Jaydin Eierman after beating Olympic champ Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Photo/Darren Miller/hawkeyesports.com)CORALVILLE, Iowa -- The wrestling community has really stepped up to bring us a number of high-level events during the worldwide pandemic.
And the Hawkeye Wrestling Club Showdown Open, held Sunday night at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, continued that trend.
The nine-match freestyle main event card featured matchups mostly between current Hawkeyes and top international wrestlers. A pair of women's matches were also included on the card.
There were additional freestyle matches held on an undercard Sunday afternoon. The highlights included Nelson Brands scoring a dominant 9-0 win over Abe Assad and Max Murin knocking off Mitch McKee.
It was another entertaining day of wrestling and the Hawkeye Wrestling Club came through by putting on a top-notch event that was shown on trackwrestling.com.
Kudos to Shane Sparks and Mark Ironside for great work on the broadcast.
Here is my breakdown from the evening's matches:
Spencer Lee works for a gut wrench against Zach Sanders (Photo/Darren Miller/hawkeyesports.com)57 kilograms: Spencer Lee vs. Zach Sanders
The dynamic Lee kicked off the main card with a battle against veteran Zach Sanders. Lee, a two-time NCAA champion and multiple age-group world champion, shot in immediately on a single-leg attack for a takedown. He followed with back-to-back gut-wrenches to build a quick 6-0 advantage. Lee countered a Sanders shot with a beautiful whip-over maneuver to record the first-period fall as his home fans erupted. Lee looked impressive in his return to action. He will be in the mix to make the Olympic Team in 2021.
50 kilograms: Devyn Gomez vs. Erin Golston
Golston, an established wrestler on the Senior level, battled a late replacement in Gomez. World silver medalist Sarah Hildebrandt had to pull out of the event late and Gomez, who wrestles for Life University, stepped in to compete. Golston powered in for an early takedown and then scored a succession of turns before recording a 57-second fall in the women's freestyle match.
65 kilograms: Austin DeSanto vs. Bryce Meredith
This was a match fans were really looking forward to between the high-energy DeSanto and the talented Meredith, a past NCAA runner-up. Meredith is an excellent freestyle wrestler and scored a quick takedown on a counter en route to taking an early 4-0 lead. Meredith countered another DeSanto shot to take a 6-0 lead at the break. Meredith then defended another shot to gain a turn and build his lead to 8-0. DeSanto finally broke through on a leg attack and finished for a takedown with just over a minute left. Meredith's defense was just too good and he prevailed 11-3.
67 kilograms: Jaydin Eierman vs. Vladimer Khinchegashvili
This was another intriguing matchup between a strong young freestyle wrestler in Eierman against an Olympic and world champion in Khinchegashvili. Eierman powered in on a blast double-leg shot to score a takedown early in the second period. He followed with another shot and finish to go up 4-1. Eierman defended effectively in the closing stages en route to the 4-1 victory. Eierman will be a huge addition to the Iowa Hawkeye lineup during the upcoming season.
Pat Lugo topped Matthew Kolodzik (Photo/Darren Miller/hawkeyesports.com)153 pounds: Pat Lugo vs. Matthew Kolodzik
Lugo came out aggressively, scoring on a pair of pushouts en route to leading 3-0 at the break. Lugo shot in on a single and finished for a takedown to lead 5-0 early in the second period. Kolodzik countered with a double-leg takedown to close within 5-2. Lugo then countered a leg attack, using a knee tap to spin behind Kolodzik and lead 7-2. Lugo turned in an impressive showing to prevail 7-2. It's unfortunate he wasn't able to compete at the NCAA tournament this past March.
Precious Bell cruised to a 9-0 win over Jordan Nelson (Photo/Darren Miller/hawkeyesports.com)170 pounds: Precious Bell vs. Jordan Nelson
Bell, No. 2 on the U.S. women's freestyle ladder at heavyweight, fired in on a textbook leg attack to score the match's first takedown. Bell followed with another single-leg shot and TD to lead 4-0. Bell added another single to take a 6-0 advantage early in the second period. Nelson kept battling and nearly scored a TD, but Bell came back with another TD to win 9-0.
75 kilograms: Alex Marinelli vs. James Green
This was another highly anticipated matchup between a Hawkeye fan favorite in Marinelli and a two-time world medalist in Green. It was a slow-paced first period and Marinelli led 1-0 after Green was put on the shot clock. Green powered in a double-leg shot and drove Marinelli off the mat for exposure early in the second period to take a 4-1 lead. Marinelli came back with a slick duck-under to close within 5-3 with just over a minute left. Green held off Marinelli in the closing seconds to prevail 5-4.
176 pounds: Michael Kemerer vs. Tommy Gantt
This was another battle of NCAA All-Americans with the wrestlers each scoring two points early after a Kemerer shot and a Gantt counter. The bout remained 2-2 at the break. Kemerer came out strong in the second period, powering in on the legs and finishing to lead 4-2. Gantt came back with an effective counter, turning Kemerer three times in the same sequence to lead 8-4. Gantt followed by winning a late scramble to score a takedown. Kemerer shot in for a takedown in the closing seconds, but Gantt's defense was the difference as he won 10-6.
Nick Gwiazdowski gets in on a shot against Tony Cassioppi (Photo/Darren Miller/hawkeyesports.com)Heavyweight: Tony Cassioppi vs. Nick Gwiazdowski
Cassioppi faced a big challenge against Gwiazdowski, a two-time world medalist, in the night's final bout. Gwiz fired in low on a leg attack and finished for a takedown to take a quick 2-0 lead. Cassioppi used strong defense to stay within two points at the break. Gwiz powered in on the legs for a TD early in the second before hitting a succession of leg laces to finish a 10-0 win by technical superiority. Gwiz continues to wrestle at a high level as we move closer to the Olympic Games.
Craig Sesker has written about wrestling for more than three decades. He's covered three Olympic Games, written 10 books and is a two-time national wrestling writer of the year.
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