Alex Marinelli has been one of the top wrestlers in the country at 165 since he has been in college. However he has yet to win a single NCAA Title but is a 3 time Big Ten Champion. This season things were not looking to well as there were talk about him possibly not even starting for the Hawkeyes as Kennedy was looking good and Marinelli suffered an injury last year that cut his NCAA run short.
Kennedy held his own in this match till the very end considering Marinelli was a massive favorite to win this match. The difference maker was Marinelli scoring a body lock to an outside trip in the final 20 seconds of the match. Kennedy ended up getting the escape very quick and was in on Marinelli’s legs but failed to finish and lost the match 3-2.
There were talks about Iowa using the as the unofficial wrestle off at 165 but with that being said in a matchup as close as this who knows if we could possibly see both of these guy alternating in and out of the lineup or if they will just name Marinelli the starter this season in his final year.
With all of this being said Kennedy looked better than a lot of people would have thought and he was able to prove his worth this match even though he did not end up coming out on top.
