Grothus fighting to retain 149-pound spot

IOWA CITY - Brody Grothus entered the season with something to prove.

With competition and depth at 149 pounds, he was determined to he was the best in the University of Iowa room, and the country, for that spot. Grothus staked an early claim to that starting job, beating to teammates en route to a title at the Luther Open last Saturday. The Hawkeyes will begin home competition with the Iowa City Duals, hosting Cornell College, Iowa Central Community College and Baker (Mo.) University, starting at 9 a.m.

Grothus qualified for the NCAA Championships at 149 last season, and he isn't ready to concede it to anyone.

'I went into that tournament with a chip on my shoulder,” Grothus said. 'The spot was mine last year. I'm going to earn it again.”

He took an early advantage, winning the title over two teammates last weekend. Grothus edged red-shirt freshman Brandon Sorensen, 3-2, in the semifinal, and then beat Edwin Cooper, 9-6, in the final. Sorensen and Cooper received attention from fans and media coming into the season and he said he wasn't expected to emerge on top.

'I don't think a lot of people outside of maybe my family and close friends were betting on me this last weekend to win,” Grothus said. 'You do take that personal and use that to motivate you.”

Don't expect Grothus to be complacent, knowing things are far from settled. All three are listed in Iowa's probable lineup. Competition for the spot could resume this weekend. Grothus evened his series with Sorensen, who won the match for third at last year's Midlands Championships. Cooper beat him last year at the Luther Open before becoming an NCAA Division II finalist for Upper Iowa.

He recalled last year Mike Kelly winning the 149-pound title at Luther, but Grothus earned the starting spot later in the season.

'If you lose that chip, that's when somebody is going to sneak in and they're going to beat you and the next guy is going to get a chance,” Grothus said. 'If I keep going out and winning, and winning by large margins, that's going to be tough to argue for taking me out of the spot.”

Kelly turned a deaf ear to critics, calling for talented younger wrestlers to step in. He was focused on his preparation and he came away with the 157 championship.

'You guys are talking about all this outside stuff,” Kelly said. 'You really aren't worried about the outside stuff in my point of view. You're worried about you and what you're doing, going out there and taking care of business. I try not to get caught up in a lot of the outside stuff. I try to worry about myself and make sure I'm doing my job.”

Kelly isn't worried about challengers, whether they are in the room or an opponent in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He said he can take care of himself.

'I welcome it,” Kelly said. 'If they want to come up, come up.

Wrestlers may shuffle between weights before anything is finalized, but that hasn't been decided yet. The Hawkeyes do have improved depth at those weights.

'Whether we're moving guys up or guys are already solid there, we have good options,” Iowa Coach Tom Brands. 'It's really early to answer those questions, except if you're one of those guys. You can answer them real easily and that is by performance in a wide gap in your scores.”

Grothus received that message loud and clear from this weekend, He was glad he overcame adversity with toughness, but knows he needs to be more consistent, which was a problem last season.

'It's like coach Brands said it's not about who can beat the guys in the room it's about who can beat guys out there by the biggest margin,” Grothus said. 'For me, going forward, I'm just going to go out and look to improve on last weekend's performance and go out and score points and keep winning.”

Some members of the team may attend open tournaments. At Tuesday's media availability, Brands did not elaborate on what wrestlers would see action in the Iowa City Duals.

'We have some competition options,” Brands said. 'We have an idea, but we're not settled. These guys are competitors so they're going to do what they have been doing since they have been starting in the sport.”

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