Two four-time Big Ten champions were crowned, but Iowa wasn’t on the winning end after the dust cleared from the Big Ten Championships.
Iowa’s Spencer Lee started action for the Hawkeyes wrestling for third place at 125 pounds.
Lee put up a takedown in the first 20 seconds and put up three 4-point near falls to go up 14-0 by the end of the first period. A second-period takedown in the next period was all Lee needed for the tech fall and the third-place finish.
Ohio State’s Nathan Tomasello won the 125-pound title after coming back from trailing 5-2 against Minnesota’s Ethan Lizak to win a 10-7 decision. Tomasello knocked off Lee in the semifinals, 2-1. The Buckeye became a four-time Big Ten champion, adding his name to the list of 15 others to accomplish such a feat.
Michigan’s Stevan Micic reached the top of the podium at 133 pounds after beating Luke Pletcher of Ohio State in a 7-4 decision.
Iowa’s Vince Turk took home fifth place with a 4-1 decision over Wisconsin’s Eli Stickley. Turk, who had two takedowns in the first period, came into the tournament unseeded and worked through the consolation bracket.
“It’s just like war out here; there are going to be casualties,” he said. “You can’t be on the battlefield and think about the casualties. You got to move forward and finish.”
The 149-pound championship had the heated rivalry of Brandon Sorensen and Zain Retherford, and Sorensen added one more loss to Penn State’s now-three time Big Ten champion. The Nittany Lion won a 2-0 decision over Sorensen with a riding time and escape point.
At 157 pounds, the top two seeds —Iowa’s Michael Kemerer and Penn State’s Jason Nolf — medically forfeited the tournament. Michigan’s third-seeded Alec Pantaleo walked to the top of the podium after topping Micah Jordan of Ohio State with a 3-1 decision.
Kemerer and Nolf shared the sixth place spot on the podium.
Iowa’s Alex Marinelli finished in sixth place at the tournament after he was put into the consolation bracket following a second-round loss to Michigan’s Logan Massa. Massa met him again in the fifth-place match where the Wolverine won by a 6-3 decision.
Illinois’ Isaiah Martinez was the 16th man to claim four Big Ten titles after he topped Penn State’s Vincenzo Joseph at 165 pounds.
Joey Gunther finished sixth after falling to Purdue’s Dylan Lydy, 3-2. A first-period takedown was enough to top Iowa’s 174-pounder.
In the finale, Penn State sophomore Mark Hall topped Michigan’s Myles Amine with a 4-3 decision to add the first Big Ten individual title to his trophy case.
Iowa 184-pounder Mitch Bowman capped his weekend in eighth place after working through the consolation bracket and dropping the seventh-place match to Wisconsin’s Ricky Robertson.
Bo Nickal of Penn State took home the 184-pound title with a 7-4 decision over Ohio State’s Myles Martin.
Cash Wilcke medically forfeited out of the fifth-place match for precautionary reasons, said head coach Tom Brands, and defaulted to sixth place. Ohio State’s Kollin Moore took the individual title with an 8-4 decision over Shakur Rasheed.
Iowa’s Sam Stoll finished his weekend in fourth place. Penn State’s Nick Nevills put Stoll on his back for a 4-point near-fall to win a 5-1 decision, ending Iowa’s weekend with a loss.
Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder won at heavyweight, topping Michigan’s Adam Coon with a takedown in sudden victory.
Even if their weekend didn’t go as planned, all of Iowa’s wrestlers, minus 133-pounder Paul Glynn, qualified for Cleveland. Iowa finished the Big Ten team race in fourth, behind Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan.
“It’s a qualifier and we have work to do, regardless of where we ended up at each individual weight class,” Brands said. “Obviously, our seeds didn’t hold at a lot of places.”
