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Back on the road after their first home meet of the season last weekend, the Cyclones are in Chapel Hill, NC this Saturday to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. This is one of the few unranked opponents Iowa State faces this season so with that plus a lineup that is finally returning to health there’s good reason to think that this road trip will end better than the last one.
Where: Chapel Hill, NC
When: 6:00PM CST, Saturday, January 14th
Stream: ESPN3/WatchESPN
Projected Lineups:
| Weight | ISU Wrestler | Record | - | UNC Wrestler | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | Marcus Simmons 15/12/15 | 14-4 | vs. | James Szymanski | 6-8 |
| or | Kyle Larson | 8-8 | or | Anthony Bosco | 1-2 |
| 133 | Earl Hall 11/14/12 | 16-5 | vs. | Nicholas Lirette | 3-6 |
| 141 | John Meeks | 5-7 | vs. | Joey Ward 4/4/5 | 18-2 |
| 149 | Chase Straw | 14-8 | vs. | Troy Heilmann | 7-10 |
| 157 | Colston DiBlasi | 16-10 | vs. | Joey Moon 19/20/UR | 10-8 |
| 165 | Dane Pestano | 7-7 | vs. | Devin Kane | 7-4 |
| or | Logan Breitenbach | 4-2 | or | Jack Clark | 7-8 |
| 174 | Lelund Weatherspoon 8/12/9 | 16-6 | vs. | Ethan Ramos 7/7/7 | 12-5 |
| 184 | Pat Downey 10/8/8 | 5-0 | vs. | Elijah Kerr-Brown | 3-10 |
| or | Carson Powell | 10-9 | or | Chip Ness 20/UR/20 | 10-4 |
| 197 | Marcus Harrington | 3-5 | vs. | Danny Chaid | 9-10 |
| HWT | Quean Smith | 6-5 | vs. | Cory Daniel | 15-7 |
Rankings from Flowrestling/TheOpenMat/Intermat
Key Matches:
157
Another shot for Diblasi to solidify himself as an NCAA qualifier. This is a tossup match as both of these guys are right on the edge of the rankings, but Moon is on the right side of the top twenty and Diblasi is on the outside looking in. A win here would go along way towards helping Diblasi make his first appearance in the rankings and give him a quality win for NCAA purposes.
174
Another week, another top ten opponent for Weatherspoon. But this is a much more winnable match. Ramos, though a legit All American contendor, is not on the same level as Valencia. Lelund needs a win here to solidify himself in the top ten and put him in position for a high seed in St. Louis.
165/197/HWT
These are all matches that, on paper, could go either way. If Iowa State is going to win this meet they’re going to need at least one, and possibly two, wins out of these three matches. Additionally, all of these guys need wins to put themselves back on track for NCAAs. Iowa State hasn’t won a lot of tossups in duals so far this season. To turn around the season they need to turn around these types of matches.
Prediction:
Iowa State in a 19-17 or 18-17 squeaker on the strength of bonus points from Hall and Downey.
Next Up:
The wrestling team will be back in Ames for a dual against 22nd ranked Northern Iowa next Friday, January 20th.