Courtney Baumann
Even the pyrotechnics in Carver-Hawkeye could not ignite a fire throughout the Iowa wrestling team when Penn State came to visit.
Rather than a wildfire running rampant in the 10 weight classes, the energy was more like a lighter with not enough fluid in it. Maybe every few tries a useful spark showed up, but the other 75 percent of the time it didn’t work.
Iowa’s loss to Penn State on Jan. 20 marked its second-straight dropped dual meet this season. Only three wrestlers pulled off wins for the Hawkeyes, similar to the meet prior down at Oklahoma State.
The scores were also similar. Just more than a week ago in Stillwater, the Hawkeyes lost 24-11, then lost once again to the Nittany Lions 26-11 five days later.
Granted, Iowa was at the disadvantage of wrestling the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams back-to-back, but that’s not something the Hawkeyes — ranked No. 3 — are necessarily unused to.
The last time Iowa lost two dual meets in a row was four seasons ago, 2012-2013. Of the team’s last 13 duals that season, 12 were against top-25 opponents. The Hawkeyes lost just three of those matchups — No. 2 Oklahoma State midway through the season, then No. 4 Minnesota and No. 6 Missouri for their last two duals before Big Tens.
At the time, seniors Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark, Topher Carton, Alex Meyer, and Sammy Brooks were all in their redshirt seasons, not competing in dual competition, yet watching from the sidelines.
That year, they saw their team (kind of) bounce back after two straight losses to take third at the Big Ten tournament and fourth at the NCAA tournament where Derek St. John was crowned the 157-pound national champion.
However, they are only five of the 35-man roster for Iowa this year. The rest of the team has yet to see the Hawkeyes lose more than two duals in a season. Most haven’t even been through that. Twenty-six are sophomores, redshirt freshmen, or true freshmen, which could be where the problem lies.
All five seniors are in Iowa’s lineup along with junior Brandon Sorensen, but the other four weight classes are help by redshirt freshmen, who have less than two year’s experience in collegiate wrestling.
With the exception of Michael Kemerer at 157 pounds, those redshirt freshmen have had a tough go of it so far this season.
Joey Gunther started the season out strong. He went 10-0 up to the Midlands Championships, but has now dropped four of his last seven matches. Iowa head coach Tom Brands pulled him from the lineup at Oklahoma State for Skyler St. John, who was pinned in the first period of that match.
It’s been a similar story for Cash Wilcke at 197. He was 7-0 right off the bat but has dropped six of his last 10 — four of which have been in dual meets.
Then there’s Steven Holloway, who has taken the brunt of the duties at heavyweight since Sam Stoll was injured for the first part of the season and was recently announced done for the rest of season.
Holloway is just one of three Hawkeyes on the entire roster to post a losing record so far this season, at 5-6.
Perhaps most concerning is the fact that all three wrestle in Iowa’s upper weights, with Wilcke and Holloway almost always closing the dual meets out.
Even if Gilman and Clark can ignite something for the Hawkeyes immediately at 125 and 133, that fire has to spread. Thus far there has been enough kindling for the fire to continue to burn during the first half, but once the second half rolls around, Iowa turns into that lighter without enough fluid, hoping that something will catch.Â
