By pete ruden
The Iowa wrestling team wrapped up its dual season with an impressive 28-9 win over No. 23 Edinboro on Feb. 18.
Last time the two teams faced off, Dec. 5, 2013, it was a lot closer. No. 3 Iowa narrowly escaped the No. 15 Fighting Scots with a 22-19 win. This time around, however, it was a much different story.
Bonus points played a big role in the third-ranked Hawkeyes’ win, as they scored them in five of seven wins.
With the Big Ten Championships and NCAAs coming up, building momentum now is as important as ever, and senior Topher Carton said he is doing just that.
Coming off decisions over Cole Weaver and Colton McCrystal of Indiana and Nebraska, respectively, Carton continued his hot streak with a fall over Edinboro’s Nate Hagan. The fall came in the first period with 1:01 left to give Iowa a 14-0 lead after Thomas Gilman and Cory Clark picked up major decisions.
“Just gotta keep wrestling. Go back, watch the film, see what I could’ve done different,” Carton said after his win over McCrystal. “Just gotta keep building, keep wrestling hard in the top, bottom, neutral positions, and just let the fur fly.”
Just as things are going well for Carton, they’re going well for Gilman, too. The Midlands champ at 125 pounds is now 24-0 on the season, and if the entire season has been any indication, he is definitely a contender for an NCAA title.
Gilman made his Iowa dual début against Edinboro in 2013.
The other two Hawkeyes winning with bonus points were Michael Kemerer at 157 pounds and Sammy Brooks at 184.
In his homecoming, Kemerer got the best of Chase Delande. The Murrysville, Pennsylvania, native won 16-6 to win his team-high 25th match of the season.
Brooks, who has scored bonus points in his last four matches, did it yet again, this time over No. 17 Dakota Greer by a score of 14-4. With another win, the third-ranked Brooks improved to 21-2 on the season.
Hawkeye 174-pounder Alex Meyer and 197-pounder Cash Wilcke also came out of their matches on top with a decision, with Meyer’s coming in comeback fashion. The senior out of Pleasant Hill, Iowa trailed 6-3 at one point but ended up making a furious comeback to win 11-7.
The biggest upset of the night came at 149 pounds, where Edinboro’s No. 11 Patricio Lugo outlasted No. 3 Brandon Sorensen in a sudden victory period to pick up a 7-5 victory. That loss was only Sorensen’s third of the year, but the crazy part is that they have all come in overtime.
His other two losses came against No. 1 Zain Retherford of Penn State and No. 2 Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State.
In addition to Sorensen, Joey Gunther and Steven Holloway both lost by decision to the No. 12 competitors in their respective weight classes.
Things will certainly get more intense for the Hawkeyes with the Big Tens coming up on March 4-5, along with the NCAA Championships March 16-18.
With five wrestlers in the lineup ranked in the top five and four ranked in the top three before this dual, Iowa has a chance to make some noise when the time comes.
