By PETE RUDEN
While Sunday was all about the seniors as they wrestled their final matches in Carver-Hawkeye, it was also about Michael Kemerer.
On Senior Day, No. 3 Iowa took down No. 6 Nebraska, 27-9, in what was originally expected to be a close battle.Four of five seniors won their matches, and while that got a rise out of the Hawkeye crowd, so did Kemerer.
The redshirt freshman, ranked No. 2 in the country at 157 pounds, used a takedown and an escape to beat No. 3 Tyler Berger, 3-2.
With about six seconds left, there was a review for a Berger takedown to take the lead, but it ultimately didn’t count, and Kemerer was able to run the clock out.
“The big thing there is that we’re relaxed and we’re wrestling that whole match until maybe 20 seconds to go, then we started doing things that aren’t characteristic of us, and [Kemerer will] tell you that,” head coach Tom Brands said. “The bottom line is just keep wrestling.”
Before this match, Kemerer and Berger had met one time, in the championship round of this year’s Midlands. That match took more than just seven minutes, though, as the two battled through two sudden-victory periods and two tiebreaker rounds to decide a champion.
Kemerer ended up winning the title with a 6-5 decision, but there was more action afterwards.
Words were said after the final buzzer, and Iowa’s No. 1 125-pounder Thomas Gilman had to be restrained from going out on the mat.
That night led Berger to Twitter the week before Sunday’s dual, where he asked Kemerer how it felt to be a “marked man” and even tagged him in the tweet.
But since suffering yet another letdown to the Murrysville, Pennsylvania native, the tweet has been deleted.
“I like to score points, and 3 points, I’d like to score more than that,” Kemerer said. “It’s good to get the win, and I guess if it only takes seven minutes, it only takes seven minutes. Just as long as it takes, really.”
Since his first dual in Carver-Hawkeye against Iowa State, Kemerer has undoubtedly improved. In his match at that meet, he was nearly upset by the Cyclones’ Colston Diblasi.
While Kemerer did end up getting the win, 8-7, he has had much more impressive performances than that, and Sunday’s was no exception.
Since that match against Diblasi, Kemerer has scored bonus points in nine of 14 matches. In an incredible redshirt freshman season, Kemerer has improved to 24-1 after his last win, with his only loss coming to No. 1 Jason Nolf of Penn State.
“He’s definitely come a long way,” Brands said. “This is the end of his first year in Carver-Hawkeye Arena … But look at his first dual meet in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the big stage against Iowa State. Look at the progress, and that’s probably a characteristic of this team, that there’s progress.”
After suffering back-to-back losses against No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Penn State, the Hawkeyes have now won five straight as the regular season comes to a close.
With the postseason now in its sights, Iowa wants that momentum to carry into the Big Tens and NCAAs.
“If you talk to anybody on the team, they’re going to tell you the same thing: We need more, we need more,” senior 141-pounder Topher Carton said. “Everybody’s wrestling really, really well. We just gotta keep building, keep training, stay positive, stay healthy, and like I said, let the fur fly.”