From the corner chair

Just like old times ...

As the ESPN cameras panned the crowd before the start of last night's finals at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, the crowed booed - every time an Iowa fan was televised.

One young Hawkeye fan held up a sign that read "Back in Black" and was soundly booed.

Looks like the Hawkeyes really are back on top.

It's all over, but the ...

Championship bouts get under way in a couple of hours, but Iowa wrapped up the team title earlier this morning at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

It wasn't a great morning for the Hawks, who won three of eight bouts, but Jay Borschel finished third at 174 pounds, Matt Fields was fifth at heavyweight and Charlie Falck at 125 and Phil Keddy at 184 placed sixth.

Iowa State got a fifth from Nick Gallick at 141, a sixth from heavyweight David Zabriskie (he lost to Fields in OT), sevenths from Nick Fanthorpe at 133, Cyler Sanderson at 157 and Jon Reader at 165 and an eighth from unseeded DAvid Bertolino at 197.

UNI's Moza Fay finished fifth at 165, giving UNI it's first all-American in three years.

All in all, a great weekend for the state's schools.

Brands is the man

Iowa wrapped up the NCAA wrestling title early Saturday morning when ISU's Nick Gallick lost in the 141-pound consolation semifinals.

The Hawkeyes won just one of four consolation matches themselves in the morning, but the damage was done.

Iowa is once again king of the college wrestling world and there is one person responsible - Tom Brands.

Brands has returned Iowa to its tough, aggressive ways. He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year two weeks ago and should get the national award, too.

5 of 7 not bad

The quarterfinal round didn't end quite as good for Iowa at the NCAA Wrestling Championshis Thursday afternoon, but Iowa won five of seven championships matches.

After Jay Borschel's win at 174, the Hawkeyes had won 16 in a row in the championship bracket. But Phil Keddy at 184 gave up a late takedown in a 4-3 loss to Mike Pucillo of Ohio State and Matt Fields was riden the entire third period in a 2-0 loss to Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State at heavyweight.

Iowa mainted its team lead and will have five in Thursday nigh'ts semifinals. Keddy and Fields still can get hird.

4 for Perry

Mark Perry secured his fourth all-American finish by pinning Michael Cannon of Amerian in the NCAA wrestling quarterfinals Thursday.

Perry finished Cannon in a mere 44 seconds, then turned to the Hawkeye crowd and held up four fingers.

He said being a four-time all-American one was one of his main goals when he arrived at Iowa.

Iowa, so far, is 5-for-5 in the quarters. Jay Borschel dominated Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan, 8-2. Phil Keddy and Matt Fields getting ready.

Good start for Hawks

Iowa's wrestling team got off to a roaring start Friday morning when Charlie Falck avenged a 2007 NCAA loss to Tanner Gardner of Stanford in the quarterfinals.

Falck had lost to Gardner in both of their previous meetings, including by pin in this tournament last year. But the Hawkeye junior beat Gardner, 5-4, on takedown with 45 seconds left.

Joe Slaton also won, beating ISU's NIck Fanthorpe, 2-1, in overtime at 133.

Back in St. Louis

After a little technical difficulty on Thursday, I'm up in running here at the Scottrade Center for the NCAA I Wrestling Championships.

The tournament is off to a great start, especially if you're an Iowa or Iowa State.

The Cyclones had an outstanding first round and a solid second round. The Hawkeyes looked especially tough Thursday night, winning all seven second-round boutsw.

Iowa is winning the tournament like Hawk teams of old - with bonus points. Through their first 18 matches - 15 qina - the Hawks have 3 pins and four major decisions.

Quarterfinals are about to start this morning.

Peacocks disappointed

The Upper Iowa wrestling team was hoping for a little better showing at the NCAA II wrestling tournament it hosted this weekend at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

The Peacocks finished 14th with two all-Americans - fourth-place Travis Eggers and 157 and sixth place Tyler Mumbulo at 125.

Both wrestlers lost their final bouts Saturday and both vowed to return next year with higher goals.

UIU has some outstanding wrestlers and are worth a look by Eastern Iowa wrestling fans. Head coach Heath Grimm has done an excellent job with this program and he's got some great kids on the roster.

Wrestling is wrestling

Cedar Rapids in enjoying a wonderful run of wrestling tournaments, wrapping today with the finals of the NCAA Division II Championships at the U.S. Cellular Center.

This is the third weekend in a row wrestling has grabbed the spotlight. The state high school dual tournament was first, followed by the NCAA Division III and now the NCAA II.

Folks often ask was is the different between D-III and D-II and the difference between D-II and D-I.

In short, not much.

There are very talented wrestlers at all levels and at these championships in particular. There is some boring matches, some thrilling matches and a lot of very good matches.

The thing I've noticed most between D-I and D-III is reversals. There are a lot more reversals in D-III, simply because of the positions the wrestlers put themselves in.

On the other had, D-I wrestlers often wrestle too tight, especially at the national tournament. That leads to boring wrestling.

Most of the guys at the D-II tournament put on great performances. There were a lot of flurries, a lot of pins and a lot of action.

This is my first D-II tournament and I can't wait until this meet returns to Cedar Rapids.

Looking back

The NCAA Division II wrestling tournament begins Friday and ends Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

Since Upper Iowa University is the only D-II school in the state, this tournament might not generate the interest of the D-III meet did a year ago.

But there was a time when the state of Iowa - or rather Northern Iowa - dominated D-II wrestling.

That's right. The Panthers were to D-II what Iowa and Iowa State were to D-I. UNI won two D-II titles in the 1970s ('75 and '78) and placed in the top four of the tournament for nine consecutive years.

UNI's last year in D-II was 1980 when it finished second with six all-Americans, two of whom won national titles.

I'm not alone

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the Hawkeyes can win the NCAA wrestling title.

USA Today/InterMat/NWCA just released its pre-NCAA tournament and ranking and are proecting Iowa to win the NCAA title ahead of Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa State.

If the Hawks wrestle like they did Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon - and NOT Saturday night - at the Big Ten tournament, they will win the NCAA title.

I'm not sure Minnesota will be their biggest challenger, however. The Gophers could be without two wrestlers and even if C.J. Schlatter and Roger Kish wrestle, they won't be a full strength after suffering injuries last weekend.

This is not a homerish plug for the home state, but look for Iowa State to push Iowa in St. Louis next week. The Cylcones are the only Top 10 team to qualify all 10 wrestlers.

And keep an eye on Central Michigan.

Hawks back on top

It appears the Big Ten title will return to Iowa City, afterall.

After a poor semifinal round, Minnesota was in control at the Big Ten wrestling tournament, but Iowa won five of six consolation semifinals Saturday afternoon and Joe Slaton and Brent Metcalf scored key wins over Gophers to put Iow back in control.

Slaton finished third at 133 and Metcalf whipped 2006 NCAA champ Dustin Schlatter, 5-3, with a takedown with 10 seconds left to win the 149 title.

Metcalf to the rescue

Like he's done much of the season, Brent Metcalf stopped the Hawkeye bleeding in the second session of the Big Ten wrestling tournament.

Iowa had lost four in a row before Metcalf took the match and dominated Penn State's Bubba Jenkins, 15-3.

Metcalf now has two pins and a major on the first day of this tournament.

Ryan Morningstar, on the next mat, lost, however, and will be going for seventh today. He has to place seventh to be assured an NCAA berth.

Ouch

After starting the Big Ten wrestling tournament with seven straight wins and winning 11 of 13 first-session bouts, the Hawkeyes are taking a hit.

After Ryan Morningstar's win in consolation, Iowa lost three in a row - including second seeds Charlie Falck at 125 and Joe Slaton at 133. Both started slow, again, and couldn't come back. Slaton came close, down 7-2 going into the third period and losing 10-8 to Michigan State's Franklin Gomez.

Hawks rolling

Iowa won 11 of its first 13 matches during the first session of the Big Ten wrestling championships in Minneapolis, collecting four pins and two major decisions along the way.

There were no upsets, but Iowa dominated when it was supposed to, getting a pair of falls from top-seeded Brent Metcalf at 149 pounds and two wins from Metcalf, Joe Slaton and Matt Fields.

Fields also has a pin and dominated Illinois' John Wise, a wrestler who has given him fits in the past, with three late takedowns to move into the semifinals at heavyweight.

Chad Beatty lost at 197, but had second-seeded Phil Davis of Penn State on his back when the final buzzer sounded. Davis pinned Beatty earlier in the season and won 14-6 today.

All in all, it was a great start for the Hawkeyes.

Perry's back

Mark Perry left no doubt is inactive since early January wasn't going to affect his performance at the Big Ten wrestling tournament.

Perry opened defense of his 165-pound title today by pinning Grant Pasweall of Illinois with 30 seconds left in the first perid.

Perry was up 4-0 at the time, looking like his old self.

So far, Iowa has won eight of its first nine bout. Ryan Morningstar is the only loser, falling to second-seeded Dan Vallimont of Penn State, 3-2.

Live from the Big Tens!

Hey, I know it's been a while since I've posted here. Too long, really. No excuses.

I'm sitting in press row at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Iowa is off to a good start in its quest to get the Big Ten title back in Iowa City.

The Hawkeyes went 3-o in the preliminary round, getting pins from Brent Metcalf and Matt Fields (he was up 12-4, too), and Charlie Falck and Joe Slaton started the quarterfinal with come-from-behind wins.

Slaton is 2-0 here.

More later. I promise.