Iowa Wrestling: 2021 NCAA Tournament Second Day Results

Two days down, one to go. Iowa sends three to the finals and keeps hold of the team scoring lead. Things are still looking good and it would take an unfathomable crash to not bring home the trophy and while we haven’t quite locked it up, we’re getting very close.

Team Scores:

1. Iowa 109.0

2. Penn State 94.5

3. Oklahoma State 86.5

4. Arizona State 67.0

5. Michigan 58.5

Top seeds Spencer Lee, Jaydin Eierman, and Michael Kemerer all advanced to the finals and will try to add their names to the Hawkeye recordbook on Saturday night.

Also still alive for points and trophies are All-Americans Austin DeSanto, Kaleb Young, Jacob Warner, and Tony Cassioppi.

In somewhat of a heartbreaker, Alex Marinelli lost in his quarterfinals match and then had to medically forfeit out of the tourney with an injury. This is the second straight national tourney that Marinelli lost to an eight seed.

Here are the results of the days matches.

Quarterfinals

125 – #1 Spencer Lee major dec. over #9 Devin Schroeder (PUR), 10-2

133 – #4 Austin DeSanto major dec. over #5 Micky Phillippi (PITT), 13-5

141 – #1 Jaydin Eierman fall over #9 Dresden Simon (CMU), 3:49

149 - #4 Boo Lewallan (OKST) SV-1 over #12 Max Murin, 6-4

165 – #8 Shane Griffith (STAN) SV-1 over #1 Alex Marinelli, 3-1

174 – #1 Michael Kemerer major dec. over #8 Daniel Bullard (NCST), 13-4

196 - #4 AJ Ferrari (OKST) dec. over #5 Jacob Warner, 3-2

HWT - #5 Tony Cassioppi dec. over #4 Cohlton Schultz (ASU), 4-1

Semifinals

125 – #1 Spencer Lee major dec. over #4 Drew Hildebrandt (CMU), 11-0

133 – #1 Dalton Fix (OSU) dec. over #4 Austin DeSanto, 3-2

141 – #1 Jaydin Eierman fall over #4 Tariq Wilson (NCST), 2:59

174 – #1 Michael Kemerer dec. over #12 Bernie Truax (POLY), 8-1

HWT - #1 Gabe Stevenson (MINN) major dec. over #5 Tony Cassioppi, 16-6

Cons Round 2

184 - #22 Devin Kane (UNC) major dec. over #12 Nelson Brands, 15-4

157 – #5 Kaleb Young dec. over #22 Benjamin Barton (CAMP), 8-2

Cons Round 16

157 – #5 Kaleb Young dec. over #13 Hunter Willits (ORST), 5-1

Cons R12

149 - #8 Jaden Abas (STAN) TB-1 over #12 Max Murin, 2-1

157 – #5 Kaleb Young major dec. over #23 Jacob Wright (WYO), 10-2

165 – #11 Cameron Amine (MICH) medical forfeit over #1 Alex Marinelli

196 - #5 Jacob Warner dec. over #10 Cameron Caffey, 4-1

Cons Quarters

157 – #6 Brayton Lee (MIN) dec. over #5 Kaleb Young, 3-2

196 - #5 Jacob Warner dec. over #10 Cameron Caffey, 4-1

196 - #5 Jacob Warner dec. over #8 Stephen Buchanan (WYO), 6-3

HWT - #5 Tony Cassioppi dec. over #4 Cohlton Schultz (ASU), 4-1

Iowa still has seven wrestlers going on Saturday, the three going for the title will be Saturday night but the others will be going at it Saturday morning.

Finals // Medal Round

125 – #1 Spencer Lee vs. #3 Brandon Courtney (ASU) in Championship

133 – #4 Austin DeSanto vs. #9 Michael McGee (ASU) to get to 3rd place match

141 – #1 Jaydin Eierman vs. #2 Nick Lee (PSU) in Championship

157 – #5 Kaleb Young vs. #33 Wyatt Sheets (OKST) in 7th place match

174 – #1 Michael Kemerer vs. #3 Carter Starocci (PSU) in Championship

196 - #5 Jacob Warner vs. #26 Jake Woodley (OK) to get to 3rd place match

HWT - #5 Tony Cassioppi vs. #14 Trent Hillger (WISC) to get to 3rd place match

Quick Thoughts:

The biggest heartbreak for us is Alex Marinelli. Excluding last year’s cancelation this is now the 2nd time he’s failed to make it through the bracket as a #1 seed, coincidentally from an #8 seed knocking him off.

Marinelli is usually quick-witted and able to make in-match adjustments, but his usually heady tactics failed him this time around against Shane Griffith (STAN) who is criminally underrated and had no business being an 8 seed anyways. After all, he was #3 last year...

Either way, something obviously happened during that match that caused the upcoming medical forfeit. I don’t know the specifics behind the injury (though by the time this posts it’ll probably be released), but it was bad enough to force him to withdraw, which severely impacted our point potential. Without The Bull’s points we still find ourselves in the lead, but PSU is nipping at our heels.

Spencer Lee has definitely been slowed this tournament, despite bonusing his way into the finals. Rumors have been circulating since the B10’s that he injured his other knee at some point during that event, but of course, Tom Brands is going to keep that under lock and key. You can tell he’s moving a bit gingerly, but the kid is absolutely battling and doing everything he can for this team. Spencer Lee at 50% is still leaps and bounds better than the rest.

Austin DeSanto and Michael Kemerer have been superb. Even with Austin losing to #1 Daton Fix he’s looked really really good. Kemdog has arguably been the best guy in our lineup this tournament. If my memory serves, he hasn’t given up an offensive point yet.

Kaleb Young dropped a close match yesterday and he’s done work in the cons. He slipped back into his old timid ways against #6 Brayton Lee in the cons, but he busted it hard to win in the blood round and secure a spot on the podium

Warner and Cass have also been excellent. I expected this performance out of Big Cass, but Warner has really stepped up his game and given this team much needed points. Warner takes a lot of heat from the Iowa faithful, but the guy is now a 2x All-American. Hats off. Now keep it going!

A good run here in the cons semis will inch us closer and all but assuredly lock up the team title. It would be great to put this baby to bed before the finals roll around so these guys can wrestle for themselves.

Penn State has six matches remaining and can max out at 124.5. We potentially have 10 more and can top out at 155.5 (which won’t happen). If ADS, Warner, Cass and KY all win their next matches that’ll give us 119, excluding bonus points. Austin and Cass will be favored in the 3rd place match if they make it, which could give us an additional 2.

We’re getting there guys. We’re close.

Before we let you go again, here’s some more highlights to get you all jacked up for the final day!

“LET’S F***ING GO!!!”

-Jacob Warner