By Pete Ruden
[email protected]
After its first loss of the season, to No. 1 Oklahoma State on
Sunday, No. 3 Iowa will take on No. 2 Penn State Friday in
Carver-Hawkeye. The Hawkeyes will try to extend their all-time series
lead to 28-8-2 against the Nittany Lions.
Iowa tries to make it 25 straight
In addition to extending their all-time series lead, the Hawkeyes
will also try to extend their Big Ten winning streak to 25. Iowa has
won its past 24 conference duals, an incredible feat considering the
Big Ten has nine teams ranked in the top 17 in the country.
In such a good conference, it’s important for the wrestlers to be
confident. And while Iowa is ranked No. 3 in the country, the team has
done a good job of stepping up against a number of quality opponents.
“We’re just confident in what we do and focus on our game plan,” said
redshirt freshman and 157-pounder Michael Kemerer. “Each guy goes out
and takes care of his own business, and the result kind of takes care
of itself.”

Wrestlers fall in rankings
While the team’s rank didn’t drop after the Oklahoma State dual, some
individual rankings did.
After one second of riding time was the difference in 133-pounder
Cory Clark’s match, last year’s 133-pound NCAA runner-up’s national
ranking went from No. 1 to No. 3.
Hawkeye 149-pound junior Brandon Sorensen’s ranking also dropped from
No. 2 to No. 3; he lost a match that took two sudden-victory periods
to determine the winner.
After the last match of the night, sophomore heavyweight Sam Stoll
dropped from the No. 6 in his weight class to No. 8.
Although things may not have gone Iowa’s way in the dual, head coach
Tom Brands said the wrestlers have learned from it and moved on.
“You learn every day and regardless whether you get whipped or not,
you keep learning,” Brands said. “We’ve got to get on with it … We’ve
got Penn State coming to town, and we’re getting ready.”

Gilman the leadoff man
Hawkeye 125-pounder Thomas Gilman has had quite the season so far.
The senior from Council Bluffs is 17-0 on the season, notching bonus
points on 16 of those wins.
In addition to not losing an opening match all season, Gilman
wrestled his way through the bracket at the Midlands Championships to
earn the crown at 125 pounds. He was also voted Champion of Champions
by his fellow first-place winners at the tournament.
“It’s always important that all 10 of our weights wrestle hard,”
Brands said. “Gilman’s been a spark plug. Their guy is doing well
there, too. They like their guy. I think it’s another two undefeated
guys. We love it when Gilman gets us going, and he likes to get us
going as well.”
Heading into the rest of the Big Ten season, Gilman knows the
importance of his starting the dual off on a high note.
“It’s really important, especially going into this Big Ten dual cycle
here,” he said. “We’ve got Penn State coming in; it’s always going to
be highly contested, then Ohio State and Nebraska, and so on and so
forth. In order to get the outcome where it needs to be, I need to
start out the way I needed to. It’s important, and it’s going to
continue to be important.”