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2016 NCAA Wrestling Tournament -- Round Two
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016
Time: 6 PM CT
Location: Madison Square Garden (New York City, NY)
TV/Streaming: ESPNU / WatchESPN
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (free); Hawkeye All-Access ($); Tune-In Radio (maybe?)
Twitter: @IowaWRLive, @IAWrestle
Tickets: n/a
Bracket: click here
Live Scoreboard: click here
TEAM STANDINGS
1) 16.5 -- Ohio State
2) 16.0 -- Penn State
3) 13.0 -- Nebraska
4) 11.0 -- Iowa
5) 10.0 -- Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma State
ROUND ONE RESULTS
| WT | WINNER | RESULT | LOSER |
| 125 | #4 Thomas Gilman | TECH FALL (24-8, 5:37) | UN Brent Fleetwood, Central Michigan |
| 133 | #2 Cory Clark | MAJ DEC (8-0) | UN Jade Rauser, Utah Valley |
| 149 | #2 Brandon Sorensen | MAJ DEC (9-1) | UN Nick Barber, Eastern Michigan |
| 157 | #13 Edwin Cooper, Jr. | DEC (8-3) | UN Tyler Berger, Nebraska |
| 165 | #13 Jim Wilson, Stanford | DEC (12-7) | UN Patrick Rhoads |
| 174 | UN Gordon Wolf, Lehigh | DEC (10-9) | #13 Alex Meyer |
| 184 | #2 Sammy Brooks | TECH FALL (23-8, 6:30) | UN John Lampe, Chattanooga |
| 197 | #4 Nathan Burak | DEC (4-2 SV2) | UN Trent Noon, Northern Colorado |
| 285 | UN Boyce Cornwell, Gardner Webb | WIN VIA INJ DEF | #11 Sam Stoll |
Things started off well for Iowa with four wins in four matches, including a pair of major decisions from Cory Clark and Brandon Sorensen and a technical fall from Thomas Gilman. Edwin Cooper looked good in moving past Nebraska's Berger (an opponent he had struggled with at the dual meet earlier this season), too. Things were good.
Things were not so good after the next five weights, as Iowa went just 2-3. Patrick Rhoads' loss to #13 Jim Wilson wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was disappointing -- it was an opportunity for an upset that didn't pan out. Worse was Alex Meyer's loss to unseeded Gordon Wolf from Lehigh. The 174 lb bracket has been thrown into mass chaos with upsets all over the place and Meyer would have had a good chance to put together a deep run if he had won this match. Of course, that presumes that Meyer could (and would) have wrestled like a much better wrestler... and we've been waiting to see that from him for months. He and Wolf engaged in a series of wild reversals, but Wolf came out on top with an escape in the final seconds.
Sammy Brooks briefly stopped the bleeding for Iowa with an emphatic technical fall win and Nathan Burak grabbed another win for Iowa at 197, although not without a lot of effort -- Burak could not complete several shots on Noon, until finally converting on a counter-shot late in the second sudden victory period. Alas, the day ended in disappointing fashion for Iowa as a clearly hobbled Stoll appeared to re-injure his knee and was forced to injury default out of his match.
ROUND TWO MATCHES
| WT | IOWA WRESTLER | OPPONENT | |
| 125 | #4 Thomas Gilman | vs | #13 Tim Lambert, Nebraska |
| 133 | #2 Cory Clark | vs | #15 Josh Albert, UNI |
| 149 | #2 Brandon Sorensen | vs | UN Victor Lopez, Bucknell |
| 157 | #13 Edwin Cooper, Jr. | vs | #4 Ian Miller, Kent State |
| 184 | #2 Sammy Brooks | vs | UN Jordan Ellingwood, Central Michigan |
| 197 | #4 Nathan Burak | vs | #13 Jacob A Smith, West Virginia |
The team title is not mathematically gone for Iowa, but unless Penn State and Ohio State collapse (or get shipped to the wrong gym for the next few sessions), they're going to be hard to catch for an Iowa team that's short on horses. So just keep winning, guys -- for your own individual title aspirations as much as anything. Iowa will be favored in 5 of these 6 matches; hopefully they're able to win all of them and perhaps Coop can score a tremendous upset.
CONSOLATION MATCHES
| WT | IOWA WRESTLER | OPPONENT | |
| 165 | UN Patrick Rhoads | vs | UN Casey Fuller, Edinboro |
| 174 | #13 Alex Meyer | vs | #4 Ethan Ramos, North Carolina |
| 285 | #11 Sam Stoll | vs | #6 Denzel Dejournette, Appalachian State |
Given that Stoll injury defaulted out of his first round match, I don't really expect him to wrestle in this match. But we'll see. Unfortunately if he does wrestle, he has a pretty tough match-up in Dejournette. Meyer has an ever tougher ask -- #4 Ramos -- if he wants to keep his tournament alive. Rhoads has the most winnable match; hopefully at least one of these guys is still wrestling for Iowa tomorrow.
I'll try to post results and limited PBP in the comments. I'll also try to update the mat assignments in the comments.
The usual rules apply.