By Pete Ruden | [email protected]

The night started with fire on the sidelines during introductions and fire on the mat for the Iowa wrestling team.

However, the flames were eventually put out by No. 2 Penn State, as it defeated the No. 3 Hawkeyes, 26-11, to snap Iowa’s streak of 24-straight Big Ten victories.

Senior Thomas Gilman, ranked No. 1 in the country at 125 pounds, did his thing by giving the Hawkeyes a lead-off win, 3-2, over No. 3 Nick Suriano.

One of the most important moments of the night for the Hawkeyes was in the 133-pound match, where Cory Clark avenged a loss Sunday by defeating Penn State’s George Carpenter by technical fall, 19-4.

Even though it was against an opponent who is only 1-8 on the season, it was a good way for Clark to bounce back after the loss at Oklahoma State.

“There are a lot of things running through my head, especially after the Oklahoma State dual,” Clark said. “Leading into that dual, I was feeling pretty good about stuff, and then that match I think I just started out a little bit slow and just that one adjustment, and I think I’ll be where I want to be … I’m heading in the right direction. I mean, I always got gains to make.”

But after Iowa opened up an 8-0 lead, the Nittany Lions came storming back.

Senior 141-pounder Topher Carton lost a tight match against Nittany Lion Jimmy Gulibon, 8-6.

At 149 pounds, No. 3 Brandon Sorensen took on a familiar foe in No. 1 Zain Retherford. The two faced each other in last year’s NCAA finals, in which Retherford got the best of the Hawkeye.

With the Iowa faithful very much on Sorensen’s side, the match took two sudden victories, each with a tiebreaker round, to decide a winner. Retherford went up 3-0 all-time against his rival, winning the match, 9-8.

“Zain’s tough. He gets taken down, and he turns around and scores right away,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson said. “How many people do that? Zain’s probably the toughest person I’ve ever met.”

Just like Sorensen, redshirt freshman Michael Kemerer faced someone from his past in the form of No. 1 Jason Nolf at 157.

In the battle of Pennsylvania natives, No. 2 ranked Kemerer lost for the first time this season, 9-4.

Redshirt freshman Joey Guenther then wrestled No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph tough but ultimately lost, 7-4.

After being down 12-8 as a team, senior Alex Meyer brought life back into Carver-Hawkeye. The Pleasant Hill native took down Junior World champion Mark Hall with under 15 seconds to go to pick up a 7-5 victory.

And right when it seemed as if the Hawkeyes had a chance to pull off a win, the crowd went silent, as No. 2 Bo Nickal pinned No. 5 Sammy Brooks in 38 seconds, which gave Penn State an 18-11 lead.

Even though a victory was unlikely for Iowa, unranked Cash Wilcke still gave his all in the 197 match; he went to two tiebreakers with No. 10 Matt McCutcheon. However, the redshirt freshman ended up falling to his top-10 opponent, 8-7.

With the announcement just hours before the dual started that sophomore heavyweight Sam Stoll had suffered a torn ACL, redshirt freshman Steven Holloway got the start for Iowa. No. 5 Nick Nevills eventually got the best of Holloway with a technical fall, 21-6.

After a night that started with so much optimism for the Hawkeyes went awry, head coach Tom Brands praised the crowd and put the blame on himself.

“The crowd [was a] great crowd. Penn State coming to town, and you never know, you get beat down in Oklahoma State, and maybe you worry that you left some fans at home, but the fans showed up,” Brands said. “We got the best fans. We got the best head table. We just need to get the best wrestling. I got beat in the interview room. I got beat all over tonight. It’s on me.”

No. 2 PENN STATE 26, No. 3 IOWA 11

125 — No. 1 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) dec. #3 Nick Suriano (Penn St.), 3-2; 3-0

133 — No. 3 Cory Clark (Iowa) tech. fall George Carpenter (Penn St.), 19-4; 8-0

141 — No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon (Penn St.) dec. No. 18 Topher Carton (Iowa), 8-6; 8-3

149 — No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn St.) dec. No. 3 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa), 9-8 TB2; 8-6

157 — No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn St.) dec. No. 2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa), 9-4; 8-9

165 — No. 4 Vicenzo Joseph (Penn St.) dec. Joey Gunther (Iowa), 7-4; 8-12

174 — No. 13 Alex Meyer (Iowa) dec. Mark Hall (Penn St.), 7-5; 11-12

184 — No. 2 Bo Nickal (Penn St.) pinned No. 5 Sammy Brooks (Iowa), 0:38; 11-18

197 — No. 10 Matt McCutcheon (Penn St.) dec. Cash Wilcke (Iowa), 8-7; 11-21; TB2

285 — No. 5 Nick Nevills (Penn St.) tech. fall, Steven Holloway (Iowa), 21-6; 11-26