IOWA WRESTLING

Iowa wrestling: Brody Teske returns, Aiden Riggins makes dual debut, Hawkeyes thump Purdue

Cody Goodwin
Des Moines Register

Sunday was a prime opportunity for the second-ranked Iowa wrestling team to bounce back after a rough Big Ten opener on Friday. But instead of rolling out the full A-Team, a slightly irregular Hawkeye lineup thumped Purdue, 37-6, inside Holloway Gymnasium in West Lafayette, Ind.

Slightly irregular because two guys, Cullan Schriever and Caleb Rathjen, bumped up from their usual weights to battle a couple of Purdue's best wrestlers on Sunday. Slightly irregular because Aiden Riggins, the highly touted freshman from Waverly-Shell Rock, made his Iowa dual debut at 165 pounds in lieu of Patrick Kennedy.

But it was also somewhat regular — or at least closer to regular — because Brody Teske returned to the lineup after missing two months with an undisclosed health issue. With his left leg heavily wrapped, Teske surrendered an early takedown, but ultimately overwhelmed Dustin Norris in a 16-4 major decision at 133 pounds.

The Hawkeyes, ranked No. 2 nationally by InterMat, won 8 of 10 matches to win their 34th consecutive dual over Purdue. The Hawkeyes are now 9-0 overall and 2-0 against the Big Ten. It was a strong rebound after Friday's underwhelming win over Illinois.

In addition to Teske, Riggins also won his dual debut, a 9-4 decision over Stoney Buell. Riggins has now used three of his five available dates afforded to true freshmen by the NCAA to still maintain his redshirt. But Schriever and Rathjen lost despite tremendous efforts. Schriever went down 6-2 to 15th-ranked Parker Filius at 141. Rathjen, who weighed in at 150.4, gave up an early takedown lost to third-ranked Kendall Coleman 3-2 at 157.

And we haven't even touched on Spencer Lee's wild opening match. Ready for this?

Matt Ramos, ranked No. 9 nationally at 125, took Lee down not once but twice in the first period. On the second score, he took Lee to his back and nearly pinned him, but settled instead for an 8-1 lead. Lee then promptly escaped, scored his own takedown, tilted Ramos for four nearfall, then re-adjusted for a pin.

All of that … in 2 minutes and 56 seconds.

"He was game," Lee said in an interview with Big Ten Network afterward. "He was ready to go. He’s a great opponent. I even told him after the match, ‘Nice throw.’ He tossed me. He stepped in and threw me. But the match is seven minutes long, so I just kept wrestling hard and kept trying to score points."

Lee's pin was his fourth of the season. It was also one of two for the Hawkeyes on Sunday — Abe Assad recorded the other, over Ben Vanadia at 184 — and one of six total bonus wins against Purdue. Teske and Jacob Warner (197) both recorded majors, Max Murin won by 22-7 technical fall over Trey Kruse at 149, and Purdue coach Tony Ersland, a former Hawkeye wrestler and Humboldt native, forfeited to Iowa's Tony Cassioppi at heavyweight.

"On Friday, I wasn't really too happy walking off the mat," Assad, who is now 12-1 this season with two pins, said afterward. "I didn't really open up my offense like I know I can. So a quick turnaround, it was nice to come here and really put some points on the board."

So, yeah, the starting 10 that wrestled Sunday may not have been the full star lineup Iowa is banking on come March, but it was plenty good enough to completely run over a young Purdue squad that's now 4-4 overall and 0-1 against the Big Ten. That maybe explains why coach Tom Brands made the decisions he did. Iowa wrestlers scored 22 total takedowns to Purdue's 7, and outscored the Boilermakers in total match points, 86-37.

Iowa returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to wrestle No. 11 Northwestern (2-0, 1-0) on Friday at 8 p.m. The dual will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at@codygoodwin.

No. 2 Iowa 37, Purdue 6

  • 125: #1 Spencer Lee (IA) pinned #9 Matt Ramos (PUR) in 2:56
  • 133: Brody Teske (IA) maj. dec. Dustin Norris (PUR), 16-4
  • 141: #15 Parker Filius (PUR) dec. Cullan Schriever (IA), 6-2
  • 149: #5 Max Murin (IA) tech. fall Trey Kruse (PUR), 22-7
  • 157: #3 Kendall Coleman (PUR) dec. Caleb Rathjen (IA), 3-2
  • 165: Aiden Riggins (IA) dec. Stoney Buell (PUR), 9-4
  • 174: #16 Nelson Brands (IA) dec. Cooper Noehre (PUR), 4-0
  • 184: #8 Abe Assad (IA) pinned Ben Vanadia (PUR) in 4:16
  • 197: #6 Jacob Warner (IA) maj. dec. Hayden Filipovich (PUR), 16-4
  • 285: #3 Tony Cassioppi (IA) by forfeit