch Bowman pinned Amari Latimer, 1:32; 55-0 Iowa
No. 3 Iowa – 45, Iowa Central – 0
- 125 No. 1 Thomas Gilman pinned Vikash Hypio, 2:23; 6-0 Iowa
- 133 No. 1 Cory Clark pinned Brody Lamb, 1:36; 12-0 Iowa
- 141 Topher Carton pinned Josh Martin, 4:23; 18-0 Iowa
- 149 No. 2 Brandon Sorensen maj. dec. Leonard Bloom; 22-0 Iowa
- 157 No. 7 Michael Kemerer tech. fall Aaron Engle, 16-1 in 2:31; 27-0 Iowa
- 165 Skyler St. John dec. Ben Hewson, 7-4; 30-0 Iowa
- 174 Joey Gunther dec. Michael Maksimovic, 9-5; 33-0 Iowa
- 184 Alex Meyer dec. Brian Cristion, 70; 36-0 Iowa
- 197 Cash Wilcke pinned Ben Bergen, 2:43; 42-0 Iowa
- 285 Steven Holloway dec. Tyler Ortmann, 32; 45-0 Iowa
