The road to the NCAA Division III national tournament is tough for midwest programs compared to other regions in the country. Pre-seeds have been released for the Big Ten and Big 12 conference tournaments. Grand View men’s team wins 12th NAIA title. Upper Iowa advance two to nationals in the Wrestling Weekend That Was.
Adding to its list of athletics projects, the University of Northern Iowa on Wednesday received Board of Regents permission to start planning a 22,000-square-foot $10 million “court practice facility“ to be shared between men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball.
It’s all about the postseason now on the Pinning Combination podcast, a show about all things wrestling in Iowa with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs. This week’s episode has takeaways from Iowa’s win over Oklahoma State and Iowa State and UNI’s wins over Missouri and looks ahead to their respective conference tournaments.
Spencer Lee dominated the Pan-Ams, the Iowa men’s team capped the regular season with one of its best performances, UNI and Iowa State ended dual competition with wins and Iowa and North Central qualified 15 each for the NCWWC tournament during the Wrestling Weekend That Was.
After another unpredictable Iowa high school boys’ state wrestling tournament, the Pinning Combination podcast with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs is here to break down all the top storylines.
Wednesday’s Iowa high school boys’ state wrestling notebook: Cedar Rapids Xavier’s Ngoma advanced to the Class 2A 215-pound quarterfinals. No matter how the rest of the state meet turns out, he’s set himself up for even bigger gains heading into next season.
Iowa suffered consecutive losses for the first time since 2018, Iowa State beat UNI, Coe won the Bremner Cup dual against Cornell, Wartburg won the American Rivers Conference again and Tanner Sloan posted a notable win during the Wrestling Weekend That Was.
Iowa State won six of 10 bouts and notched its fifth straight win over Northern Iowa.
Kevin Dresser kept the funny flashcards and the usual pre-dual barbs to a minimum. Instead, Iowa State’s head wrestling coach went bout-by-bout to help highlight how competitive and fun — from a fan’s perspective, especially— his fourth-ranked team’s dual at 1 p.m. Sunday against No. 17 Northern Iowa should be at Hilton Coliseum.
Northern Iowa’s dual win against then-No. 17 West Virginia last Sunday was the type that can have a lasting effect. A last-second, match-winning takedown from Jared Simma at 174 pounds and sudden victory by Tyrell Gordon at heavyweight headlined a dramatic dual that the Panthers won, 26-12.
A nearly two-hour episode of the Pinning Combination podcast talks all things wrestling in Iowa with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs, including the Hawkeye men’s loss to Michigan ahead of this week’s Penn State dual, the upcoming UNI-Iowa State dual, Wartburg’s one-sided win over Coe and recaps of the girls’ state tournament and boys’ state duals.
Michigan handed Iowa its first loss, Iowa State and Northern Iowa were unkind hosts to West Virginia, Wartburg thumped Coe, plus final thoughts on the IGHSAU state tournament in the Wrestling Weekend That Was.
Two episodes of the Pinning Combination podcast are publishing this week with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs. First up, a look at the college wrestling scene in Iowa, including Hawkeyes you shouldn’t overlook, Iowa’s sweep of Illinois and Northwestern, 1-1 trips to Oklahoma for Iowa State and Northern Iowa and Augsburg’s win over Wartburg.
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