Match Notes: Iowa at Oklahoma State

Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2018-19 | I-Club Events Page | Hawk Talk Monthly — January | Big Ten Championships | Match Notes PDF | Hawk Talk Monthly — November

ON THE MAT
The third-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face No. 2 Oklahoma State on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT) at Gallagher-Iba Arena. 

BIG TEN REGULAR SEASON CO-CHAMPS
Iowa won a share of the 2019 Big Ten regular season title with a 35-2 win at Wisconsin on Feb. 17. The Hawkeyes were 9-0 in conference duals and shared the title with Penn State. 
    The Hawkeyes have won or shared the Big Ten dual championships 11 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, 2016, and 2019.
    The Hawkeyes have eight undefeated conference seasons since 2006-07, head coach Tom Brands’ first year. 

IOWA VS. OKLAHOMA STATE
Sunday marks the 53rd all-time meeting between two schools that have combined to win 57 NCAA Championships (Oklahoma State 34, Iowa 23). The Cowboys lead the all-time series 28-22-2. 
    Iowa has won four of the last five meetings, including a 20-12 win last year in Iowa City.  The Cowboys won the last meeting in Stillwater, 24-11, in 2017. The Hawkeyes are 7-14-2 all-time at Oklahoma State. Their last win in Stillwater was a 30-7 victory in 2015. 
 
DEFEATING RANKED OPPONENTS
Oklahoma State is the eighth ranked opponent on Iowa’s dual schedule. The Hawkeyes are 7-0 against the top 25 with wins against No. 8, No. 9, No. 14, and two wins against No. 16, and two wins against No. 20. 
    Individually, Hawkeyes are 51-19 in 70 matches against ranked schools. 

LIGHT LIFTING
Spencer Lee and Austin DeSanto are a combined 32-2 with 25 bonus point victories. Lee, Iowa’s sophomore 125-pounder, is 16-1 with 14 bonus-point wins (2 major decisions, 6 technical falls, 6 pins). DeSanto, Iowa’s sophomore 133-pounder, is 16-1 with 11 bonus-point wins (5 major decisions, 4 technical falls, 2 pins). 

STRONG START TO 2019
Sophomore Spencer Lee is 7-0 in 2019. He opened the calendar year with a 4-0 win against No. 6 Sean Russell, and pinned five of his last six opponents.  Three of those six falls have been in under one minute. His seventh win of 2019 was a 16-4 major decision against No. 16 Zeke Moisey, a former NCAA finalist. 

PILING UP POINTS
Sophomore Austin DeSanto has scored 82 points in his last four matches. He has two wins by technical fall (25-10, 18-3) and two wins by major decision (18-8, 21-8). 

MARINELLI GOES 9-0
Sophomore Alex Marinelli was 9-0 in Big Ten duals, becoming the first Iowa wrestler to win all nine conference duals since Thomas Gilman in 2017. 
    Marinelli was 9-0 in the Big Ten with two major decisions, four falls, and one win by stalling disqualification. He scored 44 of a possible 54 team points in Big Ten dual competition. Marinelli is 17-0 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 18 times. Since 2014-15, when the conference went to a nine-dual regular season schedule, five Hawkeyes have posted perfect 9-0 records. Marinelli in 2018-19, Gilman did it three times (2015, 2016, 2017), and Alex Meyer, Brandon Sorensen, and Sam Stoll were all 9-0 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 43-3 with 31 wins by bonus points. (Michael Kemerer, Iowa’s fourth 2018 All-American, is out for the season). The group is 12-3 against top 20 wrestlers. 
 
18 STRAIGHT FOR MARINELLI
Sophomore Alex Marinelli has won a career-best 19 matches to open the season. He is 9-0 in the Big Ten and 19-0 overall. He has a team-high 71 points scored in 14 dual matches. He scored 44 team points out of a possible 54 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 17-3. His three losses have been by a combined five points. 

NEXT MAN IN
Seventeen Hawkeyes have at least one dual win, and 21 Hawkeyes have appeared in at least one dual this season. 
    Alex Marinelli (165) and Cash Wilcke (184) are the only preseason projected starters to start every dual this season. Iowa opened the season with three projected starters on the bench, including redshirt freshman Jacob Warner (197), and All-Americans Michael Kemerer (174) and Sam Stoll (285).
    In the absence of projected starters, Carter Happel, Myles Wilson, Connor Corbin, Mitch Bowman, Aaron Costello, Paul Glynn, Keegan Shaw, and Vince Turk have picked up wins for Iowa.
    On Jan. 25, Shaw became the fifth Hawkeye (including Kemerer) to see his name on top of the depth chart at 174 (Myles Wilson, Mitch Bowman, Jeremiah Moody, Shaw). Iowa has used four wrestlers at 197, though Warner has been the staple since January and is 8-0 in duals. Costello and Corbin have picked up wins at heavyweight. Stoll has started the last six duals.