By Jordan Hansen
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As Iowa’s Sammy Brooks stepped on to the mat against Minnesota 184-pounder Chris Pfarr in the Hawkeyes’ 34-6 win on Jan. 29, Carver-Hawkeye started buzzing.
Brooks, currently ranked 11th by Intermat, was coming off a loss via pin to Nebraska’s top-10 184-pounder, T.J. Dudley. How Brooks would come off that loss was something to pay attention to.
From the first seconds of the match, it was very clear Brooks was not going to lose. He scored early and often on the way to an 18-2 first-period (3:00) technical fall.
“He let it all fly,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said. “I wasn’t really worried; he gets past things good.”
While Pfarr is only 9-15 on the season and not the best Brooks will see, a dominating win at this point in the season was a good way to bounce back. Brooks faded a bit down the stretch last year, something he doesn’t want to repeat this season.
Over the past five matches, Brooks has been wrestling well, with the notable exception of the Nebraska meet. During that stretch, he’s won four matches by bonus points — two major decisions, a technical fall, and a pin.
“I should be doing this every match,” Brooks said. “I really look at [Thomas] Gilman and [Cory] Clark and the example they set. Gilman brings it every match — he comes out like a bat from hell.”
Gilman, Iowa’s 125-pounder, got in a pin in the first match of the night, which was closely followed with a fall from Clark at 133. Brands describes Gilman as a major part of the locker room, and when he’s wrestling well, the team seems to feed off it.
It helps that Gilman got his pin just 1:19 into the match, which set the tone for everything else that happened afterwards.
“I got a full-time job starting things off, being a trailblazer,” Gilman said. “I like getting the fans fired up, I love getting my teammates fired up. It just sets the tone, and I love being that guy.”
Brooks was not the only wrestler with a dominating win against the Gophers. Patrick Rhoads (165) and No. 12 Alex Meyer (174) won their matches against Minnesota by major decisions, which helped put the meet out of reach.
Iowa also grabbed a huge win at heavyweight, as No. 7 Sam Stoll beat Minnesota’s ninth-ranked Michael Kroells by a 7-3 decision.
“We’ve been talking about Sam Stoll for a long time, and there was a bit of a question mark there, and I don’t think that’s there anymore,” Brands said. ‘The only question is how consistent he can be going forward and what happens once we get into the postseason.”
The Hawkeyes did drop the marquee matchup of the night — Iowa’s No. 3 Nathan Burak lost to fourth-ranked Brett Pfarr at 197 pounds. The match did not come without controversy, though, as Burak appeared to score a takedown before time expired in the match.
Brands waved the challenge flag, but the review upheld Pfarr’s 6-5 win.
“We have these video reviews, and what we got to do is get an independent ref,” Brands said. “But we can’t, because it’s an Olympic sport, and we need to keep costs down.”
“So you either have to get rid of the rule because it takes you five minutes to get to the review, or you have to make a true, honest assessment of what happened out there and divorce yourself from all emotion of the previous call.”
Follow @JordyHansen for Iowa wrestling news, updates, and analysis.
