By Jordan Hansen
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For the fourth time this season, the Iowa wrestling team scored more than 50 points in a dual as it shut out Montana State-Northern, 51-0, on Feb. 12.
Northern — a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school — hosted the meet in front of 1,110 spectators in Havre, Montana. It is fairly rare to see a major Division-1 team travel to face such a school, but Iowa wanted a chance to promote both itself and the sport in another part of the nation.
While the Hawkeyes tallied six pins and generally dominated, Iowa head coach Tom Brands believes the event was a success.
“There is excitement even when it’s lopsided, and tonight was a good environment,” he said in a release. “The biggest thing is our best wrestling needs to come out whether it’s in the national finals or Havre, Montana. There are a lot of good reasons for coming up here.”
Things started off quickly for Iowa as 125-pounder Thomas Gilman and 133-pounder Cory Clark both rattled off pins. Gilman got his midway through the first period, while Clark dropped his opponent in 3:30.
After a 13-3 major decision win from Brody Grothus at 141, Brandon Sorensen (149) and Edwin Cooper Jr. (157) picked up back-to-back pins.
Sorensen finished off the Northern Lights’ Drake Randall in 2:18, while Cooper got his late in the third period of his match.
Iowa got a bit of a scare at 174, as Alex Meyer went down 6-0 early in the match. He didn’t lead until he got a takedown with under 30 seconds left in the third period, which put him up by a point and ultimately won him the match.
Nathan Burak was also unable to open things up at 197 against Northern’s Garrett DeMers, winning by an 8-3 decision. Meyer and Burak were Iowa’s only wrestlers not to win by bonus points.
Hawkeye heavyweight Sam Stoll also picked up his team-leading ninth fall of the season in under two minutes. Sammy Brooks (184) also won by fall.
Iowa is off this week, with competition resuming on Feb. 22 as Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be one of the host sites of the National Duals. The team’s opponent is yet to be determined; competition will start at 7 p.m.
