St. John and Ramos lead Hawkeye wrestlers with different styles

IOWA CITY - University of Iowa's Derek St. John and Tony Ramos are polar opposites when it comes to expressing their desire to win.

St. John is reserved, letting every controlled and calculated move do most of his talking. Ramos is a fiery, outspoken competitor that doesn't hesitate to provide a spark to ignite the Hawkeyes or their crowd.

The senior duo share a similar role, leading the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes into the 2013-14 season. They will attempt to return to the NCAA finals, helping Iowa improve on last year's fourth-place national finish.

Both St. John (157) and Ramos (133) are first in preseason rankings at their respective weight. St. John claimed the 157-pound title last year, following a runner-up finish as a sophomore and placing fourth as a freshman. St John owns a 76-11 career mark and approaches the season the same, even with a title in hand.

"It doesn't really change a lot from last year," St. John said. "It doesn't change the way you think besides you've got to widen the gap more and go out and dominate in a fashion they can't hold up with."

Ramos had to settle for second last season, dropping a tough decision to Ohio State's Logan Stieber. He is not influenced by that result. The quest to be the best is constant motivation.

"It doesn't matter if you win or lost," Ramos said. "You have to keep the same motivation coming into it. You don't change much. You just have to keep working hard and working toward your goals."

They serve as a balancing act when it comes to leading the Hawkeyes. Ramos is a vocal get-in-your-face sparkplug and unapologetic with his message or manner. St. John is a leader by example. They respect one another and accept each other's approach.

"I think it's awesome," Ramos said. "I use my voice. If I don't like what's going on, I'm going to say it. St. John, he's quiet, but people can watch him and see what he does. If you watch Derek St. John, you can see toughness. He doesn't need to say anything to a guy to know you need to toughen up.

"Instead of both of us coming at someone, you have one they can talk to and one they can watch. It's two different ways to lead, which is great because you need more than one way to do something. You need more than one way."

It essentially is two means to the same end. Winning and championships can be had with the different approaches. It depends on how the individual is wired.

"The way we approach it is two different things," St. John said. "He gets amped up, gets fired up and puts his mean face on and gets out there and ready to go. I like to lay back, stay calm. Sometimes when I get amped up like that I tend to jump the gun and get jittery."

Second -ranked senior Ethen Lofthouse, a two-time All-American, also serves as a leader, coming off a fifth-place finish at 184 last season. They join Mike Evans (174) and heavyweight Bobby Telford as five All-Americans in the Hawkeyes lineup. Iowa has NCAA qualifiers in Nick Moore (165) and Nathan Burak at 197.

Evans finished sixth at 174 in March. He suffered a leg injury that affected his final placing. Just because he made the podium doesn't cure the bitter flavor of not reaching his goal.

I came in last year with the same taste in my mouth," said Evans, an NCAA qualifier as a freshman. "I didn't get what I wanted."

Iowa has plenty of firepower to contend for a title, but Brands wants to see the Hawkeyes wrestle in a way where they are "blowing the doors off" competition by dominating.

"I want to see emergence," Brands said. "I want to see urgency. I want to see fight. I want to see points. I want to see separation and domination and those types of things."

It would cure an ailment the Hawkeyes have had recently. Iowa hasn't kept pace when it comes to bonus points. There has been an emphasis on it. Brands said Penn State benefits from almost another wrestler with bonus points from top-ranked David Taylor and Ed Ruth. The Hawkeyes need more of that domination and have wrestlers develop into pinners, like Ramos did last season.

"That is a huge boost," Brands said about bonus points. "So we need more people to be on that theme or on that bandwagon."

Ramos has accepted the challenge from his coach.

"It's big," Ramos said. "He asked me if I can get 20 or 30 falls this year. I told him if you give me enough matches, yeah."

The Hawkeyes have a couple question marks. A big hole is left with the graduation of two-time NCAA champion and three-time finalist Matt McDonough at 125. Red-shirt freshmen Cory Clark and Thomas Gilman are contending to be the starter.

"We have some cannons," Evans said about the Iowa lineup. "We're losing a big point scorer, but we have two points scorers that are going to duke it out for the same position.

"We have guys ready to go fisticuffs for that position and ready to go fisticuffs out on the mat. I like it."

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The level of success might hinge on the performance of starters at 141 and 149. Brands mentioned a number of wrestlers in that range and someone needs to separate themselves for the rest.

"I don't know if that's five or six or seven, but there are a lot of names right there of guys that can be in the lineup," Brands said. "We definitely need a boost there."

Josh Dziewa took over the 149 spot at the end of last season and is a top prospect at 141. He seemed to take responsibility for the team missing points at 149 last season, going 0-2 at the Big Ten tournament, and doesn't mind the pressure to help the team.

"It doesn't bother me," Dziewa said. "I'm going out there to compete the best that I can every time. As long as I do what I know I can do, that will take care of itself."

The Hawkeyes certainly aren't satisfied with last year's finish and the majority opinion is they have a potential to improve their point total.

"As for the team, I think a lot of people are counting us out," Ramos said. "There are a lot of places where we can score more points and really make a statement or big difference."