Marion connection shines at Big Ten wrestling meet

Marion was well represented at the Big Ten tournament this weekend.

Two of the Metro's best wrestlers contributed to the Hawkeyes' most recent championship.

Senior Jay Borschel and red-shirt freshman Matt McDonough powered their way to Sunday's finals of the Big Ten Conference Wrestling Championships at University of Michigan's Crisler Arena.

Borschel claimed his first conference title with a decisive 8-1 victory over Minnesota's Scott Glasser in the 174-pound final. McDonough wrestled well in a 6-4 loss to Indiana's Angel Escobedo in the 125-pound finals.

Borschel, who was the Metro's first four-time state champion as a prep at Linn-Mar, advanced to the finals without surrendering a point against his first three opponents, posting a fall in his opening bout. He reached the finals for the first time, placing third the last two years.

“I'm a lot more confident in myself,” Borschel said. “That goes a long way, but also, I've put in a lot of time in positions that make a difference.”

The championship won't be celebrated long. He will quickly switch his focus on the national tournament March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

“That's time to still get better,” Borschel said. “We're not going to shut anything down yet. We have another whole week of training with no competitions. We'll use that to our advantage and keep getting better.”

Borschel was an All-American in 2008, placing third, and was an NCAA qualifier last year.

“It's good to win these championships in these tournaments, but that's why we wrestle is just for the next two weeks at the national tournament,” Borschel said.

He stopped a stretch of three straight championship losses for the Hawkeyes.

“You get tough and you stop it, as an individual and a team,” Iowa Coach Tom Brands said. “Jay Borschel went out and wrestled his match.”

McDonough, a former Linn-Mar teammate who was a three-time state champ, endured his first loss this season.

The pair wrestled to a scoreless first period. Escobedo escaped in the first, but tied 1-1 in the third. Escobedo scored a pair of takedowns off go-behinds. McDonough kept battling, pulling within one on a reversal with 13 seconds to go.

He released Escobedo but couldn't get a takedown as time expired.

“I was out there wrestling his match and not mine,” McDonough said. “It played into his game and I was a little sloppy.”

McDonough has been a pleasant addition to an experienced Hawkeye lineup. McDonough's relentless style on the mat helped spark Iowa in a number of duals and tournaments. The close loss reinforces the belief McDonough is a title contender.

“It makes you realize that legitimately you have a chance at being an NCAA champion and that you're in the same caliber as those guys,” said McDonough, a three-time state champion for Linn-Mar.

Iowa Coach Tom Brands said at a news conference earlier this week that he likes how McDonough is a leader and has shown maturity rare in freshmen, learning from their mistakes.

“He's a very good learner of the sport, meaning that he doesn't continue to go places where he gets himself into trouble and then you have to beat it out of him,” Brands said in a news conference before the Big Ten tournament. “He makes a mistake and remembers it and doesn't repeat it as much as a normal guy his age.“

You can bet that will be the approach as he prepares for the NCAA meet.

“You learn a lot from losses,” McDonough said. “You learn where the (flaws) in the armor are and you fix them. You get ready for the next competition.”