Tag: Iowa wrestling

No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes rout California Baptist in season opener

No. 2 Iowa wrestling’s season is underway with a rout. The Hawkeyes cruised past California Baptist, 42-3.

Iowa wrestling started off their season in front of a packed house at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a one-sided 42-3 victory over California Baptist.

Three pin falls, two technical falls, and two major decisions were the headline of the day for the Hawkeyes in a truly dominant performance.

“There were some good performances with some new faces. They did a good job,” said head coach Tom Brands. “We have to move forward, and we want to get our best lineup on the mat. That’s a lineup that looked pretty good to me and we still don’t have Real Woods or Spencer Lee on the mat.”

Cobe Siebrecht started off the points party in the first match of the dual, pinning Joey Mora with one second to spare in the second period. The definition of a buzzer beater. Fourteenth-ranked Patrick Kennedy followed with a 20-5 technical fall to make it 11-0 Hawkeyes.

Freshman Drake Rhodes finished his bout against Louis Rojas with a strong takedown to earn his first major decision as a Hawkeye. Whether or not he receives the redshirt this year, the Billings, Montana native is certainly one to watch for the future.

Following No. 10 Abe Assad’s 11-4 victory over Peter Acciardi, No. 2 Jacob Warner provided a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pin fall. It legitimately was an easy to miss moment, too. I looked away for a split second and Warner was already walking off the mat.

Heavyweight Tony Cassioppi joined the party with a pin of his own. Drew Bennett, and Max Murin also earned bonus points, gaining a major decision and technical fall victory respectively.

I don’t think this is a result that will surprise anyone. The second-ranked team in the nation, Iowa will be in the thick of the Big Ten Championship race. As a result, they are one of the front runners for the national championship. No disrespect to the Lancers, but there are very much levels to this game.

It was a good tune-up performance, and it’s great to see some returning contenders in Warner and Cassioppi start off the dual season with quick victories. I was really impressed with how Drake Rhodes fought for the major decision at the end of the match. I’m a big fan of his aggressive style.

Iowa will travel to West Point to take on the Army Black Knights on Thursday. Iowa defeated Army 36-7 last year, the two sides’ only meeting to date.

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Carver Takedown Part Two: Iowa Wrestling sells out season tickets for second straight year

Hawkeye fans are unmatched nationally. For the second consecutive year, Iowa wrestling season tickets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena are sold out.

For the second straight year, Iowa wrestling will compete in front of a fully packed house.

The University of Iowa athletics department announced Wednesday that season tickets for the 2022-23 Hawkeye wrestling season are sold out for a second consecutive season.

The Hawkeyes set an NCAA wrestling attendance record in 2021-22, averaging 14,905 fans. The capacity for Carver-Hawkeye Arena this year is, you guessed it, 14,905.

For all of the national attention and headlines that the football and basketball teams of Iowa receive, wrestling truly is the embodiment of the University of Iowa. Iowans live and breathe the sport of wrestling, its tough nature the personification of the Hawkeye state.

The Hawkeyes are tied with the history and legacy of college wrestling as much as any other University. Iowa ranks second all time in collegiate wrestling national championships with 24. Oklahoma State leads with 34 national titles, but the Cowboys have been crowned just seven times since 1975 when Iowa won their first.

Wrestling legend Dan Gable helped establish a dominant grappling culture in the Hawkeye State. First winning two national championships for Iowa State, losing only once in his career, Gable won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He would lead Iowa to 21 Big Ten championships, and 15 national championships.

Current coach Tom Brands has kept Iowa as a top wrestling school despite Penn State‘s dominance in the current Cael Sanderson era, managing to win six Big Ten championships. His fourth national championship came in 2021.

The Hawkeyes finished third in both the Big Ten championship and NCAA championship this past season, and will once again look to win it all. They return a stacked roster that features three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee, as well as five other returning All-Americans.

They open up their season on Nov. 13 against the California Baptist Lancers.

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Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.

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WATCH: Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso rides out win over No. 1 in overtime

Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso had one gutsy wrestling match Friday. Watch as he rides out a win over No. 1 ranked Pat Lugo of Iowa.

The Ohio State wrestling team couldn’t do much damage against a loaded Iowa Hawkeye club, but there was one moment Friday night that Buckeye fans, coaches, and teammates could be very proud of.

Sammy Sasso has been a competitor at the 149 lb. weight class, but last night he was facing the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the weight class, Pat Lugo. Do yourself a favor and find video of the entire match if you can because Sasso was a scrambling, defensive-minded grappler that kept finding a way to wiggle his way out of the shots Lugo kept going for.

So much so that at the end of two overtimes, the score was knotted at one point apiece for an escape by both men — headed for a tiebreaker. Sasso was able to escape during his :30 down on the mat, and then had to somehow hold off a stronger and more seasoned wrestler. All Lugo had to do was escape to tie it up and the match would continue.

But Sasso would have none of it. Watch as he rides out Lugo, refusing to let him out of his grasp for a full thirty seconds for the win. This is all heart and determination. Quite amazing really.

Keep in mind that there were three reviews that either took points off or could have put them on the board for Lugo, but they all went against him. But they were the right call for any objective viewer.

These are the types of moments that make wrestling fans out of the casual observer, and you can bet that Sasso’s ranking will most likely rise after this showing.

Ohio State Wrestling falls to No. 1 Iowa, Sasso upsets top ranked wrestler

The Ohio State wrestling team went to No. 1 Iowa and battled hard, but still lost the dual-meet.

It was always going to be an uphill battle, and the Iowa Hawkeyes showed their might in a dual-meet match against Ohio State Friday night. The Buckeyes battled, but the depth and talent on the Iowa side was just too relentless and too much to overcome.

Iowa got out of the gate quickly by winning the first three matches with relative ease to go up 9-0. Kollin Moore was able to get the Buckeyes on the board finally at 197 lbs. to make it 9-3, but Iowa struck back in the first session at Heavyweight to go up 11-3, losing a point because of a dress infraction.

The thriller of the night was at 149 lbs. Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso showed some unbelievable defense and scrambling ability against the No. 1 ranked Pat Lugo. The match went to double-overtime and then a tiebreaker where Sasso was able to pull off the upset by getting an escape in the first :30, then riding things out in the second :30.

But that would be the highlight of the night. Iowa pressed on with some major bonus points, winning seven of ten matches and a 24-10 team victory.

 

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Ohio State wrestling with a chance to make a statement Friday night against No. 1 Iowa

The Ohio State wrestling team is traveling to Iowa City to take on the No. 1 ranked Hawkeyes. Opportunity knocks.

The Ohio State wrestling team is quietly putting together another solid season, but in a break from previous years, it’s not considered one of the top two teams in the Big Ten. That goes to Penn State (as usual), and the No. 1 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

That’s right. Iowa was once the model program of college wrestling, showing up at No. 1 on an almost yearly basis, but has been a bit out of sight over the last few years. After going on a ridiculous run beginning in 1975 and winning a staggering 23 national titles, it slipped beginning in 2010.

Ever since then, Penn State has taken the baton as the country’s best program with Ohio State a close second. In fact, the Nittany Lions have won eight of the last nine national titles. The Buckeyes are the only other team to win one in that time period (2015).

But now, Iowa is back on top — at least ranking wise. The Hawkeyes are 7-0 overall in dual-meets and 4-0 in conference. And it’s been total domination. The closest any team has come in a dual-meet setting is when Nebraska lost 26-6. That in itself is a blowout, but the other six have been even worse.

Iowa’s individual talent is overwhelming. It has the No. 1 ranked wrestler according to Intermat at 125 lbs (Spencer Lee) and 149 lbs (Pat Lugo). Every other weight class is in the top-ten — often in the top five. The Hawkeyes’ weakest link is at 141 lbs with Max Murin (dripping with sarcasm).

That means a couple of things for the No. 4 ranked Ohio State wrestling team as it prepares to do battle Friday night. The challenge of staying with the Hawkeyes is a daunting one, but it’s also a great opportunity.

The Buckeyes have had to struggle through the season with injuries and competition to see who’s going to be the No. 1 at several weight classes. OSU has somehow found a way to fight through it all and lose just one close dual-meet against Virginia Tech earlier in the season. If it can find a way to take out a loaded Iowa team in the overall dual-meet points, it would obviously be huge.

But here’s the problem. The Buckeyes will be favored in only two of the team’s matches. Even with bonus points that would be nowhere near enough to pull off the upset. It’s going to need guys like Ethan Smith and Sammy Sasso to pull off a shocker or two while holding serve with Luke Pletcher and Kollin Moore to have a chance.

Either way, if you want to see some good wrestling, tune into BTN at 9PM Friday night.

 

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