Hawkeyes Trounce Cyclones, 24-6

Dec. 3, 2006

IOWA CITY, IA –

The University of Iowa wrestling team won eight of 10 matches, including six by two points or less, to defeat intrastate rival Iowa State, 24-6, Sunday afternoon in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. A crowd of 13,732, which is the fifth-largest for a dual wrestling meet in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and the 11th-largest in school history, turned out for the meet. Iowa improves to 3-0 on the season and bumped the Hawkeyes to a 7-4 lead in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series with the win. Iowa State falls to 2-1.

“I’m going to give our guys credit,” said Iowa Head Coach Tom Brands. “Mark Perry, Dan Erekson and Ryan Morningstar had some big wins for us. There is still a lot of wrestling to do this year, but we are taking small steps in the right direction.”

Perry, who is ranked second in the nation at 165, scored a takedown in sudden victory to beat fourth-ranked Travis Paulson, 6-4. Erekson, an unranked sophomore, upset ninth-ranked Kurt Backes, 11-9 at 197. In the final match of the dual, redshirt freshman and #15 Morningstar upset top-ranked Trent Paulson, 3-2 at 157. Senior Eric Luedke (174-30th) and juniors Alex Tsirtsis (141-50th) and Matt Fields (Hwt.-45th) each picked up career milestone victories.

The Hawkeyes also recorded eight placewinners at Sunday’s UNI Open in Cedar Falls. Redshirt freshmen Brent Metcalf (149) and Jay Borschel (174), and freshman Billy Murphy (133) each won individual titles, while sophomore Daniel Dennis (133) and redshirt freshman Dan LeClere (141) placed second. Iowa’s other placewinners were senior Luke Magnani (125-4th), redshirt freshman Joe Slaton (133-4th), and freshman Jake Kerr (165-6th).

Iowa (3-0) will host Coe (5-0) at 6 p.m. and North Carolina State (2-3) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Iowa City.

MEET RESULTS
Iowa 24, Iowa State 6
165 – Mark Perry (I) dec. Travis Paulson (ISU), 6-4 SV-1
174 – Eric Luedke (I) dec. David Bertolino (ISU), 6-4
184 – Jake Varner (ISU) dec. Phillip Keddy (I), 6-2
197 – Dan Erekson (I) dec. Kurt Backes (ISU), 11-9
Hwt. – Matt Fields (I) dec. David Zabriskie (ISU), 6-5
125 – Charlie Falck (I) dec. Nick Fanthorpe (ISU), 6-5
133 – Mario Galanakis (I) dec. Nick Gallick (ISU), 6-1
141 – Alex Tsirtsis (I) dec. Mitch Mueller (ISU), 4-1
149 – Cyler Sanderson (ISU) dec. Alex Grunder (I), 9-8
157 – Ryan Morningstar (I) dec. Trent Paulson (ISU), 3-2