The 2022 college wrestling season is drawing to an end. The Hawks have only two dual meets before the tournament season kicks in. Iowa looked good in defeating #16 Wisconsin 29-6 Saturday. I like what I saw from the lineup.
This is the time of year when morning runs put the final touch of conditioning in place. The steps in Carver will be getting a good workout. I like the schedule with one dual meet per week. That has to help the training cycle for this time of year.
There were some positive signs in the Wisconsin dual meet. Here are a few random thoughts.
- DeSanto putting up 13 takedowns? At a Big Ten dual meet? Impressive.
- More than anyone I liked what I saw from Eierman. We all know that he has a ton of potential and explosive scoring/pinning moves. Keep scoring more points and the pins will come. I am hoping that the Wisconsin match was the start of his run to peaking at Nationals.
- Cassioppi put a major decision on a very tough wrestler yet once again. I believe Cassioppi has worked himself into knowing how his new build and weight works best for him. With the right seed I can see Cassioppi in the NCAA National Finals.
- You never want to see one of your guys lose a match. However I believe the loss at Ohio State did Marinelli a lot of good. He was wrestling too tight and seems to have gone to a higher level of want. That can happen to a senior this time of year. The only thing that loss at Ohio State means is that Marinelli will not be an undefeated national champion.
- People can keep criticizing Warner and I will keep taking the wins. Warner is a grinder who has his own way to win. Jacob Warner can beat anyone in the country. At a tough and deep weight I see Warner doing real well at Nationals.
- Kaleb Young has endured too many battles in his day to not have him as an All American. As with Warner, Young is a typical grinder that will be there for Nationals. It is points they count at Nationals, not style points.
- Assad has yet to really cut loose the way I would like to see but the potential is still there. With his next two opponents ranked higher maybe we will see what I have been waiting for. This guy has all the tools to score some much needed points at Nationals.
- Turk represented himself real well. That is one tough guy you want on your side.
- I’ll be damned if I would bet against Kemerer to win it all. Still believe we have not seen his best performance of the year. He got a much needed look at a low scoring match against Penn State. As with Marinelli I believe that loss will pay dividends from here on out.
- Not gonna lie. It was a huge blow to me as a fan when I heard Ayala was out of the lineup. I have no idea if we will see him the rest of the year. Winning the team title will definitely be much harder without a lot of points at 125. Still doable, just more difficult.
I am looking forward to the remaining season we have left. The stakes and intensity just keep going up and up. Gotta love being an Iowa Wrestling fan.
*All rankings by InterMat:
Remaining schedule:
Saturday, February 12 – at #5 Oklahoma State (Arlington, Texas) 6:30 PM
Sunday, February 20 – at #7 Nebraska 6 PM
Sat/Sun March 5-6 at Big Tens (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Th-Sat, March 17-19 at NCAA National Tournament (Detroit, Michigan)
125 – #11 Drake Ayala/Jesse Ybarra
Oklahoma State – #8 Trevor Mastrogiovanni
Nebraska – Unranked
133 – #3 Austin DeSanto
Oklahoma State – #2 Daton Fix
Nebraska – Unranked
141 – #3 Jaydin Eierman
Oklahoma State – #21 Carter Young
Nebraska – #8 Chad Red
149 – #10 Max Murin
Oklahoma State – #13 Kaden Gfeller
Nebraska – #8 Ridge Lovett
157 – #12 Kalab Young
Oklahoma State – #18 Wyatt Sheets
Nebraska – #5 Peyton Robb
165 – #5 Alex Marinelli
Oklahoma State – #10 Travis Wittlake
Nebraska – #29 Bubba Wilson
174 – #2 Michael Kemerer
Oklahoma State – #10 Dustin Plott
Nebraska – #5 Mikey Labriola
184 – #17 Abe Assad
Oklahoma State – #11 Dakota Geer
Nebraska – #9 Taylor Venz
197 – #4 Jacob Warner
Oklahoma State – #1 AJ Ferrari (Currently not in the lineup)
Nebraska – #3 Eric Schultz
Hwt. – #4 Tony Cassioppi
Oklahoma State – #33 Luke Surber
Nebraska – #12 Christian Lance
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!