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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The National Wrestling Coaches Association announced Friday that 10 University of Iowa wrestlers have earned All-America honors for the 2020 NCAA wrestling season.
Nine Hawkeyes — Spencer Lee, Austin DeSanto, Max Murin, Pat Lugo, Kaleb Young, Alex Marinelli, Michael Kemerer, Jacob Warner, and Tony Cassioppi — were named first-team All-Americans. Abe Assad was named a second-team All-American.
Iowa was the only NCAA Division I school in the country with 10 All-Americans, and the only team with nine first-teamers. It marks the seventh time in school history, and first since 1995, that nine Hawkeyes earned first-team All-America honors. This year is the first in program history that all 10 Hawkeyes were named to an All-America team.
Each year the NWCA names its All-America teams based on a wrestler’s performance at the NCAA Championships. Because the national tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, All-America honors were based on each wrestler’s overall body of work through the conference tournaments and up to the national championships.
“Officially naming All-Americans is the right thing to do,” said Iowa head coach Tom Brands. “Our guys were consistent and earned their results. They earned their seed at the national tournament. They were dominant and based on their entire body of work they deserved to be recognized.”
Iowa’s 10 All-Americans combined for a record of 184-29 (.864). They scored bonus points in 90 matches and defeated 79 ranked opponents.
Iowa was ranked at the top of every national poll entering the national tournament and was expected to win the 2020 NCAA Championships by more than 50 points based on point totals calculated from seeds. The Hawkeyes had three top seeds, nine wrestlers seeded eighth or better, and another seeded 11th. A team title would have been the 24th in program history.
Iowa posted a 13-0 dual record and 9-0 Big Ten Conference record. The Hawkeyes won the 2020 Big Ten Championships, crowing three individual champions and scoring 157.5 points, its highest total since 1995. Brands was named NWCA and Big Ten Coach of the Year, and junior Spencer Lee was named winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy and Big Ten Wrestler of the Year.
Honorable Mention All-Americans
