Performance at Midlands disappoints Hawks
EVANSTON, Ill. — The ability to prevail under all circumstances became the trademark for Iowa’s recent championship wrestling teams.
The Hawkeyes often won by wide margins, but they also made their mark in the biggest events by grinding out victories in tough matches. They won at full strength and they won when they faced injury and illness.
No matter the circumstances, Iowa always won.
The Hawkeyes dealt with something Thursday that they hadn’t encountered in nearly three years — something other than victory — and it trickled down individually to their most-accomplished wrestler.
Missouri vaulted past Iowa in Thursday afternoon’s consolations to seize the lead in the team standings and claim its first title at the Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Tigers piled up 103.5 points without an individual finalist to finish eight ahead of second-place Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes finished fourth with 91 points and no individual champions after defending national champion Matt McDonough stumbled in the 125-pound title match.
It marked the first time Iowa failed to come out on top of a wrestling meet since it suffered a 19-14 dual defeat on Jan. 5, 2008, against Oklahoma State.
“We didn’t wrestle well, and now we’ve got to go find out why,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “There’s a lot of things that can accumulate and they accumulated, and it spelled doom. It was like there was a light and then it was gone and then there was a light and then it was gone and then it got rolling the wrong way and it spelled doom.
“When things start rolling the wrong way, it can’t affect every individual, it cannot be down the line. You have to be able to stop that, and you have to be able to take things into your own hands and right the wrong.”
The Hawkeyes had their chances, but they were ultimately done in by an inability to pull out close matches. Iowa’s designated 10-man scoring lineup finished 8-17 in matches decided by three points or fewer.
That trend was most evident in the consolation semifinals when the Hawkeyes lost all five of their bouts by a collective 11 points — a chain of events that essentially knocked Iowa out of team title contention. The Hawkeyes started the round 1.5 points out of the lead and finished it 13.5 behind Missouri.
“It became almost habitual,” Brands said. “The reason why you lose close matches is because you’re not finishing takedowns, because you’re not getting tough, because you’re not protecting the center of the mat, so it’s the little things adding up to the scores. But you look at opportunities lost and missed and you add those up. But you’ve got to be able to take those and do something with it.”
McDonough lost for just the second time in 50 matches with the Hawkeyes and was held to a career-low scoring output in a 3-1 defeat against Northwestern’s Brandon Precin.
“That was not my pace,” McDonough said. “The only reason I would’ve been tired in that match would’ve been from forcing things that I didn’t need to force. If I would’ve been wrestling my pace, I think things would’ve been a lot different.”
Precin scored on a throwby with 44 seconds remaining in the first period and shut down McDonough’s offense the rest of the way.
“It’s upsetting,” McDonough said. “Frankly, it pisses me off. I didn’t wrestle my best match, and he wrestled a really good match. Credit to him for wrestling his match, and there’s the problem right there — I’ve got to stick it to him. I’m still looking forward because it’s not the end of the season yet.”
No, but Thursday underlined how much work is ahead for the Hawkeyes in the last three months of the season. Brands acknowledged that there would’ve been work ahead for his team even if it had won the tournament.
“But we’ve got different work to do (now),” he said. “It’s between the ears and it’s emotionally. … If our guys don’t realize what they’re up against, then we’re going to communicate very clearly what they’re up against. This was really the first test.”
McDonough was Iowa’s only wrestler who placed in the top five. Tyler Clark (133), Aaron Janssen (165) and Ethen Lofthouse (174) finished fifth. Clark wasn’t part of Iowa’s scoring lineup, but he placed fifth after splitting a pair of matches against teammate Tony Ramos.
Ramos and top-seeded 184-pounder Grant Gambrall reached Thursday afternoon’s semifinals before ending the tournament with three consecutive defeats to place sixth. Mark Ballweg lost his last two bouts to finish sixth at 141 and Luke Lofthouse placed seventh at 197.
“I’m trying to search and find some toughness,” Brands said. “We got it handed to us.”
Category: Wrestling
Okay….let us take back Gabbert’s ridiculous interception for an Iowa touchdown (and thus Mizzou wins the Insight Bowl) and we’ll give you the Midlands Championship.
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Brands talks a good game about facing tough competition, then ducks the National Duals. If he really wanted a chance at development, he missed it there.
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