I could not wait for the 2018-’19 edition of Iowa Wrestling to take the mat for the first time. We just went through the most newsworthy off-season of my life as an Iowa Wrestling fan. I also stated that this was the most anticipated season of Iowa Wrestling in recent memory. Well, the Hawks did not disappoint as the program had impressive showings at Kent State for two duals on Friday to kick off the season and at the Grand View Open on Saturday.
Let’s get to the dual meets:
125 – As I keep stating, Spencer Lee is…Spencer Lee. A quick takedown followed by a lot of backpoints for two first period 18-0 tech falls. As I had mentioned in earlier blogs and podcasts, Lee is much bigger and stronger than last year. And healthy. And much better. Enough said.
133 – Austin DeSanto kicked off his Iowa Hawkeye career with a 22-6 tech fall over the #18 ranked wrestler in the country, Sean Nickell of CSUB. That was impressive. In his second match, DeSanto won a hard fought 8-7 match. DeSanto is going to give us Hawk fans a lot to cheer about during his career in the Black and Gold.
141 – After a very tough wrestle-off to make the team, I thought Max Murin looked great. The Flo announcer mentioned numerous times how big Murin is. I would agree. Winning his matches by the scores of 18-4 and 14-0 is a great start.
149 – Patricio Lugo dropped his first match as an Iowa Hawkeye. To any fans in panic mode, don’t be. My first thought was that Lincoln McIlravy and Mark Ironside had pretty bad losses in their first match as an Iowa Hawkeye. I am not saying Lugo is going to be at that level. What I am saying is that first match in the legendary Iowa singlet can get to the best of them. I am confident we will see a very motivated Patricio Lugo taking on the number one ranked wrestler in the country from Princeton on Friday night in Matthew Kolodzik.
157 – As with 141, Kaleb Young had a real challenging wrestle-off. After competing at 165 and 174 last season, Young made the cut to 157 and does he ever look good. Young looks much quicker than last year at his new weight. The rest of the country will eventually find out what I already know and that is Kaleb Young is a force to be dealt with this season at 157.
165 – Alex Marinelli 2.0 took the mat to kick off his sophomore season. Already with the nickname of Bull, Marinelli is much bigger and stronger than last year. His technique was nothing special in getting a 14-4 major decision and a fall, but oh my, the horsepower. I’ve said for years that in wrestling, strength will cure more ills than a semi full of aspirin. Alex Marinelli has strength.
174 – Redshirt freshman Myles Wilson made the cut down from 184 to fill in for Michael Kemerer. In his varsity debut, Wilson looked real good in getting a major decision and decision. I really did not know what to expect here, but Wilson was aggressive and took advantage of his opportunity to wrestle at that level and did a good job.
184 – The new and improved version of Cash Wilcke looked the best of anybody on the Iowa Wrestling team. After two years at making the Blood Round of 12 at the NCAA’s at 197, Wilcke has found a new home at 184. I thought Wilcke looked much quicker and more aggressive at his new weight. For the third season in a row, Cash Wilcke is the best athlete in the Iowa Wrestling program. T-O-N of potential here.
197 – Mitch Bowman and Connor Corbin both picked up good wins for the Hawks to fill in for Jacob Warner. Bowman always goes hard and won a 6-2 decision wrestling up a weight. Redshirt freshman Connor Corbin won his Hawkeye debut with an 8-3 decision.
Hwt – Redshirt freshman Aaron Costello looked good in picking up two wins by the scores of 6-1 and 4-1. The throw-by that Costello had to an attempted takedown to crush his opponent from Kent State was the best move of the day for Iowa Wrestling. That Kent State kid ran into a wall on that shot and got scored on as a result.
I know the competition was not the highest, but I still saw a lot of very good things out of Iowa Wrestling. Iowa won 19 of 20 matches to defeat CSU Bakersfield 36-3 and Kent State 45-0. For starters, I will keep stating that physically the Iowa Wrestling team is bigger and stronger than last year. When I was telling you that the Hawks looked down to weight in early September, I meant it. A lot of that is the result of the tough wrestle-offs. They had to be on top of their game to make the team. That grind in the room, Iron Sharpens Iron, shows.
I was a little concerned about Murin, Young, Marinelli, and Wilcke having the energy after making weight this early in the season. All are either coming down a weight class or just got way bigger than last year. Not only did I not see any issues with energy, all four of them looked quicker that last year, real good energy, and of course much stronger.
All of the Iowa wrestlers came out with Heavy Hands. Aggressive hand fighting has been the cornerstone of Iowa Wrestling since the Gable Era. Tom and Terry Brands left their mark as competitors with Heavy Hands. I like seeing the hand fighting raised up a notch or two. If an open shot is not there, I like seeing an Iowa wrestler get in there and make an opening for a shot or takedown with aggressive hand fighting. Making their own opportunities.
I also see more of an emphasis on riding and turning. There were numerous bouts where I feel as though in recent years an Iowa wrestler would have released their opponent to go for another takedown. I saw more aggressive riding that led to turns, pins, and tiring their opponents out. I like that.
On Saturday, a group of young Iowa wrestlers competed at the Grand View Open at Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. Anthony Cassioppi, Nelson Brands, and Justin Stickley won titles at the Grand View Open in the Open division.
Cassioppi pinned all four of his opponents at Hwt. in the first period with pins in 2:53, 2:26, 1:08, and 2:38. With only 9:08 of wrestling for the day in four matches, Cassioppi made a very impressive debut for his college career.
Brands was also dominating with a Fall, Tech Fall, and Major Decision before picking up a Medical Forfeit in the finals to win the title at 165. This was also the college debut for Brands. Justin Stickley had a very good tournament with a 4-0 record to win the 141 lbs. weight class. Stickley was varsity for Iowa in the early part of the season last year at 125 as a freshman.
Jeremiah Moody placed second at 157, Keegan Shaw placed third at 157, Zach Axmear placed sixth at 149. Joe Kelly placed third at 157 in the Freshman/Sophomore division.
Preston Stephenson (157), Danny Murphy (157), Tristan McDonald (165), and Cade Brownlee (197) did not place.
This was a very good showing for the Iowa Wrestling program.
So I was real impressed with Iowa Wrestling on all fronts on this the opening weekend of the season.
It is a long time until the NCAA’s in Pittsburgh on March 21-23. The journey for the competitive season has just begun. I believe we as Iowa Wrestling fans are going to really like what we see in Pittsburgh.
Up next for the Hawks is their home opener on Friday, November 16 at 7 PM in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa is going for their 13th consecutive year of leading the college wrestling world in home attendance.
Tickets are available at: hawkeyesports.com/tickets.
Be there because you are going to really like watching this Iowa Wrestling team compete.
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
