When Iowa heads to Bloomington for the Big Ten Championships, two of its prized competitors will be crowned champion of the best conference in college wrestling.
While guys such as Cory Clark, Michael Kemerer, Sammy Brooks, and maybe even Alex Meyer have a chance, there are reasons they may not get the job done this year.
A redshirt freshman, Kemerer is still young, Clark has been battling an injury almost all year, Meyer has been a little inconsistent but has flashed potential, and Brooks suffered a hard loss by fall against Penn State’s Bo Nickal already this year.
The first champion is no surprise. Thomas Gilman has been on an absolute tear this season, and he will do more of the same come March 4 and 5. With an undefeated 24-0 record, he has been ranked atop the 125-pound rankings for the duration of the season.
After a runner-up finish at last year’s NCAAs, Gilman looks poised to make it back to the finals and to pick up a Big Ten title.
The other Hawkeye who will take home a title is Brandon Sorensen. This is finally the time Sorensen gets his revenge on Zain Retherford of Penn State.
In his career, Sorensen is 0-3 against the No. 1-ranked 149-pounder, with losses coming in last year’s Big Ten Championship finals and NCAA finals, as well as a home dual this year that took two tiebreaker periods to determine a winner.
Coming off a loss against Edinboro’s Patricio Lugo, Sorensen will want to avenge not only his losses to Retherford but last week’s as well.
Iowa has a plethora of good wrestlers on its team, but in a conference like the Big Ten, only 10 can be called champions, and Gilman and Sorensen will be two of them.
— Pete Ruden
One
There are quite a few Iowa wrestlers who stand a chance at being crowned a Big Ten champion next weekend in Indiana.
No. 1 Thomas Gilman is obvious, and there’s also former No. 1 Cory Clark, No. 2 Michael Kemerer, No. 3 Brandon Sorensen, and No. 3 Sammy Brooks.
Clark and Brooks both won Big Ten titles last year, so both of them obviously have to be taken very seriously. Sorensen lost in the finals last year, and Kemerer has been a top-2 wrestler at 157 for most of the season.
There’s something about Gilman that lets you know he’s a man possessed with one thing, and one thing only — being the best college wrestler in the country. That means plowing through the field at the Big Ten Championships and again at the NCAA Championships.
He hasn’t lost all season long, through matchups against No. 2 Nick Suriano of Penn State, No. 6 Tim Lambert of Nebraska, and No. 7 Ethan Lizak of Minnesota.
As for the other guys, there seem to be roadblocks that could make it difficult to get to the top of the podium when the time comes.
Clark has been dealing with a shoulder injury, and he hasn’t wrestled like himself since he returned (he still wears a brace on his shoulder).
Sorensen has been wrestling really well, but he will have to find a way to beat No. 1 Zain Retherford if he wants to be a Big Ten champ. Retherford is the one who beat Sorensen in the finals last year.
Kemerer stands a decent shot, but he will also have to go through a No. 1 Penn State wrestler, Jason Nolf.
Brooks may have the best shot at earning his second Big Ten title, as he’s been at his best in his past few matches.
However, and I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, he will have to go through Penn State’s No. 2 Bo Nickal, who pinned him earlier this season.
— Blake Dowson
