Iowa hasn’t wrestled a match since February 7. The scheduled match against PSU on February 12 was cancelled, as were subsequent matches with Northwestern and Wisconsin. The program was “shutdown” on campus for almost two weeks due to positive Covid results. Coach Tom Brands tested positive as reportedly did two starters, Kaleb Young and Alex Marinelli.
Initially, it was expected that the PSU match would be rescheduled for sometime earlier this week. But, PSU instead wrestled Maryland. Because of the number of Big Ten teams which have had Covid shutdowns, Sanderson publicly said two weeks ago that he was looking for additional matches outside the conference but the in-conference Maryland match was the only one that happened.
When PSU had a similar shutdown in January, in their first match back they barely beat Indiana, which is a Big 10 also-ran. They appear to be back on course now, having beaten then #2 Michigan and shutting out Maryland 44-0 with six freshmen wrestling.
Iowa’s first action will be next weekend in the Big 10 tournament. I wonder how much the shutdown will affect them. I imagine the wrestlers who didn’t test positive worked out off campus, since stories have mentioned that Brands was coaching “remotely” while quarantined. Also, the last two weekends before the shutdown, Iowa wrestled two matches each weekend to make up for earlier matches that had been postponed. That should help a little in a Big 10 tournament setting where they will have to wrestle as many as 4 matches in two days.
I suspect that no matter how well they have trained, the time off will hurt some wrestlers, especially Young and Marinelli.
Initially, it was expected that the PSU match would be rescheduled for sometime earlier this week. But, PSU instead wrestled Maryland. Because of the number of Big Ten teams which have had Covid shutdowns, Sanderson publicly said two weeks ago that he was looking for additional matches outside the conference but the in-conference Maryland match was the only one that happened.
When PSU had a similar shutdown in January, in their first match back they barely beat Indiana, which is a Big 10 also-ran. They appear to be back on course now, having beaten then #2 Michigan and shutting out Maryland 44-0 with six freshmen wrestling.
Iowa’s first action will be next weekend in the Big 10 tournament. I wonder how much the shutdown will affect them. I imagine the wrestlers who didn’t test positive worked out off campus, since stories have mentioned that Brands was coaching “remotely” while quarantined. Also, the last two weekends before the shutdown, Iowa wrestled two matches each weekend to make up for earlier matches that had been postponed. That should help a little in a Big 10 tournament setting where they will have to wrestle as many as 4 matches in two days.
I suspect that no matter how well they have trained, the time off will hurt some wrestlers, especially Young and Marinelli.
