Last season when these two teams met, Iowa scored it’s largest win over the Cowboys in almost two decades. Today, Iowa matched last year’s performance by only losing two matches, but they also scored some bonus points. With their first win in Stillwater since 2009, and most points scored since 1995. Iowa looked very good in their 30-7 drubbing of Oklahoma State.
The biggest upset of the dual for the Hawkeyes was at 149, where #5 Brandon Sorensen scored his second straight top five upset when he defeated the returning NCAA runner-up #2 Josh Kindig 6-1. Coming off a win over Hunter Stieber, Sorensen had moved himself into the top five of the rankings. Today he would face his toughest test in the season against Kindig, but Sorensen has felt he was the better wrestler since before his first match this season, “In my mind it’s where ever want to go. I have a goal to be the champ at NCAAs and where ever I fall in the lineup, which I am feeling 149, I am going to pursue that goal.” Sorensen told us in our preseason media day interview.
Sorensen is backing up all that talk, as he scored a takedown with short time in the second to take control of the match and he never let go. He won 6-1.
Thomas Gilman kicked things off at 125, with a 15-5 win over #11 Edward Klimara. In their previous four meetings Gilman had never won by more than four points over Klimara, including last year’s dual. Apparently head coach Tom Brands got his point across when he said he wanted to see more first period takedowns in the post Ohio State dual press conference. Gilman’s major set off a chain of five straight Iowa wins.
If Gilman’s offense returning wasn’t enough to make you feel good, Cory Clark tried to make up for that at 133. Clark won 10-5 over true freshman Gary Wayne Harding.
Things got interesting at 141 when senior Josh Dziewa fell behind to #20 Dean Heil. Dzeiwa trailed 5-1 entering the third period, but an escape plus a cow catcher equaled a fall and Iowa was rolling up 13-0.
After the Sorensen upset, senior Mike Kelly got off to a rough start as well, falling behind Anthony Collica. Collica, who was Oklahoma State’s 141 starter a year ago, appeared to be in control, but Kelly made a charge and wound up winning 9-6 to give Iowa a 19-0 team lead at the half way point in the dual.
Oklahoma State’s returning NCAA champion Alex Dieringer got the Cowboys on the board with a 20-8 win over Patrick Rhoads. Nick Moore, the Hawkeye’s normal 165 was listed on the probable staters for the dual, but it was Rhoads who got the call. Brands made the comment that Moore is healthy, but they are doing the right thing after the dual.
Senior Mike Evans answered at 174 with bonus points of his own, by scoring a 16-1 technical fall over Jordan Rodgers. Evans led 12-0 before he gave up his first point of the match. Evans finished his match to put Iowa up 24-4 with three matches to go.
Sammy Brooks (184) came out like he normally does and built a 5-0 lead off a pair of takedowns and a second period escape. Brooks gave up an escape and then went for a throw, but was caught by Boyd and put on his back for a five point throw, which put him down 6-5. Brooks was never able to recover and lost 9-6.
Nathan Burak then came out and picked up a 7-3 victory over Luke Bean to put Iowa up 27-7. The win was Burak’s 50th of his career, and is the second Hawkeye to achieve the milestone in as many weeks, as Mike Kelly got his 50th last Friday at Rutgers.
In a battle of returning All-Americans, #1 Bobby Telford took care of business on his end winning 4-3 over #4 Austin Mardsen to finish off the dual and gave Iowa the finally tally of 30-7.
Not only did the Hawkeyes score a large victory over the Cowboys, they did it in a fashion that should make their head coach happy. Several Hawkeyes not only put wins on the board, but they did so by scoring first period points, something they were lacking in their win over Ohio State.
“You win eight matches in Stillwater, Oklahoma it’s good to build on and we got to keep moving forward. We have Illinois on Friday, but we’re at home.” Coach Brands said.
That sounds like the leader of the Hawkeyes, happy with the big win, but there are still improvements to be made and it’s on to the next dual.
Speaking of the next dual, Iowa returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday at 7:00 PM, against Illinios and we will be back live covering the dual.
#2 IOWA 30, #8 Oklahoma State 7
125 – #5 Thomas Gilman (IA) major dec. #11 Eddie Klimara (OKST), 15-5; 4-0
133 – #5 Cory Clark (IA) dec. Gary Wayne Harding (OKST), 10-5; 7-0
141 – #8 Josh Dziewa (IA) pinned #20 Dean Heil (OKST), 6:27; 13-0
149 – #5 Brandon Sorensen (IA) dec. #2 Josh Kindig (OKST), 6-1; 16-0
157 – #16 Michael Kelly (IA) dec. #12 Anthony Callica (OKST), 9-6; 19-0
165 – #1 Alex Dieringer (OKST) major dec. Patrick Rhoads (IA), 20-8; 19-4
174 – #2 Mike Evans (IA) tech. fall #18 Jordan Rogers (OKST), 16-1; 24-4
184 – #17 Nolan Boyd (OKST) dec. #7 Sammy Brooks (IA), 9-6; 24-7
197 – #6 Nathan Burak (IA) dec. Luke Bean (OSU), 7-3; 27-7
285 – #1 Bobby Telford (IA) dec. #4 Austin Marsden (OKST), 4-3