The top ranked Iowa wrestling team thought they were going to finally be headed back to the mat this weekend.

Iowa hasn’t wrestled since February 7th then they defeated Purdue and Ohio State in West Lafayette. Prior to that meet, Hawkeye head coach Tom Brands tested positive for Covid-19 and then prior to the meet on the 7th it was revealed that 157 pounder Kaleb Young was also sidelined due to the Covid-19 protocols.

Shortly after the meet, the Hawkeye wrestling program went into a Covid-19 pause, which included on workouts or meets for the Iowa wrestlers. This week the Hawkeyes started coming out of their pause and were allowed to return to individual training. On Thursday they were given the green light to return to the mat.

However, the Hawkeyes, who had already had to postpone a meet at Penn State on the 12th, also postponed the meet with Northwestern set for the 19th, but earlier Friday afternoon the Big Ten had released a schedule for their network that included Iowa hosting Wisconsin on Sunday.

That was on the schedule until Friday evening when Iowa and Wisconsin released statements saying that the meet was canceled.

Wisconsin cited health and safety concerns related to Covid-19. While Iowa pointed the finger directly at the Badgers medical team saying that they canceled the meet.

Tom Brands was obviously not pleased.

“Our medical team did their job to the nth degree. We have been diligent. We have followed protocol. We have the green light to compete from our medical professionals and per Big Ten Conference protocol.”

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta expressed his disappointment in the decision by the Badgers medical personnel.

“The University of Iowa medical staff, using Big Ten and institutional guidelines, has cleared the Iowa Wrestling team to return to competition. Coach Brands and his team returned to full in-person activities Thursday. We are disappointed in the decision to cancel Sunday’s dual.”

The question is now what does Iowa do?

Their next scheduled wrestling meet is the Big Ten’s at Penn State on March 6th and 7th. Will Iowa try to schedule another meet with a Big Ten foe next week? That appears to be unlikely, so the Hawkeyes will be headed to Happy Valley coming off an extended pause due to Covid-19.