Wrestling named DI’s Men’s Team of the Year
After a season of domination, Iowa wrestling has won The Daily Iowan’s Men’s Team of the Year award for the 2019-2020 season.
Iowa’s 125-pound Spencer Lee grapples with Purdue’s Devin Schroder during the final session of the Big Ten Wrestling Tournament in Piscataway, NJ, on Sunday, March 8, 2020. Lee won by major decision 16-2, securing the 125-pound championship, and Iowa won the team title with 157.5 points.
March 30, 2020
On March 12, the NCAA announced that all of its postseason championships were canceled for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year as the COVID-19 pandemic began to hit the United States.
Among those terminated tournaments was the 2020 NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships. Despite the event’s cancellation, Iowa wrestling still put together a pretty impressive résumé this season. The Hawkeyes went 13-0 in dual meets and added two tournament wins.
Ten of Iowa’s regular season dual wins came against ranked foes. Perhaps most impressive of the 10 was the Hawkeyes’ 19-17 win over No. 2 Penn State on Jan. 31.
Following an injury-induced forfeit by Austin DeSanto at 133-pounds and a Nick Lee technical fall over Iowa’s Carter Happel — wrestling in place of the injured Max Murin — at 141-pounds, the Hawkeyes trailed the Nittany Lions, 11-4.
Two decisive victories from 149-pound Pat Lugo and 157-pound Kaleb Young brought Iowa back within one point of the lead. Then No. 2 Alex Marinelli and No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph hit the mat at 165-pounds. Joseph defeated Marinelli in a nail-biter to give the Nittany Lions a comfortable 14-10 advantage.
As a palpable anxiety began to build among the Iowa faithful at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, No. 2 Michael Kemerer and No. 1 Mark Hall took centerstage. Kemerer upset Hall, starting a stretch that saw the Hawkeyes win three of the match’s last four bouts.
RELATED: By the numbers: Hawkeye wrestling’s regular season success
The second-biggest moment of Iowa wrestling’s regular season came away from home at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Iowa won the 2019 Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in commanding fashion, breaking the tournament’s scoring record — 189 team points set by Iowa in 2014 — with 196.5 total team points.
Five Hawkeyes took home individual titles: Murin, Lugo, Young, Marinelli, and heavyweight Tony Cassioppi. DeSanto finished second at 133-pounds, losing to Seth Gross in the tournament’s finals.
Abe Assad also earned a second-place finish at 184 pounds, but the redshirt freshman was competing unattached from the Hawkeyes. His redshirt was pulled by head coach Tom Brands just 11 days later in Bloomington, Indiana, ahead of a dual with the Hoosiers.
After Iowa concluded its regular season campaign with a dominant 34-6 victory over Oklahoma State at Carver, the Hawkeyes unknowingly capped off their season with a Big Ten title.
Three Hawkeyes stood atop the podium with gold medals after two days’ worth of action. Marinelli won his second-straight Big Ten Championship, while 125-pound Spencer Lee and 149-pound Pat Lugo both won their first.
Michael Kemerer finished second at 174-pounds, losing a rematch with Mark Hall in the finals. In total, Iowa scored 157.5 team points. Nebraska finished in second, amassing 132 points.
At the tournament’s end, Brands was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and Lee was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. Lee was also named Most Dominant Division I Wrestler by the NCAA and the Dan Hodge Trophy, which goes to the best college wrestler in the nation.
The top-ranked Hawkeyes never got a chance to cap their season off with a likely national title, but that won’t stop the DI’s Men’s Team of the Year from moving forward.
“We will process this and move forward, as we always do,” Brands said in a release following the NCAA’s decision to cancel its championships. “Our guys have a lot to be proud of and much more still to accomplish.”
