Positive things to take away from this weekend.

[CumberlandHawk]

1) We scored 16 more points than last year.
2) I didnt check the numbers but we seemed to score more bonus points this year
3) We had a great (almost perfect) Saturday
4) Wilcke showed some heart and talent getting to the rd12 up a weight
5) We got a national champ in Cory Clark
6) our unseeded wrestlers showed up and scored points
7) Sammy didnt get what he wanted but moved up 4 places from last year in a brutal bracket


How many more can we add?

 

[Chalkdaddy94]

Kemerer had a pretty dominant tourney and took 3rd as a freshman. Not an easy thing to do. The experience that Wilcke gained will be huge for him, especially if he ends up cutting to 184 for next year. Overall I thought we wrestled more loose and aggressive than the previous few NCAA tournaments. Great job hawks!

 

[Knight563]

Yep. Turk and Stoll both get to heal up over the summer.

 

[final drive]

The hawks need to bring in an offensive minded assistant coach,say somebody like David Taylor.

 

[Stanley75]

Faster than a speeding bullet...More powerful than a locomotive...Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...Look...Up on the top of the podium...It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Superman!" Nope...... it's Clark.

Kemerer was clearly the second best 157lber
Gilman was clearly the best 125lber
Brooks was just about right at 3/4
BS was clearly the second best 149 lber.

Those seniors will be missed for sure.

 

[lrtbahawk]

A first place. Three 3rd places and a fourth place. That's half your lineup.

 

[HawkeyeFreak]

Agree with adding Kemerer to the list of positives. Would have been great to see him on the big stage Saturday night with at least a theoretical chance to upset Nolf. But overall, a very good tournament for him and reason to feel good about him being a big part of the foundation for the rebuild that starts this offseason.

 

[Stanley75]

We are learning from failure.

 

[artradley]

Faster than a speeding bullet...More powerful than a locomotive...Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...Look...Up on the top of the podium...It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Superman!" Nope...... it's Clark.

Kemerer was clearly the second best 157lber
Gilman was clearly the best 125lber
Brooks was just about right at 3/4
BS was clearly the second best 149 lber.

Those seniors will be missed for sure.

You're saying three out of those four guys underpermed. Underperforming at Nationals is not something positive to take away.

 

[artradley]

Agree with adding Kemerer to the list of positives. Would have been great to see him on the big stage Saturday night with at least a theoretical chance to upset Nolf. But overall, a very good tournament for him and reason to feel good about him being a big part of the foundation for the rebuild that starts this offseason.

Kemerer was a beast outside of getting caught. With some maturity (he still gets himself in bad positions on top) and 3-4 pounds of muscle I expect him to be in full beast mode for the next three years. I think this time next year he's better than Nolf.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

1. We did all of this without our top-5 heavyweight. . . for the second straight year. Sam would have added at least 10 points both years -- probably more -- IMO.

2. We were a fluke pin (157) and a last-second takedown away from 3 finalists.

3. The horses are stocking the barn and hungry to be cut loose!

 

[wasdt21]

kemdawg-3rd palacio-6th thank you

 

[CumberlandHawk]

kemdawg-3rd palacio-6th thank you

Are Palacio and PD3 long lost brothers.He seemed pretty out there after the match.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

Stoll? Two knee surgeries is enough!

 

[tigerguy_]

kemdawg-3rd palacio-6th thank you

But who was awarded "The People's Champion" trophy?

 

[Vallholl]

1) We scored 16 more points than last year.
2) I didnt check the numbers but we seemed to score more bonus points this year
3) We had a great (almost perfect) Saturday
4) Wilcke showed some heart and talent getting to the rd12 up a weight
5) We got a national champ in Cory Clark
6) our unseeded wrestlers showed up and scored points
7) Sammy didnt get what he wanted but moved up 4 places from last year in a brutal bracket


How many more can we add?

If Gilman had to lose, it was nice he could beat Picc from OSU again. Sorensen beat got to beat M. Jordan 2X as well. Kemerer got to Major, let me repeat than Major, Tyler Berger from NU.

 

[whejoe]

Are Palacio and PD3 long lost brothers.He seemed pretty out there after the match.

Palacio is whacko. During his post match interview, I was thinking the reason why he withdrew from school for a semester and missed most of last season was due to a mental illness.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

If Gilman had to lose, it was nice he could beat Picc from OSU again. Sorensen beat got to beat M. Jordan 2X as well. Kemerer got to Major, let me repeat than Major, Tyler Berger from NU.

This has been largely overlooked, in part, I'm sure, due to the disappointing loss to Palacio (IMO, if they wrestled 10 more times, Kem wins at least 9). But the bigger point here is that Kem appears to have widened the gap quite a bit with Berger. That match wasn't remotely competitive, and Berger is darn tough. Very, very good sign for the next 3 years with this young man. Hoping he can figure out Nolf by next fall. Tall order, but if anyone at 157 is up to it, Kemerer is.

 

[Vallholl]

This has been largely overlooked, in part, I'm sure, due to the disappointing loss to Palacio (IMO, if they wrestled 10 more times, Kem wins at least 9). But the bigger point here is that Kem appears to have widened the gap quite a bit with Berger. That match wasn't remotely competitive, and Berger is darn tough. Very, very good sign for the next 3 years with this young man. Hoping he can figure out Nolf by next fall. Tall order, but if anyone at 157 is up to it, Kemerer is.

I've always wondered how much stock to put in Sat. AM matches. That being said, even if Saturday morning only correlates to 83% of normal wrestling, I'll taking the winning side of that major every time.

 

[jvclark]

This has been largely overlooked, in part, I'm sure, due to the disappointing loss to Palacio (IMO, if they wrestled 10 more times, Kem wins at least 9). But the bigger point here is that Kem appears to have widened the gap quite a bit with Berger. That match wasn't remotely competitive, and Berger is darn tough. Very, very good sign for the next 3 years with this young man. Hoping he can figure out Nolf by next fall. Tall order, but if anyone at 157 is up to it, Kemerer is.

I too hope he can beat nolf next year. But it's the following year that we will be competing for a title. That is the year he needs to beat Nolf. Now would it hurt to beat him next year too? Hell no

 

[SPOONER]

You're saying three out of those four guys underpermed. Underperforming at Nationals is not something positive to take away.

Clark, Carton, Sorensen, Gunther, Meyer, and Wilcke all wrestled at or above seed/expectation. Meyer really the only one "to seed" with the rest above. Gilman was 1 and finished 3, Kem was 2 and finished 3, and Brooks was a 3 and finished 4. As far as a tournament goes, that's a good tournament. Not perfect, and we certainly left some points out there, but quite good. Compare that to an Okie State who had a 2 and a 6 not place and combine to win 2 matches. Or even better, compare that to past years for Iowa.

By and large, we appeared fresh and healthy at this tournament for the first time in what seems like a long time.