By Pete Ruden
On a night when Carver-Hawkeye was rocking, the No. 3 Iowa wrestling team took down Iowa State, 26-9, on Dec. 10, giving Iowa the sweep in the Cy-Hawk Series for the week.
Still riding high from the men’s basketball team’s win over Iowa State on Dec. 8, Hawkeye fans were ready to clinch this year’s series with a wrestling victory, and that’s exactly what they got.
When Iowa State’s Quean Smith beat redshirt freshman Steven Holloway at heavyweight in the meet’s first match, 10-5, Hawkeye fans were silenced.
But that didn’t last long.
Senior Thomas Gilman, the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 125 pounds, picked up a big technical fall against Iowa State’s No. 18 Markus Simmons, giving the fans something to get loud about.
With No. 1 Cory Clark and No. 5 Sam Stoll out for the Hawkeyes, Gilman was able to pick up some bonus points for his missing teammates.
“I’m always going out there, and trying to beat my opponent to a pulp, and making that margin as large as I can,” Gilman said. “I think that if I do that, then it picks up the slack. I don’t really think about picking up the slack consciously, maybe I do subconsciously.”
Junior Brandon Sorensen and senior Sammy Brooks also picked up bonus points for Iowa, helping to extend the lead over their in-state rival. Sorensen defeated ISU’s Chase Straw, 11-3, for a major decision, while Brooks got a technical fall over Carson Powell by a score of 19-3 after numerous near falls.
After junior Phillip Laux almost upset No. 10 Earl Hall at 133, the arena was about to explode. It would still get its chance though, as senior Topher Carton got Carver bumping once again in his match at 141.
Carton started the third period down to the Cyclones’ John Meeks, 3-1. After a caution warning for Meeks, Carton got two takedowns in the final 1:30 to lift himself in the spirited comeback. His 7-4 decision gave Iowa an 8-6 lead in the dual, and the Hawkeyes never looked back.
“I don’t really know what I imagined, but it’s always fun to go out and wrestle in front of the best fans in the world,” Carton said. “They’re loud, and they know wrestling, and they love wrestling, and they love pressure, and attacking, and scoring points. You heard how loud it got when Gilman was out there scoring points. It’s hard to not put on a show when that’s what they want.”
After Sorensen’s major decision, redshirt freshmen Michael Kemerer and Joey Gunther held on to pick up decisions, as did senior Alex Meyer, who had a takedown in the final 30 seconds to give himself the victory.
With some matches being a lot closer than some might have thought, Iowa was able to overcome the challenge and earn the victory. Even after another win against an archrival, head coach Tom Brands said there was more to it.
“We were in some holes, and the good thing is we bailed ourselves out of some holes,” Brands said. “But I’ll say this; I heard something [Oklahoma State head coach] John Smith said after his dual with Oklahoma, and it’s pretty true here, too. We’re not just trying to beat Iowa State, we’re trying to close the gap on the best teams in the country … That was a very close dual, even though the score was lopsided.”
