Iowa wrestling had a good Thanksgiving. The team meal Nov. 23 previewed its sweet dessert: a win against No. 22 Rider.
In their first taste of ranked competition this year, the Hawkeyes didn’t disappoint their fans. They ended the day with a final score of 35-6 to bring their record to 4-0 on the season.
To start the day, Justin Stickley’s match at 125 pounds had Hawkeye fans nervous. Rider’s Jonathan Tropea jumped on the freshman and took the score to 4-0. Stickley fought back and gave the Iowa fans an opening win with a 10-7 decision.
“You never want to get into a hole,” Stickley said. “You keep wrestling and staying on guys, and things will go your way if you just keep scoring points. It feels great to just be out there, come from behind, and just get a win.”
Phillip Laux followed his teammate’s win with one of his own at 133. He topped Rider’s Anthony Cefolo in a 5-1 decision.
One of Iowa’s blemishes came at 141. Vince Turk opened his match against Rider’s No. 17 Tyson Dippery with a take down but was unable to keep the momentum on his side. Dippery scored a reversal and never looked back, taking the win, 8-4.
Iowa’s feared middle of the lineup shook off the loss when three-time All-American and second-ranked 149-pounder Brandon Sorensen seized a dominating major decision, 14-4, to make the team score 13-3.
Second-ranked teammate Michael Kemerer overpowered No. 7 B.J. Clagon and won at 157 pounds, 18-5.
The Hawkeyes’ other blemish on the evening came at the hands of Rider’s fourth-ranked Chad Walsh at 165. Iowa’s Kaleb Young fought through the match but eventually fell, 5-4.
The Hawkeyes’ back-end guys closed the night with wins.
Joey Gunther won at 174 in a 12-3 major decision. Mitch Bowman took his first win of the year over a ranked opponent in dominating fashion when he topped No. 20 Michael Fagg-Daves in a 15-3 major decision.
Iowa 197-pounder Cash Wilcke topped Rider’s Ethan Laird, 15-3, shortly after.
Sam Stoll put the exclamation point on the night when he pinned Mauro Correnti in 1:27, showing Hawkeye fans he is truly back from injury.
Iowa, for the most part, wrestled at a high level. Besides the two losses, Hawkeye fans walked away from Carver-Hawkeye happy in Iowa’s performance in its first dual meet of the year.
“Kemerer’s at 60 percent, and he beat [Clagon] 18-5,” head coach Tom Brands said. “Wilcke’s got six minutes in him. He’s got another minute to go. He’s going to get better. That’s a lot of positives there. We’re not even at our best shape yet.”
Brands’ squad will next face Illinois at home on Dec. 1.