KEMP'S KORNER

Iowa vs. Oklahoma State Dual Meet
by Lee Kemp
1-16-2010

A lot of attention is made of winning streaks, and rightfully so! The legacy of greatness is consistency and longevity and that's just what the Iowa and Oklahoma programs, led by Head Coaches Tom Brands and John Smith respectively represent. Iowa with its relatively young team is currently ranked 10th in the nation, but because of their legacy and recent string of winning the last three NCAA Division-1 Championships in a row, are always the team to beat. Arguably the Iowa and Oklahoma State programs have the richest legacies and are without peers in terms of their success. What was on the line at their dual meet in Gallagher Hall, on the Oklahoma State campus, was whether Iowa's 69-match winning streak would come to an end.

Well the win streak came to an end… but their 70 match streak without a loss didn't. Maybe a play on words but the result of Sunday's dual meet between Iowa and Oklahoma State was a 15-15 draw. The Hawkeyes, who can still claim they are unbeaten in their last 70 duals, recorded their first tie since an 18-18 draw at Penn State on Dec. 4, 1992 and for the record it was also the first time that Iowa did not win a dual since losing to Oklahoma State (19-14) on Jan. 5, 2008.

Each team won five bouts and neither scored bonus points in the dual, which resulted in the tie. In this high stakes game of team victories it all comes down to individual effort and focus on the bigger picture; THE TEAM VICTORY! In wrestling, even though it's an individual sport, it comes down to BONUS POINTS. The wrestlers that can get the bonus points for the team MUST do so. Wrestlers can not settle just for the individual win.

The best opportunity for bonus points for both teams was in their proven #1 ranked horses, Matt McDonough, from Iowa and Jordan Oliver from Oklahoma State, and Brands and Smith knew it. Both of which were wrestling much lesser opponents. Iowa's defending National Champion, Matt McDonough started things off with a only a 7-3 win over Oklahoma State's redshirt freshman Jon Morrison; and was initially taken down early in the 1st period and had to battle back for the win with an escape, takedown and riding time after going into the third period with the score tied 3-3. A missed team bonus point opportunity for Iowa.

Now for Jordan Oliver from Oklahoma State. He won convincingly 11-4 and jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first period, but his opponent Tyler Clark, Iowa junior and brand new to the lineup, fought back, scoring two second period escapes and riding Oliver for the majority of the final period erasing Oliver's riding time point thereby keeping the score to regular 7 pt decision. A missed team bonus point opportunity for Oklahoma State.

Both Smith and Brands commented about the missed bonus point opportunities and pinned the dual tie on some of their wrestler's lack of individual effort and commitment to getting the major decisions. They both were clearly frustrated with the TIE.

However each team had a great individual effort by one of its wrestlers; Oklahoma State's redshirt freshman Jon Morrison battling #1 ranked, NCAA Champion Matt McDonough and Iowa's Tyler Clark battling talented #1 ranked Jordan Oliver to regular decisions. These were the two matches that each coach was depending on for bonus points and they both ended in regular decisions because of the extra individual effort and determination by their respective opponents to keep the score to a regular decision. A demonstration of the battle of the wills towards a greater team cause. A draw, better than a loss both coaches reasoned, but still unacceptable to both and each clearly vowed more work must be done preparing for the NCAA tournament in March.

Match Results
#10 Iowa 15, #6 Oklahoma State 15
125-Matt McDonough (I) dec Jon Morrison (OSU), 7-3
133-Jordan Oliver (OSU) dec Tyler Clark (I), 11-4
141-Mark Ballweg (I) dec Josh Kindig (OSU), 8-3
149-Jamal Parks (OSU) dec Matt Ballweg (I), 8-4
157-Derek St John (I) dec Neil Erisman (OSU), 7-5
165-Dallas Bailey (OSU) dec Aaron Janssen (I), 6-2
174-Ethen Lofthouse (I) dec Mike Benefiel (OSU), 4-3
184-Chris Perry (OSU) dec Grant Gambrall (I), 2-0
197-Clayton Foster (OSU) dec Luke Lofthouse (I), 5-3
HWT-Blake Rasing (I) dec Blake Rosholt (OSU), 3-1 SV