When Iowa wrestlers took the mat in the Hawkeye Wrestling Club Showdown on Sunday in Coralville, Iowa, it marked the next step in a year-long journey to their first NCAA team championship since 2010. 

For most, the dual-format open freestyle tournament was their first competition since the Big Ten Championships, one week prior to what would have been NCAA weekend. 

“We’ve got a lot to work on . . . and we’ve got a lot of time to do it,” Spencer Lee said. “Everyone’s going to get ready, and I’ve got a lot to work on, everyone does, the whole team. I think it’s a good eye-opener for us that we’ve got to get ready for each competition, no matter who it is we’re wrestling, just like it’s the biggest match in the world.

“We’ve got time to get ready for the season and we’re going to be ready to be 2021 national champs.”

Lee began the main event of the HWC Showdown in typical Spencer Lee fashion, with a pin against Zach Sanders in 1:17. DeSanto followed Lee — as per usual in the Hawkeye dual lineup — and fell behind early as he was defeated by Bryce Meredith, 11-3. 

Possibly most exciting for Hawkeye fans, however, was the unofficial debut of Jaydin Eierman as part of the Iowa lineup. He defeated Olympic gold medalist Vladimer Khinchegashvili, 4-1, in a match that sent the crowd to its feet. 

“I came out here to do a job, that’s what me and my coaches talked about,” Eierman said. “Just going out there and executing, and I know [the crowd was] behind me no matter what, so it was good to get a celebration [after the match].”

The discipline — freestyle instead of folkstyle — gave a number of Hawkeyes the chance to hone their skills for runs at both NCAAs and the Olympics in 2021. 

For Eierman, defeating a two-time Olympic medalist was the biggest win of his career and pushes him forward to his goals for next summer. 

“I’m not going to let that solidify who I am, I need to go get one of my own,” Eierman said. “He was an Olympic champ in 2016 and I’m going to need to work hard every single day up to the Olympic Trials to be where I need to be to be getting my Olympic gold medal.”

After a decision by former Iowa 149-pounder Pat Lugo, Alex Marinelli fell to James Green in a tight 5-4 match. Michael Kemerer lost to Tommy Gantt, 10-6, and Tony Cassioppi ended the dual defeated in a 10-0 technical fall by Nick Gwiazsdowski. 

The event began with the undercard, which featured multiple 2019-20 starters including Max Murin, Kaleb Young, Abe Assad, and Jacob Warner, and some new faces to the roster, including freshman Patrick Kennedy. 

From the undercard to the main event, this freestyle tournament was a good judging point of how much work the Hawkeyes have to put in before the start of the college season, which will presumably come after the first of the year. 

“We learned that situations where you’re in and you feel comfortable, you are never safe and there can be no let-up, and if I do make a mistake it is not repeated,” head coach Tom Brands said. “I think of Kemerer, he gave him six points — and that guy is good there, I’m not taking anything away from our opponent there — what I’m saying is we’ve got to be better and smarter at cutting our losses.”

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.