Wrestling Recap: Oklahoma

Iowa state showed their grit Friday night in Norman, defeating #19 Oklahoma Sooners 22 to 9. The Cyclones won 7 of 10 matches. Last year 6 matches were decided by a takedown or less. These teams topped that tonight. 7 matches were within 2 points. Iowa State won 4 of those. Kysen Terukina pushed the gas pedal to the floor from start to finish. Unfortunately, the scrambling Sooner Joey Prata’s offense is a counter-offense and he used two takedowns to hand the Cyclone lightweight his first loss of the season by a score of 6-5.

Ramazan Attasauov scored a first period takedown against Big 12 finalist and #10 Tony Madrigal. Attasauov completely controlled the handfighting in the final two periods to earn his biggest collegiate win yet and even the dual score.

For the first time since 2018, Ian Parker wrestled a Sooner not named Dom Demas. He put together a workmanlike performance to win 8-3 over Jacob Butler. At 149 Jarrett Degen’s skillset gave Willie McDougald fits for the first two periods. With the match tied at 2 after regulation they went to overtime. 8 minutes into the match McDougald scored the only takedown, earning a sudden victory win to tie the meet right back up.

At 157, OU’s Justin Thomas kept it close with reigning national champion David Carr. The problem for him is that there’s only a few guys in the country that can do that while committing to attacks — and he isn’t one of them. Carr scored a takedown in the first. Sooner fans wanted a stalling call. Don’t make me tap the sign: pushing is not an offense. After The Champ’s 3-1 victory the dual score stood at 9-6 halfway through.

Isaac Judge got the call at 165 against Rutgers transfer Joe Grello. Tied 2-2 in the second period Judge used an amazing roll through counter to put Grello on his back for the 6 point move. That was the difference maker and Judge gets another solid victory.

Heading into 174 the Cyclones led 12-6. After a scoreless first, Joel Devine scored a second period takedown and nearly turned Anthony Mantanona with a cradle. An early escape in the third gave Devine a 3-2 lead and he walks away with a nailbiter victory.

Contender Marcus Coleman took the mat with a chance to salt the dual away. Two takedowns, a reversal and two nearfall gave him a 5 point lead going into the final period. Two more takedowns plus riding time made the score 13-5. The only major decision of the meet secured the win for Iowa State. Coleman extends his win streak to 11. He’s been wrestling like a leader this season.

In tonight’s key matchup, Yonger Bastida fell to returning All-American Jake Woodley. A scoreless start led to Bastida being bold and choosing to go underneath Woodley who turned him over and over last season. A minute and a half later he escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Woodley got out immediately to start the third. Because of riding time, Bastida needed a takedown to win. Instead Woodley scored a takedown of his own. Bastida got away with short time left, but he was unable to score an equalizing takedown. If the meet is on the line I think we see a different strategy and the match may play out differently. In this case it was great to see Bastida’s improvement from last year. Those two are likely to see each other again this season.

Heavyweight Sam Schuyler once again flexed his skills on his feet. A pair of slick takedowns gave him a 5-3 victory over Josh Heindselman. He makes it look easy, but that’s another win against a returning national qualifier. FINAL SCORE: CYCLONES 22, SOONERS 9

The victory moves Iowa State to 10-1 in dual action, 3-0 in Big 12 duals. They’ve got a BIG one on Sunday at 2 against #3 Oklahoma State! Look for more on that here between now and then.