Coming into Sunday’s dual against Illinois, Iowa’s Austin DeSanto had outscored his opponents, 42-8, on the season, providing a nice follow-up act to 125-pounder Spencer Lee at each meet.

DeSanto – ranked 4^th nationally at 133 pounds – kept his successful start to the season going as he defeated No. 23 Lucas Byrd, 18-6, Sunday.

The match started off great for DeSanto, as he produced a takedown and a four-point near fall in the first period to lead, 6-1, as the first horn sounded.

In the second period, Bryd escaped DeSanto’s clutches on three occasions to score three points. Byrd, however, also surrendered three takedowns to DeSanto. So, DeSanto maintained a 12-4 lead as the bout’s second period ended.

“He had a game plan, DeSanto said. “And you try to stick to it and I just kept firing off my shots staying relaxed and doing what I do.”

DeSanto picked up his last two takedowns of the day in the third period and sustained 1:33 of riding time to put Byrd away, 18-6.

Counting his victory over Byrd, DeSanto has outscored all his challengers across three bouts this season, 60-14.

Hawkeye head coach Tom Brands believes a change in mental fortitude has helped DeSanto wrestle at such a high level in early 2020-21.

“He seems to be a little calmer,” Brands said. “That sounds kind of funny, but he seems a little calmer. He was a little bit, maybe, racy today, but still handled it well. We’re going to keep ironing things out. Why is he scoring points? He’s got a high pace. These guys are going to strategize though and they’re going to.”

Last season, DeSanto – an Exeter, Pennsylvania, native – finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships in Piscataway, New Jersey. He was also seeded sixth for the NCAA Championships before they were canceled because of COVID-19. After the NCAA Championships were canceled, DeSanto was named an All-American for the second time in his career.

As was apparent from his finish at the Big Ten Championships and his seed at the NCAA Championships last season, DeSanto did have his share of struggles against some opponents. Though seven of his 17 wins in 2019-20 came against ranked opponents, he did have four losses, one of which came via an injury he sustained wrestling Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

So far this season, DeSanto hasn’t faced much high-level competition, as No. 20 Boo Dryden of Minnesota has been his toughest opponent thus far. DeSanto easily defeated Dryden, 21-2, as Iowa dominated Minnesota, 35-4.

DeSanto has clearly made an impressive mark on the Iowa roster. Even with that, he knows that quite a bit of work still lies ahead.

“My offense is there and letting it develop,” DeSanto said. “Room to improve, but just need to keep scoring points and just the next thing which is next week.”

DeSanto, like Brands, believes he’s a more relaxed wrestler this season, which has allowed him to leave everything on the mat each time he hits it.

“[I’m] just going out there and letting it fly,” DeSanto said.