OMAHA, Neb. – Three Iowa seniors ended their careers with All-American honors.
Ryan Morningstar and Dan Erekson earned seventh-place finishes, while Phil Keddy finished eighth.
Morningstar toughed out a 3-2 win over Old Dominion’s Chris Brown. The Lisbon native revealed after his match he suffered a torn PCL and torn MCL in his bout with Penn State’s Dan Vallimont at the Big Ten championships that forced him to default from the match.
Keddy suffered a 9-5 loss to third-seeded Dustin Kilgore of Kent State. Keddy said he was disappointed with his finish, but knows he isn’t done wrestling, and that helps to absorb the defeat.
“It’s not even close to where I wanted to finish,” Keddy said. “The All-American thing is important, and it could have been a lot worse, but the way I envisioned it, it wouldn’t have even been an option. I’m just going to look to getting healthy and keep wrestling.”
Erekson beat Central Michigan’s Jarod Trice, 8-2, in his seventh-place match. Erekson wasn’t satisfied with his finish either, but said it was good to end his Iowa career with a win.
“It’s not where we wanted to be, the three of us, but you have to go out there, wrestle hard and wrestle for pride,” Erekson said. “Wrestle for yourself, the fans and the coaches. So, I had to go out there and get the win.”
Iowa has five wrestlers in the finals, which will start at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
— by J.T. Bugos
Team Standings:
1. Iowa: 122.5
2. Cornell: 86
3. Oklahoma: 69
4. Iowa State: 67
5. Wisconsin: 66.5
6. Oklahoma State: 65
7. Ohio State: 62
8. Minnesota: 59
9. Penn State: 49
10. Missouri: 44
Seventh Place Matches:
165 – No. 7 Ryan Morningstar (I) dec. Chris Brown (Old Dominion), 3-2
184 – No. 3 Dustin Kilgore (Kent St.) dec. No. 9 Phil Keddy (I), 9-5
HWT – No. 5 Dan Erekson (I) dec. No. 7 Jarod Trice (Central Mich.), 8-2
