Wrestling Notebook: at Oklahoma State

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ON THE MAT
The University of Iowa wrestling team travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face the top-ranked Cowboys on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT) inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. 

THE SERIES 
Sunday marks the 51st all-time meeting between two schools that have combined to win 57 NCAA Championships (Oklahoma State 34, Iowa 23).
    Iowa has won three straight against the Cowboys, including the last meeting in Stillwater, 30-7. The last time Iowa won four straight in the series was when the Hawkeyes swept two duals in both 1995 and 1996.
    Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 27-21-2 and has a 14-6-2 advantage in Stillwater, Oklahoma. 

TOP 5 MATCHUPS
Sunday’s dual could potential feature four top-five matchups. The Hawkeyes and Cowboys have wrestlers ranked in the top five in at least one national poll at 133 (Clark/Brock), 149 (Sorensen/Collica), 157 (Kemerer/Smith), and 184 (Brooks/Boyd).

ROAD TRIP!
The Hawkeyes have won 21 straight road duals since losing at Minnesota, 22-15, at the 2013 NWCA National Duals. That streak includes five non-conference duals.
    Iowa has won 44 straight nonconference road duals against schools not named Oklahoma State. The last time Iowa lost a nonconference road dual to a team not named Oklahoma State was in 2005 at Nebraska (24-13). 

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION… WELCOME ALL CHALLENGERS
The third-ranked Hawkeyes ring in the New Year with a January schedule that includes top-ranked Oklahoma State, No. 2 Penn State, and No. 4 Ohio State. Iowa will wrestle all three opponents in that order, beginning Sunday at Oklahoma State. The Nittany Lions visit Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 20, and one week later the Buckeyes are in town for a Friday night dual on Jan. 27. 
    Single dual tickets are $15/$10 (adult/youth) for duals against Penn State (Jan. 20), and Ohio State (Jan. 27).  

HAWKEYES VS. POKES
Senior Thomas Gilman is 5-0 in his career against Oklahoma State. He defeated Austin Miller and Eddie Klimara at the Joe Parisi Open in 2013, and defeated Klimara in each of the last three duals (4-2, 15-5, 9-1). 
    Senior Cory Clark is 3-0 all-time against the Cowboys. He defeated Eddie Klimara 7-6 (TB1) at the 2014 NCAA Championships, and defeated Gary Wayne Harding in the teams’ duals in 2014-15 (10-5) and 2015-16 (8-2).
    Senior Topher Carton is appearing in the dual rivalry for the first time. He is 2-2 all-time against Oklahoma State wrestlers, including a 6-5 loss at the 2013 Joe Parisi Open to the Cowboys 149-pounder Anthony Collica. 
    Junior Brandon Sorensen won his only two career meetings with Anthony Collica. He defeated Collica, 6-1, at the Grapple on the Gridiron and 4-2 in the semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Championships. Sorensen is 3-0 all-time against Oklahoma State. He defeated No. 2 Josh Kindig, 6-1, when the Hawkeyes visited Gallagher-Iba Arena in 2015.
    Senior Alex Meyer is 4-3 in his career against Oklahoma State and 1-2 against Kyle Crutchmer.  Crutchmer defeated Meyer, 3-1, at the 2013 Joe Parisi Open and 11-10 at the Grapple on the Gridiron. Meyer defeated Crutchmer, 4-3, at the 2014 Joe Parisi Open. He defeated Oklahoma State’s 165-pound Chandler Rogers, 7-2, at the 2016 NCAA Championships.
    Senior Sammy Brooks is 2-1 in his career against Oklahoma State and 1-1 all-time against Nolan Boyd. Brooks defeated Boyd, 7-1, in the 2014 dual and lost to Boyd, 9-6, at the dual in Stillwater in 2015. He won by technical fall, 17-2, against Jordan Rogers at the Grapple on the Gridiron. 
    Sophomore Sam Stoll has split his only two matches against Oklahoma State. He defeated Ethan Driver, 7-1, at the 2014 Joe Parisi Open and lost to Austin Marsden, 6-1, at the Grapple on the Gridiron. 
    Redshirt freshmen Michael Kemerer, Joey Gunther, and Cash Wilcke are all making their first appearance in the Iowa-Oklahoma State series. None of the three have wrestled a Cowboy in their collegiate careers. 

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS
Seniors Thomas Gilman and Cory Clark are both ranked No. 1 at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. 
    Both wrestlers placed runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Championships and both have opened the 2016-17 season with undefeated records. Gilman is 16-0 with seven falls and six technical falls. Clark is 9-0 with four pins and a technical fall. Collectively, Gilman and Clark are 178-23 (.886) all-time.
    The Hawkeyes are one of three schools to have two top-rated wresters according to Intermat. The others include Penn State (Zain Retherford 149, Jason Nolf 149) and Ohio State (Bo Jordan 174, Kyle Snyder 285). Both schools visit Carver-Hawkeye Arena in January. 

A LITTLE EXTRA FROM GILMAN
Thomas Gilman, the nation’s top-ranked 125-pounder, is 16-0 and has scored bonus points in 15 matches. Gilman has matched his career high with six technical falls and leads the team with seven pins. He averages 5.2 points per win, and 5.3 points in seven dual wins (three pins, three technical falls, and one major decision).
    Gilman went 6-0 at the 2016 Midlands Championships to win the title for the third time. He is the 11th Hawkeye in program history to win at least three Midlands championships. He recorded one pin, one major decision, and three technical falls en route to the title and was named Champion of Champions by his fellow first-place winners, the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament, and Big Ten Conference Co-Wrestler of the Week. 

SORENSEN CONTINUES ROLL
Junior Brandon Sorensen, ranked No. 2 in the country at 149, is 17-0 with a team- and career-high eight major decisions. 
    Sorensen has scored bonus points in 14-of-17 wins and averages 4.4 points per win. 
    Sorensen Sorensen went 5-0 at the 2016 Midlands Championships to win the 149-pound title for the second straight year. He became the 24th wrestler in the 54-year history of the Midlands Championships to join the prestigious 20-in-4 club, which requires a wrestler to record at least 20 wins in their first four years of competition. 

STOLL, CLARK RETURN TO LINEUP
Senior Cory Clark and sophomore Sam Stoll returned to Iowa’s dual lineup last week at Michigan and Michigan State. 
    Clark was 2-0 with a 2-0 win over Stevan Micic of Michigan. and a 7-0 decision at Michigan State. He is 9-0 this year with four pins and a major decision, and is ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds. 
    Sam Stoll returned to the dual lineup and earned a first period fall at Michigan and won by stalling disqualification at Michigan State. Stoll returned to the mat at Midlands on Dec. 29-30 after missing the first seven weeks of the season rehabbing an injury. Stoll is 7-1 since returning to the lineup with two fall and two wins over ranked opponents. 

CARTON ENTERS RANKINGS
Senior Topher Carton picked up a pair of wins over ranked opponents at Michigan and Michigan State and climbed to No. 14 in the WIN Magazine rankings. He entered the rankings last week for the first time in his career. 
    The 141-pounder from Rock Island, Illinois, is 17-2 this season with five major decisions, four pins, and one technical fall. The major decisions and pins are career bests. He has also scored 29 points while going undefeated in seven duals. 

KEMERER REMAINS UNBEATEN
Redshirt freshman Michael Kemerer improved to 18-0 last week with a 6-3 win over Michigan’s No. 10 Brian Murphy and a 14-2 major decision at Michigan State. 
    Kemerer’s 18 wins include 11 wins by bonus points and three wins over ranked opponents, including two in the top 10. He is the first Hawkeye redshirt freshman to win his first 18 matches since Matt McDonough, won 32 in a row to start the 2009-10 season.

HAWKEYE WRESTLING HISTORY 
Iowa’s overall dual meet record is 980-225-31 (.799) in 107 seasons. The Hawkeyes have won 23 national titles and 35 Big Ten titles. Iowa’s 53 NCAA Champions have won a total of 81 NCAA individual titles, crowning six three-time and 16 two-time champions. The Hawkeyes’ 111 Big Ten champions have combined for 197 conference titles. There have been seven four-time, 18 three-time, and 29 two-time Big Ten champions from Iowa. 
    Iowa’s 154 All-Americans have earned All-America status 319 times, including 18 four-time, 36 three-time and 40 two-time honorees.

LAST MEETING: #4 Iowa 18, #1 Oklahoma State 16 (Nov. 14, 2015 — Iowa City, Iowa)
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The fourth-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team defeated top-ranked Oklahoma State, 18-16, in front of 42,287 fans on Nov. 14 at the “Grapple on the Gridiron” inside Kinnick Stadium. It was the largest dual crowd in NCAA history.
    The Hawkeyes and Cowboys split 10 matches, 5-5, but Iowa scored bonus points at 125 and, after dropping three straight, regained the lead for good with a crowd-pleasing technical fall at 184. 
    Iowa leaned on its four returning All-Americans against the Cowboys. Cory Clark (133), Brandon Sorensen (149), and Nathan Burak earned decisions, and Thomas Gilman (125) opened the scoring with a 9-1 major decision over Oklahoma State All-American Eddie Klimara. But it was Sammy Brooks at 184 that turned the dual in Iowa’s favor for good. Brooks needed just 4:09 to build a 17-2 lead and put the Hawkeyes in front, 15-13. Brooks snapped a three-match stretch of Hawkeye losses that turned a 10-3 lead into a 13-10 deficit. 
    Burak extended Iowa’s lead to 18-13 at 197, setting up a pin-or-go-home situation for Oklahoma State at 285. The Cowboy’s Austin Marsden, a 2014 All-American, twice got to the legs of Hawkeye rookie Sam Stoll, but the fall never happened and Iowa came away with its first three-dual win streak against Oklahoma State since 1995-96. 
    The Hawkeyes built a 7-0 lead in team score at 125 and 133. Gilman scored one takedown in each period, and Clark built a 6-0 lead on his way to an 8-2 win at 133.
    Oklahoma State’s top-ranked Dean Heil (141) and Alex Dieringer (165) earned wins, and the Cowboys won at 157 and 174 in a pair of seven-minute slugfests. Fifteenth-ranked Chance Marsteller topped Edwin Cooper, 14-11, at 157, and fourth-ranked Kyle Crutchmer scored a takedown with 34 seconds left to top sixth-ranked Alex Meyer at 174.

#4 IOWA 18, #1 Oklahoma State 16
125         #4 Thomas Gilman (I) maj. dec. #7 Eddie Klimara (OSU), 9-1; 4-0
133         #2 Cory Clark (I) dec. Gary Wayne Harding (OSU), 8-2; 7-0 
141         #1 Dean Heil (OSU) dec. Logan Ryan (I), 7-1; 7-3 
149         #3 Brandon Sorensen (I) dec. #8 Anthony Collica (OSU), 6-1; 10-3
157         #15 Chance Marsteller (OSU) dec. Edwin Cooper, Jr. (I), 14-11; 10-6 
165         #1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) maj. dec. Patrick Rhoads (I), 17-5; 10-10 
174         #4 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) dec. #6 Alex Meyer (I), 11-10; 10-13 
184         #12 Sammy Brooks (I) tech. fall Jordan Rogers (OSU), 17-2 in 4:09; 15-13
197         #4 Nathan Burak (I) dec. Nolan Boyd (OSU), 5-3; 18-13
285         #5 Austin Marsden (OSU) dec. Sam Stoll (I), 6-1; 18-16