Iowa wins 9 of 10 to take lead in NCAA wrestling

The University of Iowa was nearly perfect in the opening round of its quest of a third straight NCAA Division I team title Thursday at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

The Hawkeyes went 9-1 in the first round and led the team race after the first session with 21.5 points. Top-ranked Iowa leads Oklahoma State by 5.5 points. Central Michigan, Lehigh and Wisconsin were in a three-way tie for third at 15. Iowa State was tied with Ohio State for seventh with 13 points.

Matt McDonough (125) won by a technical fall over Oregon State's Jason Lara. Brent Metcalf (149) and Phil Keddy (184) won by major decisions. Jake Kerr scored a takedown with a little over a minute to go and rode out Arizona State's Trejovan Edwards, 8-7, at 157. Second seeds Daniel Dennis (133), and 174-pounder Jay Borschel advanced, as did Montell Marion (141) and fifth-seed heavyweight Dan Erekson.

The biggest win came from senior Ryan Morningstar. Questions surrounded the returning All-American because of a knee injury suffered during his final match of the Big Ten Championships. The Hawkeyes were uncertain of what, if any, they could get from 165-pounds. Morningstar delivered a gutsy performance, scoring a takedown in the last half of sudden death overtime to beat West Virginia's Donald Jones, 4-2. Morningstar also scored an escape in the third to tie it 2-2 and scrambled out of Jones' winning takedown attempt to force a stalemate late in regulation.

"I wasn't quite sure of the limitations to my knee, so I didn't want to tweak it early on in the match," Morningstar said. "I've been limited on the mat the last two weeks so I didn't really know what I could do with it without it hurting so much because I didn't want to test it coming in to today."

The winning move was initiated by Morningstar. Something that helped ease his uncertainty.

"It's big, because I had to go get a takedown and it was good to get a takedown off my shot, too," Morningstar said. "I didn't know my limitations coming in to this mat because I hadn't tested it at all. It was good to go out and get a takedown, because now I know I can do it and get future takedowns."

The Hawkeyes hope to continue the success as the tournament progresses.

"We just need to keep winning," Morningstar said. "I'm worried about my teammates. It's in the back of my mind, but I have to take care of myself, too. If all of us do that I think we'll be sitting pretty good."

Iowa State wasn't feeling as good about its performance. The Cyclones went 5-5 in the round. Andrew Long (125), Nick Fanthorpe (133), Mitch Mueller (149), Jake Varner (197) and heavyweight David Zabriskie all won.

Varner, who is a defending 197-pound champion and three-time finalist, looking to join Cael Sanderson as the school's only four-time NCAA finalists, notched a 17-3 major decision over Boise State's Matt Casperson. Fanthorpe and Mueller also added major decisions for the Cyclones.

University of Northern Iowa had four qualifiers who went 2-3 in the first session. Red-shirt junior Jarion Beets earned both of the Panthers' victories beating Oklahoma's Jeff James, 5-3, in a pigtail match at 174. He knocked off Minnesota's fifth-seeded Scott Glasser, 14-7, in the first round, scoring six takedowns.

Beets has focused on being more offensive, stressing takedowns were the difference.

“That's the only way I'm going to win a match,” Beets said. “I have to keep doing more of it. I've done a lot here already.”

Beets was the lone Iowan with a pigtail match. It helped get him ready physically but more so mentally.

“It was a big match,” Beets said of his pigtail win over James. “I was looking forward to setting the tone right off the bat with him.”