It was expected to be a tough match with Mid Atlantic Blue coming in, with some national pundits picking the Pennsylvania team to narrowly make it by the talented Iowa squad. As usual duals aren’t decided on paper, and despite settling into an underdog role, the Iowa team had plenty of bite.
The dual started off with one of the key swing matches going to Tyson Klump who majored 2A state champion Michael Millage to put Team Iowa in a 4-0 hole. Jack Wagner responded with a huge 7-4 decision at 113 pounds over Beast of the East runner-up Danny Moran to close the gap 4-3. Mid Atlantic got their upset at 120 pounds when UNI commit Jacob Schwarm was handed his first loss of the tournament losing 7-4 to Austin DeSanto.
The upset over Schwarm was followed by two more losses, before future Grand View wrestler Josh Wenger (138) won 6-2 over Kyle Shoop to make the team score 14-6. UNI’s top 2015 recruit Max Thomsen (145) gave Iowa their first two match winning streak with a 3-2 decision over Kent Lane to make it 14-9.
Mid Atlantic scored a major decision over Northern Illinois recruit Josh Davis at 152, but then Iowa got a key swing match win from Dayton Racer at 160. Racer, who is bound for Virginia Tech, was able to defeat the nationally ranked Cole Walter 3-1 to close the gap to 18-12 in favor of Mid Atlantic. One of the nation’s top 2016 recruits Chris Weiler defeated UNI recruit Jacob Holschlag (170) in a tight 7-5 match, putting the score 21-12, and Iowa needing some wins in the remaining four matches.
Iowa State recruit Joe Teague fell 7-1 to John Jakobsen 7-1, placing a lot of pressure for each of the final three weights to win out. Steven Holloway stepped up for Team Iowa against InterMat’s #4 ranked Hunter Ritter. With the match scoreless after the first, Ritter got an escape, but Holloway was able to secure two takedowns in the second period to go up 4-2 over Ritter. In the third period Holloway got what Iowa desperately needed as he pinned Ritter at the 5:04 mark and closed the gap to 24-18 Iowa trailing with two weights to go.
At 220 Grand View commit Gabe Rangel went up against Virginia Tech recruit and #4 ranked heavyweight Andrew Dunn. With the dual on the line, Dunn was able to secure a big 12-4 major decision to put his team up 28-18 with one match remaining, and that clinched the dual for Mid Atlantic.
Iowa lost the last match of the dual to fall 31-18, and will now have to wrestleback for third. Iowa will face the Ohio Mafia in the next dual, at 1:00 PM Central. Whatever the outcome, Iowa will wrestle their third dual totday at 3:00 PM where they will either go for third or for fifth depending on whether they win or lose in the next round.
In Iowa Hawkeye related action, 2015 recruit Mike Kemerer (152) and 2016 recruit Kaleb Young (160) combined to go 2-0 in the semifinals. Kemerer scored a big 14-2 major decision over Ohio’s Tim Rooney, which at the time pushed the team score from 12-9 to 16-9 for the Young Guns. Young followed up with a huge fall at the 54 second mark, which was a huge momentum shift to the Young Guns favor heading into the upperweights. The Young Guns won the dual 31-16 over the Ohio Grapplers, and they will advance to the finals. There they will face the Mid Atlantic team that just handed Iowa a loss.
AAU DUALS TRACK WRESTLING LINK
Match #3 Semifinal: 17. Middle Atlantic Blue defeated 9. Team Iowa Black 31-18
106 – Tyson Klump (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Michael Millage (9. Team Iowa Black) Maj 9-0
113 – Jack Wagner (9. Team Iowa Black) over Daniel Moran (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) Dec 7-4
120 – Austin DeSanto (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Jacob Schwarm (9. Team Iowa Black) Dec 7-4
126 – Luke Karam (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Grant Stotts (9. Team Iowa Black) Maj 13-4
132 – Jonathan Gabriel (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Brice Everson (9. Team Iowa Black) Dec 5-3
138 – Josh Wenger (9. Team Iowa Black) over Kyle Shoop (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) Dec 6-2
145 – Max Thomsen (9. Team Iowa Black) over Kent Lane (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) Dec 3-2
152 – Michael Labriola (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Josh Davis (9. Team Iowa Black) Maj 14-4
160 – Dayton Racer (9. Team Iowa Black) over Cole Walter (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) Dec 3-1
170 – Christopher Weiler (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Jacob Holschlag (9. Team Iowa Black) Dec 7-5
182 – John Jakobsen (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Joe Teague (9. Team Iowa Black) Dec 7-1
195 – Steven Holloway (9. Team Iowa Black) over Hunter Ritter (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) Fall 5:04
220 – Andrew Dunn (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Gabriel Rangel (9. Team Iowa Black) Maj 12-4
285 – Michael Rogers (17. Middle Atlantic Blue) over Gannon Gremmell (9. Team Iowa Black) Dec 7-3