March 2, 2010
- 2010 Big Ten Championships
- Carver-Hawkeye Arena Revitalization
- 2009-10 Hawkeye Wrestling Media Guide
- Iowa and the Big Ten Network
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
- Big Ten Network highlights
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
THIS WEEK
The top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes will vy for its third-straight and 34th overall conference team title at the 2010 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. The event will be hosted Saturday and Sunday by the University of Michigan at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, MI.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Following is the Big Ten Championships event schedule. Times are Central.
Session – Day – Time (CT) – Competition
Session I – Saturday – 10 a.m. – Through quarterfinals and consolation 1st round
Session II – Saturday – 5 p.m. – Through championship semifinals and up to the consolation semifinals
Session III – Sunday – 11 a.m. – Consolation semifinals, followed by 7th place matches. Championship, 3rd, and 5th place matches for each weight will start at 1 p.m.
TICKET INFORMATION
All-session tickets ($30) are available from the UM Athletic Ticket Office (734-764-0247 or www.MGoBlue.com/tickets). Single-session tickets will be on sale at Crisler Arena on days of competition. Single-session tickets for Sessions One and Two are $15 for reserved seats, $10 for general admission seats and $8 for general admission seats for groups of 10 or more. Tickets for Session Three are $20 for reserved seats, $15 for general admission seats and $8 for general admission seats for groups of 10 or more.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
Brackets and team standings will be available throughout the tournament at www.bigten.org and www.mgoblue.com.
IOWA WRESTLING POST-SEASON MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES
Iowa Head Coach Tom Brands is scheduled to participate in two post-season press conferences. He will be one of four Big Ten coaches to discuss the conference championships Friday at 1:30 p.m. (CT) at Michigan’s Junge Center in Ann Arbor. Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland, Ohio State Head Coach Tom Ryan and Penn State Head Coach Cael Sanderson will also be participating in the pre-meet press conference.
Brands will also be available Wednesday, March 10 at 2:30 p.m. at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena press room to discuss Iowa’s Big Ten performance as well as the upcoming NCAA Championships. The press room is located on the arena’s ground floor. Hawkeye wrestlers and the rest of the coaching staff will be available for interviews and photo opportunities in the Dan Gable Wrestling Complex practice room following the press conference.
ON THE AIR
Radio – Steven Grace and two-time Hawkeye NCAA champion and four-time all-American Mark Ironside will call the action live on AM-800, KXIC and www.hawkeyesports.com. Web audio broadcasts are available using the XXL All-Access subscription ($14.95 per month or $119.95 per year).
Television – The Big Ten Network will air a live telecast of Sunday’s finals at 1 p.m. (CT). Tim Johnson, Jim Gibbons and former Hawkeye Head Coach Dan Gable will call the action.
Internet – Press releases, meet results and audio broadcasts are available on the University of Iowa’s website, www.hawkeyesports.com. Current staff and student-athlete head shots can be found at pics.hawkeyesports.com.
THREE HAWKEYES EARN TOP BIG TEN PRE-SEEDS
Hawkeye seniors Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174) and Chad Beatty (197) have earned top preliminary seeds the Big Ten Championships. Conference officials announced the preliminary seeds, which are determined by a vote of conference head coaches. The official Big Ten brackets will be set Friday afternoon.
Five different schools have No. 1 seeds in the 10 weight classes, but Iowa leads the way with three. Indiana and Minnesota each have two top seeds, while Ohio State, Wisconsin and Illinois have one. All 10 of Iowa’s wrestlers earned pre-seeds.
Metcalf is a two-time Big Ten champion and has earned Outstanding Wrestler honors at the conference meet twice. The 2008 Jesse Owens Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Wrestler of the Year enters the tournament with a 29-0 season record and 101-2 career mark. Going 8-0 in Big Ten duals, Metcalf scored team bonus points in seven of his eight victories. He is ranked first in the nation.
Borschel, who placed third at the last two conference meets, enters the tournament with a 28-0 season record. He also scored team bonus points in seven of his eight Big Ten dual wins and has a career record of 89-10. Borschel is ranked first in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News and WIN Magazine, and second by Intermat.
Beatty, who is ranked fourth in the nation by Intermat and WIN, earned the top seed at 197 with a 13-2 season record. The Wilton, IA, native is making his return to the Hawkeye lineup after missing the last two months of competition due to injury. He placed fourth at the 2009 Big Ten meet and has a career record of 46-22.
The other top Big Ten pre-seeds are Angel Escobedo (125) and Nathan Everhart (Hwt.) of Indiana, Jayson Ness (133) and Dustin Schlatter (157) of Minnesota, Reece Humphrey (141) of Ohio State, Andrew Howe (165) of Wisconsin and John Dergo (184) of Illinois.
Hawkeye redshirt freshman Matt McDonough (125) and seniors Daniel Dennis (133), Ryan Morningstar (165) and Dan Erekson (Hwt.) all earned second seeds, while sophomore Montell Marion (141) and senior Phillip Keddy (184) are seeded third. Iowa junior Jake Kerr is seeded fifth at 157.
McDonough enters his first Big Ten tournament with a 29-0 record, going 8-0 in conference duals. Ranked third in the nation by AWN and WIN, and fourth by Intermat, McDonough has never faced Escobedo in collegiate competition. Dennis, who placed fifth at the 2009 Big Ten meet, is 16-2 this season with a 7-1 Big Ten dual record and a 63-26 career mark. Morningstar and Keddy are three-time Big Ten placewinners, both advancing to the 2009 finals. Morningstar is 23-4 this season with a 103-36 career record, going 7-1 in Big Ten dual. Keddy enters the tournament with a 97-38 career mark, going 21-6 this season and posting a 6-1 conference dual record. The defending Big Ten heavyweight champion, Erekson is also undefeated at 8-0 this season after missing the first part of his senior campaign due to injury. Going 7-0 in Big Ten duals, the Eagle, ID, native has never faced Everhart in collegiate competition. Erekson has a career record of 61-35, and also placed sixth at 197 pounds at the 2006 conference meet. Marion and Kerr will be making their first Big Ten Championships appearances. Marion is 19-4 with a 6-2 Big Ten dual record, while Kerr is 9-7 with a 2-2 mark in conference duals.
NCAA QUALIFIERS
The Big Ten Conference is alloted 56 automatic qualifiers for the 2010 NCAA Championships, scheduled for March 18-20 in Omaha, NE. The breakdown of qualifers per weight class is as follows: 125-6, 133-5, 141-5, 149-8, 157-4, 165-5, 174-6, 184-5, 197-7, Hwt.-5. The Hawkeyes advanced nine qualifiers in 2009.
After all of the national qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
IOWA EARNS THIRD STRAIGHT BIG TEN TITLE
The Hawkeyes earned their third straight Big Ten regular season title Feb. 21 when they defeated Wisconsin, 31-6, in Madison, WI, going undefeated (23-0, 8-0 Big Ten) in dual competition for the 2009-10 season.
It marked the second straight season the Hawkeyes posted an undefeated record. The team ended the regular season on a school-record 61-match winning streak. The Hawkeyes have now posted 13 undefeated and untied seasons in school history.
HAWKEYES WIN 2009 BIG TEN TITLE, CROWN TWO CHAMPS
The top-ranked Hawkeyes won their second straight Big Ten title, and the school’s 33rd, while crowning two individual champions at the 2009 Big Ten Championships at University Park, PA. The Hawkeyes tallied 141 points over the two-day tournament, automatically qualifying nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. Illinois placed second with 113.5.
Hawkeye juniors Brent Metcalf (149) and Dan Erekson (Hwt.) won individual titles. Metcalf was named Outstanding Wrestler of the meet for the second straight season. He became the first Big Ten wrestler to earn the honor twice since it was first awarded in 1989. Iowa Head Coach Tom Brands was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second straight season. Former Hawkeye Head Coach Dan Gable was Iowa’s last coach to earn the honor consecutive seasons (1995-96).
It was the first time that Iowa won two straight Big Ten team titles since the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and the first time the Hawkeyes crowned more than one Big Ten champion since 2003.
Metcalf became the first Hawkeye to win back-to-back Big Ten titles since Cliff Moore (2003-04) when he pinned #2 Bubba Jenkins of Penn State in 4:52 in the finals match. The top-seeded junior pinned three opponents and scored one major decision en route to his title and outstanding wrestler honors.
Erekson won his first Big Ten title with a 10-2 major decision over #3 Kyle Massey of Wisconsin in the heavyweight finals. The top-seeded junior was Iowa’s first Big Ten champion at heavyweight since Steve Mocco in 2003.
Third-seeded Iowa juniors Ryan Morningstar (165) and Phillip Keddy (184) both placed second at their respective weight classes. Morningstar lost a 2-1 decision, in the tiebreak, period to top-seeded Andrew Howe of Wisconsin. Keddy lost an 8-1 decision to top-seeded Jake Herbert of Northwestern in the 184-pound final.
Iowa seniors Charlie Falck (125-3rd) and Alex Tsirtsis (141-4th), and juniors Daniel Dennis (133-5th), Jay Borschel (174-3rd) and Chad Beatty (197-4th) wrestled back through the consolation bracket to place at the Big Ten meet and earn NCAA automatic bids. Falck, who was seeded second, scored his 90th career victory with a 5-4 win over #5 Zach Sanders of Minnesota in the consolation semifinals before posting a 13-3 major decision over #4 Brad Pataky of Penn State for third place. Borschel, the 174-pound #2 seed, also placed third with a 7-0 win over #4 Dave Rella of Ohio State in the consolation semifinals and a 3:10 pin of #5 John Dergo of Illinois in the placing match. Tsirtsis posted his 25th season win in the consolation semifinals, using an escape in the tiebreak period to beat #4 Mike Thorn of Minnesota, 2-1. The third-seeded Hawkeye lost a close 4-3 decision to #5 J Jaggers of Ohio State to place fourth. Beatty scored a takedown and nearfall points as time expired to post a 6-3 win over #4 Gordon Bierschenk of Minnesota in the consolation semifinals, ensuring his bid to the NCAA meet.
BIG TEN RECORDS
Iowa holds records in five of seven Big Ten Championship categories. The Hawkeyes hold records for most individual champions in one tournament (9 in 1983), most consecutive team titles (25 from 1974-98), most falls by a team in one tournament (12 in 1979), largest victory margin (118.5 points in 1983) and fastest fall in all matches (Bart Chelesvig’s 23-second pin over Illinois’ Keith Bolman in 1992).
The Hawkeyes have won the most Big Ten team titles (33) and crowned the most individual champions (184). Seven of the Big Ten’s 10 four-time conference champions were Hawkeyes, and Iowa has had 18 of the conference’s 47 three-time champions.
IOWA WINNING STREAKS
The Hawkeyes have won 61 straight dual matches, which is a school record. The current streak started with a win over Cornell (32-3) on Jan. 12, 2008, which was the first match after Iowa lost to Oklahoma State (19-14) on Jan. 5.
That 61-match winning streak ranks fourth-best in NCAA wrestling history behind three Oklahoma State streaks. The Cowboys won 76 straight duals from 1937-51, and had two 69-match streaks (1921-32 and 1996-99).
The Hawkeyes have also won 41 consecutive duals on the road, which is also a school record. That streak started with a 20-13 win at Iowa State on Dec. 9, 2007.
Iowa has also won its last 25 duals at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That streak, which ranks fourth-best in school history, started with a 27-13 win over Penn State on Jan. 20, 2008, which was also the first home match after the loss to the Cowboys. The school record is 55 (1/9/1977-12/18/1983).
Against Big Ten opponents, the Hawkeyes have won their last 27 duals, including the last 12 at home and 15 on the road. The 27 duals rank second in school history, while the 12 home duals rank third and the 15 road duals rank fourth. Iowa’s school record for consecutive Big Ten wins is 98 (12/13/1975-1/28/1989), while the records for Big Ten home wins is 63 (1/17/1975-1/3/1998) and road wins is 54 (1/19/1974-1/28/1989).
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Iowa’s 11 seniors – Chad Beatty, Jay Borschel, Daniel Dennis, Dan Erekson, Michael Fahrer, Phillip Keddy, Dan LeClere, Rick Loera, Brent Metcalf, Ryan Morningstar, Joe Slaton – bring a wealth of talent and experience to the mat.
The group has a combined career record of 651-215, going 413-116 in duals, 137-51 in Big Ten duals and 156-39 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The group has scored 1,687 team points in dual competition and has started a combined 532 dual matches. Iowa’s seniors have won one NCAA individual title, three Big Ten individual titles, nine all-America honors and qualified for the NCAA Championships 16 times.
HAWKEYES SET SHUTOUTS RECORD
Iowa’s 49-0 shutout of Northwestern on Feb. 12 was its eighth of the season, which is a school record. The previous record of five was set during the 1980-81, 1989-90, 1990-91 and 2008-09 seasons. Iowa blanked Cornell College (57-0), Iowa Lakes (52-0), North Carolina Pembroke (47-0), Southern Illinois Edwardsville (51-0), Michigan (36-0), Michigan State (37-0), Utah Valley (38-0) and Northwestern (49-0) this season.
UNDEFEATED AT HOME
The 2009-10 Hawkeyes added another school record to their list of accomplishments with a 32-3 victory over #3 Ohio State on Feb. 19. The win gave Iowa a perfect 11-0 season record at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which bested the previous record of 10 home wins in a season set in 1986. The Hawkeyes have posted 18 undefeated seasons at Carver-Hawkeye since moving into the facility in 1983. Iowa has a 179-18 (.909) record in the arena, which seats 15,500. The dual wrestling attendance record for Carver-Hawkeye Arena is 15,955, set when Iowa defeated Iowa State (20-15) on December 6, 2008.
FOUR HAWKEYES ARE UNDEFEATED
Hawkeye seniors Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174), and Dan Erekson (Hwt.), and redshirt freshman Matt McDonough (125) are all undefeated this season.
Metcalf and McDonough are 29-0, Borschel is 28-0, and Erekson is 8-0. Borschel, McDonough and Metcalf are 22-0 in dual matches, while Erekson is 8-0.
Metcalf has scored extra team points in 25 of his 29 bouts, while McDonough has posted extra points in 22, Borschel in 19 and Erekson in four. The quartet has combined for 369 of Iowa’s 814 team points scored in dual competition. Metcalf (25-0) and McDonough (11-0) are also unbeaten at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in their Iowa careers.
TRIO GOES OVER CENTURY POINT TOTAL
For the first time since the 2000-01 season, more than one wrestler has scored over 100 team points in dual competition. Hawkeye seniors Brent Metcalf and Jay Borschel, and redshirt freshman Matt McDonough scored 123, 105 and 104 team points in duals, respectively. Metcalf has scored 100 or more dual team points in each of his seasons at Iowa, scoring 100 in 2007-08 and 123 in 2008-09. Former Hawkeye Eric Juergens (108) and current Hawkeye Assistant Coach Doug Schwab (104) were the last wrestlers to score over 100 team points in the same season.
METCALF MOVES UP ON CAREER PINS LIST
Hawkeye senior 149-pounder Brent Metcalf ranks seventh on Iowa’s all-time career pins list with 46 falls. Metcalf is tied for seventh with Hawkeye Head Coach Tom Brands (1989-92). Former Hawkeye Ed Banach (1980-83) holds the record with 73. Iowa Assistant Coach Terry Brands ranks sixth with 48 (1988-92).
Metcalf is the only Hawkeye to crack the career list with only three seasons of competition. He has pinned 45 percent (46 pins in 102 matches) of his opponents at Iowa. The top-ranked Hawkeye has 15 pins this season and is undefeated at 28-0.
METCALF, MORNINGSTAR SNARE 100TH CAREER VICTORIES
Hawkeye seniors Brent Metcalf and Ryan Morningstar have each posted their 100th collegiate career victories this season.
Metcalf recorded his 100th career victory Feb. 19 with a 3-1 decision over #2 Lance Palmer of Ohio State. He has started 69 duals at Iowa and has a career record of 101-2. Morningstar recorded his 100th career win Feb. 6 with a 3-1 victory over Utah Valley’s Jeb Clark. Morningstar is 23-4 this season, going 18-3 in dual competition. The Lisbon, IA, native has started 86 duals for the Hawkeyes and has a career record of 103-36.
Hawkeye senior Phillip Keddy (97-38) is also closing in on his 100th career victory.
IOWA WRESTLING HISTORY
Iowa’s overall dual meet record is 877-215-30 (.795) in 100 seasons. The Hawkeyes have won 22 national titles and 33 Big Ten titles. Iowa’s 49 NCAA champions have won a total of 57 NCAA individual titles, crowning six three-time and 14 two-time champions. The Hawkeyes’ 101 Big Ten champions have won a total of 184 conference titles. There have been seven four-time, 18 three-time and 26 two-time Iowa winners. Iowa’s 138 all-Americans have earned all-America status 278 times, including 17 four-time, 27 three-time and 35 two-time honorees.
BIG TEN WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK
Each week during the regular season, the Big Ten awards a conference wrestler of the honor to the Big Ten’s best individual competitor for that week.
Five Hawkeyes earned the honor during the 2009-10 season, including three in consecutive weeks. The five honorees ties Iowa’s school record set during the 2002-03 and 2007-08 seasons. Minnesota posted six honorees in 2005-06, which is the Big Ten record. It was the first time, since the conference started awarding the weekly honor during the 2001-02 season, that wrestlers from the same team earned the honor in three consecutive weeks.
Senior Brent Metcalf earned the honor twice in 2009-10, becoming Iowa’s first season honoree on Jan. 5 and collecting the season’s last honor on Feb. 23. The Davison, MI, native was one of two Big Ten wrestlers to earn the honor twice in 2009-10, as Ohio State’s Lance Palmer (Jan. 26, Feb. 16) and Penn State’s Cyler Sanderson (Nov. 17, Dec. 22) each collected the honor twice this season.
Metcalf totaled five Big Ten Wrestler of the Week awards during his Hawkeye career, and is one of only three wrestlers in Big Ten history to do so. Minnesota’s Ryan Lewis (2001-03), Michigan State’s Nick Simmons (2004-07) and Northwestern’s Jake Herbert (2004-09) are the other three.
Metcalf earned his first honor of the season after winning his third straight title at the annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, IL. He was named the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament, and took home the Individual High Scorer Award for racking up 32.5 team points. Iowa won its 21st overall and third straight Midlands title with 168.5 points. Metcalf pinned three Midlands opponents, and recorded a technical fall and major decision before beating #2 Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin, 9-2, in the finals. He picked up his second season award for helping the Hawkeyes finish out the 2009-10 season undefeated (23-0) for the second-straight season and pick up their third-straight Big Ten regular season title with wins over #3 Ohio State (32-3) and #14 Wisconsin (31-6). The wins helped Iowa extend its school-record winning streak to 61 matches. Metcalf scored a 3-1 victory over #2 Lance Palmer of Ohio State in Iowa City, recording his 100th career victory and going undefeated (25-0) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during his collegiate career. The Hawkeye senior received a forfeit in the dual at Wisconsin to stay undefeated at 29-0 and post a perfect 8-0 record in Big Ten dual competition.
Senior Jay Borschel (174) picked up his first career honor Jan. 12 after being named Division I Outstanding Wrestler at the 2010 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, IA. Borschel, who went 4-0 at the two-day tournament, helped the Hawkeyes win their third-straight and sixth overall National Duals tournament team title. Iowa joins Oklahoma State (2003-05) as the only schools to win three consecutive team titles in the tournament’s 22-year history. He is only the second Hawkeye to earn the Division I Outstanding wrestler honor. Metcalf earned the award in 2008. Borschel opened the tournament with a 10-7 win over #3 Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska and a 8-2 decision over #16 Nate Lee of Boise State. He posted one of Iowa’s two major decisions in the championship semifinals over #13 Scott Glasser of Minnesota (11-3). He then scored the only team bonus points in Iowa’s finals match with #2 Iowa State, beating #14 Duke Burk, 10-2.
Sophomore Montell Marion (141) earned his first career honor Jan. 19 after scoring Iowa’s biggest upset in its 19-16 victory over the Cowboys. Marion, who was ranked #11 by Intermat at match time, blanked fifth-ranked sophomore Jamal Parks, 4-0. After a scoreless first period, Marion scored an escape and takedown and added a riding time point for the victory. Marion accumulated 3:16 of riding time during the match. A crowd of 10,967 was on hand at to see Iowa Oklahoma State for the first time, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, since December 4, 2000. Both teams won five bouts in the dual, but Marion’s upset and Iowa’s bonus-point wins at 125, 149 and 174 made the difference in the final team score.
Senior Daniel Dennis (133) picked up his second career honor Feb. 2 after upsetting top-ranked Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, 3-2 in the first tiebreak period, and scoring a 17-7 major decision over Penn State’s Bryan Pearsall. Gomez, a senior who is the defending NCAA and Big Ten champion, entered the dual on a 29-match winning streak. Dennis was the last collegiate wrestler to beat Gomez, scoring a 3-2 decision at the dual in East Lansing last season, earning him his first Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor. After a scoreless first period, Gomez scored a quick escape in the second to take a 1-0 lead. Dennis started down in the third period and scored a reversal to take a 2-1 lead. Gomez escaped with 13 seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 2-2. Dennis had only accumulated 59 seconds of riding time when Gomez escaped, so the match went to overtime. Neither wrestler scored in the one minute sudden victory period. Dennis started down in the first 30-second tiebreak period, escaping with 16 seconds left to take a 3-2 lead. Gomez needed an escape in the second 30-second tiebreak to force the match to a second sudden victory period, but Dennis rode him out to hold on for the 3-2 win. Iowa’s 37-0 shut out of Michigan State was the sixth for the Hawkeyes this season, which sets a new school record. The previous record of five was set during the 1980-81, 1989-90, 1990-91 and 2008-09 seasons.
Following are the 2009-10 Big Ten Wrestlers of the Week:
Date Wrestler (Wt., School)
11/10 Colton Salazar (157, Purdue)
11/17 Cyler Sanderson (157, Penn State)
11/24 Reece Humphrey (141, Ohio State)
Brad Pataky (125, Penn State)
12/1 Paul Young (165, Indiana)
12/8 Angel Escobedo (125, Indiana)
12/15 Ben Berhow (Hwt., Minnesota)
12/22 Cyler Sanderson (157, Penn State)
1/5 Brent Metcalf (149, Iowa)
1/12 Jay Borschel (174, Iowa)
1/19 Montell Marion (141, Iowa)
Lance Palmer (149, Ohio State)
2/2 Daniel Dennis (133, Iowa)
2/16 Lance Palmer (149, Ohio State)
2/23 Brent Metcalf (149, Iowa)
WRESTLING SUMMER CAMPS
For dates and more information about 2010 Iowa Wrestling Summer camps visit www.iowawrestlingcamps.com.
CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE
The Hawkeye wrestling staff of Tom Brands, Terry Brands, Doug Schwab, Mike Zadick and Danny Song earned a total of one Olympic gold medal, one Olympic bronze medal, six NCAA titles, 10 conference titles and 13 all-America honors.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
On the 2009-10 Hawkeye wrestling team, there is one set of brothers, three wrestlers whose fathers wrestled at Iowa and two uncle-nephew combinations.
Junior Matt Ballweg (157) and redshirt freshman Mark Ballweg (133/141) are brothers who hail from Waverly, IA.
Senior Rick Loera (197), redshirt freshman Matt McDonough (125/133) and true freshman Nick Trizzino all had fathers who wrestled for the Hawkeyes. George Loera (1975-76) and Mike McDonough (1974-76) wrestled on the same team, while Mark Trizzino was an all-American (1984) and four-year letterwinner (1981-84) for the Hawkeyes.
Junior Luke Lofthouse (197) is the uncle of Hawkeye true freshman Ethen Lofthouse (174). Nick Trizzino’s uncle, Scott Trizzino, was also a three-time all-American (1978-79-81) and four-time letterwinner (1977-79, 1981) for the Hawkeyes.
There have been 11 sets of brothers to wrestle together in the Hawkeye lineup since the 1950s. They are Don and Tom Huff (1961), Mark and Scott Trizzino (1981), Lenny, Larry and Jim Zalesky (1981-82), Ed and Lou Banach (1981-83), Marty and Lindley Kistler (1984-85), Jim and John Heffernan (1987), Tom and Terry Brands (1989-92), Troy and Terry Steiner (1991-93), Ryan and Randy Fulsaas (2001) and Luke and Ty Eustice (2003-04).
There have also been five sets of twins to wrestle at Iowa. They are Ed and Lou Banach, Tom and Terry Brands, Ben and Brett Stedman, Troy and Terry Steiner, and Randy and Ryan Fulsaas.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will travel to the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships, scheduled for March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, NE. Iowa has won the last two NCAA team titles, and have collected a total of 22 in school history. The NCAA, University of Nebraska and the Omaha Sports Commission will co-host the event. Tickets to the event are available at (402) 422-1212 or ticketmaster.com.
Sessions one (11 a.m.) and two (6:30 p.m.) will be held Mar. 18, sessions three (10 a.m.) and four (6 p.m.) will be Mar. 19, and session five (10 a.m.) and the championship finals (6:30 p.m.) are set for Mar. 20. All times are Central.