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Big Ten Wrestling Championships Session I Results

After the first two rounds in the winners’ bracket and one in the consolation bracket, Iowa sits in second place overall in the team standings. So far Iowa has progressed through the tournament much as the seeding has predicted, but there have been a couple suprises: some good, some not so good for the Hawkeyes.

Starting with the bad news, Iowa’s #3 seeded freshman, Sam Stoll lost 14-5 in the 285 lb quarterfinals to Nebraska’s #6 seed Collin Jensen. Stoll looked sluggish all match and just seemed to get out-hustled by Jensen as he got turned to his back twice during the match. Stoll recently suffered a knee injury during the National Duels while wrestling against the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation, Nick Gwiazdowski, and did not look quite back at 100%.

Other good news for Iowa from the tournament has been the abundance of bonus point victory, which are going to be crucial if Iowa hopes to win a conference title. Cooper and Brooks both had pins in the first round, Burak had a tech fall, and Stoll had a major decision. Gilman, Clark, Sorensen, and Meyer all received the #2 seed in their brackets, but were unable to contribute any points in the first round due to byes.

Also in the first round, the unseeded senior at 141 lbs, Brody Grothus, took on the #1 seed from Ohio State, Micah Jordan. After tying the match up at two in the third period, Grothus gave up another takedown and ended up losing 4-3. Jordan went on to underperform in the next round getting upset by the #8 seed Jimmy Gulibon from Penn State.

The only other match Iowa had in the first round was at 165 where senior #8 seed Patrick Rhoads won in overtime on a stalling call over Indiana’s unseeded Bryce Martin.

In the second round of wrestling, Iowa mostly performed according to the seeding, but worthy of noting were the bonus point victories: junior Thomas Gilman and sophomore Brandon Sorensen won by major decisions, and junior Alex Meyer had a tech fall.

What did not go according to the seeding was senior #5 seed Edwin Cooper Jr.’s 2-1 upset decision over #4 Jake Ryan of Ohio State. The match ended tied 1-1, but Cooper got the win due to his nearly two minutes of accumulated riding time. Stoll, unfortunatley for the Hawkeyes, was upset during the second round too however. Finally, Patrick Rhoads nearly held the #1 seed Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin to a decision but then suddenly gave up a fall with twenty-four seconds left in the match.

The only Hawkeye wrestlers in the consolation side of the bracket now are Grothus, who had a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket, Rhoads, and Stoll. The other seven Hawkeyes will all be competing in the semifinal round during session II.

Session II will start at 6 p.m. tonight and will begin with the second round of the consolation bracket followed by the semifinals and then finally the third round of the consolation bracket.