Hawkeyes 29, Jackrabbits 8: Iowa takes care of business at South Dakota State

If you wanted the Hawkeyes to avoid a letdown in Brookings, South Dakota Friday evening, your wish was granted. It wasn’t perfect and there are still areas that need cleaning up, but the Hawkeyes rolled their way through a respectable Jackrabbit lineup on the road, winning 29-8 and getting head coach Tom Brands his 200th win in the process.

Iowa won eight of 10 matches, recording bonus points via tech falls from Sammy Brooks and Thomas Gilman to go with Topher Carton’s major. Redshirt freshman Cash Wilcke dropped his first match of the year to No. 5 Nate Rotert, while No. 6 Seth Gross teched Phillip Laux — filling in for an injured Cory Clark — at 133.

As you can see, Gilman, Brooks, and Carton pushed the pace all evening long, registering impressive victories. Brooks manhandled Martin Mueller, Gilman recorded 12 takedowns against Ben Gillette, and Carton — who, by the way, looks huge in that video — continued his fast start at 141 with a 12-1 major.

It would’ve been nice to see more from Brandon Sorensen at 149, as he only managed a 9-5 decision against an unranked opponent; the same goes for Michael Kemerer at 157, where he beat his unranked guy 7-3. Both Hawkeyes have pushed the margin in the early going this season, hopefully they do the same Saturday evening against Iowa State in Carver.

It was nice to see Alex Meyer pick up a 4-1 decision against No. 18 David Kocer at 174, and we have something to keep an eye on at 165, where true freshman Alex Marinelli weighed in prior to the dual. As we’ve said before, he probably won’t wrestle until the Midlands, but it still piqued some interest. Or maybe it was @IowaWRLive toying with us.

Anyways, it was a nice showing for a Clark-less Iowa and a good way to keep things rolling on the road. Bout-by-bout results are below with Iowa in bold, we’ll have more throughout the week for you to enjoy. Iowa State’s scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.

149 / No. 2 Brandon Sorensen dec. Alex Kocer, 9-5
157 / No. 6 Michael Kemerer dec. Collin Holler, 7-3
165 / Joey Gunther dec. Luke Zilverberg, 6-4
174 / No. 6 Alex Meyer dec. No. 18 David Kocer, 4-1
184 / No. 7 Sammy Brooks tech fall Ben Gillette, 20-5
197 / No. 5 Nate Rotert dec. Cash Wilcke, 9-5
HWT / Steven Holloway dec. Alex Macki, 3-2
125 / No. 1 Thomas Gilman tech fall Ben Gillette, 26-11
133 / No. 6 Seth Gross tech fall Phillip Laux, 15-0
141 / soon-to-be-ranked Topher Carton major dec. Henry Pohlmeyer, 12-1