2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships: Iowa schedule, results, preview (03/15/2018)

Iowa has eight wrestlers taking part in the 2018 NCAA championships, a three-day event, beginning on Thursday, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Get complete brackets and results here.

Defending national champion Penn State and Ohio State are the favorites. The Hawkeyes will need a strong tournament if they’re to earn a top-four finish and bring home any hardware. Find the time, TV channel and watch online information below.

2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships: Iowa schedule, results

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2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships: Iowa preview

A preview for every Iowa wrestler at nationals is included below. Also, check back up for updates throughout the tournament on how the Hawkeyes are doing.

Spencer Lee

Seed: No. 3

Record: 17-2

Weight class: 125

Spencer Lee, Iowa’s super recruit, started his freshman year as a redshirt candidate while coming back from a torn ACL. He debuted for the Hawkeyes in January and quickly established himself as one of the nation’s best 125-pound wrestlers. He is 11-2 against the tournament field, including a 3-2 win in January over the No. 2 seed, Ohio State’s Nathan Tomasello. Lee could make the finals and is a dark horse to claim a title.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Lee beat Chattanooga’s Alonzo Allen by technical fall at the 1 minute, 38 second mark in the first round. Lee also beat Purdue’s Luke Welch by technical fall in the second round.

Vince Turk

Seed: Unseeded

Record: 13-8

Weight class: 141

Vince Turk split time at 141 with Carter Heppel this season. He must first beat Lock Haven’s Kyle Shoop (34-12) on Thursday morning to have a chance to advance to main draw against No. 18 seed Cole Weaver of Indiana later in the morning. Weaver is 24-10. He defeated Turk 8-3 at the Midlands Invitational in Dec. 29-30.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Turk won a 12-2 major decision over Shoop in a pig tail match. He upset Weaver with a 4-3 decision in his second match on Thursday morning. Turk lost 5-2 to No. 1 seed Bryce Meredith, of Wyoming, in the second round.

Brandon Sorensen

Seed: 2

Record: 21-2

Weight class: 149

Brandon Sorensen is a three-time All-American. All that’s left for him is to win a national title. It won’t be easy. He will most likely have to go through the top seed, Penn State’s Zain Retherford, to do so. Retherford has beat Sorensen twice this season.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Sorensen opened up his NCAA championships with an 11-6 decision over Navy’s Jared Prince. Sorensen was upset by No. 15 seed Ronnie Perry, of Lock Haven, 3-2, in the second round.

Michael Kemerer

Seed: 6

Record: 22-1

Weight class: 157

Michael Kemerer had a 22-match winning streak snapped in the Big Ten semifinals by Ohio State’s Micah Jordan. Kemerer is capable of making a deep run. He won the Midlands Championship in December. In his career, he’s beaten the top seed, North Carolina State’s Hayden Hidlay and No. 4 seed Josh Shields of Arizona State. His road isn’t easy and a matchup with No. 3 seed Jason Nolf potentially awaits in the quarterfinals.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Kemerer opened up his tournament in style. He pinned Cal State Bakerfield’s Coleman Hammond in 1:37. He picked up his second pin of the day when he took down Stanford’s Paul Fox in 4:52.

Alex Marinelli

Seed: 5

Record: 16-3

Weight class: 165

Alex Marinelli was undefeated and riding high entering the conference meet. He went 2-3 at the Big Ten tournament. A run to the semifinal is possible, but only if he wrestles like he did at Midlands, where he was named the Champion of Champions in December.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Like Kemerer, Marinelli opened up his tournament in style. He pinned Purdue’s Jacob Morrissey in 6:20. And just like Kemerer, he picked up a pin in his second round match. He beat No. 12 seed Nick Wanzek, of Minnesota, in 6:15.

Joey Gunther

Seed: Unseeded

Record: 16-7

Weight class: 174

Joey Gunther, a sophomore, earned an at-large bid by taking sixth at the Big Ten championships. This is his second trip to nationals. He opens the tournament against No. 13 seed Jacobe Smith of Oklahoma State. Smith beat Gunther 3-1 in January.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Gunther lost 13-2 to Smith in his opening matchup. Gunther was eliminated from the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Harvard’s Josef Johnson in the wrestlebacks.

Mitch Bowman

Seed: Unseeded

Record: 12-11

Weight class: 184

Mitch Bowman is making his first trip to the NCAA championships. He must beat No. 13 seed Canten Marriott of Missouri in the first round to stay in the championship bracket. Marriott is 27-6. This is their first matchup of the season.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Bowman secured Iowa’s second upset of the first round. He beat Marriott 10-2. No. 2 seed Myles Martin, of Ohio State, beat Bowman 17-4 in the second round.

Cash Wilcke

Seed: 14

Record: 18-6

Weight class: 197

Cash Wilcke fell one win shy of the medal stand at nationals last season. Getting there in 2018 will require his best performances of the season. He is 5-13 against the field and opens up with Nebraska’s Eric Schultz. They have yet to wrestle this season.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Wilcke picked up a 4-3 win over Schultz to open his tournament. Jared Haught, of Virginia Tech, beat Wilcke 5-3 in the second round.

Sam Stoll

Seed: 5

Record: 19-4

Weight class: 285

Sam Stoll qualified in 2016, but had to medically forfeit his opening match. He missed nationals because of an injury last season. Healthy, Stoll is eyeing a run to the semifinals where Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder, the top seed, likely awaits. All four of Stoll’s losses are to Michigan’s Adam Coon and Penn State’s Nick Nevills, the second and third seed, respectively. Both wrestlers are on the opposite half of the bracket.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Stoll pinned Franklin and Marshall’s Antonio Pelusi in 2:24 in his first match. He beat Houston’s Youssif Hemida 7-2 in the second round.

2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships schedule

Thursday, March 15
Session I – Noon – ESPNU (Pigtails and First Round) | WatchESPN
Session II – 7 p.m. – ESPN (consolation rounds and Championship Second Round) | WatchESPN

Friday, March 16
Session III – 11 a.m. – ESPNU (Quarterfinals and consolation rounds) | WatchESPN
Session IV – 8 p.m. – ESPN (Semifinals and consolation rounds) | WatchESPN

Saturday, March 17
Session V – 11 a.m. – ESPNU (consolation semifinals and 3rd-, 5th-, 7th-place bouts) | WatchESPN
Session VI – 8 p.m. – ESPN2 (Finals) | WatchESPN

NCAA championships: Time 

The tournament kicks off two sessions on Thursday and includes two more on Friday and Saturday.

Date: March 15-17

Time: First-round on Thursday, noon. Session II on Thursday, 7 p.m. Quarterfinals and consolations on Friday, 11 a.m. Semifinals on Friday, 8 p.m. Medal round on Saturday, 11 a.m. Finals on Saturday, 8 p.m.

Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

NCAA wrestling: TV channel

EPSNU will air the first-round on Thursday, the quarterfinals on Friday and the medal round on Saturday. ESPN will air the second-round on Thursday and the semifinals on Friday night. ESPN2 will show the finals on Saturday.

NCAA wrestling: Watch online

WatchESPN will carry the entire tournament and you can access it by clicking here.