Iowa Wrestling: McDonough, Hawks dominate Michigan

IOWA CITY - Matt McDonough continued his run of mat dominance quickly and without mercy.

McDonough, Iowa's top-ranked 125-pounder, dismantled Michigan's Sean Boyle from the opening whistle. McDonough (19-1) rolled up three first-period takedowns and stuck Boyle in the second period. It was McDonough's sixth straight win by fall and it propelled Iowa to a 30-7 dual-meet win Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Coach (Tom Brands) tells me high pace factors us, and I'm going to listen to coach, and I'm going to believe it,” McDonough said. “I do believe it. I think that high pace really plays to my advantage.”

McDonough, a red-shirt sophomore from Linn-Mar, owns a team-high 11 wins by fall this year. He dispatched Boyle in 3:56.

“Obviously I've doing the things I've wanted to do in the previous matches but none of them have been perfect,” said McDonough, the defending national champion. “You can't ever be satisfied.

“I'm just going out there and essentially going after what I want, which is a pin. That's the goal of the sport, and that's the mindset you've got to have every time you step on the mat. It's not just catching a guy, not just having a ref slap the mat but just every aspect. Dominating until you get the fall.”

The meet win puts the No. 2-ranked Hawkeyes (14-0-1, 7-0 Big Ten) within one win of a fourth straight Big Ten dual title. Iowa wrestles at Minnesota (15-3-1, 6-0-1) in a winner-take-all dual next Sunday.

Iowa now has won or tied its last 76 dual matches.

Senior Luke Lofthouse (197) came up big for Iowa in his final match at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Lofthouse, who's ranked No. 8, overcame an early takedown against No. 10 Anthony Biondo but rallied to win 7-3. Brands said he was impressed with how Lofthouse kept pushing Biondo late in third period despite holding a one-point lead.

“That's my philosophy, the coach's philosophy, the team ... attack, attack, attack,” Lofthouse said. “So in that third period, those takedowns come a little bit easier.”

In the meet's marquee matchup, top-ranked Kellen Russell (29-0) edged Iowa's Montell Marion (6-1) 9-5 in overtime at 141. Marion, who's ranked No. 3, led 5-2 late in the third period before Russell scored an escape. Russell took down Marion with 10 seconds left and ended the match 16 seconds into overtime with a takedown and two nearfall points.

Brands was disappointed with the outcome but not with Marion's effort.

“There's a lot of good there,” Brands said. “We've got to be smarter and nail those positions down until we can slam the door on him. If we do that, obviously it's a different outcome.”

Photos by Brian Ray

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