Dec. 4, 2010
- 2010-11 Media Guide
- Tickets & Promotions
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
- Carver-Hawkeye Arena Revitalization
- Iowa and the Big Ten Network
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
PARDON OUR PROGRESS! As friends of the University of Iowa and fans of the Hawkeyes know, the UI Athletics Department is well into a multi-million dollar revitalization of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. This important and exciting project has reduced for this season the number of ticket windows that are operational on game nights. Fans attending the home events of the 2010-11 UI men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling teams are invited to avoid game night delays by purchasing their event tickets online or in advance of game day. If your schedule doesn’t allow for an advance purchase, we recommend you consider arriving at the Arena a little earlier than originally planned. Go Hawks!
Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in the University of Iowa’s Hawk Talk Daily, an e-newsletter that offers a daily look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, delivered free each morning to thousands of fans of the Hawkeyes worldwide.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Five matches into his sophomore season at the University of Iowa, Mark Ballweg might have posted the first of what could be many signature wins.
The unranked Ballweg used a takedown with 11 seconds left to knock off Iowa State senior Chris Drouin (ranked No. 11 in the country) at 141 pounds as the Hawkeyes extended their dual winning streak to 66 with a 22-13 win Friday in front of 11,895 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“Ballweg. Good job, big win,” UI head coach Tom Brands said. “But we have to open that baby up with good, explosive things I know he can do, but we have to show it, too.”
Iowa led 11-3 after four matches and the Ballweg-Drouin matchup would be the final before a 12-minute intermission. After a scoreless first period, Drouin chose down and escaped 11 seconds into the second period. Ballweg tied the score, 1-1, with an escape 20 seconds into the final period. Late in the match Drouin was in deep on a shot, but Ballweg scrambled and came out on top with the decisive takedown.
“It’s just wrestling,” said Ballweg, who remains undefeated on the season. “It’s like that every day for me in the (practice) room, wrestling the best guys in the nation, in the world. I’m fighting there a lot in practice…I’ve had practice. I wanted to be in on is legs. I don’t like fending off his shots, but when he gets in there, you have to do it.”
The win by Ballweg was Iowa’s fourth straight in Friday’s dual after Luke Lofthouse opened with a 5-3 loss in overtime to Jerome Ward. Hawkeye heavyweight Blake Rasing won 2-0 over Kyle Simonson, Matt McDonough (125) and Tony Ramos (133) won by major decision and then Ballweg won a key clash at 141.
“That’s a big boost,” Brands said. “On the roll, on the counter, it would have been real easy for Ballweg to hold for a stalemate, but he didn’t. He got his head up, back into the guy and took the points. That’s huge. A lot of times guys look for stalemates.”
Even though the most recent national rankings suggest otherwise, Ballweg refused to call his victory an upset.
“I know I can wrestle with anybody, so that’s the mentality I went out there with,” Ballweg said. “I was going out there to win. That’s what I wanted to do and that’s how I train.”
Iowa won for the seventh straight time in the series and in the process, secured the yet-to-be-sculpted Dan Gable Traveling Trophy. The Hawkeyes are 59-16-2 all-time against Iowa State.
Brands saw “a lot of good things,” Friday, but at times, he thought the action was chaotic.
“The first thing that comes to my mind is a little bit of sloppiness,” Brands said. “Maybe a little ugly.”
Iowa (5-0 overall) receives its first Big Ten Conference test tonight against Michigan State with a 7 p.m. start in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes blanked Michigan State, 37-0, a year ago.
“We have to get ready,” Brands said. “We’ll learn more from the Iowa State dual in a day or two.”
No. 6 Iowa 22, No. 14 Iowa State 13
197 — Jerome Ward (ISU) dec. Luke Lofthouse, 5-3 (overtime)
285 — Blake Rasing (Iowa) dec. Kyle Simonson, 2-0
125 — Matt McDonough (Iowa) maj. dec. Patrick Hunter, 14-4
133 — Tony Ramos (Iowa) maj. dec. Brandon Jones, 14-5
141 — Mark Ballweg (Iowa) dec. Chris Drouin, 3-1
149 — Nate Carr, Jr. (ISU) maj. dec. Jeret Chiri, 13-3
157 — Derek St. John (Iowa) maj. dec. Trent Weatherman, 12-3
165 — Andrew Sorenson (ISU) dec. Jake Kerr, 4-1
174 — Jon Reader (ISU) dec. Ethen Lofthouse, 6-1
184 — Grant Gambrall (Iowa) maj. dec. Cole Shafer, 12-3