Eight new starters.

Seventy-seven consecutive dual meet victories.

Big 10 dual meet champions.

Runner up at the Big 10 tournament.

Third place at the NCAA tournament.

Five All-Americans.

Those accolades make for a great season at Iowa State, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma or most any other school in the country. At Iowa, it is considered sub-par and just plain not good enough. The expectations at a program with twenty-three NCAA team titles, including the previous three in a row, is a national championship. Period.

Cornell University and head coach Rob Kohl entered the 2010-2011 college wrestling season as the odds-on favorites to win the NCAA title but they were stopped short of their goal by the rising program from State College, PA-Penn State University lead by all-time ISU great Cael Sanderson. Penn State capped a regular season where they narrowly defeated the Hawkeyes in the Big 10 tournament with their first NCAA Wrestling Championship since 1953.

The 2010-2011 Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team was short on experience after the graduation of six All-Americans who played an integral part in three NCAA team championships, but it was not short on talent. The Hawkeyes overcame struggles with consistency, confidence and even some adversity to end the regular season as a legit national championship contender.

The 2010-2011 Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Team: A Look Back

Part 2: 165 pounds to Heavyweight

165

The Hawkeyes had a returning starter at 165 pounds in 2010 NCAA qualifier Jake Kerr. Kerr had battled with fellow senior Aaron Janssen throughout 2009-2010 for the starting spot. The two Hawkeyes found themselves in a similar predicament in 2010-2011 with Kerr re-claiming the starting position at 165 pounds to begin the year. Kerr was 4-1 in early duals before the Midlands, before falling to Janssen at the tournament and surrendering the starting position for the rest of the season. Kerr ended his season with an 8-3 record at 165 and a 1-0 record at 174 with a Big 10 dual meet win against Indiana.

As noted, Janssen became Iowa's starter at the Midlands in late December and never looked back. He finished the year with a 28-9 record, 8-3 in duals (5-2 in Big 10 duals) and a 3rd place finish at the Big 10 tournament. His season ended at the NCAA tournament where he won three matches but finished one match short of All-American status.

Other 165 results: A host of other Hawkeyes competed at 165 pounds unattached. Redshirt freshman Joe DuCharme went 5-6. Among the true freshmen: Walt Gillmor went 24-6, Michael Kelly went 7-3 and Nick Moore went 12-2. A few oddities transpired with the youngsters at 165; Gillmor finished 3rd in five open tournaments and though Kelly defeated Moore 6-4 at Kauffman-Brand Open at 157, Moore prevailed in both matches wrestled at 165. Moore won 7-2 at the Pat "Flash" Flanagan Open and 3-1 at the DuHawk Open.

174

174 pounds was manned by Ethan Lofthouse who overcame early struggles to have a very solid redshirt freshman season. He compiled a 20-10 overall record (10-5 in duals) but only a 3-4 Big 10 record. Lofthouse responded with a 3rd place finish in the Big 10 tournament en route to the NCAAs where we went 1-2 and did not place.

Other 174 results: Mike Evans had a sparkling 22-2 record with 12 pins wrestling unattached, winning five tournament titles in the process. He even won 3 matches at the Midlands though he didn't place. Another freshman, Jeremy Fahler, was 8-6 at 174 and also competed in several events at 184.

184

The undisputed starter for Iowa at 184 pounds was sophomore Grant Gambrall. Gambrall, who many felt was somewhat undersized for the weight, started slow but finished the year with a bang. He rebounded from a 6th place finish at the Midlands and a 5th place finish at the Big 10 tournament to place a surprising 3rd at the NCAA tournament, earning his first All-American honor in the process. Gambrall finished 25-8 overall with a 14-2 record in dual meets, including 7-1 in Big 10 conference duals.

Other 184 results: Fahler had a 6-6 record. Redshirt freshman Tomas Lira was 13-7 and junior Vinnie Wagner was 17-3 with three tournament championships to his credit.

197

Luke Lofthouse was the only 197 pound wrestler on the roster for the Hawkeyes in 2010-2011 and he made the most of his opportunity. Lofthouse, thanks to a two year Mormon mission and a redshirt year during his Iowa career, was the last wrestler remaining in the program from the Jim Zalesky Era. Affectionately known as "Uncle Luke," Lofthouse brought home All-American honors from the NCAAs a full seven years removed from high school. Lofthouse's 5th place finish included an overall record of 25-7, a dual meet record of 14-2 (7-0 in Big 10 duals) and a runner-up finish at the Big 10 tournament.

Heavyweight

Heavyweight was a major question mark coming into the season after the graduation of Dan Erekson. Redshirt juniors Blake Rasing and Jordan Johnson had filled in admirably during Erekson's injury troubles the year prior but coaches and fans were looking for one of them to take command of the starting spot.

As the season wore on, it was clear the spot belonged to Blake Rasing. Rasing came out of the gates a slowly but developed both confidence and offense over the course of the season. Rasing took a modest 14-5 regular season record into the Big 10 tournament and surprised everyone but himself with a Big 10 championship. Unfortunately, a tough draw at the NCAAs contributed to just one win in three matches. For the year, Rasing went 18-7 overall and 13-3 in dual meets (5-3 in Big 10 duals).

Other heavyweight results: Johnson finished 2-3. Highly touted freshman Bobby Telford had a remarkable year wrestling unattached. Telford's final record of 22-4 included thirteen pins, with two of his losses coming by disqualification. He defeated several quality opponents throughout the season and won six tournament championships.