Wrestling is not a race. The brutal nature of the season suits individuals that enjoy a grind, rather than a sprint, to the finish line.

Iowa wrestlers are as familiar with the season-long grind as anyone.

“It can be hard at times to want to be super motivated to come in [the wrestling room] and stuff,” senior Paul Glynn said. “It’s kind of like, I have to do this and I have to do that.”

The strength of Iowa’s schedule has been well documented this season, making this year’s campaign as difficult as any.

The Hawkeyes have already wrestled five ranked teams in 2019-20: No. 7 Nebraska, No. 16 Iowa State, No. 13 Purdue, No. 9 Wisconsin, and No. 17 Princeton.

“[Our schedule] is always a tough schedule,” head coach Tom Brands said. “We got to be ready to go.”

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Iowa is now entering what might be the most difficult portion of its schedule. After last Saturday’s dual against the seventh-ranked Cornhuskers, the Hawkeyes will face two top five opponents in back-to-back duals.

“Guys are coming here with a strategy to beat us,” senior Michael Kemerer said. “We’re the number one team in the country. No one is going to come to [Carver-Hawkeye Arena] and not treat it like the most important match. [Matches against Iowa] are circled and highlighted on the schedule. We got to know that when guys are coming to our arena; they like the big crowd. They want to pull off the upset and stuff.”

This Friday, Iowa will welcome No. 4 Ohio State into Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Buckeyes are 3-0 in conference and 7-1 overall.

On Jan. 31, No. 2 Penn State will travel to Iowa City for a showdown with the top-ranked Hawkeyes at Carver. Penn State is 3-0 in conference and 7-1 overall.

“[The competition] is tough,” Kemerer said. “You know that when you’re coming to Iowa and you’re going to wrestle in the Big Ten, you know you’re going to wrestle a tough schedule. You’re probably going to wrestle most of the top guys in the country, and that’s what we like.”

The Big Ten currently boasts ten of the NWCA poll’s top 25 teams. Five of those teams are inside the poll’s top 10.

“Historically, when people think of wrestling, they think of Iowa first of all, but then they also think of the Big Ten,” Glynn said. “There is a pretty rich history there with the Big Ten being the toughest conference in the country. There’s a lot of fans that come out to watch [Big Ten wrestling] every year. I think it’s just exciting for student-athletes who want to go to one of the Big Ten schools just because of the buzz and noise [wrestling] has in such a prestigious conference.”

The Hawkeyes’ schedule winds down with tough conference matchups with No. 25 Michigan and No. 14 Minnesota.

Iowa’s regular season finale will come at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against No. 8 Oklahoma State.

Despite the rocky road ahead, the Hawkeyes remain excited about the opportunity that lies in front of them.

“[Wrestling tough teams] is all about your mental approach and your outlook on everything,” Kemerer said. “You can either let that scare you or let it motivate you. We’re the type of people that like to get up for big matches. We get a lot of big matches. It’s fun and something you look forward to. It’s not something we dread.”