UNI wrestling stays perfect in Big 12 with win over Oklahoma

CEDAR FALLS - Northern Iowa kept its unblemished Big 12 wrestling record intact Sunday afternoon at West Gym in Cedar Falls, downing Oklahoma 28-9.

UNI (5-4, 5-0) got off to a fast start at 125 with Jay Schwarm's pin of Christian Moody. Schwarm overcame an early hard takedown for a pin in 3:19 that marked his 29th career fall, moving him into a tie for 10th all-time in program history.

'Schwarm, you go from about getting knocked out to like, ‘man, is he going to be able to finish the match?' to getting to a great leg attack and scoring some points at the end of the first period and that kind of swung things back,” UNI Coach Doug Schwab said. 'Then, being able to get a pin. Being able to get back on the horse. That's really important to do that and really kind of get the tone set for the team.”

At 141 - the dual's only match featuring ranked opponents - No. 8 Josh Alber won a 5-4 decision over No. 10 Dom Demas in a back-and-forth match with a late third-period takedown making the difference.

Bryce Steiert was one of four Panthers to gain bonus points in a second period tech fall over Hayden Hansen at 165. Steiert piled up four nearfall on Hansen in 4:45 and received praise from Schwab afterwards for showing development on top.

'(Steiert) scored a lot of points on top (and) that's been a total change for him,” Schwab said. 'If you watch him from two years ago he didn't hardly ride anybody. Now he's riding guys, he's riding them hard. He's scoring. He's really taking guys out of matches with how much he's being a hammer on top.”

Taylor Lujan and Anthony Mantanona exchanged numerous reversals at 174 but a late locked hands call and riding time kept Lujan undefeated (4-0) in Big 12 matches with a 13-10 decision.

The Panthers' fourth and final set of bonus points came in Drew Foster's major decision over Kanye MacCallum.

UNI sealed its victory over the Sooners (5-4, 1-2) at heavyweight with Carter Isley's 7-1 decision over Jake Boyd.

Jack Skudlarcyk, Paden Moore and Tyrell Gordon each lost by decision at 133, 157 and 197 respectively.

'Some really good performances, just got to be able to close out matches and periods and situations,” Schwab said. 'Some matches we did really well and some other ones we didn't do it as well.”

The Panthers return to action Friday when they travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a 7 p.m. dual against No. 3 Oklahoma State.