When the dust settled on Sunday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Iowa did in fact capture its third straight Big Ten title with 156.5 points, finishing 37 points ahead of runner-up Minnesota. But despite the large margin of victory, the word 'dominating' was not used throughout Crisler Arena to describe the Hawkeyes' performance after four of Iowa's six finalists lost.
"You have some explaining to do as a coach and a coaching staff," said Iowa coach Tom Brands, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "The ready state ... and we weren't ready. You think you're ready, but you think ... and funny things happen when you're thinking. You've got to know you're ready and you've got to go out there and you've got to execute."
Perhaps the biggest blow to Iowa came at 149 pounds when the Hawkeyes' leader, Brent Metcalf, fell to Ohio State's Lance Palmer, 9-3. Metcalf opened the match with a takedown to go up 2-0, but Palmer hung around and trailed just 3-1 heading into the third period. After clasping call against Metcalf and an escape by Palmer, the match was knotted at 3-3. After a wild scramble, Palmer not only came out on top for the takedown, but also put Metcalf to his back, which all but sealed the deal for the Buckeye senior as he picked up three nearfall points and added riding time.
Palmer, who entered the event ranked second nationally, was previously 0-4 in his collegiate career against Metcalf.
"To me, I don't feel like I'm an underdog," said Palmer, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the event. "I feel like I should be No. 1. That's the mentality that I've had every time I've wrestled him ... this year a little different than the others."
Palmer, a three-time All-American who has placed fourth twice and eighth once, knows that what matters most is the NCAA Championships in less than two weeks.
"It feels good to beat him, but it's not really about me and him," said Palmer. "It's about winning a national title, I think. That's the bigger picture that I look at. It's cool to be a Big Ten champ, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't win a national title in two weeks.
Four of the 10 champions crowded on Sunday were multiple-time winners, including Indiana's Angel Escboedo, who won his third straight conference title at 125 pounds.
Both Escobedo, a senior, and Iowa's Mike McDonough, a freshman, entered the match undefeated. Escobedo led 1-0 after two periods, but eventually secured the match with two takedowns in the third period to win 6-4.
"Three Big Ten titles in a row is a tough feat to overcome," said Escobedo. "I had a tremendous freshman out there pushing me to the limits. That was just great for college wrestling to see that he has four more years and that I'm graduating. Two have those two clash ... It was a great experience out there."
Minnesota had back-to-back champions at 133 pounds and 141 pounds in Jayson Ness and Mike Thorn.
Ness captured his second Big Ten title with a 9-3 victory over Iowa's Daniel Dennis at 133 pounds. The Gopher senior captain led 7-0 in the third period, but Dennis added a late escape and a takedown. Ness' first Big Ten title came when he was a freshman in 2007 at 125 pounds.
Despite being undefeated, ranked No. 1, and without an NCAA title, Ness, a three-time All-American, feels no pressure heading into his final NCAA Championships.
"I don't feel any pressure," said Ness, who was also named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. "I've started just relying on the Lord a lot more. All I can do is wrestle hard seven minutes. Whatever happens, it doesn't matter because I gave it my full effort. That's the only way I can look at it. It takes a lot of the pressure off."
Thorn, who entered the event ranked eighth nationally at 141 pounds, avenged a loss from earlier this season by defeating second-ranked Reece Humphrey of Ohio State, 3-1.
"I'm really enjoying it," said Thorn. "I had a lot of fun this tournament. Man, there's a lot of good wrestling from all teams."
Thorn's focus will now turn towards Omaha and the NCAA Championships.
"I'm just going to get to the NCAA tournament and take it one match at a time," said Thorn. "I think if I keep wrestling like this, I should end up in the finals and give myself a shot at winning an NCAA title. It's just exciting."
At 157 pounds, Penn State's Cyler Sanderson captured his first Big Ten title with an 8-4 decision over Colton Salazar of Purdue. Sanderson and Salazar grew up together in Utah, wrestled in the same kids club, and were high school teammates at Wasatch High School in Heber City.
"It was kind of weird," said Sanderson of wrestling Salazar. "It's a little bit like wrestling your brother. You've got to wrestle whoever shows up. He's done real well. He had a real good tournament. He's going to do great at the NCAAs."
Wisconsin's Andrew Howe, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1, captured his second straight Big Ten title at 165 pounds with a 4-2 decision over Colt Sponseller of Ohio State. The match was tied 1-1 in the third period with just over a minute to go in the match when Howe scored the go-ahead takedown, which propelled him to the victory.
So what was the key for Howe in his finals match?
"Staying in good position the whole time, not giving him a lot of opportunities," said Howe. "That takedown in the third period pretty much sealed the deal."
Jay Borschel put a halt to Iowa's three-match losing streak in the finals with a dominating 8-1 victory over Scott Glasser of Minnesota at 174 pounds.
"It's great," said Borschel. "It was the next event on the calendar. We had a lot of focus on it, but I can't really think about anything else but what's next in two weeks here. That's kind of what your career and everything is defined by is winning a championship. It's good to win these championships and these tournaments. But that's why we wrestle is just for the next two weeks here at the national tournament."
At 184 pounds, John Dergo of Illinois defeated Phil Keddy of Iowa, 5-3, to capture his first Big Ten title of his career. After a scoreless first period, Dergo, who is ranked second nationally, registered a takedown in each of the next two periods, which helped pace him to the victory.
Dergo will be making his fourth appearance at the NCAA Championships. He has a 7-6 career record at the NCAA Championships, but is still in search of his first All-American medal.
"I'm going in there and I'm going to worry about one match a time," said Dergo. "I feel if I wrestle my best, there's no one that can beat me right now.
Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold, who has not suffered a defeat since January 9, won a hard-fought match, 3-1, over Minnesota's Sonny Yohn at 197 pounds. The two wrestlers battled to a 0-0 tie after one period. In the second period, Brandvold picked up a reversal, which proved to be the difference in the match.
"Sonny and I have wrestled before," said Brandvold, who won 5-3 over Yohn earlier this season. "He's really hard for me to score on when on the feet, so my strategy was to take only smart shots. I'm really comfortable on top, so I knew I could probably ride him and get out from the bottom. So that was the strategy."
In a battle of undefeated heavyweights, Iowa's Dan Erekson used a takedown and cradle right off the bat to go up 5-0 against Indiana's Nathan Everhart, which helped pace him to a 9-6 victory.
"You want to strong," said Erekson, who captured his second straight Big Ten title. "I want to finish strong too. That first takedown and to be able to turn him like that, that was really big."
Finals Results
125: No. 1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) dec. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa), 6-4
133: No. 1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Daniel Dennis (Iowa), 9-3
141: No. 8 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) dec. No. 2 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State), 3-1
149: No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) dec. No. 1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa), 9-3
157: No. 6 Cyler Sanderson (Penn State) dec. Colton Salazar (Purdue), 8-4
165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) dec. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 4-2
174: No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Scott Glasser (Minnesota), 8-1
184: No. 2 John Dergo (Illinois) dec. No. 10 Phil Keddy (Iowa), 5-3
197: No. 7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) dec. No. 13 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), 3-1
285: No. 10 Dan Erekson (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Nathan Everhart (Indiana), 9-6
Final Team Standings
1. Iowa 156.5
2. Minnesota 119.5
3. Wisconsin 109
4. Ohio State 102.5
5. Penn State 91
6. Purdue 76
7. Michigan State 68.5
8. Illinois 64
8. Indiana 64
10. Michigan 57.5
11. Northwestern 20
Individual Award Winners
Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships: Lance Palmer, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year: Matt McDonough, Iowa
Wrestler of the Year: Jayson Ness, Minnesota
Coach of the Year: Tom Brands, Iowa
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