By Pete Ruden
It’s time once again to see wrestling in Carver-Hawkeye.
Iowa will compete in the Iowa City Duals today against junior-college and Division-3 opponents Iowa Central and Cornell College. While the grapplers haven’t faced any Division-1 opponents yet this year, this will be the team’s first meet in Carver-Hawkeye this season, giving fans a preview of what to expect this season.
But just because the level of competition isn’t what the team will face later in the season, the teams can’t be overlooked. Even though Iowa’s probable lineup is 42-1 this season and the Hawkeyes have never lost the Iowa City Duals, athletes can’t take any time off in any match.
“This is important this weekend,” head coach Tom Brands said. “It’s not what I would say class-A competition. We know that … But I don’t look at it that way. You have to be ready every time out. Any coach will tell you that about any high-powered team or any not high-powered team. You got to be ready to go, and that means they’re getting ready to go. We got to be ready to go.”
The Hawkeyes will face NCAA powerhouses Penn State, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State later this season, but even though the competition this meet isn’t as good, the athletes have a mindset much like that of their head coach.
“The thought process is no different than if we were going against Penn State and Ohio State,” senior 125-pounder Thomas Gilman said. “Why? Because an opponent’s another man out there, and he’s trying to do the same thing I’m trying to do. I don’t necessarily look at the opponent, because once you start looking at the opponent, maybe you let yourself relax a little bit.”
Gilman said another possibility of relaxing is getting injured. He said some of the lower-level wrestlers’ goals might be to injure the top wrestlers in Division 1. With no NCAA titles in sight for them, an injury to one of the best could make their season stand out just a little more.
The Hawkeyes already have eight minor knee injuries after just one meet, so another one is something they can’t afford.
The Iowa City meet was a little different last year; Maryland competed, which added another Big Ten school into the mix. With just a Division-3 and a junior-college school on the docket this year, the Hawkeyes have an even better chance of taking home gold.
With Purdue, South Dakota State, and Iowa State on the schedule for the next three weekends, Iowa will still get its fair share of competition, so the Hawkeyes didn’t push extremely hard to get more teams into the meet.
“It was a decision that we didn’t push it, because we have Purdue and South Dakota State and Iowa State coming up right after that,” Brands said. “This is one of those things where the balance of the schedule comes into play.”
Either way, it’s still a regular-season meet that will affect the team in the long run. At the end of the day, a wrestling match is a wrestling match, and anything can happen.
Still, Iowa rolled their way to the top at the Luther Open — which had similar competition to what the Hawkeyes will face today — last weekend to crown 12 champions. After a performance like that, they’re looking for more of the same once again.
“It was nice last weekend to get out and wrestle some other guys and get some high-point wins first couple rounds and get some confidence and that kind of stuff,” redshirt freshman 197-pounder Cash Wilke said. “Looking forward to this weekend, too. Looking to do the same thing.”