Iowa trio falls short in NCAA wrestling finals

NEW YORK — The hours of training, hard work and sacrifice aren't meant for silver medals and just getting a bit of a role on the big stage.

The goal is to be the best, so there was little solace for the Iowa trio that reached the national finals but were turned away without gold.

Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark and Brandon Sorensen wrestled in championship bouts but had to settle for silver as the Hawkeyes dropped to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The team finish was the lowest since 2007, when the Hawkeyes were eighth in Tom Brands' first year as Iowa head coach.

'I think our fans expect more,' Brands said. 'I know we expect more and I can doggone tell you that those guys expect more, too, after some brief conversations.'

The night opened with Gilman getting a rematch against Penn State's three-time NCAA finalist Nico Megaludis. Unlike the Big Ten semifinal that Megaludis won in an overtime tiebreaker, he scored takedowns in each of the first two periods for a 6-3 decision at 125 pounds.

'Here it hurts a little bit more, because you're so close, but you don't quite get there,' said Gilman, who seemed to initiate most of the action. 'It's hard to swallow.

'It's hard to swallow, especially because I've never beaten that guy before and I felt like I had him.

'I out-wrestled him but the score didn't show that. I didn't put any points on the board offensively.'

Gilman rebounded from a disappointing national semifinal to produce an impressive junior campaign. His perspective changed a year ago, determining the season is never truly over as he constantly tries to improve his past performances.

'The difference between last year and now is last year I thought years began and ended,' Gilman said. 'If you think like that, there's a little bit of time in between there. I'm just continuing. I'm going to go evaluate this now and move forward.'

Clark earned his second straight runner-up finish at 133. This time, Clark surrendered three takedowns to Cornell's Nahshon Garrett in a 7-6 loss.

Brands said the three-time All-American had his hands in his head after the bout. Brands said Clark contemplated how he was embarrassed by the showing and didn't do enough to win again. It is a trend that needs halted.

'There's a rerun already of a pattern, so we have to get out of that right now,' Brands said. 'The first thing you've got to do is get on their mind-set of how you're going forward.'

In a rematch of the 149-pound final, Penn State's Zain Retherford duplicated his win with a 10-1 victory over Sorensen. Like Clark, Sorensen sat alone with his thoughts before returning to the awards stand. His solitary thoughts were not pleasant.

'It's not a fun place to be right now,' Sorensen said. 'It's not where I want to be. It's not my goal.

'Stepping on that awards stand, hearing that final cheer for first place, that stings. It stings and I don't like being here.'

The sting is felt by more than just the competitors.

'These are men geared to winning championships and you live with them and hurt with them,' Brands said. 'We're proud of their effort. Our guys didn't lay down.'

Retherford scored four takedowns. Iowa opponents had nine takedowns in the finals, while the Hawkeyes had none.

'We have to score takedowns in these matches where it's going to come down to where it's tight,' Brands said.

Penn State won its fifth team title in six years, scoring 123 points, which was 25 1/2 more than runner-up Oklahoma State. Ohio State was third with 86 and Virginia Tech was fourth with 82, one point ahead of the Hawkeyes.

Hlas: Penn State's wrestling world; Hawkeyes just live in it

Iowa finished with six All-Americans. Senior Nathan Burak earned his third All-American finish with a personal best fourth-place finish at 197. Alex Meyer and Sammy Brooks were eighth at 174 and 184, respectively.

The Hawkeyes soared Friday when the trio pushed into the finals and they were second in the team race, but things plummeted. Iowa went 1-9 in its final 10 matches, including 1-6 Saturday. Burak was the lone Hawkeye to win.

'You can't win tournaments, going 1-6 on any day,' Brands said. 'In a three-day tournament, no matter what day it is, you go 1-6 in a day or even a session that's not a very good result and not going to propel you to what you are trying to accomplish.'

Iowa State finished in 12th with three placing in the top seven. The Cyclones had two wrestlers begin the tournament unseeded but finish on the podium. Iowa State Coach Kevin Jackson had mixed emotions about the finish.

'We over-performed in some respects, but as far as a coach — myself and staff — we know we could have had a better performance,' Jackson said. 'I think our expectations were a bit higher than we actually accomplished.'

Sophomore transfer Pat Downey led the way, going from unseeded to fifth at 197. Lelund Weatherspoon, also unseeded, reached the 174 semifinals and placed sixth. Earl Hall became a two-time All-American, finishing seventh at 133.

Downey pinned Virginia Tech's Jared Haught in the final round. It was the second fall over Haught in the tournament and his only bonus points of the season.

'It says a lot to me to prove something to me,' Downey said. 'The first tie at this event, so it's definitely going to give me something to build on the next two years.'

Oklahoma State's Alex Dieringer won his third title, recording a 6-2 victory over Wisconsin's Isaac Jordan in the 165-pound championship. He closed his career with an 82-match win streak.

Ohio State's Kyle Snyder, who came out of an Olympic red-shirt year after winning a World title in September in Las Vegas, was named National Wrestling Coaches Association Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Snyder, a runner-up at 197 last year, beat North Carolina State's two-time NCAA champion Nick Gwiazdowski, 7-5, in sudden victory at heavyweight. The win snapped Gwiazdowski's 88-match win streak.

Former Iowa wrestler and Hokies head coach Kevin Dresser was named NWCA Coach of the Year.

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