Alex Marinelli Wrestles, Hawks Take Two

By way of a come-from-behind victory Friday and a blowout Sunday, the Iowa wrestling team extended its Big Ten road victory streak to 24 matches over the weekend. Led by the back half of its lineup, Iowa squeaked out a 23-15 victory against the Scarlet Knights Friday and put up a 40 spot to Maryland’s lowly six points Sunday.

Let’s start with the big news of the weekend — the long-awaited debut of 165-pounder Alex Marinelli against Richie Lewis, who wrestled up a weight, for some reason. Anywho, those tuned in saw the Iowa freshman connect on a pair of takedowns to win 6-4 in sudden victory. Albeit against a lighter opponent, it was great to see Marinelli display some offensive firepower to compensate for lack thereof at other weighs in the Hawkeye lineup.

Even better, Marinelli capped his first weekend free from a redshirt with a late-first period pin over Terrapin Brendan Burnham. Again, we’ll throw out the caveat that this was just Maryland, but a fall is a fall, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s very welcomed after the lack of fireworks from this offense early in 2017. It’s too early to give a definitive answer, but this was a nice start to the Marinelli era in Iowa City.

Moving on, Carter Happel also made his Hawkeye debut, going 1-1 at 141 in place of Vince Turk. He lost a 3-2 decision Friday night, but bounced back Sunday to pick up an 8-7 victory over a ranked opponent, which was very nice to see. Credit Happel for being on the right side of that one-point decision on Sunday — I’m just as curious as you are to see what happens at 141 coming up at the Midlands and beyond. WIll it be the young, highly-touted Happel or Turk taking back the spot he won at the team’s wrestleoffs early this year?

Sam Stoll continued his pin party at heavyweight Friday night, turning the lights off with a fall for the second-consecutive weekend. He did not wrestle Sunday due to a forfeit against Yousif Hemida, negating what would’ve been the best match of the bout. Tom Brands said following the match that this was “just one of those things where you have to do the right thing. It’s December.” Save those bullets, Sam.

Brandon Sorensen and Michael Kemerer of course went 2-0, as did Joey Gunther and Cash WIlcke. At 133, Phil Laux got the nod Sunday and picked up a major decision after Paul Glynn got majored Friday evening.

Next up for Iowa is a the Midlands later this month. After a go-go-go couple weeks, the Hawkeyes will take a hiatus until Dec. 29 when they travel to Evanston for the yearly tournament. We’ll have some coverage in the meantime and more surrounding that event. Full results below, enjoy your Monday.

Iowa 23, Rutgers 15
125 — Nick Suriano tech. fall Justin Stickley, 23-15
133 — Scott DelVecchio major dec. Paul Glynn, 12-4
141 — Michael Van Brill dec. Carter Happel, 3-2
149 — Brandon Sorensen dec. Eleazar DeLuca, 4-1
157 — Michael Kemerer tech fall Brett Donner, 24-8
165 — Alex Marinelli dec. Richie Lewis, 6-4
174 — Joey Gunther dec. Jordan Pagano, 5-4
184 — Nicholas Gravina dec. Mitch Bowman, 4-0
197 — Cash Wilcke dec. Kevin Mulligan, 8-3
HWT — Sam Stoll pinned Razohnn Gross, 2:41

Iowa 40, Maryland 6
125 — Justin Stickley dec. Brandon Cray, 3-0
133 — Phil Laux major dec. Jhared Simmons, 13-3
141 — Carter Happel dec. Ryan Diehl 8-7
149 — Brandon Sorensen pinned Peter Dedesco, 1:20
157 — Michael Kemerer tech fall. Justin Alexander, 26-10
165 — Alex Marinelli pinned Brendan Burnham, 2:41
174 — Joey Gunther dec. Josh Ugalde, 3-1
184 — Mitch Bowman tech fall Spencer Woods, 20-5
197 — Cash Wilcke tech fall Niko Caappello, 19-4
HWT — Yousif Hemida win by forfeit