The No. 3 Iowa wrestling team continued its home stretch by taking seven out of 10 matches for a 26-9 win against No. 14 Purdue.

The Hawkeyes’ first Big Ten meet started off at 197 with the question of whether or not fans would finally see No. 12 Jacob Warner, a redshirt freshman, on the mat. Instead, the team elected to send senior Mitch Bowman, up a weight class, out to face No. 11 Christian Brunner.

Brunner tied up the match at 4 with a takedown, but Bowman followed up immediately with a takedown of his own and a mistake by Brunner to close out the second period. Bowman forced the upset with 3 total takedowns for a final 7-5 decision.

Next up, at 285, Purdue’s Jacob Aven took the decision against Aaron Costello after a fourth period takedown closed out the match, 3-1.

The big questions of the day came at 125 and 149 with Spencer Lee and Pat Lugo absent from the lineup.

“Doesn’t really matter [why they didn’t wrestle],” head coach Tom Brands said. “They’re on the bench and they’re supporting their teammates, those guys are going to factor into our future.”

Brands also mentioned moving forward towards not only the meet with Iowa State, but academics and finals week.

“Just things that you’ve got to deal with,” Brands said.

In Lee’s place, senior Perez Perez took the 4-2 loss to No. 15 Devin Shroder, 4-3. After two wins by No. 10 Austin DeSanto and No. 16 Max Murin, Carter Happel filled in at 149 with a 2-0 win.

No. 13 Kaleb Young recorded Iowa’s only pin of the afternoon against No. 14 Griffin Parriot in 3:37, followed up by a 14-3 major decision by No. 4 Alex Marinelli.

Lastly, at 174 and 184, Myles Wilson took the 7-3 loss against No. 13 Dylan Lydy, and No. 11 Cash Wilcke finished it off with a major decision.

Five backups made starts in the lineup, showing Iowa’s depth in its roster.