IOWA CITY – A top-five victory by freshman Drake Ayala and string of bonus-point wins sent the top-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team past No. 15 Purdue, 36-4, on Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes scored bonus points in five matches and won nine-of-10 overall to extend their winning streak to 26 straight duals, the longest in the country.
After falling to a top 10 opponent in his Carver-Hawkeye Arena debut on Friday, Ayala responded Sunday with takedowns in the second and third periods, forcing a stall call and piling up more than three minutes of riding time in a 6-1 win over No. 5 Devin Schroder.
“I just kept looking at my coaches and they kept telling me to keep him down, so that’s I what I did,” Ayala said. “I’m learning a lot every day. I’m pretty young, so being in here, it’s a learning experience. It’s fun. I love it.”
“When you make adjustments and you see positive results from those adjustments, and it’s no credit to us, it’s credit to our guys, you’re definitely headed the right direction,” said Iowa head coach Tom Brands.
Purdue jumped on the board with a win at 133 before Iowa rattled off eight straight wins, including a string of bonus points from 149 pounds through 174.
Max Murin scored four takedowns and nearly four minutes of riding time in a 10-2 win at 149. Kaleb Young used five takedowns to win, 12-4, at 157, and Alex Marinelli and Michael Kemerer followed with consecutive technical falls at 165 and 174. Marinelli used nine takedowns to win 22-7. Kemerer used two takedowns and three sets of four-point tilts to win 17-1.
“I ate my Wheaties,” Marinelli said. “I was doing the things that I know how to do and then (went) out there and let it fly. On Friday I held up a little bit and got stagnant, you can’t let that happen in wrestling. You can always look to score and when I’m doing that good things will happen.”
The Hawkeyes won battles of ranked wrestlers at 184 and 197. Abe Assad scored a takedown in the first and second period to win 6-3 at 184 and Jacob Warner’s takedown with one minute, seven second left in the third sent him to a 3-0 decision at 197.
Jaydin Eierman also won a 7-6 match against a ranked opponent at 141, and Tony Cassioppi closed the dual with a fall in one minute, 14 seconds at 285.
“We have to get ready to go,” said Brands. “We’re in the middle of it now. We’re in the middle of the Big Ten season. We were at the beginning and now we’re at the end of the weekend. We’re in the middle of it and we have to get ready for Northwestern on Friday.”
UP NEXT
The top-ranked Hawkeyes travel to Evanston, Illinois to face No. 23 Northwestern on Friday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. (CT).
NOTABLES
Iowa has won 26 straight duals.
Iowa has won 25 straight conference duals overall, its longest streak since winning 39 straight from 2007-12.
Iowa has won 22 straight at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Drake Ayala earned his first Big Ten Conference win and first career dual win.
Marinelli has three tech. falls this season, a single-season career high.
#1 IOWA 36, #15 PURDUE 4
125 #14 Drake Ayala (IA) dec. #5 Devin Schroeder (P), 6-1; 3-0
133 Matt Ramos (P) major dec. Jesse Ybarra (I), 11-1; 3-4
141 #2 Jaydin Eierman (IA) dec. #25 Parker Filius (P), 7-6; 6-4
149 #12 Max Murin (IA) major dec. Trey Kruse (P), 10-2; 10-4
157 #12 Kaleb Young (IA) major dec. Cooper Noehre (P), 12-4; 14-4
165 #1 Alex Marinelli (IA) tech. fall Hayden Lohrey (P), 22-7; 19-4
174 #2 Michael Kemerer (IA) tech. fall #21 Gerrit Nijenhuis (P), 17-1; 24-4
184 #18 Abe Assad dec. (IA) dec. #23 Max Lyon (P), 6-3; 27-4
197 #5 Jacob Warner (IA) dec. #15 Thomas Penola (P), 3-0; 30-4
285 #6 Tony Cassioppi (IA) pinned Michael Woulfe (P), 1:14; 36-4
Records: Iowa (8-0, 2-0), Purdue (7-2, 1-1)
Attendance: 14,905
