By Courtney Baumann
The Iowa wrestling team will face its first ranked competition of the season when it heads to South Dakota State this weekend.
The No. 20 Jackrabbits will be the first all-around solid competition for the No. 3 Hawkeyes this season.
Now in his fifth year at South Dakota State, head coach Chris Bono has turned the wrestling program around. Last year, he sent five wrestlers — including former Iowa wrestler Seth Gross — to nationals.
Iowa head coach Tom Brands had nothing but good words about Bono.
“Their head coach is a fiery guy who is someone that is more my style than some other coaches out there. This guy here is fond of that guy,” Brands said. “It’s hard to be fond of somebody when you take things so personally and it’s competition. I think he runs the program the right way.”
Iowa wrestlers will be up against three ranked South Dakota State wrestlers: Gross at 133, David Kocer at 174, and Nathan Rotert at 197.
It is the first time the Hawkeyes will travel to Brookings, South Dakota. Brands said the arena will be “a beehive.”
“The environment is going to be fun,” Brands said. “We have competitors here who are about that, anyway — going into enemy arenas. This is going to be similar to Edinboro [University].”
Freshmen make an impact
Iowa’s lineup against Purdue on Sunday included four redshirt freshmen — Michael Kemerer, Joey Gunther, Cash Wilcke, and Steven Holloway.
Kemerer, Gunther, and Wilcke all won their matches by decision, and Holloway came up just short, falling, 4-2, to Tyler Kral at heavyweight.
“It was nice to get a Big Ten match under my belt,” Gunther said in a release after the dual. “I just kept bringing the pace higher and higher and getting to my attacks. They were coming easier and easier as the match was going on.”
It has been a while since the Hawkeye lineup has been so young, but Brands seems to be optimistic about the way things are looking both in the practice room and on the competition mat for his younger guys.
“We’re making progress, and the things that we see, that we like in the practice room are transferring into the competition arena. Purdue was a better test than what we’ve had,” Brands said. “We’ve seen some things that are happening out here that are good, and they’re also transferring over into matches, and that’s what we gotta see. That’s how you make progress.”
Rankings update
The Hawkeyes still have a firm grasp on the No. 3 spot after starting off their season 3-0 with wins over Iowa Central, Cornell, and Purdue.
Seven Iowa wrestlers are individually ranked. Both Thomas Gilman (125) and Cory Clark (133) hold the top spots in their respective weight classes. Brandon Sorensen is ranked No. 2 at 149, behind Zain Retherford, who won the NCAA title last season.
Four more Hawkeyes hold top-10 spots as well. Alex Meyer is No. 6 at 174, while Kemerer and Sammy Brooks both sit at No. 7 at 157 and 184.
Sam Stoll managed to move up in the rankings to No. 5 despite not having wrestled yet this season because of an injury.
Follow @cbomb12 for Iowa wrestling news, analysis, and updates.
