Playing the role of the underdog, Princeton shocked No. 5 Iowa by taking an early lead in the meet, and almost winning four matches against one of the nation's most historic wrestling programs.
In the fourth meet of the season for Princeton (1-3), the Tigers traveled to Blair Academy, in Blairstown, NJ, to face the Hawkeyes.
With six of the 10 wrestlers in the lineup for Iowa ranked in the top 15 in the nation, Princeton knew it had a difficult task. The Tigers kept the match close through the first four wrestlers, but Iowa took control by the end and convincingly won the match, 36-7.
Sophomore Milo Adams and junior Greg Parker were the only Tigers to win their matches on Saturday. Adams improved his record to 3-1, and Parker remained undefeated on the season. Several other Tigers were also on the verge of major upsets, including senior John Bunt and sophomores Matt Fisher and Joe Looke.
Wrestling at 149 lbs., Adams quickly showed that the Tigers could compete with Iowa. Adams dominated his match, controlling each period. He took an early lead and then waited on his opponent, Iowa's Josh Budke, to make a mistake.
Iowa won the 157 lb. match, with Princeton's senior Albert Pendleton falling, 19-8. Senior Jon Bunt then followed, wrestling at 165 lbs. Continuing a strong early season, Bunt wrestled a very close match, losing, 3-2. Bunt was on the verge of a win, but he was not able to finish a key two-point maneuver.
After Bunt's exciting match, the 15th-ranked Parker gave another shock to the Hawkeyes when he dominated his match against No. 11 Tyler Nixt, winning, 13-3.
"This style of match is exactly what Parker excels at," head coach Mike New said. "He is a great wrestler and he is getting better every day."
Parker's match was the last win for Princeton on Saturday.
Matt Fisher had a very close match at 197 lbs., losing 12-8. Joe Looke had the unenviable task of wrestling Iowa's freshman heavyweight Steve Mocco, who is already No. 5 in the nation. Also, Mocco had the crowd behind him — he graduated from Blair Academy last year and never lost a match in their gym.
Mocco eventually pinned Looke, but Looke managed to score two points.
After Looke's loss, the match went downhill for the Tigers, as sophomore Brian Kirschbaum and junior John Knorring both lost by double-digit scores, and then senior Juan Venturi was pinned by the 15th-ranked Luke Moffit.
Even with the lopsided score of the meet, the Tigers could not be too disappointed with the day.
"The meet felt great, most of the guys wrestled really well and everyone learned a lot from the day," New said.
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