Cyclones Bury #9 Badgers

The Iowa State wrestling team showed out on Saturday. In their first action of the season the #10 Cyclones won 3 duals by a combined score of 93-16. Foremost among them was their STATEMENT 26-6 win over #9 Wisconsin. Last season Iowa State won big duals by stealing a match here and there. That was not the case here. Iowa State won 8 of 10 matches — the first 4 of which were upsets.

Kysen Terukina got things started at 125. He used a multitude of takedowns to defeat 2x All-American and #7 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin. The most important of those takedowns was a single leg in sudden victory to give him the 9-7 win. At some point during or after this match Iowa State was deducted a team point. Zach Redding, back at 133, followed that up with a dominating 10-4 win over #12 Taylor LaMont. Honestly, he made it look easy. Welcome back to the lineup Zach Redding.

Then it was time for the freshmen to take the spotlight. At 141 Casey Swiderski connected on a double leg just 10 seconds into the match. After three more takedowns he walked away with a 10-5 win over #11 Joseph Zargo. Following that, Paniro Johnson put together the performance of the weekend. In a match where he never trailed, the freshman cruised to a 9-4 win over #2 Austin Gomez. Gomez is one of the most dynamic wrestlers in the country, but Johnson had an answer for everything thrown at him. The poise of the lightweights was incredibly impressive. You will see all four of these guys jump in the rankings next week.

At 157 the Badgers finally got on the board. Iowa State’s Jason Kraisser put himself in position to win the back and forth match, but #18 Garrett Model used a third period takedown to get the win. Halfway through the meet Iowa State was leading 11-3.

The premier match of the day was at 165, with #4 David Carr taking on Wisconsin’s All-American #6 Dean Hamiti. This match lived up to the hype. Carr got the opening takedown, but trailed 3-2 entering the third period. He used an escape and two takedowns in the final period to win the match 7-5.

174 was a battle between highly-recruited freshmen. Wisconsin’s James Rowley beat MJ Gaitan in a match that saw the two trade takedowns. Marcus Coleman wasted no time bringing momentum back into Iowa State’s favor. Less than two minutes into the 184 lb match Coleman iced the meet for the Cyclones with huge pin. That put Iowa State up 20-6 with two matches left.

At 197 Yonger Bastida used two third period takedowns to win a tactical 5-3 match over a tough Braxton Amos. Sam Schuyler closed out the night with his second ranked win of the day. In this one he knocked off 2x All-American #11 Trent Hillger. With 40 seconds left Schuyler took a shot, creating a lengthy scramble that saw the Cyclone heavyweight lose his shoe before securing the go-ahead takedown with five seconds left.

Prior to the Wisconsin dual, Iowa State rolled through Little Rock and Campbell. The Cyclones defeated the upstart Trojans 33-7 to start the day. Most notably MJ Gaitan used a body lock to pin #22 Triston Wills. Iowa State beat defending SoCon champions Campbell 34-3. Casey Swiderski won 7-4 over a tough Shannon Hanna. Marcus Coleman scored a major decision 13-5 win over Caleb Hopkins. Sam Schuyler won 6-5 over #18 Taye Ghadiali. Iowa State is next in action November 12th, hosting California Baptist in Hilton.