NCAA Championships
Hours after Iowa completed its long climb back to the top of the college wrestling world, a swarm of black and gold clad fans surrounded the Hawkeyes as they stood on a platform of champions.
Hundreds of Iowa followers filled a ballroom at the team’s downtown St. Louis hotel and celebrated the Hawkeyes into the early morning for their long-awaited return to dominance.
“We did a good job, we had a great season and the important thing to remember is we’re not stopping here,” national champion Brent Metcalf told the crowd. “We’ve got more work to do, and we’re never satisfied.”
The Hawkeyes might not have been fully content with what transpired over three days at the Scottrade Center, but given the events of the previous seven years, there were wall-to-wall smiles at the victory party.
Iowa grabbed the lead in the opening session of the NCAA Championships, put a stranglehold on the tournament during the second day and deflected all suspense in the team race to the chase for second.
Metcalf won his first championship at 149, Mark Perry Jr. became the 19th wrestler in program history to win multiple titles by claiming his second at 165 and five others secured All-America honors to help the Hawkeyes capture their first NCAA title since 2000.
Wrestling with the old-school aggression that made Iowa one of the dominant teams in organized sports for more than two decades, the Hawkeyes won 28 of their 36 matches during the tournament’s first two days. Iowa finished with 117.5 points, 38.5 ahead of second-place Ohio State — the 10th largest winning margin in tournament history.
“That’s a tribute to our guys and how they approached it,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “They came in here to win and not only win and squeak by but to dominate.”
Metcalf was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament after posting a 14-8 victory against Penn State’s Bubba Jenkins in the finals.
Perry said he felt something pop in his surgically-repaired right knee during a second-period scramble with Michigan’s Eric Tannenbaum, but the Iowa senior fought off the pain and the top-seeded Wolverine for the final three minutes and a 5-2 win.
The realization of three goals helped the healing for Perry. He came to Iowa with intentions of winning an individual title, earning All-America status four times and helping the Hawkeyes win the team title. But through the struggles of the program during his first two seasons, he wondered if his time at Iowa would run out before the Hawkeyes got back to the top.
“The way it developed so quickly really shocked me and the older guys and pretty much everybody,” he said. “It just all fell together so quickly. When the season started, I really had no clue how tough we were going to be.”
— Andy Hamilton