Third-ranked University of Iowa beat top-ranked, defending NCAA and Big Ten champs Penn State, 22-16, in front of 15,077 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City Friday night.
With the win, Iowa goes to the top of the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 6-0 (16-1 overall), while Penn State falls to 8-1, and 5-1 in the conference.
It was the first dual-meet loss for the Nittany Lions since falling to Minnesota in their home gym in Nov. 2011.
Iowa won six of ten matches. Bonus points were a factor in half the matches, with Iowa getting extra points with Tony Ramos getting a pin at 133 pounds, quickly followed by Matt Ballweg's major decision win at 141. Penn State tallied bonus points with major decisions by Andrew Alton and Ed Ruth at 149 and 184, respectively, and David Taylor's technical fall at 165.
With Iowa holding onto a 19-16 lead after nine bouts, it all came down to the last match of the evening. If Penn State heavyweight Jon Gingrich were to win by decision, his team would have won the dual meet by criteria. That put considerable weight on the shoulders of Hawkeye big man Bobby Telford, who found himself to be the deciding factor for the third time in 2013, having lost matches against Oklahoma State's Alan Gelogaev, 7-3, on Jan. 13 (Iowa lost, 18-12)... and just last weekend at Minnesota, vs. defending champ Tony Nelson, 2-1 (Iowa won on criteria, 16-15). This time, Telford came through, scoring a 9-2 win over Gingrich.
"I've got a bit of a smile on my face because we won the close matches and we scored bonus points," said Iowa head coach Tom Brands. "That's often the difference and that was the difference tonight."
“We just missed out on the opportunities in a couple of matches,” according to Penn State assistant coach Casey Cunningham. “Those are things we can fix and move forward. It’s not fun to walk out of here with a loss.”
Match Results:
- 125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Nico Megaludis (PSU), 2-1, TB
- 133: No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) pinned Jordan Conaway (PSU), 4:23
- 141: No. 8 Matt Ballweg (Iowa) maj. dec. Bryan Pearsall (PSU), 12-2
- 149: No. 8 Andrew Alton (PSU) maj. dec. Brody Grothus (Iowa), 18-8
- 157: No. 1 Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. No. 5 Dylan Alton (PSU), 4-3
- 165: No. 2 David Taylor (PSU) tech fall No. 13 Nick Moore (Iowa), 18-2, 6:42
- 174: No. 6 Mike Evans (Iowa) dec. No. 4 Matt Brown (PSU), 4-3
- 184: No. 1 Ed Ruth (PSU) maj. dec. Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 21-10
- 197: No. 3 Quentin Wright (PSU) dec. No. 19 Nathan Burak (Iowa), 8-3
- Hwt: No. 6 Bobby Telford (Iowa) dec. No. 17 Jon Gingrich (PSU), 9-2
Want to know more? Get differing perspectives from the home page of Iowa wrestling (along with a feature focusing on Hawkeye heavyweight Bobby Telford)... Penn State's official website... from Iowa Hawkeye Examiner... and from Jason Bryant for the Amateur Wrestling News website.
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