UNIVERSITY PARK — Any team that can walk into Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, win seven of 10 bouts in front of a rabid crowd of 14,311 and exit with a 26-11 win should do so skipping and whistling with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin.
Penn State did just that Jan. 20 and yet the Nittany Lions had the look and sound of a team that wasn’t satisfied with the view from the rare heights they had just scaled.
“I don’t think we wrestled our best tonight,” assistant coach Casey Cunningham told the Penn State Sports Network. “But a lot of guys figured out how to win close matches. This is a good thing about it, we see a lot of things we can improve on. We win seven matches and we can improve.”
Almost as many storylines emerged as bouts wrestled in a raucous environment broadcast live to a Big Ten Network audience.
Two emerged immediately as Iowa stoked the crowd by winning the first two bouts to grab an early 8-0 lead.
Top-ranked Hawkeyes 125-pounder Thomas Gilman, an NCAA runner-up a year ago to Penn State’s graduated Nico Megaludis, made a first-period takedown stand up for a 3-2 win over freshman phenom Nick Suriano.
“I think Nick leaves the match probably with more confidence. You’re wrestling the No. 1 guy in the country at home as a true freshman probably with a little bit of uncertainty,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson said in his post-match news conference. “He should leave the match with a little more confidence. Confidence is usually the difference maker in a tough matchup like that.”
Then, at 133, third-ranked Cory Clark rolled up a 19-4 technical fall over Penn State’s George Carpenter.
Sanderson had revealed Jan. 18 on his radio show that starting 133-pounder Jered Cortez would probably miss the rest of the season. That was supplemented on the Penn State Sports Network broadcast of the dual with the fact that Cortez had undergone season-ending shoulder surgery.
Perhaps because of that sudden steep dropoff in talent, Sanderson made a decision that provided arguably the top subplot of the night. Blue chip recruit Mark Hall was pulled out of his redshirt season and inserted into the lineup at 174 pounds.
Despite the fact that Hall ceded a takedown to Iowa All-American Alex Meyer with 15 seconds to go and dropped a 7-5 decision, both Penn State coaches seemed at ease with the decision to burn Hall’s redshirt.
“Obviously, with Hall in the lineup, we have a better team. Mark’s pretty special,” Sanderson said. “Tough loss for him tonight. It breaks my heart a little bit for him. He’ll be stronger because of it.”
Cunningham seemed to echo Sanderson’s sentiments that Hall making his dual meet debut in that environment against that opponent wasn’t an ideal situation.
“That was his first time in this arena and we know he’s super talented,” Cunningham said. ‘That was a tough guy he’s wrestling. He’ll be ready to rock and roll when it’s time.”
The victory at 174, coupled with the match-opening wins at 125 and 133, were the only wins Iowa could muster.
Jimmy Gulibon halted the Hawkeyes’ momentum, and inspired hope that he might finally realize his potential, by erasing a 3-0 deficit at the start of the third period. Gulibon scored four takedowns to post an 8-6 come-from-behind win over Topher Carton.
“Jimmy’s really got an endless gas tank. We don’t see it as much as we could. He had a chance to show that tonight. I was really proud of Jimmy to come back like that and finish strong. He’s an important part of the team,” Sanderson said.
Penn State, as usual, got wins from Zain Retherford and Jason Nolf at 149 and 157, respectively, but neither was as easy as Nittany Lions fans are accustomed to.
Retherford needed all 11 minutes of two complete sudden victory and tiebreaker periods to earn a 9-8 win over third-ranked Brandon Sorensen, who Retherford defeated 10-1 in last year’s NCAA final.
“Zain’s probably the toughest kid I’ve ever met. You could tell he wasn’t really feeling great, and I shouldn’t say that because not to take anything away from Sorensen, but he just found a way to win the match,” Sanderson said.
“He looked like he was in a tough match and he found a way to win. Sorensen did a great job. You always expect that. Iowa’s very good at what they do and shutting you down. It’s an experience where he can go back and he can learn from that and get better and figure out what he needs to do from here on out.”
Nolf used a pair of takedowns in the second and third periods to turn away second-ranked and previously undefeated Michael Kemerer, 9-4.
Vincenzo Joseph extended Penn State’s lead to 12-8 with a 7-4 decision. Joseph scored three first-period takedowns but could only manage one more point the rest of the way.
After Meyer’s win over Hall drew Iowa to within 12-11 and incited the Iowa crowd, Bo Nickal cast a pall over Carver-Hawkeye.
Iowa’s fifth-ranked Sammy Brooks shot in on a single on the second-ranked Nickal early in their 184-pound bout. Nickal was able to counter by catching Brooks in a spladle, which trapped Brooks’ shoulders on the mat just 37 seconds into the match for a stunning fall.
“Bo’s Bo. He’s dangerous. He just does things that normal people don’t do,” Sanderson said.
The Nittany Lions followed with two more wins to end the match and seal the win.
Matt McCutcheon needed 11 minutes to earn an 8-7 tiebreaker to win over Cash Wilcke at 197. Fourteen seconds of riding time was the difference for McCutcheon.
And, at 285, Nick Nevills used nine takedowns to fashion a 21-6 technical fall over backup Steven Holloway. Iowa had announced before the match that starter Sam Stoll had suffered a torn ACL for the second straight year and was lost for the season.
Penn State remains undefeated at 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, tied with Ohio State (8-0, 4-0) atop the conference dual meet standings.
CHALLENGING WEEKEND AHEAD
The Nittany Lions next face a challenging away-home weekend. They travel to Madison, Wisc., for an 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, dual against the No. 17 Badgers and then return home for a 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, dual with unranked Northwestern.
Wisconsin presents some interesting matchups for Penn State, including Joseph vs. No. 3 Isaac Jordan at 165, McCutcheon vs. No. 13 Ricky Robertson at 197 and Nevills vs. No. 2 Connor Medbery at 285.
No. 2 Penn State 26
No. 3 Iowa 11
(Jan. 20 at Iowa City, Iowa)
125: No. 1 Thomas Gilman, I, dec. No. 3 Nick Suriano, 3-2.
133: No. 3 Cory Clark, I, won by tech. fall over George Carpenter, 19-4 (7:00).
141: No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon, PSU, dec. No. 18 Topher Carton, 8-6.
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford, PSU, dec. No. 3 Brandon Sorensen, 9-8 TB2.
157: No. 1 Jason Nolf, PSU, dec. No. 2 Michael Kemerer, 9-4.
165: No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, dec. Joey Gunther, 7-4.
174: No. 13 Alex Meyer, I, dec. Mark Hall, 7-5.
184: No. 2 Bo Nickal, PSU, pinned No. 5 Sammy Brooks, :37.
197: No. 10 Matt McCutcheon, PSU, dec. Cash Wilcke, 8-7 TB2.
285: No. 5 Nick Nevills, PSU, won by tech. fall over Steven Holloway, 21-6 (7:00).
Referees: Matt Sorochinsky, Rich Stahl
Takedowns: Penn State 26; Iowa 13.
Records: Penn State 8-0, 4-0 Big Ten; Iowa 7-2, 3-1.
Next match: Penn State at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27.
