Hawkeyes stoop to rare low
By KEVIN EVANS, Executive Sports Editor
IOWA CITY — Iowa’s wrestling team sent reporters at the Big Ten Conference wrestling meet to the record books Sunday afternoon, but not in search of the usual information that Hawkeyes wrestling usually produces.
This time if was to find the last time Iowa had not crowned an individual champion (1969) and when it had finished lower than third in the team race (1967).
The answer to both of those questions from now on will be 2005 because that is what the transpired at Carver-Hawkeye Arena over the weekend.
While Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota were battling for the big hardware, Iowa had all it could handle holding off Indiana to finish in fourth place.
Illinois scored 130 points and advanced nine wrestlers to the NCAA meet while edging surprising Minnesota, which scored 123 1/2 and advanced its entire team.
Michigan, co-champ of the regular season with Illinois, was third with 118 points and eight advancers. Iowa finished with 94 1/2 points and will take seven wrestlers to the national meet.
For the Illini, it was the first conference tournament championship since 1952 and just another step in the building process since Mark Johnson took over the program.
“Anytime you win a conference championship, let alone wrestling in this conference, it is a great accomplishment, “said Johnson. “It is another step along the way that we have talked about since I got to Illinois, what I learned from the guy here, Dan Gable.
“This is a step and I hope we can take another in two weeks and go in there (to St. Louis) and compete for a national championship.”
The Illini led for most of the two-day event, sending five to the finals and winning two individual titles. In addition to the three runners-up, Illinois also had a third, fifth and two sixths.
Only Minnesota was able to take all 10 of its wrestlers through the two-day competition and have them all earn seventh place or better.
The Gophers had two individual champs, including Gilbertville native Mack Reiter at 133.
“We thought we could win it, “said Robinson. “Our guys wrestled tough, but we are a little disappointed we did not win. When you get this close, you should win. I think we are better than people think we are.”
Getting close is one thing the Hawkeyes didn’t do. From the start, the Hawkeyes struggled and managed just one wrestler in the finals.
Iowa’s lone finalist — freshman Mark Perry — came up just seconds short at 165.
Perry thought his third-period takedown against Michigan’s Ryan Churella had squared their bout, but he came up seven seconds short because Churella had a 1:07 riding-time advantage, good for one point and a 6-5 win.
Perry was the highest finisher among seven Hawkeyes who earned a spot in the NCAA tournament in two weeks in St. Louis.
“That was mostly my fault. I didn’t realize the time on the clock, “said Perry. “I thought I could turn him or ride him out (and get rid of the time advantage) and go to overtime.”
Iowa coach Jim Zalesky said Perry just got started too late in the match.
“He just didn’t do enough right away. He gave him too big a lead, “said Zalesky. “Then he thought he had tied the match, but he didn’t realize he did not erase the riding time.”
It was just one of many frustrating turns of events for the Hawkeyes, who also had two thirds, a fourth and three fifth-place finishers.
“It was not really disappointing, “said Zalesky. “Second, third, fourth … if you do not win. It’s nice to finish higher, but we got what we deserved. We didn’t wrestle well enough to score the most points.”
Perry summed things up for his team when he said “we couldn’t have done any worse.”
Iowa’s third placers were Ty Eustice at 149 and Joe Johnston at 157. Paul Bradley was fourth at 184 and Mario Galanakis at 133, Alex Tsirtsis at 141 and heavyweight Matt Fields were fifth.
Eustice, who finished third in the tournament for the second straight time, said there is no joy to be taken from winning two straight consolation bouts after an overtime loss in the semifinals.
“It is just the same as finishing eighth or anything else, “said the junior 149-pounder. “It was not what I wanted so I can’t be happy just because I won a couple of matches in a row. You’ve got to win them all, that’s our goal. It is easy to talk about but not so easy to do I guess.
“You can take some positives (out of it), but you can’t be happy about not getting first.”
There is no secret to what happened to Eustice and his teammates, he said.
“It was close matches again, “he said. “We haven’t won close matches all year, and we still haven’t.”
The Hawkeyes will get a chance to redeem themselves at the national tournament in St. Louis starting March 17.
“We’ve got a bigger tournament in two weeks, “said Zalesky. “That is the one that you really have got to be ready for. If we do well there, we can bounce back.
“We can do a little physically, but mentally we have got to get ready for that tournament. You have to be mentally ready for every round, every match.”
Is it still possible for Iowa to make its mark?
“Oh, yeah, we’ve got seven guys there, “said Zalesky. “We’d like to have more, but each individual has to accomplish something, then we can accomplish something. But we have got to wrestle better than we did here.”
Kevin Evans can be contacted at (319) 291-1469 or [email protected]
Results
team standings
Pts. Qual.
Illinois 130.0 9
Minnesota 123.5 10
Michigan 118.0 8
Iowa 94.5 7
Indiana 89.0 7
Wisconsin 89.0 8
Penn State 72.5 5
Michigan State 70.5 4
Northwestern 68.5 5
Purdue 38.5 5
Ohio State 26.5 2
Wrestling Gear
