Just one decade ago, far before the eras of Spencer Lee and The Bull (and way before the coronavirus), Iowa wrestling was dominant. 

A 44.5-point difference when it was all said and done gave the Hawkeyes their third straight NCAA title with Tom Brands at the helm. Three national champions and eight total All-Americans walked off the mat on March 20 following a year that, after their 2020 regular season, seems was all in a day’s work. 

The Hawkeyes went 23-0 and swept 30 straight matches from Jan. 31-Feb. 12 in 2010 by a combined score of 124-0. The season included double-digit wins against Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Penn State.

When March came around, the dominance against the conference was no different. Tom Brands was named Big Ten Coach of the Year as Iowa walked away with its last Big Ten title and 10 qualified wrestlers for the trip to Omaha for NCAAs.

From there, the only way to go was up. By the end of Friday night, Iowa had a 45.5-point lead over second-place Cornell and had clinched the team title with ease. For the first time since 1997, Iowa advanced five wrestlers to the finals and the mindset shifted on to crowning them individual champions. 

Following a second-place finish in the conference at 125 pounds to Indiana’s Angel Escobedo, Matt McDonough ran through his half of the NCAA bracket, winning each match by four points or more. 

The finals marked a redshirt freshman battle from the state of Iowa. McDonough, the three seed, met five seed Andrew Long in a low-scoring battle that had the pair fighting until the final whistle. With a 2-1 lead after two, the third period saw Long erase McDonough’s riding time and take control of the match. 

With just a minute left, McDonough escaped from the hold and stayed on his feet to level the field and claim Iowa’s first individual title for the night. 

Two second-place finishes by Daniel Dennis and Montell Marion at 133 and 141, respectively, gave the Hawkeyes just two final wrestlers in the finals. 

149-pounder Brent Metcalf’s journey to the finals was similar to that of McDonough. He ran through his half of the bracket to meet one-seeded Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the finals, who he had faced just weeks earlier in the Big Ten finals. 

A quick takedown in the first period gave Metcalf an early lead, but Palmer tied it up early in the second period. Metcalf’s control of the match in the first — with over a minute of riding time accumulated — proved to be the difference. As the clock wound down below 30 seconds in the final period, Metcalf had sealed a 3-2 lead and closed out the match by staying level with Palmer. 

At 174 pounds, Iowa’s last finals match of the tournament featured two undefeated wrestlers. Jay Borschel went 37-0 on the season and scored two takedowns and almost four minutes of riding time against Cornell’s Mack Lewnes to emerge as the last standing undefeated wrestler at the weight. 

Borschel’s career in a Hawkeye singlet ended with his most dominant season, earning his first conference and NCAA titles in 2010. 

Following Iowa’s 23rd team title, the Big Ten ushered in a new era of control with Penn State and Ohio State at the top – until, seemingly, 2020. Iowa began the last decade on top and began the 2020s reaching for more that will never be. 

Going forward, Iowa’s trend of dominance looks different from that of a decade ago. The Hawkeyes are rising back to the top with a lineup that will continue to feature big names for years to come.