After a humbling 30-8 loss to #1 Penn State on Friday night, #2 Iowa wrestling wrapped up its East Coast road trip with a dual meet against #25 Maryland in College Park on Sunday afternoon. The Terps entered the dual ranked 25th in the nation and with a 3-1 record in Big Ten competition -- both program bests since joining the Big Ten a decade ago -- but opportunities to make this a competitive dual meet were few and far between for the home side, as Iowa rolled to a 34-9 victory.
Iowa won eight of 10 matches in the dual, and earned bonus points in five of those eight wins. The visiting Hawkeyes started fast with a major decision win at 125 and, after briefly going behind after a loss by pin at 133, recovered to win seven of the remaining eight matches, including technical fall wins at 149, 165, and 174 to turn the meet into a rout. After picking up a nervy overtime win at 184, the Hawkeyes finished things off with an emphatic pin at 197 and a close win at heavyweight to close out the dual.
Sunday's outcome was fully expected, even with Iowa resting two of its best wrestlers (Drake Ayala, #3 at 133, and Jacori Teemer, #1 at 157). The Hawkeyes still had seven ranked wrestlers take the mat, including five ranked inside the top-10 at their respective weights. The Terrapins had only four ranked wrestlers in their squad, and just one ranked in the top-10 at his weight. The Terps also sent out five wrestlers who were either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen (though the Hawkeyes used a true freshman and two redshirt freshmen themselves, so the youth explanation only goes so far).
#26 Joey Cruz got Iowa on the board first with an impressive 20-6 major decision victory. Cruz controlled the match throughout and racked up several takedowns; the only disappointment was that he wasn't able to secure one more in the third period and turn his major decision win into a technical fall instead.
One of the few low points of the dual meet for Iowa came at 133, where Kale Petersen got planted on his back an pinned by #11 Braxton Brown. Petersen did a good job of fending off Brown's attacks for much of the first period, but he fell prey to Brown's skill on the mat in the second and third period, which ultimately led to him getting cradled and stuck for the pin in the third period.
That bonus point win briefly gave Maryland a 6-4 lead in the dual, but Cullan Schriever made certain that lead would be short-lived, after he was able to grind out a 6-5 win over Dario Lemus with the aid of a riding time point. It wasn't a pretty victory, but wins have also been hard to come by for Iowa at 141 this season.
Several wrestlers entered Sunday's dual needing to erase the bad taste of losing against Penn State and foremost among them was #2 Kyle Parco, who saw a 6-4 lead in his match against #3 Shayne Van Ness implode into a 17-6 defeat. Parco didn't waste any time turning things around against Maryland, getting a fast takedown and then quickly going to work on the mat to rack up near fall points. A few takedowns early in the second period pushed the match into technical fall territory and got Parco officially back on the winning track.
Maryland's second and final win in the dual meet came at 157, where #6 Ethen Miller edged out true freshman Miguel Estrada, who took the mat for Iowa in place of current-#1 Jacori Teemer. A second period takedown by Miller proved to be the difference in the match, but Estrada showed a lot of fight in the loss and kept Miller from extending his lead in the bout.
The bonus point march resumed for Iowa at 165 lbs, where #2 Michael Caliendo shook off his technical fall loss to #1 Mitchel Mesenbrink by getting a fast technical fall win of his own against freshman Alex Uryniak. Caliendo worked a takedown clinic on Uryniak and hit him with a flurry of attacks to pick up a 25-10 victory.
#6 Patrick Kennedy followed a similar blueprint at 174, as he downed freshman Branson John 21-6 behind a flood of takedowns. There was no let-up shown by either Caliendo or Kennedy, as they attacked their opponents relentlessly, got to legs with ease, and finished shots well.
After two matches that featured over 10 takedowns combined, the offense slowed way down at 184, which was also one of two matches in the dual that featured two ranked wrestlers. #5 Gabe Arnold and #11 Jaxon Smith have a shared history going back to their prep days in Georgia and that familiarity with one another may have contributed to the low-scoring nature of this bout.
Arnold and Smith traded escapes in regulation, with neither man coming all that close to securing a match-winning takedown. Both men struggled to finish attacks in the two-minute sudden victory period as well, which sent the match to tiebreakers. Arnold went down first and managed an escape after just six seconds, then put a hard ride on Smith in the second tiebreaker period to secure the 2-1 victory. A win is a win, but Arnold will also need to show more scoring power from neutral in order to contend with many of the top guys at this weight.
#1 Stephen Buchanan added one final bonus point win for Iowa at 197, courtesy of a first period pin. After racking up an easy takedwon and some quick near fall points, Buchanan finished off Chase Mielnik via pin with just 10 seconds remaining in the opening period.
The dual wrapped up at 285, where #11 Ben Kueter edged #12 Seth Nevills 5-4. Kueter scored a key takedown in the final seconds of the opening period, and then added an escape to start the second period. He nearly extended his lead in the third period, but instead ended up losing out in a scramble situation and getting taken down himself. A quick escape by Kueter provided the winning margin in the match, but it did make things nervy for the final minute of the match.
A lopsided win over #25 Maryland only does so much for the Hawkeyes, of course. In Iowa City, seasons are graded by what happens in March, not what happens on a sleepy Sunday in February. But even if Sunday's dual was far from a marquee clash, it was the next clash on the calendar and Iowa took care of business with relative ease against the Terrapins. We'll have to wait and see how Iowa handles its next marquee opportunity.
NEXT: Iowa will face #7 Nebraska (9-2, 4-1 Big Ten) at home on Friday, February 7 (7 PM CT, BTN).
