"When we made the decision not to go to the (NWCA National) duals, this meet here was important this weekend," said Hawkeye Head Coach Tom Brands. "Whether it was tonight or tomorrow, this was an important part of it. Tonight, with a team like Southern Illinois Edwardsville, we flexed our muscles when we needed to, but we have to do that against better teams as well."
The win marked Iowa's 69th consecutive dual meet victory, a program best and the second highest total in NCAA wrestling history.
Defending NCAA champion Matt McDonough opened the competition by pinning SIUE's Paul Meyers in 1:47. McDonough improved to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in dual competition while recording his fifth fall of the season.
Redshirt freshman Tony Ramos and sophomore Mark Ballweg followed McDonough's performance with a pair of bonus-point scoring efforts. Ramos recorded a technical fall over John Petrov and Ballweg put Lawrence Blackful on his back in 2:03 to record his team-leading sixth pin.
Senior Matt Ballweg extended Iowa's lead to 22-0 with a 16-1 technical fall over Derrick Pousson. Ballweg recorded nearfall points in each period and earned a takedown with two seconds remaining in the match to extend his lead to 15-1. He earned a riding time point for the technical fall.
Freshman Derek St. John improved to 9-2 overall with a 9-2 decision against Kyle Lowman. St. John earned two takedowns in the opening period to build a 4-1 advantage before cruising to the 9-2 decision and extending Iowa's lead to 25-0 heading into intermission.
Senior Aaron Janssen opened the second half with a first period pin over Gabe Hocum. Janssen scored three takedowns in the opening frame before putting Hocum on his back at the 2:46 mark to earn his first fall of the season.
Freshman Ethen Lofthouse nailed five takedowns in en route to his 14-7 decision over Michael Dace before the Hawkeyes recorded back-to-back falls at 184 and 197. Sophomore Grant Gramball earned his first pin of the season with a 2:28 fall against Deshoun White and senior Luke Lofthouse put Robert Cooney on his back in 3:36 to extend the Hawkeyes' lead to 46-0.
Junior Blake Rasing ended the night with a 7-4 decision against David Devine Jr. Rasing used a third period takedown and a bonus point for riding time to improve his dual meet record to 7-1.
"We've got a big dual meet next Sunday," explained Brands. "It's not a secret that we have to gear up for it. From the outside looking in it may be a mismatch by the rankings. But we have to be ready to go down there and put it to some guys because we didn't do that this past weekend. We need to step up to a bigger challenge and next week is a bigger challenge."
The seventh-ranked Hawkeyes (8-0, 1-0 Big Ten) will wrestle No. 2 Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, OK.
Results:
125 - Matt McDonough (I) pinned Paul Myers (SIUE), 1:47
133 - Tony Ramos (I) tech. fall John Petrov (SIUE), 20-5 in 5:55
141 - Mark Ballweg (I) pinned Lawrence Blackful, III (SIUE), 2:03
149 - Matt Ballweg (I) tech. fall Derrick Pousson (SIUE), 16-1
157 - Derek St. John (I) dec. Kyle Lowman (SIUE), 9-2
165 - Aaron Janssen (I) pinned Gabe Hocum (SIUE), 2:46
174 - Ethen Lofthouse (I) dec. Michael Dace (SIUE), 14-7
184 - Grant Gambrall (I) pinned Deshoun White (SIUE), 2:28
197 - Luke Lofthouse (I) pinned Robert Cooney (SIUE), 3:36
Hwt. - Blake Rasing (I) dec. David Devine, Jr. (SIUE), 7-4
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now