Match Notes: Iowa at Wisconsin

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ON THE MAT
The third-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team travels to Madison, Wisconsin, to face the 16th-ranked Badgers on Sunday at the UW Field House beginning at 2 p.m. 

MAGIC NUMBER: 1
Iowa is 8-0 in conference duals with one dual remaining on the Big Ten schedule. 
    A win at Wisconsin (or loss by Penn State at Illinois) would guarantee Iowa at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title. Iowa and Penn State are both 8-0. The Hawkeyes have won or shared the Big Ten dual championships 10 times since the conference started recognizing a dual meet champion in 1999. Iowa won the title outright in 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015, and shared the title in 2003, 2014, and 2016.
    The Hawkeyes have seven undefeated conference seasons since 2006-07, head coach Tom Brands’ first year. Iowa’s last undefeated conference season was 2015-16. 

IOWA VS. WISCONSIN
Iowa leads the all-time series, 77-8-3, including a 38-4-2 all-time record in Madison. 
    The Hawkeyes have won the last seven meetings and 38 of the last 39 dating back to 1975. Wisconsin’s only win during that time was a 21-14 decision inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 27, 2007. The Hawkeyes haven’t dropped a dual in Madison since 1945 (L, 18-16). The series dates back to 1923, an 8-6 Iowa win. 

DEFEATING RANKED OPPONENTS
Wisconsin is the seventh ranked opponent on Iowa’s dual schedule. The Hawkeyes are 6-0 against the top 25 with wins against No. 8, No. 9, No. 14, No. 16, and two wins against No. 20. 
    Individually, Hawkeyes are 42-18 in 60 matches against ranked schools. 

LIGHT LIFTING
Spencer Lee and Austin DeSanto are a combined 30-2 with 23 bonus point victories. Lee, Iowa’s sophomore 125-pounder, is 15-1 with 13 bonus-point wins (2 major decisions, 6 technical falls, 5 pins). DeSanto, Iowa’s sophomore 133-pounder, is 15-1 with 10 bonus-point wins (4 major decisions, 4 technical falls, 2 pins). 

MARINELLI GOES FOR 9-0
Sophomore Alex Marinelli is aiming for Iowa’s first 9-0 conference season since Thomas Gilman won all nine conference duals in 2017. 
    Marinelli is 8-0 in the conference with two major decisions, four falls, and one win by stalling disqualification. He has scored 41 of a possible 48 team points in dual competition. Marinelli is 16-0 all-time in Big Ten duals. He was 8-0 last year. 
    Since 2007, Tom Brands’ first season as Iowa head coach, a wrestler has navigated a perfect Big Ten regular season 17 times. Since 2014-15, when the conference went to a nine-dual regular season schedule, four Hawkeyes have posted perfect 9-0 records. Gilman did it three times (2015, 2016, 2017), and Alex Meyer, Brandon Sorensen, and Sam Stoll all did it in 2015-16.

ALL-AMERICAN DOMINANCE
Three of Iowa’s four 2018 All-Americans — Spencer Lee (125), Alex Marinelli (165), and Sam Stoll (285) — are a combined 41-2 with 30 wins by bonus points. (Michael Kemerer, Iowa’s fourth 2018 All-American, is out for the season). The group is 11-2 against top 20 wrestlers. 
 
18 STRAIGHT FOR MARINELLI
Sophomore Alex Marinelli has won a career-best 18 matches to open the season. He is 8-0 in the Big Ten and 18-0 overall. He has a team-high 68 points scored in 13 dual matches. He has scored 41 team points out of a possible 48 in eight Big Ten duals.     Marinelli’s winning streak is Iowa’s longest since Michael Kemerer won 22 straight to open the 2017-18 season. 

WILCKE WITH THE BREAKTHROUGH “W”
Junior Cash Wilcke climbed the national polls following his 5-2 win over Nebraska’s Taylor Venz on Feb. 3. It was Wilcke’s first win in 11 tries against a top-five opponent. 
    Wilcke is ranked No. 11 at 184 pounds with a record of 16-3. His three losses have been by a combined five points.