Iowa wrestling uncertainty
The Hawkeyes are preparing for the upcoming collegiate season without knowing its start date.
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.
November 3, 2020
After a devastating end to the 2019-20 season, Iowa’s wrestling team is chomping at the bit to get back on the mat. However, it is still unclear when exactly the Hawkeyes will have the opportunity to do so.
Reports from the Des Moines Register and other outlets suggest the season may begin around Jan. 1 and end with NCAA Championships March 18.
Despite all the uncertainty, Iowa has been finding unique ways to prepare for the upcoming season.
Hosting the Hawkeye Wrestling Club Showdown Open is one outside-the-box tactic the Hawkeyes have employed in preparation for the collegiate season.
The Showdown Open was wrestled Sunday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Head coach Tom Brands referred to the event as the Hawkeyes’ path to collegiate competition in the days and weeks leading up to the Showdown Open.
In total, all 10 wrestlers that figure to be in Iowa’s 2020-21 starting lineup competed in the Showdown Open — some in the main card and some in the undercard.
One-hundred-fifty-seven-pound Kaleb Young, 141-pound Max Murin, and 197-pound Jacob Warner all won their respective undercard matches.
Meanwhile, sophomores Nelson Brands and Abe Assad wrestled each other for, perhaps, a spot in Iowa’s starting lineup in 2020-21. The two both rotated in and out of Iowa’s lineup at 184 pounds in 2019-20. Assad ultimately earned the spot permanently last season.
However, Nelson threw a bit of a wrench into Iowa’s projected 2020-21 lineup as he handily defeated Assad, 9-0.
Iowa wrestlers did not have as much success in the main card. Two-time national champion Spencer Lee and Jaydin Eierman – a three-time All-American transfer from Missouri – were the only Hawkeyes on the active roster to win main card matches.
Eierman defeated Olympic gold medalist Vladimer Khinchegashvili, 4-1. Afterward, Eierman chalked the match up to the biggest win of his career.
RELATED: Eierman earns big win in Hawkeye Wrestling Club Showdown Open
“I feel like I’m part of this community now,” Eierman said following the match. “I’ve been here a year now, so it’s going to get better and better. We have a college season coming up, and I’m going to compete for the Hawkeyes and help them win a national title this season.”
Eierman joins an Iowa lineup that boasted 10 All-Americans in 2019-20 and seemed to be primed to win a national title.
Three Hawkeyes were seeded at the top of their weight classes ahead of the 2019-20 NCAA Championships – Lee, two-time Big Ten champion Alex Marinelli, and Pat Lugo.
Lugo has since graduated, but Eierman will be ready to step in and fill the empty spot.
Excluding Assad, all the other wrestlers in Iowa’s lineup were seeded in the top 10 at their respective weights in 2019-20. Assad was seeded 11th.
Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they never got their chance to win that coveted national title as the 2019-20 NCAA Championships were canceled because of COVID-19.
From there, the Hawkeyes were out of the wrestling room for months, and before the Showdown Open, many of them hadn’t taken the mat in a competitive setting outside of practice since the collegiate season was shut down in March.
With the Showdown Open behind them and an unknown amount of time standing between them and the upcoming collegiate season, the Hawkeyes are focused on improving and preparing for their 2020-21 national championships chase.
“Training doesn’t change much,” Lee said. “We do the same things. The only difference is, toward the end of the week, instead of getting ready for a match, we get ready for what’s next, next practice. We’re getting guys feeling good, practicing hard, staying in shape, and that’s pretty much it. We’re going to stay ready for whatever.”
