Nathan Burak has been named as the Iowa Wrestling Fan Wrestler of the Week. Burak defeated Andre Lee of Illinois 13-6 and scored a Major Decision over Jacob Berkowitz of Northwestern, 13-3. The Major Decision at Northwestern added to the team total of the dual meet victory of 54-0 that was a school record for largest margin of victory for Iowa Wrestling over a Big Ten opponent. With the two wins, Burk improved his record to 14-0 on the season and is currently ranked 3rd at 197. Among those fourteen wins, Burak has scored bonus points with two pins, two tech falls, and four major decisions.
Burak has looked much improved this season and has progressed throughout his career where he is a two-time All-American by placing seventh last season and eighth in 2014. This season, we are seeing much more scoring out of Burak and he has continued to build upon his lead especially in the third period. I have been writing about Burak having more potential than what we were seeing in competition over the last two seasons. Burak is athletic, strong, very tough to score on, solid on the mat, has Iowa-style conditioning, and to me he has it all to win a National title this season.
Associate Head Coach Terry Brands:
“We really like that way that Burak is slamming the door on his opponents. He is scoring more points when he has the lead late in the match and that is huge. Matches that would have been 5-3 or 5-4 last year are now 9-3 type of scores. That is huge and we love seeing that.”
Burak is a senior originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado where he was a State Champion at Coronado High School. He is majoring in Health and Human Physiology and Exercise Science. Burak has also previously been named as the Most Dedicated Iowa Wrestler on and off the mat by the coaching staff.
Nathan Burak’s matches this season:
Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State) W‐D 5‐3
Garret Wesneski (Maryland) W‐TF 21‐5
Austin Gaun (Grand Canyon) W‐MD 15‐7
Kendrick Jones (Iowa Central) W‐Pin 2:14
Ben Bergen (Cornell) W‐Pin 0:57
Luke Egli (Iowa State) W‐MD 22‐8
Hayden Hrymack (Rutgers) W‐D 6‐1
Midlands Championships 1st Place
Nate Hall (Ohio U) W‐TF 19‐4
Marcus Harrington (Iowa State) W‐MD 16‐3
#17 Michael Boykin (N. Carolina State) W‐D 8‐2
#16 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) W‐D 4‐2
Derek White (Nebraska) W‐D 6‐1
Andre Lee (Illinois) W‐D 13‐6
Jacob Berkowitz (Northwestern) W‐MD 13‐3
Congratulations to Nathan Burak for being named as the Iowa Wrestling Fan Wrestler of the Week.
