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Hawks Begin Home Stretch Against Michigan

Story by Ross Bartachek

Mark Lundy photo

Who: #5 Iowa 9-1 (4-1) vs #4 Michigan 7-2 (4-1)
Where: Iowa City, Iowa | Carver Hawkeye Arena
When: Saturday, January 27th, 2018  5:00 PM (Central)
Watch: Televised on BTN

The Hawkeyes will have another premier dual matchup for the third straight week in a row. Coming off a good win over Oklahoma State followed by a tough loss to Ohio State. The Michigan Wolverines will come into town with a lineup comprised of eight ranked wrestlers, six of them in the top ten. On paper this dual looks like a tossup with Iowa favored in five matches in rankings, and Michigan favored in four with one weight with both unranked wrestlers.

Starting off we have two true freshman in #4 Spencer Lee and #16 Drew Mattin. Mattin has some impressive wins this season against returning NCAA finalist Ethan Lizak and All-American Sean Russell. However Spencer has a list of more impressive wins including Nate Tomasello, Sean Russel, and Nick Piccinnini. Everything that we’ve seen from the two wrestlers would indicate bonus points for Spencer Lee.

At 133 pounds we’ll see Paul Glynn, who seems to have solidified his position at this weight going forward for Iowa. He’ll be taking on #4 Stevan Micic for the Wolverines who looks to be the clear favorite on paper. Glynn avoided giving up bonus points to #2 Pletcher this past weekend, but Micic tends to wrestle a faster pace. Either way, a regular decision shouldn’t surprise here.

Moving up we’ll have either Carter Happel or Vince Turk taking on Sal Profaci. With a battle of all unranked wrestlers this will be a key tossup match that will be valuable in determining the winner. I’m not sure who we’ll be seeing take the mat for Iowa, but with Happel getting the most recent shot, and a competition for the weight still underway, its fair to say we might see Turk take the mat.

#5 Iowa vs #4 Michigan

125: #4 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs #16 Drew Mattin (Michigan)
133: UR Paul Glynn (Iowa) vs #4 Stevan Micic (Michigan)
141: UR Cartler Happel/Vince Turk (Iowa) vs UR Sal Profaci (Michigan)
149: #2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) vs UR Malik Amine (Michigan)
157: #2 Micahel Kemerer (Iowa) vs #7 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)
165: #7 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs #10 Logan Massa (Michigan)
174: #18 Joey Gunther/UR Kaleb Young (Iowa) vs #6 Myles Amine (Michigan)
184: Mitch Bowman (Iowa) vs #5 Domenic Abounader (Michigan)
197: #5 Cash Wilcke (Iowa) vs #15 Kevin Beazley (Michigan)
285: #3 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs #2 Adam Coon (Michigan)

All rankings are courtesy of TheOpenMat College Individual and Team Dual rankings.

Full Preview is available on our wrestling affiliate site, IAwrestle.

Also Please Note: Following the Iowa-Michigan dual fans can head over to Brown Deer Golf Course and support the Hawkeye Wrestling Club as they host their annual Arctic Plunge. Former wrestling standouts Mark Ironside, Matt McDonough, Luke Eustice, Alex Meyer, Sam Brooks, Thomas Gilman, Topher Carton will all be in attendance as will the entire coaching staff. Guest appearances include Iowa Football wide receiver Matt VandeBerg and his wife Laura!

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