By Pete Ruden
While the Iowa wrestling team didn’t end up winning its dual against No. 2 Penn State on Jan. 20, there was still at least one positive for the Hawkeyes: Cory Clark is bouncing back.
Before Iowa’s dual against Oklahoma State, Clark was ranked No. 1 in the country at 133 pounds. After losing to Kaid Brock, he found himself down at No. 3 with Brock one spot ahead of him.
Clark earned All-American honors last season after finishing runner-up at nationals. Now, he wants to get back to that spot.
“A lot of it is just getting to that sweet spot to where right when the first whistle blows, you’re rock solid, you’re ready to rock, you can wrestle hard, you can fire,” Clark said. “As simple as that sounds, it’s tough when that first whistle blows to be at your best self … I’ve wrestled my whole life, and that’s still something that I almost have to re-teach myself every season, and I think I’m getting close to that point.”
Throughout the season, Iowa has been able to start duals off on a high note with Clark and 125-pounder Thomas Gilman. The only hiccup was the meet in Stillwater, in which Clark picked up his only loss of the season.
But in the one meet since, Gilman continued his undefeated streak, while Clark got back on the right track, beating Penn State’s George Carpenter by technical fall to give the Hawkeyes an 8-0 lead.
Things then went downhill for head coach Tom Brands’ team, as Iowa wrestlers dropped the next four matches. The Hawkeyes only won one match for the rest of the night. However, three of their next seven losses were by 2 points or fewer, with two matches needing two tiebreaker periods to decide a winner.
No. 3 Brandon Sorensen narrowly lost to No. 1 Zain Retherford, who beat Sorensen in last year’s championship match at 149 pounds. It took two tiebreakers, but Retherford found a way to pull out a 9-8 win.
Right after that intense match, No. 2 Michael Kemerer lost his first bout of the season against fellow Pennsylvania native No. 1 Jason Nolf, 9-4.
After Alex Meyer brought the Hawkeyes back to within 1 by beating World Junior Champion Mark Hall with a takedown in the final 15 seconds, the unthinkable happened.
Right when it looked like things were going Sammy Brooks’ way, Penn State’s No. 2 184-pounder Bo Nickal stunned No. 5 Brooks by pinning the All-American in 38 seconds.
“I thought when he was in trouble, he wrestled it pretty smart,” Brands said. “Brooks went to the leg, and he went to the leg hard. I don’t fault him for that.”
Just as Clark did, Iowa will need to bounce back. The road doesn’t get much easier, either, as the Hawkeyes will take on No. 4 Ohio State in Carver-Hawkeye on Friday.
And right when they need him the most, Clark will be able to show the team how to come back after a loss.
“It’s hard coming off of a loss. It’s hard to really say a lot about myself, but I think I figured out how to maybe relax a little bit and have the intensity, and the focus, and the relaxation, and all that kind of comes together,” Clark said. “Sometimes, I get a little bit too hyped up where I’m ‘Go go go go go,’ but I’m a little bit sloppy. You’ve got to find the middle ground where you’re crisp and sharp, but you’re intense, too.”