West DSM News

The Iowa wrestling team was 7-0, but head coach Tom Brands wasn’t satisfied. He urged his wrestlers to be more focused and perform better. They answered his call with a dominating 36-4 win over Purdue in front of a sellout crowd of 14,905 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 9.

Now 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes are the nation’s top team in wrestling on pact to sell out all six home duals this season.

“Quick turnaround and there were good things,” Brands said, Hawk Central reported. “You make adjustments, and when you make adjustments and you see positive results from those adjustments — and it’s no credit to us, it’s a credit to our guys — you’re definitely headed in the right direction.”

The Hawkeyes won nine of 10 matches against the 24th-ranked Boilermakers and scored bonus points in five of them. Iowa scored 27 total takedowns as a team to Purdue’s 4, and put up 86 total match points while allowing just 35. It was Iowa’s 33rd-straight win over Purdue (7-2, 1-1).

Drake Ayala scored takedowns in the final two periods for a 6-1 victory over fifth-ranked Devin Schroder, kicking off top-ranked Iowa’s 36-4 Big Ten Conference wrestling win over No. 15 Purdue Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“It was good to get the win,” Ayala said, The Gazette reported. “I thought I wrestled a little timid. There’s always room for improvement, but it was fun.”

Also contributing to Iowas’ offensive output were Alex Marinelli and Michael Kemerer, Hawk Central reported. They began the dual's second half with back-to-back technical falls, and Tony Cassioppi closed the dual with a first-period fall over Michael Woulfe, his second this season and the 14th of his career.

Road tests against No. 12 Northwestern and No. 19 Illinois awaited the Hawkeyes Jan. 14 and 16. After that, the Hawkeyes will hit the road once more to wrestle No. 10 Ohio State, and then return home on Jan. 28 to host top-ranked Penn State.