Hawkeyes down Cyclones, Tom Brands not satisfied

Still on cloud nine from last night, and the whole weekend in general? You should be — the Hawkeyes swept everything, and punctuated it with a big ‘ol win last night against the Cyclones, 26-9.

It sounds like Iowa wasn’t totally satisfied with its win over the unranked in-state rival, but there’s an argument to be made the opposite way as well. The Hawks went 7-3 in duals, with three of those wins yielding bonus points. Three Iowa victories were decided by two points or less. The other, a Topher Carton come-from-behind win at 141, was by three tallies.

A nice win, yes, but a dominant one according to head coach Tom Brands? Not so much.

Via the Gazette

“That was a very close dual, even though the score was lopsided. There were some tough situations that we did not wrestle through and that is a concern. Big time.

“We’re [not] just trying to beat Iowa State. We’re trying to close the gap on the best teams in the country, because we’re not the best team in the country. We have a lot of work to do, if that’s the case.”

That attitude makes sense in the context of the dual — Iowa State is unranked, after all, but, there were still some damn good performances from damn important Hawkeyes.

Top-ranked 125 pounder Thomas Gilman absolutely beat Markus Simmons to a pulp, so severely Simmons couldn’t even get to the center of the mat for the third period. Related: Gilman has the attitude absolutely necessary to that kind performance, and has a future in any sort of oration he wants if he can put words together like this.

So good.

Anyways, No. 8 Sammy Brooks had a tech against the 184-pound Cyclone backup, and No. 2 Brandon Sorensen majored Chase Straw to round out the bonus points.

In other notable matches, backup 133-pounder Phil Laux looked a whole lot better than he did last week in relief of No. 1 Cory Clark, losing a 5-3 decision to No. 8 Earl Hall. The Cyclone ran through Laux on a blast double early in the match, at which point some Hawkeye fans thought “oh boy, here we go.” But, the senior rebounded, kept strong, and wrestled Hall tough the remainder of the way. A sign that things aren’t as bad as we thought they could be.

Loose ends and full results

• This was the first dual I’ve been able to see televised this year. Steven Holloway looks holy-cow undersized at heavyweight. Hoping we get a timeline soon on Sam Stoll’s return to the lineup. Also, not sure why the Hawkeyes wanted to start with the big dogs.
• The way 157-pounder Michael Kemerer wrestled was fantastic. So aggressive.
• No Alex Marinelli at 165 — Joey Gunther won a 3-2 decision.

Match-by-match results with Iowa guys in bold. Have a good Sunday, humans. Seattle-Green Bay should be fun today.

HWT / Quean Smith dec. Steven Holloway, 10-5
125 / No. 1 Thomas Gilman tech. fall Markus Simmons, 19-4
133 / No. 7 Earl Hall dec. Phil Laux, 5-3
141 / Topher Carton dec. John Meeks, 7-4
149 / No. 2 Brandon Sorensen major dec. Chase Straw, 11-3
157 / No. 6 Michael Kemerer dec. Colston DiBlasi, 8-7
165 / Joey Gunther dec. Dane Pestano, 3-2
174 / No. 6 Alex Meyer dec. No. 11 Lelund Weatherspoon, 5-3
184 / No. 7 Sammy Brooks tech fall Carson Powell, 19-3
197 / Marcus Harrington dec Cash Wilcke, 4-3