VERNAL, UT — The top-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team posted its seventh shut out of the season Saturday night, blanking Utah Valley, 38-0, at Uintah High School in Vernal, UT. The trip served as a homecoming for Hawkeye senior 184-pounder Phillip Keddy, who was a two-time state champion at Uintah.
Iowa (19-0, 4-0 Big Ten) extended its winning streak to 57 overall duals and 39 road duals with the win over Utah Valley (8-3, 2-1 WWC). Both streaks, as well as the seven shut outs, are school records. Head Coach Tom Brands also picked up his 95th career victory as Iowa only allowed three Wolverine takedowns.
Hawkeye redshirt freshman Matt McDonough, who is ranked fourth in the nation, opened the dual at 125 pounds with a 7-4 decision over #11 Ben Kjar to remain undefeated at 25-0 this season. McDonough scored the first takedown of the bout, but Kjar escaped and scored a takedown of his own to take a 3-2 lead. McDonough responded with a reversal and two nearfall points to end the first period with a 6-3 advantage. Kjar escaped in the second period, but McDonough escaped in the third for the 7-4 win.
Iowa senior Daniel Dennis scored a takedown with three seconds left in his 133-pound match with Utah Valley’s Flint Ray to score a 6-5 victory and collect his 60th career win. Dennis, who was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday, led the match 3-0 early in the second period, but Ray scored a takedown and two nearfall points to end the period and take a 4-3 lead. Ray chose the down position to start the third period and escaped to take a 5-3 lead, but Dennis scored the takedown and added a point for riding time to snatch his fifth-straight win.
At 141, Hawkeye sophomore Montell Marion scored Iowa’s first team bonus points of the night with a 20-7 major decision over Wolverine Jeff Newby. Leading 2-0 after the first period, Marion scored seven takedowns in the last five minutes to improve to 16-3 this season.
Hawkeye senior Brent Metcalf scored his 14th pin of the season and the 45th of his Iowa career, sticking Justin Morrill in 1:43 at 149. It was the third-straight pin for Metcalf, who is 25-0 this season and now ranks eighth on Iowa’s all-time career pins list with former Hawkeye Mark Reiland (1989-92).
Iowa junior Jake Kerr scored four third-period takedowns to beat Utah Valley’s Clay Frost, 12-4, at 157. It was Kerr’s second-straight win, and his first major decision of the season.
At 165, Hawkeye senior Ryan Morningstar scored his 100th career victory with a 3-1 decision over Jeb Clark. Morningstar scored two nearfall points in the second period and an escape in the third to win his fifth-straight bout. He is now 20-3 this season.
Hawkeye senior Jay Borschel kept his season record of 24-0 perfect with an 8-2 decision over Brad Darrington at 174. Borschel scored a takedown in each period to post his 85th career victory.
Utah natives Keddy and Iowa junior Luke Lofthouse added two more Hawkeye wins in the final contested matches of the night. Keddy improved to 18-6 in front of his hometown crowd with a 9-3 win over Casen Eldredge. Lofthouse, who is a native of Avon, UT, picked up his third-straight victory with a 12-5 decision over Josh Wood at 197. Hawkeye senior heavyweight Dan Erekson received a forfeit to end the dual.
Seven other Hawkeyes competed unattached at the DuHawk Open at Loras College in Dubuque, IA, Saturday. Sophomore Brodie Ambrose (197) and true freshmen Tony Ramos (133) and Dylan Carew (149) each won individual titles, while sophomore Blake Rasing (Hwt.) and true freshmen Ethen Lofthouse (174) and Tomas Lira (184) each placed second.
Iowa returns to Big Ten dual competition next weekend. The Hawkeyes will host Northwestern (5-9-1, 0-4 Big Ten) Friday, February 12 at 7 p.m. and will wrestle at #5 Minnesota (10-4, 5-0 Big Ten) Sunday, February 14 at 6 p.m. The Iowa-Northwestern dual at Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be streamed live on www.bigtennetwork.com at a cost of $2.99. The Iowa-Minnesota dual, which will be held at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
#1 Iowa 38, Utah Valley 0
125 – Matt McDonough (I) dec. Ben Kjar (UV), 7-4
133 – Daniel Dennis (I) dec. Flint Ray (UV), 6-5
141 – Montell Marion (I) maj. dec. Jeff Newby (UV), 20-7
149 – Brent Metcalf (I) pinned Justin Morrill (UV), 1:43
157 – Jake Kerr (I) maj. dec. Clay Frost (UV), 12-4
165 – Ryan Morningstar (I) dec. Jeb Clark (UV), 3-1
174 – Jay Borschel (I) dec. Brad Darrington (UV), 8-2
184 – Phillip Keddy (I) dec. Casen Eldredge (UV), 9-3
197 – Luke Lofthouse (I) dec. Josh Wood (UV), 12-5
Hwt. – Dan Erekson (I) won by forfeit
Tags: iowa wrestling, Wrestling
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Why the heck would we go to UTAH VALLEY to wrestle….what was the benefit to doing that?
It’s to help the sport of wrestling…which is good for Iowa wrestling.
In utah? Come on Jon that may be the case if you were going to more populace areas but not in the 41st most populace state.
The state of Utah represents 20% of Iowas starting lineup. Sandersons came from Utah. There is good wreslting there. Iowa is one of the top three wrestling states and in there are less than 3mil people here
Understood, not sure what that means for the “sport” of wrestling and agree with your comment about Iowa wrestling. Then the sport is well represented and marketed in that small market too. Unless I missed it in the story did they wrestle at the Salt Palace in SL City or in Ogden or Provo? We’re probably not in that much disagreement but there were even better marketing opps in Utah probably and certainly better opps for the “sport” of wrestling.
Here is a link to an Andy Hamilton story before the meet that might help make some sense of it for you:
http://hawkcentral.press-citizen.com/article/20100206/HAWKS0110/2060308/1053
That does make sense too bad the PR wasn’t better for a story like that. It could have been a great promotional vehicle. The university should can their PR firm. If you google the story it was only picked up by Iowa papers and one paper in Wyoming it appears. Great event blown PR.
Wrestling is a fringe sport, whether or not we like that. You can’t make an ESPN cover a story like that. The reality is that there was no blown PR, because the people that covered it were the only ones that cared to.