Anytime Cory Land gets brought up around the Northern Iowa wrestling program, the same thing is said about him.
“Oh man, that dude can wrestle,” Northern Iowa head coach Doug Schwab said with a laugh. “Dynamic offense, can wrestle every position.”
A four-time Alabama state champion with a 203-0 record, a three-time age-group United States World team member and U17 World silver medalist, Land’s accolades speak for themselves. His style gets fans’ heart rates pumping, willing to put his body in any position during a match with relentless pace and attacks to keep opponents on their toes.
UNI teammate Wyatt Voelker didn’t mince words when discussing the 141-pounder. He believes Land is the most talented wrestler on the team.
The only issue for Land? Injuries have derailed the start of his college career. However, there’s reason to believe this is the year for Land to show everyone what he is capable of.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand how good Cory Land is at wrestling,” Voelker said.
UNI wrestling’s Cory Land ready to let past results go, embrace the future
From the first whistle of a match, Land is initiating action. Winning 2-1 matches isn’t in his DNA. So whether it is getting into wild scrambles, attacking from space or working to get turns from the top position, lighting up a scoreboard is always what Land is trying to do.
“I get bored if I’m out there and no points are getting scored,” Land said. “I get really anxious about it. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, but a lot of times it goes in my favor.”
Unfortunately for Land, that scrambling ability was what derailed his 2024-25 season. Land was competing at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas when his knee was awkwardly tweaked against Stanford’s Tyler Knox. After starting the season 8-0 with three ranked wins, Land was unable to regain his place in the starting lineup and wrestled in just a pair of open tournaments.
Land was left thinking about his career. He came to UNI with high expectations as a big-time recruit, as high as No. 3 in the nation at 126 pounds while in high school. To this point, he says, he hasn’t done anything to back it up.
The biggest point of growth from then to now, Land says, is realizing wrestling isn’t his whole purpose. A lifelong wrestler, he looked at his results as the sole determinant of his self-worth. Where he has since focused his efforts is in realizing he’s growing elsewhere as a person, even if his wrestling isn’t where he has wanted it to be.
That should be music to Schwab’s ears as a head coach, who said at media day his message to Land is to focus on developing consistency in how he manages his energy and mind. If he can, the talent is there for a breakout year at 141 pounds for Land.
“Obviously, I want to be a national champ, obviously I want the team to be a national champ, I want to be known as the best wrestler ever,” Land said. “But there’s other things to it. That’s not saying I’m not going to try to be those things, because I am, and I’m going to go for it. But I just realized that’s not the end-all, be-all.”
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: UNI wrestling’s Cory Land hopes this is his year after injuries slowed his college career
Reporting by Eli McKown, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
