The Iowa wrestling team continued its unbeaten, albeit early, season with a win over the Cyclones on Sunday.
By Courtney Baumann | [email protected]
AMES — As the Iowa State wrestling team entered the Hilton Coliseum amid red lights and smoke machines, the Hawkeye wrestlers waited patiently at the south end of the raised mat for things to get rolling on Sunday afternoon.
On paper, the meet looked as if it would easily go in favor of the Hawkeyes, and although the Cyclones kept things interesting, the No. 3 Hawkeyes grabbed the reins and didn’t let go.
The Hawkeyes ended the meet with a 33-6 win. The victory puts Iowa at a 10-4 advantage over the Cyclones in the 2015 Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
“It’s a matter of going out, being ready to wrestle and having confidence in what you do best,” head coach Tom Brands said.
No. 2 Cory Clark and No. 4 Earl Hall started the dual out at 133 pounds. Clark picked up the first points of the day with a decision over Hall, 9-2.
Iowa State tied it up at 3 when Dante Rodriguez defeated redshirt freshman Logan Ryan.
The momentum picked up for the Hawkeyes after sophomore No. 3 Brandon Sorensen earned the first major decision of the day over No. 14 Gabe Moreno by a score of 11-3.
Neither wrestler scored points in the first period, but things picked up for Sorensen when he earned a 2-point nearfall 35 seconds into the second period.
That moment could be seen as the turning point of the match, but Sorensen was casual about it.
“It got me points,” the sophomore said. “I just kept a tough ride on him to keep wearing on him to score more points.“
Sorensen was not the only one to pick up bonus points on the day. No. 4 Nathan Burak and No. 2 Thomas Gilman also earned major decisions. No. 11 Sam Brooks and Sam Stoll helped out, too. Each pinned his opponent.
Brands called Brooks’ match an “exclamation mark.” The junior earned the first fall of the day to make winning unrealistic for Iowa State. With only three matches left, the score was 19-6.
Brooks was close to earning a technical fall before pinning Dane Pestano six minutes and 45 seconds into the bout.
“I knew on the bottom he was just kind of holding there, trying not to get pinned,” Brooks said. “I was going to let him up and blow him from his feet or whatever was there, and he came up pretty hard, so I just went with it.”
Burak’s major decision, which occurred immediately after Brooks’ pin, secured the Hawkeye victory, putting Iowa up 23-6. Stoll quickly added 6 more to that, pinning Quean Smith in a time of 3:30.
The Cyclones were unable to match Iowa’s stamina throughout the dual, with the Hawkeyes outscoring Iowa State 43-19 in the third period during the meet.
“We’ve got to be able to do that in the first period, so then it’s really lopsided,” Brands said. “We want to own the third period, we want to own the second period, we want to own the first period. We’re greedy.”
Iowa will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for its next dual, set to take place against South Dakota State on Friday night.
