The No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling team smacked No. 25 Maryland, 34-9, in a refreshing bounce back at the Xfinity Center Pavilion in College Park, Maryland, on Sunday.
Making the three-hour trip south from University Park, Pennsylvania, to the Terrapins’ campus, the win got things back on track after a frustrating 30-8 loss to No. 1 Penn State on Friday.
The Hawkeyes won eight out of 10 matches as the heavier weights got back to business, three of the last five matches resulting in falls. But Iowa head coach Tom Brands wanted more.
“You never know what is going to happen after a bad performance,” Brands told HawkeyeSports, referring to the loss at Penn State 48 hours earlier. “You do credit them because you don’t know. We had two wins the other night — today we had eight wins. But we want 10 wins. Neither is what you want. You want 10 weight classes, 10 wins.”
Top-ranked 197-pounder Stephen Buchanan continued his tear this season, pinning Chase Mielnik after piling a whopping 16 points on him — all in the first period.
No. 2 165-pounder Michael Caliendo and No. 6 174-pounder Patrick Kennedy both won via technical fall by 26-10 over Alex Uryniak and 22-6 over Branson John, respectively, and both came after losses in Happy Valley two days earlier.
Replaced by Angelo Ferrari for top-ranked Carter Starocci on Friday, Iowa’s No. 5 184-pounder Gabe Arnold returned to the mat with a narrow 2-1 decision win over No. 11 Jaxon Smith. And No. 11 285-pounder Ben Kueter rounded things out with a 5-4 decision over No. 12 Seth Nevills — a big win for some momentum moving forward.
Brands shook around the lineup a bit, though, giving No. 2 133-pounder Drake Ayala a rest with his nagging upper body injury in exchange for Kale Petersen — who Maryland’s No. 11 Braxton Brown pinned in two periods.
And while Iowa’s Cullan Schriever got the nod at 141 pounds and beat Dario Lemus, 6-5, Brands chose Miguel Estrada over No. 1 Jacori Teemer at 157, seemingly to help nurse his recovery from a leg injury two months ago after a loss to Tyler Kasak on Friday. But burning his redshirt in the process, Estrada fell to No. 6 Ethen Miller.
Iowa’s No. 26 125-pounder Joey Cruz has been a bright spot for the lighter weights amid shakiness this season as he put 20 points on Tyler Garvin for a major decision win. And No. 2 149-pounder Kyle Parco got back to winning ways in a 17-1 thrashing technical fall finish over Michael Pizzuto.
Up next
The Hawkeyes get another ranked opponent in No. 7 Nebraska at 7 p.m. on Friday, although this time from the safety of a home crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Cornhuskers are 9-2 this season with losses to now-No. 5 Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and top-ranked Penn State at home. With several top-10-ranked wrestlers, 149-pounder Ridge Lovett leads the pack as FloWrestling’s 19th overall pound-for-pound guy.