By Courtney Baumann
Tonight is the night Iowa wrestling fans have long waited for the past three years. It is the night when the Cael Sanderson-led Nittany Lions will march into Carver-Hawkeye to square off in a dual between two perennial powerhouses.
Penn State has not visited Iowa since Dec. 21, 2013, when the Hawkeyes fell, 24-12, to the then top-ranked team in the nation.
The Hawkeyes went to State College the following season, where they avenged the loss with a road win of their own.
The teams have not seen each other since Feb. 8, 2015, and the powerhouse matchup was missed on the schedule last season.
“It’s good for wrestling. It’s a barometer. You know they’re going to have guys that wrestle hard. We want to do that, too, we have guys that wrestle hard,” Iowa wrestling head coach Tom Brands said.
“There’s nothing wrong with perennial powers. There’s nothing wrong with a high-level mentality and a winner that’s consistent, consistent, consistent … People love winners.”
In the two years since the teams have gone up against each other, the lineups have definitely changed. Only two matchups have been seen before: Cory Clark vs. Jered Cortez and Brandon Sorensen vs. Zain Retherford.
Clark won his match in a 6-2 decision during the 2014 Midlands.
However, Sorensen has faced Retherford twice and has lost both bouts to the defending national champion — one of which was the title round last year at NCAAs.
Sorensen knows what he needs to do in order to finally bag a win against fellow two-time All-American.
“I’ve got to get to where I want; I’ve got to get to my postitions. I can’t wrestle into his positions,” Sorensen said. “There are a lot of good matchups with everyone. It will show them where they’re at and what needs to be done.”
Michael Kemerer has also seen his opponent, Jason Nolf, on the mat before, just not at the college level. Their high schools were about an hour away from each other, and the two wrestled in the same clubs growing up.
The matchup between Iowa’s redshirt freshman and Penn State’s NCAA finalist will be the only top-two showing of the night.
Kemerer is one of two Hawkeyes still undefeated this season, the other being senior 125-pounder Thomas Gilman.
The No. 1 ranked wrestler will be up against Nick Suriano, a true freshman who posted a perfect 159-0 record during his career at Bergen Catholic in Paramus, New Jersey.
Suriano is ranked No. 3 nationally while posting an also undefeated record this season (11-0) and has taken down four opponents ranked in the top six.
“I’ve never faced [Suriano] … But I know about him, I’ve head about him. He’s been talked about a lot in his high-school career and his college career. I say let’s do it. If you want to dance, let’s dance,” Gilman said. “It doesn’t matter whether we win the dual or lose the dual, or if the sky falls or it stays up where it’s at, I’ve got to win this match no matter what. That’s just my mission.”
If everything goes according to plan for both Iowa and Penn State, there will be eight top-20 matchups throughout the night. Further, there very well may be four top-five duals: Gilman and Suriano, No. 3 Sorensen and No. 1 Retherford, No. 2 Kemerer and No. 1 Nolf, and No. 5 Sammy Brooks and No. 2 Bo Nickal.
This will be Iowa’s first dual since losing on the road to No. 1 Oklahoma State Jan. 15, and Brands doesn’t see much of a difference between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams.
“We definitely gotta be ready for the No. 2 team in America. There’s not much drop there, if any. We have to be able to go in there with kind of a spirit where it’s not just another match,” Brands said.
“This is not just another match, so let’s pick it up.”