By Jordan Hansen
Twenty seconds into sudden victory overtime, Iowa heavyweight Sam Stoll broke out for his first ranked win of the year against Rutgers.
Minutes earlier, 157-pounder Edwin Cooper Jr. escaped Intermat’s No. 17 Richie Lewis to seal a minor upset.
For both wrestlers, however, gaining their first wins over ranked opponents had a not-insignificant amount of importance.
“It’s my first ranked win, but I know there’s more that I could have done in that match,” Stoll said. “I think I did some good things, but there is always more to improve on.”
Stoll topped No. 6 Billy Smith, 3-1, and finally gets a signature win that should boost him into the rankings. While the match did not mean much to the team score (the Hawkeyes had already wrapped up the meet by his bout), it showed he is on the same level as some of the best in the nation.
However, from his first match this season — a 6-1 loss against Oklahoma State’s fourth-ranked Austin Marsden — Stoll has improved.
Iowa head coach Tom Brands said after the meet on how much better Stoll’s conditioning has gotten, and it showed. In the match against Marsden, he looked exhausted toward the end of the match and was struggling to get out from the bottom.
Since that loss to Marsden, he has pinned four opponents and looked like a very different wrestler. While Smith won’t be the best Stoll sees this season, getting a win over a solid opponent is huge.
“It was a good, solid, patient match against a guy who they really like,” Brands said. “Tough matches like that, winning those is what we got to do.”
Speaking of tough matches, Cooper’s was every bit as gritty as Stoll’s. Cooper has lost three matches by a combined 6 points, and if not for a few gaffes, might have one or two fewer losses this season.
If nothing else, a close win against a good opponent serves as a confidence booster — for both Cooper and Stoll.
“I’ve been having a couple of tough losses, so just getting this one — and doing it right — is going to help me build for the future,” Cooper Jr. said. “But rankings change throughout the year and I have to keep my head on straight.”
If the Hawkeyes are to make any serious noise in March, they will need to scrape up every bonus point possible and matches such as these help. Getting the new faces in the lineup some confidence will be a good thing down the road.
Wins over ranked opponents also have the added importance in tournament seeding, which makes every match critical.
Most importantly, however, two wrestlers who needed validating wins got them, which will go a long ways as Iowa heads into a break before the Midlands Tournament on Dec. 28-29.
“When it’s all said and done, I should be where I want to be at by the end of the year,” Cooper said.
Follow @JordyHansen for Iowa wrestling team news, updates, and analysis.
