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One year ago, Iowa’s Joey Slaton was stuck on the sidelines as his first year of college eligibility went down the drain.
The Hawkeye was one of five transfers who lost a season of eligibility when Virginia Tech refused to release him from his scholarship after he followed Coach Tom Brands to Iowa.
But all the pain and frustration of having to sit out last year was a distant memory for Slaton on Friday night before 16,004 fans at the Scottrade Center. Unranked at the start of the season, Slaton will wrestle for a national championship at 133 pounds on Saturday night.
Those Hawkeye transfers, who are now sophomores, now play a huge role for a top-ranked Iowa team headed for its 21st national title and first since 2000. The Hawkeyes have piled up 102 points and placed three wrestlers in the finals. Eighth-ranked Ohio State was a distant second with 71 points and three wrestlers in the finals.
Joining Slaton in the finals is another transfer from Virginia Tech, top-ranked Brent Metcalf (149), along with returning national champion Mark Perry (165).
“They hurt us, but (being at Iowa) is paying off for us now,” Slaton said of being forced to sit out last year. “That year helped me get better and I feel good about it now. It was definitely worth the wait. I would’ve gone wherever Coach Brands went because he’s the reason I went out there.”
Iowa has not officially clinched the title. Iowa State is the only team that mathematically could overtake Iowa, but it would take a slew of ISU bonus points and a total collapse by the Hawkeyes for it to happen. Iowa State has 68 points and is in third place.
In just his second season as Iowa’s head coach, Brands is closing in on his first national title as the Hawkeye coach. He won three individual championships during his days as an Iowa wrestler before going on to win World and Olympic gold medals.
“I don’t know any team scores – the team race isn’t over as far as I’m concerned,” Brands said. “When I say that, I’m not talking about mathematically. I’m talking about not letting your guard down in every situation individually.”
The fourth-seeded Slaton was the aggressor in his 3-1 overtime win over No. 1 seed Franklin Gomez of Michigan State in the semis. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t ranked in November.
“I usually don’t pay any attention to the rankings,” Slaton said. “I think they’re a bunch of crap. That’s just my opinion. I just go out and wrestle and stick to my game plan.”
Metcalf surrendered the first takedown, but quickly regrouped in an 8-4 win over No. 4 seed Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska. Metcalf’s relentless, in-your-face attack was the difference as he had Burroughs retreating to the edge of the mat for a majority of the bout.
“I’ve been taken down early a few times this year and it’s obviously not something I like to have happen,” Metcalf said. “But if that’s what it takes to get kicked in the butt and get me going, that’s all right. I knew his game plan probably was to take me down early and hang on. I had to work to immediately get that score back so he couldn’t stay in that comfort zone.”
Metcalf will meet 2007 Junior World freestyle champion Bubba Jenkins of Penn State in the finals. The sixth-seeded Jenkins won a wild 12-8 match over No. 7 Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State in the semifinals.
“We had some film on him and we saw that he scores points early,” Jenkins said. “We felt if we could stop his flurry in the beginning, we would be able to do some damage. I retaliated with my offensive explosions and just went after him.”
Metcalf, a Junior World freestyle team member in 2006, owns a pair of lopsided collegiate wins in folkstyle this season over Jenkins.
The second-seeded Perry scored a late takedown to edge No. 3 Nick Marable of Missouri 4-2. Perry earned his third trip to the NCAA finals. He placed second, third and first in his previous three trips to the national meet.
Second-seeded Jayson Ness of Minnesota shot in for a takedown with eight seconds left to knock off returning champion and No. 3 seed Paul Donahoe of Nebraska 4-3 in the semifinals at 125.
“You never give up, you never know what’s going to happen late in a match,” Ness said. “He was tired, I was tired. You’ve just got to keep going and good things will happen if you wrestle hard the whole seven minutes.”
Next up for Ness is a rematch of the Big Ten finals against top seed Angel Escobedo of Indiana. Escobedo has handed Ness his last two losses – in the Big Ten finals and in the 2007 NCAA tournament. Ness was fifth last year at nationals and Escobedo was fourth. Both wrestlers are sophomores.
“It’s going to be a great match,” Ness said. “He’s a tough competitor. I will have to really fight to get out from the bottom. I can’t let him ride me like he did last time.”
Returning champion and top-ranked Josh Glenn of American lost to No. 4 seed Wynn Michalak 7-5 in the semifinals at 197. Michalak will now meet 2006 NCAA runner-up Phil Davis of Penn State in the finals.
The Big Ten showed its strength with 14 of the 20 finalists coming from that conference. The Big 12 had only two finalists.
The finals are set for Saturday night at 7:30 in St. Louis.
SATURDAY NIGHT’S FINALS MATCHUPS
125 POUNDS
Angel Escobedo (Indiana) vs. Jayson Ness (Minnesota)
133 POUNDS
Joey Slaton (Iowa) vs. Coleman Scott (Oklahoma State)
141 POUNDS
Chad Mendes (Cal Poly) vs. J Jaggers (Ohio State)
149 POUNDS
Brent Metcalf (Iowa) vs. Bubba Jenkins (Penn State)
157 POUNDS
Jordan Leen (Cornell) vs. Mike Poeta (Illinois)
165 POUNDS
Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan) vs. Mark Perry (Iowa)
174 POUNDS
Keith Gavin (Pitt) vs. Steve Luke (Michigan)
184 POUNDS
Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs. Mike Pucillo (Ohio State)
197 POUNDS
Wynn Michalak (Central Michigan) vs. Phil Davis (Penn State)
HEAVYWEIGHT
Dustin Fox (Northwestern) vs. J.D. Bergman (Ohio State)
Top-ranked Iowa is beginning to pull away from the field in the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament.
