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INDIANAPOLIS — The Iowa women’s basketball team deserved a better fate than what it received on Sunday.

As a No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Hawkeyes put together a remarkable run to the championship game against top-seeded and 10th-ranked Ohio State.

After leading for most of the contest — as well as holding a 16-point advantage at one point in the second half — Iowa just couldn’t hold on, falling 66-64 to the Buckeyes.

The turning point of the game came when Ohio State had possession of the ball with 26 seconds left. While both squads were tied, 64-64, with 1.9 seconds left, the referees called a foul on freshman Trisha Nesbitt. It allowed reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and junior Jantel Lavender to reach the free-throw line. Her two freebies gave Ohio State the lead and sealed the game.

During the postgame press conference, head coach Lisa Bluder addressed the issue of the foul call.

“Obviously, I wish [the ref] wouldn’t have made the call,” she said. “I think it would have been a great overtime. And it seemed like after that game the way it was going it should have went into overtime. … So it is what it is.”

While the 10th-year Iowa coach won’t say it, I will.

To determine a game with less than two seconds left by calling a foul when it hasn’t been called the previous 39 minutes in the contest is questionable. And with so much on the line, how they can feel good about that decision is beyond me.

I’ll give Lavender credit, she was clutch. She nailed both of them perfectly. She was named the Most Outstanding Player for a reason. I had to bite my tongue in disbelief with that ruling.

I almost had the same feeling in my stomach while watching Lavender drain those feel throws as I did when Devin Barclay hit the game-winning overtime field goal for Ohio State back in November.

Slow, painful, and inevitable.

However, what’s done is done. While the team may be left in tears now, they are undoubtedly a force in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes should have been ranked in the top 25 coming into this game, but because of a slow start during the beginning of the season, weren’t.

Even though they were the third seed in the tournament, they were also considered underdogs. Boasting one of the youngest starting line-ups in the country, Iowa has shown impressive maturity the last two months.

The Hawkeyes’ strong play the last month and a half  — where they’ve won 11 out of their last 14 games — has likely guaranteed them a spot int he NCAA tournament. There isn’t a more deserving team to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance.

Losing to Ohio State twice by a mere eight points, I hope the Hawkeyes get a chance to redeem themselves. Bloodied and battered from this weekend, I don’t think they’re done yet.

“I feel like we played hard,” Bluder said. ” We didn’t get the victory and it hurts right now, but I think we’ll ounce back and be ready for the tournament.”

Me too.

— by Evelyn Lau

The Iowa wrestling team captured their third straight Big Ten title on Sunday at the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Hawkeyes finished with 156.5 team points, throttling second place Minnesota, who ended with 119.5. Wisconsin finished third with 109 points.

The Hawkeyes had six grapplers in the finals, but only two – 174-pounder Jay Borschel and heavyweight Dan Erekson – won titles.

Matt McDonough (125), Daniel Dennis (133), Brent Metcalf (149), and Phillip Keddy (184) all finished second, while Montell Marion (141) took third place. Jake Kerr (157) and Ryan Morningstar (165) finished fourth, and Chad Beatty (197) placed fifth.

- By J.T. Bugos

For more coverage of Big Ten Wrestling Championships, check out Monday’s edition of The Daily Iowan.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Iowa won all three of its NCAA championship tie-in matches Sunday Morning.

Sophomore Montell Marion (141), junior Jake Kerr (157), and senior Ryan Morningstar (165) will all vie for third place at the Big Ten championships later today.

Both Marion and Kerr needed to win their first consolation bouts, while Morningstar only needed to place fifth or better.

Meanwhile, Iowa top-seeded 197-pounder Chad Beatty, who already qualified for the national meet, forfeited both of his consolation matches.

Marion earned his NCAA ticket with a 11-6 win against eighth-seeded 141-pounder Cole Schmitt of Wisconsin.

The Des Moines native broke a 6-6 tie with under 10 seconds to go in the third period on a takedown and a three-point near-fall. He will face Purdue’s No. 6 seed Juan Archuleta in the 141-pound third-place bout.

Marion defeated Archuleta, 7-5, on Saturday during the championship quarterfinals.

At 157, Kerr also clinched a spot in the national tournament with a 5-3 win over No. 6 seed David Johnson of Michigan. The Oskaloosa, Iowa native held a 5-0 advantage heading into the third period, but a third-period takedown by Johnson eliminated the shutout.

Kerr will go toe-to-toe with unseeded Anthony Jones of Michigan State. The two did not wrestler during Iowa’s regular-season road dual with the Spartans.

Junior Aaron Janssen took the mat for the Hawkeyes at 157 in the meet.

Morningstar’s consolation semifinal with No. 5 seed Paul Young turned into a thriller. The second-seeded Hawkeye broke a 3-3 tie on an escape with 30 seconds left in the third period.

An evasive Morningstar picked up a stall warning with five seconds left.

For more coverage of the Big Ten wrestling championships, be sure to read Monday’s edition of The Daily Iowan.

— by Ryan Young

Consolation Semifinals:
141 — No. 3 Montell Marion (I) dec. No. 8 Cole Schmitt (Wis), 11-6
157 — No. 4 Jake Kerr (I) dec. No. 6 David Johnson (Mich), 5-3
165 — No. 2 Ryan Morningstar (I) dec. No. 5 Paul Young (Ind), 4-3
197 — No. 7 Logan Brown (Pur) wins by forfeit No. 1 Chad Beatty (I)

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Iowa’s 34th Big Ten championship is still in the works after the second session inside Crisler Arena.

Despite the Hawkeyes possessing 32.5-point lead with six wrestlers in the hunt for an individual title, Minnesota, sitting in second place with 104.5 team points, remains in contention.

And after a Saturday night that saw four seeded grapplers fall out of championships contention and into the consolation bracket, Iowa head coach Tom Brands knows much more needs to be done on Sunday.

“There were certain things that happened out there that cannot happen, ever,” Brands said, specifically citing a lack in hustle. “Those are things your iron out throughout the year, and when you’re doing it at this point of the year, we’re going to have conversations.”

The coach saved his most heated conversation for first-year Penn State head coach Cale Sanderson Saturday night — a pointed argument midway through the third period of the semifinal heavyweight bout.

Following an escape by third-seeded Nittany Lion Cameron Wade, referees called a timeout to allow Iowa 285-pounder Dan Erekson to secure his headgear, which had gotten knocked off during a scramble.

But Wade, apparently unaware of the stoppage, shot low on Erekson’s legs, and Brands ferociously stormed center mat, suspecting Wade had attempted to injure his wrestler.

After exchanging choice words with the officials, the fourth-year Hawkeye headman directed his dispute at Sanderson.

Meanwhile, Erekson waited for the match to resume and evenutaly clinched his second straight Big Ten finals appearance on a 5-2 decision.

He said he gave Wade “the benefit of the doubt,” but noted he wasn’t surprised to see Brands take action.

“He gets into it,” Erekson said. “One thing about our coaches is they believe in us, almost so much that they believe in us more than we believe in ourselves, so they have our back, and they’re behind us. They wants us to succeed. You know, they don’t want us to get hurt.”

Brands and the Iowa coaching staff also got a bit animated towards the end of the 133-pound semifinal between second-seeded Daniel Dennis and defending Big Ten and NCAA champion Franklin Gomez.

But the outcome was also a bit more favorable for the Hawkeyes.

Following a third-period takedown on the edge of the mat that gave Dennis 4-2 advantage, Gomez managed a reversal after a restart to tie the match.

As time expired, referees awarded Dennis a point on a locked-hands call, and the second-seeded senior scored a reversal of his own to seemingly secure the win. The points, however, remained absent on the scoreboard until after the officials conferred.

Dennis said he could have done without the last-second thrills.

“It was good to come out on top of it,” he said. “But preventing that scramble would have been better, and it would have been ideal, and if I could go back, that scramble would never happened.”

He’ll have the chance to rectify his mistake Sunday afternoon when he faces top-seeded 133-pounder Jayson Ness of Minnesota.

Dennis and Erekson, as well as Matt McDonough (125), defending Big Ten champion Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174), and Phillip Keddy (184) all could come away with individual titles.

“We can’t be yawning when we should be hammering,” Brands said. “We’ve got to be awake, and we’ve got to be full throttle.

— by Ryan Young

Semifinal Results:
125 — No. 2 Matt McDonough (I) major dec. No. 3 Zach Sanders (Minn), 8-0
133 — No. 2 Daniel Dennis (I) dec. No. 3 Franklin Gomez (MSU), 5-4
141 — No. 2 Mike Thorn (Minn) major dec. No. 3 Montell Marion (I), 12-3
149 — No. 1 Brent Metcalf (I) major dec. No. 4 Frank Molinaro (PSU), 12-3
157 — No. 1 Colton Salazar (Pur) dec. No. 4 Jake Kerr (I), 6-2
165 — No. 3 Colt Sponseller (OSU), dec. No. 2 Ryan Morningstar (I), 3-1
174 — No. 1 Jay Borschel (I) dec. No. 5 Jordan Blanton (Ill), 6-0
184 — No. 3 Phillip Keddy (I) dec. No. 2 Dave Erwin (PSU), 4-1
197 — No. 5 Sonny Yohn (Minn) dec. No. 1 Chad Beatty (I), 7-6 TB
HWT —No. 2 Dan Erekson (I) dec. No. 3 Cameron Wade (PSU), 5-2

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Big Ten Wrestling Championships: More dramatic than The Notebook.
More dramatic than that time you broke up with your girlfriend for the fourth time, and she didn’t want to let you go.

The drama reached its peak, fittingly, in Iowa’s final match of the day.

Hawkeye heavyweight Dan Erekson was nursing a 2-1 lead over Penn State’s Cameron Wade when the referee blew his whistle, allowing Erekson to replace his fallen headgear. A solid three seconds after the shrill sound echoed through a relatively quiet arena, Wade took a shot to Erekson’s lower leg.

Erekson went down hard. The senior hit the mat in a way that a knee injury would have surprised no one (don’t worry folks, the Danimal is still in tip-top shape).

The Iowa bench, however, did not go down.

Head coach Tom Brands might have set a new NFL Combine record if someone had measured his jump to the center of the mat.

Brands was furious, and rightly so. Wade took a cheap shot and could have seriously injured Erekson.
The presence of Penn State headman Cael Sanderson (always annoying to see in person – I think he might use 8 pounds of dome wax) didn’t help the situation. Sanderson threw some verbal jabs at Brands for his outburst, further enraging the Iowa coach.

After the match, Brands said he wasn’t going to talk about the incident (he almost didn’t talk to the media at all he was so peeved), and I wouldn’t have blamed him.

Brands is a fiery, emotional coach, and speaking about the incident so soon could have only caused problems. Most of those problems, though, would have been for Sanderson if he crossed paths with Brands again.

The fourth-year head coach could have taken down a grizzly bear judging by how amped up he was.
Erekson played the incident off, finishing the match and getting himself into the finals.

But the drama was not limited to the coaches.

Dan Dennis’ match with defending Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez almost put the arena into collective cardiac arrest.

The two 133-pounders were locked in a 2-2 tie late in the third period, but Gomez held riding time advantage. With 20 seconds left, Dennis struck for a two-point takedown, giving him a 4-2 lead and eliminating riding time.

After a restart to the center of the mat, Gomez initiated a mind-boggling scramble that had the Hawkeye and Spartan flipping over each other at warp speed. Gomez ended up on top for a reversal, but Dennis soon was back in control.

The Hawkeyes’ reversal was signaled, but eventually taken away because the match was ruled to have ended. Lost in all the scrapping was a hand-locking call that gave Dennis a 5-4 victory.

The match-ending scramble was nothing I’d ever seen. Dennis and Gomez had an incredible match earlier this year (Dennis won that in the first tiebreak period, 3-2), but this was rapid fire muscles putting on a clinic.

Not to be outdone, 197-pounder Chad Beatty and Minnesota’s Sonny Yohn decided to go extra time.
Beatty trailed the Golden Gopher deep into the third period, but scored a takedown with 15 seconds left to tie up the score, 6-6.

An overtime period yielded no scoring, and a tiebreaker ensued. Yohn started down in the first tiebreak period, but could never escape Beatty’s grasp.

But a locking hands call gave Yohn a 7-6 lead he wouldn’t relinquish in the second half of the tiebreak.
Beatty was upset at the hand-locking call and the fact that Yohn wasn’t called for stalling after repeatedly resisting the action.

The senior from Wilton, Iowa who had come back from a foot injury, battled through two highly contested matches and deserved a trip to the finals.

In the end, though, Iowa sends six wrestlers to the finals, and holds a 32.5-point advantage heading into the final session.

If Saturday’s matches were any indication of things to come, I just might have to bring my defibrillator.

— by J.T. Bugos

By Ryan Young

ryan-c-young@uiowa.edu

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jake Kerr’s first match of the Big Ten championships might as well have been a two-on-one tag-team bout inside Crisler Arena.

During his postseason debút against fifth-seed Sean Nemec of Ohio State Saturday morning, he spent most of the seven minutes wrestling with his mind.

“I worry about how I feel way too much,” he said. “I need to get over that.”

Fortunately for Kerr, his brain also helped him fight off Nemec for a 5-3 win.

But anxiety could be a much more difficult opponent to overcome later tonight, too, when Kerr takes on top-seeded Colton Salazar of Purdue in the championship semifinals.

During the pair’s January matchup, Salazar escaped with a 6-4 sudden victory win in West Lafayette, Ind.

Kerr admitted nerves and the electric tournament atmosphere played a part in his mind games, which seemed to translate into static offense.

After managing two first-period takedowns for an early 4-1 lead, the Oskaloosa, Iowa native tallied his last point against Nemec on an escape just as time expired in the second period.

Kerr’s stagnant legs also allowed the Buckeye to keep the match close, something that left Iowa head coach Tom Brands mildly disgruntled.

“There were points left out there,” the fourth-year headman said. “That’s not how you win national championships, or Big Ten championships, or matches. … You don’t give guys chances.”

A chance proved to be all Kerr needed to secure his first Big Ten championship win, though.

Brands’ belly might as well have been a Magic Eight Ball Friday morning when he chose Kerr over junior Aaron Janssen, who wrestled 12 bouts for Iowa at 157.

Kerr said Brands didn’t explain his “gut decision.” But even with his status in limbo throughout the week, he added, the wait wasn’t nearly as mentally draining as it had been at times during the regular season.

“I’ve been doing good in the wrestling room, so I mean I was a little bit more at ease,” he said. “But of course, it bothers me.”

The Iowa women’s swimming and diving team remains in ninth-place overall after Day Two of the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind.

Minnesota leads the championship meet, with Michigan nine points behind.

Despite swimming season-best times in two events, the Hawkeyes sent only two competitors to the finals.

Junior Katarina Tour swam the second-fastest 200 individual medley in school history — 2:01.51 — to finish seventh in the prelims.

Tour followed up with the third-fastest time in Iowa history in the 200 IM finals, good for a 15th place finish and an NCAA ‘B’ cut time.

The Stockholm, Sweden native now holds the first, second, and third best 200 IM finishes in Iowa program history.

Fellow junior Veronica Rydze notched a seventh-place win in the 1-meter dive prelims, posting a 272.80. Rydze then posted season-best score of 281.10 in the 1-meter finals, good enough for an 8th-place finish.

Junior Verity Hicks posted the eighth-best 500 freestyle time in school history, but failed to qualify for the finals.

Friday’s action begins with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m. Seven events are scheduled to take place.

— by Mitch Smith

It was déjà vu for the Iowa women’s swimming and diving team after the first day of competition at the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Hawkeyes only competed in two events on Wednesday — the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay.

Iowa posted back-to-back ninth-place finishes, putting the Hawkeyes ahead of Michigan State and Illinois for ninth overall.

The squad started how it ended the conference title meet exactly last year when Iowa finished ninth, ahead of the same two teams.

Indiana sits atop the leader board after Day One.

Thursday’s action begins with the prelims at 10 a.m., culminating with the finals at 5:30 p.m. Teams are slated to compete in five individual events.

— by Mitch Smith