Hawkeyes Open Dual Season with Iowa City Duals

Who: Iowa vs. Cornell College and Iowa Central Community College
Date: Friday, November 18th, 2016
Time: 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM (CT)
Location: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City

The Iowa Hawkeyes will begin the 2016-17 dual season inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena this Friday hosting Division III Cornell College and NJCAA powerhouse Iowa Central. Last year Iowa opened with the Grapple on the Gridiron dual against Oklahoma State, but traditionally the Iowa City Duals have served as the Hawkeyes home opener.

To start the season Iowa had three spots in the lineup that were up for contention and after the team’s first Open tournament, not a whole lot has changes to definitively declare who will be starting going forward. In years past Brands has given each of his wrestlers in contention for the spot at the Duals, so we may see a few weights split starts.

At 141 pounds it looks like Topher Carton has established himself as the leader at this weight after winning the Luther Open after defeating teammate Paul Glynn 4-2 in the finals. Carton’s main competition figured to be redshirt freshman Vince Turk, who medically forfeited out of the Luther Open after winning his first round match.*

The 165 pound battle has changed several times since the start of practice last month. Starting the season it was expected that sophomores Skyler St. John and Burke Paddock would battle it out for the spot unless true freshman Alex Marinelli could prove he would be a significant point scorer in March. St. John is reportedly dealing with an injury and Paddock has officially left the team, which means redshirt freshman Joey Gunther will most likely get the nod for Friday’s contests. Marinelli will be heading to the Lindenwood Joe Parisi Open this weekend in Missouri.

The last lineup battle Iowa is currently dealing with is the 197 pound struggle between freshman Cash Wilcke and sophomore Mitch Bowman with the former having the edge. Last weekend Wilcke came out on top of Bowman 3-2 in the finals of the Luther Open over Bowman and according to head coach Tom Brands the two had an identical closed doors wrestle off last week.

The rest of the lineup should be good to go for the two duals as necessary. Given Tom Brands’s history at the Duals, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see a wrestler like Phil Laux receive a start as well. Brands also reiterated in his weekly press conference that freshman Steven Holloway will only be at heavyweight until the Hawkeyes clear regular starter Sam Stoll, who is coming back from knee injury. Once Stoll is healthy Holloway will make his decent to 197.

IOWA HAWKEYE LINEUP
125: #1 Thomas Gilman (SR)
133: #1 Cory Clark (SR)
141: Topher Carton (SR)
149: #2 Brandon Sorensen (JR)
157: #6 Michael Kemerer (FR)
165: Joey Gunter (FR)
174: #6 Alex Meyer (SR)
184: #7 Sammy Brook (SR)
197: Cash Wilcke (FR) or Mitch Bowman (SO)
285: Steven Holloway (SR)

CORENLL COLLEGE LINEUP (NWCA Division III rankings)
125: Gage Griffin (FR)
133: #5 Nathan Shank(SR)
141: #6 Phil Opelt (SR)
149: #8 Josh Martin (JR)
157: #8 Aaron Engle (SR)
165: Ben Hewson (SO)
174: Michael Maksimovic (SR)
184: Brian Cristion (SR)
197: Ben Bergen (SO)
285: Tyler Ortmann (JR)

IOWA CENTRAL LINEUP
125: #8 Todd Small (FR)
133: #1 Zak Hensley (SO)
141: Kris Lindemann (FR)
149: #5 Brandon Murray
157: Merrick Purcell (SO)
165: Jonah Egli (FR) or Brady Vogel (FR)
174: Antrez Clagon (FR)
184: #5 Danny Bush
197: Jacob Becker (SO)
285: #7 Thomas Peterson (SO)

*EDIT: Flowrestling is reporting that Turk will in fact miss the rest of the season, so he is no longer expected to be in the lineup.