By Pete Ruden
The No. 3 Iowa wrestling team handled its first Big Ten opponents of the year, beating Purdue, 34-3, on Sunday.
Iowa grapplers picked up a victory in nine of the 10 matches, clinching a win in its Big Ten opener for the 19th-consecutive year.
“There were a lot of good things,” head coach Tom Brands said in a release. “They were a team that came out to squeeze. You could tell right away they wanted to keep it close. They were on our wrists, squeezing us tight. We did a pretty good job overall.”
Senior Thomas Gilman got the demolition off to a good start for the Hawkeyes, picking up his first technical fall of the season, 25-10. Before picking up the technical fall, Gilman had pinned all five of his opponents, showing why he is ranked the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 125 pounds.
Fellow All-American Cory Clark kept the momentum going for Iowa at 133, picking up a 6-0 decision over the Boilermakers’ Luke Welch and improving his record to 7-0.
Senior Topher Carton and junior Brandon Sorensen did their part as well; they won major decisions at 141 and 149 pounds.
At 157, redshirt freshman Michael Kemerer made his Big Ten début. The Murrysville, Pennsylvania, native made the most of it, defeating Purdue’s Alex Griffin with a 10-3 decision. Redshirt freshman Joey Gunther, who impressed Brands after the first meet of the season, picked up another win in the dual, beating Dylan Lydy, 8-4, at 165.
A high point at the meet for the Hawkeyes came at the 174 weight class from the No. 6 wrestler in the country at the weight, senior Alex Meyer.
After picking up a decision and a major decision at last week’s Iowa City Duals, Meyer exploded for 25 points and a technical fall against Purdue’s Peter Andreotti, improving his Big Ten dual record to a perfect 14-0.
“It’s fun to put points on the board,” he said in a release. “I was feeling good before the match, during the match, at the end of the match, and after the match. I was moving really well and that leads to me scoring points.”
Meyer’s match impressed Brands, because he kept fighting for extra points, even toward the end.
“Give credit to Meyer,” Brands said in a release. “He didn’t just get the major and stop wrestling. He got the major, kept building, and with seven seconds to go, he gets the technical fall, and we get another team point. That’s a big deal.”
Senior Sammy Brooks won with a 20-9 major decision after not competing last week, a good sign for Iowa. Redshirt freshman Cash Wilcke won with a decision after defeating his opponents with a pin and technical fall last week.
Iowa’s only loss of the night came at heavyweight, where redshirt freshman Steven Holloway was bested by Purdue’s Tyler Kral in a 4-2 decision.
After the first Big Ten test of the season, it’s hard for the coaches and fans to not like what this team is doing. Still, Brands sees there is room to improve.
“I like the test that we had in some matches,” Brands said in the release. “We definitely have to get better at 97 and heavyweight in bottom position. We don’t want to dwell on that. Both matches were winnable. Wilcke overcame getting ridden out, and Holloway can overcome that. The easiest way to overcome it is just get off the bottom.”
