St. Edward Duals, Nov. 24
The Hawkeyes opened their dual season with predictable team success yet almost unthinkable individual results.
As expected, Iowa roughed up Division II Findlay, hammered Iowa Central’s top-ranked junior college team and handled Old Dominion and North Carolina State at the St. Edward Duals in Cleveland, Ohio. But defending NCAA champion Mark Perry Jr. and standout sophomore Brent Metcalf suffered stunning losses that clouded a day when Iowa won 34 of its 40 matches.
Perry was trailing 10-1 in the third period of his match against unranked Chris Brown of Old Dominion when the Iowa senior 165-pounder was disqualified for his language during a break in the action.
The flagrant misconduct violation forced Perry to sit out the Dec. 9 dual at Iowa State. Later in the day, Metcalf lost for the first time in college when he got caught in a first-period spladle and was pinned by a North Carolina State sophomore.
“We need to be real solid, we need to be real disciplined staying in our positions, doing what we know we have to do to win,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “You've got to start winning some matches here. You look at the results, and it’s not what you want when you’re looking at maybe three or four or five marquee match ups and I don’t believe we won one of those key match-ups.”
— Andy Hamilton