Iowa breaks streak, beats Ohio State 21-13

IOWA CITY - The bleeding for the Iowa wrestling team had to stop at some point.

After losing consecutive duals against No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Penn State, another top-four opponent - No. 4 Ohio State - rolled into Iowa City hoping to tag the third-ranked Hawkeyes with three straight dual losses. A 21-13 win over the Buckeyes prevented the streak from moving to three, something that hadn't happened since the 2005-06 season - Jim Zalesky's final at the helm.

'We had it circled,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said. 'We're making progress, a little bit. We keep working.”

Thomas Gilman struck first, thrashing Ohio State 125-pounder Jose Rodriguez 23-8 in a chippy match. Gilmam had words with Rodriguez as the two wrestlers got off the mat. Gilman only described the exchange as 'vulgar” and it apparently stemmed from an incident earlier in the locker room

There's a long history between Gilman and Ohio State, with this simply being another chapter in the saga. Gilman did not get to see his regular Ohio State foe, Nathan Tomasello, who moved up to 133 pounds this season.

He certainly wanted to, however.

'I was ready to wrestle Tomasello tonight,” Gilman said. 'I would have wrestled him right after my match. It would have been fun wrestling that guy, everybody loves to watch us wrestle.

Iowa dropped the next two matches at 133 and 141, as Phillip Laux and Topher Carton both lost matches via decision. Tomasello wasn't able to get much going against Laux, who wrestled in place of Cory Clark, who was held out. Brands said Clark 'could have” wrestled, but the team was also trying to be careful with his health.

Three huge Iowa victories followed. Brandon Sorensen topped Micah Jordan at 149 with a 2-0 decision, a match that he won with an escape and a riding time point. Sorensen put a hard ride on Jordan to finish the third period and match, but wasn't exactly pleased with a performance that broke a two-match losing streak,

'I had to put a tough ride on him, it's what I needed to do.” Sorensen said. 'Here's the thing, that's not the match I wanted to wrestle right there. What was it, 2-0? That's not very exciting. I don't like it, the fans don't like it.”

There were, however, fireworks at 157, as Michael Kemerer recorded a tech fall over Ohio State's Jake Ryan. It would be the Hawkeyes last bonus-point win of the day, but gave Iowa a little breathing room.

After the break, Ohio State was able to get a little closer, but not within real striking distance. Iowa's Alex Meyer fell to top-ranked Bo Jordan at 174 in a close match and the Buckeyes' Kollin Moore registered a major decision at 197, but it wasn't quite enough to eek out a late victory.

The Hawkeyes' Sammy Brooks (197) put together a 5-3 decision a week after getting pinned against Penn State while Steven Holloway (285) was able to end the dual with a 6-1 decision in Iowa's favor.

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