Iowa Wrestling tabbed six All-Americans in 2019, and they are all equipped to defend that title at NCAAs just two weeks from now in Minneapolis. At 149 pounds, Pat Lugo is no exception, and he is coming off of one of the most dominant matches of his career. 

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With Big Tens being the only hurdle separating the Hawkeyes from an official battle for their first team NCAA title in 10 years, Lugo is gearing up for the second round of – one would assume – three this season against Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso, who bested Lugo earlier this season in the first tiebreaker. 

Sasso currently sits as the No. 1 149-pounder in the nation and is 2-0 against Lugo over the past two seasons. Lugo, however, is no stranger to overtaking that ranking after upsetting his opponent. For the Midlands Championships title on Dec. 30, he beat then-No. 1 Austin O’Connor of North Carolina, 8-4. 

Hear Lugo talk about beating O’Connor:

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Since beating O’Connor and even since meeting Sasso for the first time, Lugo is stronger and more dominant no matter what rankings stack against him. In Iowa’s last regular-season dual meet, he flipped the script in mere seconds against No. 6 Boo Lewallen of Oklahoma State for his first pin in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 

“It was very special . . . It was cool, a lot of fans cheering,” Lugo said. “The only thing that would have made it better [would be] if I would have done it in Stillwater in front of all them. It was good, it was a good night, but you know, the job’s not finished. We’ve got Big Tens, nationals coming up. I want to do the same thing and get my hand raised in Minnesota.”

Wrestling like he did against Lewallen and focusing back into the dominance he asserted at Midlands, Lugo is very hard to beat. Going forward, those skills he possesses could be key in scoring points for both his individual goal and Iowa’s team goal this season. 

“Strong ties, came out and asserted his ties . . . When he does that the whole match, he did that in the Midlands finals, good things happen for him,” head coach Tom Brands said. “He’s got really good control ties and when he forces them and he’s solid and he’s consistent doing it, he’s a bear.”

Lugo has experience against giants from Ohio State standing in his way. At the 2019 NCAA Championships, Micah Jordan handed Lugo his first loss of the tournament to send him to the back half of the bracket, where he ended up placing eighth. He placed third at the Big Ten Championships that same year, his only loss coming to a Penn State wrestler in SV2. 

As for the rest of his conference bracket, eight other Big Ten wrestlers are ranked within the top 25, six of whom he has beaten already this season and two of whom he hasn’t faced. 

Lugo holds the same mentality no matter what match he is going into. He’s loose, and he’s always looking for the next score. If he gets taken down? No problem. Get an escape and keep finding ways to score points. 

“My mentality coming into [the Oklahoma State] match was the same. When I say, ‘let it fly’, I don’t think any different . . . When I say, ‘let it fly,’ I was just loose, I was just calm,” Lugo said. “That pressure, I love that pressure. Pressure makes diamonds.”

Anna attended the University of Iowa, where she covered multiple sports from volleyball to football to wrestling. She went to Pittsburgh in March 2019 for the NCAA DI Wrestling Championships and did live coverage of the entire event and Spencer Lee’s second-straight NCAA title. Follow her on Twitter.