Wrestling: Collegiate Duals Preview

WHAT: Collegiate Duals

WHERE: New Orleans, Louisiana

WHEN: Saturday, November 5th

Oregon State - 10 AM

Cornell - 2 PM

TBD - Tuesday

HOW TO WATCH: Rokfin ($)

HOW TO LISTEN: Varsity App or Cyclones.com

LIVE SCORES: TournaFlex

LIVE CHAT: WRNL Wrestling Discord — Whether a diehard wrestling fan or just a Cyclone interested in learning more about the sport, join us on Discord!

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Iowa State wrestling gets back to action Monday and Tuesday in New Orleans at the Collegiate Duals. This is the second year for this event — which is as close to a national dual tournament we see these days in college wrestling. Because of teams (mostly from the Big 10) whining about an actual national dual tournament, this event allows programs to seek out specific high level matchups. Twelve teams are split into four pools of 3 as follows:

Blue Pool A: #7 Iowa State, #10 Cornell, Oregon State

Blue Pool B: #1 Penn State, #15 North Carolina, Central Michigan

Red Pool A: #4 Ohio State, #21 UNI, Lock Haven

Red Pool B: #12 NC State, #18 Lehigh, Cal Poly

Teams wrestle everyone in their group of 3 on Monday and have a crossover match in their dual on Tuesday. That means Iowa State will wrestle Oregon State (10 AM) and Cornell (2 PM) on Monday. Win those and they see Penn State at 7 PM on Tuesday for the Blue Pool Championship. Otherwise my guess is North Carolina at 3 PM on Tuesday in the Blue Bronze dual. Oregon State is just outside of FloWrestling’s dual rankings, but are one of the best teams the west coast has to offer. Perennial Ivy League favorite Cornell is ranked 10th, setting up a top ten matchups with the #7 Cyclones. Monday is slated to feature 11 ranked matches. Now let’s take a look at the Beavers and Big Red.

Oregon State

Iowa State will be taking on the Beavers of Oregon State to kick off the Collegiate Duals. Always a solid PAC-12 program, they’ve made leaps since former Oklahoma State wrestler/assistant Chris Pendleton took over as head coach. Last year they turned heads with an impressive national tournament, as Cyclone fans may remember (check the 157 results). The Beavers have five ranked wrestlers, but I don’t think they’ll be able to keep up with Iowa State. Score Prediction: 27-6

Projected Matchups

Individual rankings from FloWrestling. Iowa State listed first.

125: Corey Cabanban or Ethan Perryman vs. #10 Brandon Kaylor

133: #19 Ramazan Attasauov or Zach Redding vs. #16 Jason Shaner

141: #8 Casey Swiderski vs. #18 Cleveland Belton

149: #5 Paniro Johnson vs. Noah Tolentino or Riley Gurr

157: Jason Kraisser or Isaac Judge vs. Graham Gambrall or Isaiah Crosby

165: #3 David Carr vs. Matthew Olguin

174: Julien Broderson or MJ Gaitan or Joel Devine vs. HM Aaron Olmos

184: #5 Marcus Coleman vs. #7 Trey Munoz or Jackson McKinney *KEY MATCHUP*

197: #2 Yonger Bastida vs. #13 Tanner Harvey

285: #9 Sam Schuyler vs. JJ Dixon or Ryan Reyes

Cornell

This is the first meeting between these teams in ten years. Cornell has been one of the best programs in the country this century. The Big Red have placed 17 top ten finishes at NCAAs since 2000. They started the season up at #5 in the dual rankings, but have dropped to #10. That’s because in their only dual thus far, they took a loss to Wisconsin — who Iowa State dominated on opening weekend. But duals are all about matchups and Cornell certainly has the guys to make this interesting.

Projected Matchups

Individual rankings from FloWrestling. Iowa State listed first.

125: Corey Cabanban or Ethan Perryman vs. #21 Brett Ungar or Dom LaJoie

• Kysen Terukina is out with a shoulder injury suffered in his all-star match. He’ll be back in January, but Corey Cabanban will be a solid backup in the meantime. He’ll likely face Brett Ungar. Ungar is a freshman who’s had some alright results and will be favored. That doesn’t mean Cabanban (or true freshman Perryman) can’t win this match though.

133: #19 Ramazan Attasauov or Zach Redding vs. #3 Vito Arujau or Ethan Fernandez

• Cornell will be heavily favored with Vito Arujau at this spot. He took 3rd last season at 125 and has looked extremely sharp at 133. Attasauov likely makes it a one or two move match. Redding likely lets the fur fly, which could play into Arujau’s strengths.

141: #8 Casey Swiderski vs. #16 Vince Cornella

• Swiderski will see another freshman who’s climbed up the rankings this season. Cornella also took 5th at U20 worlds in freestyle. That being said he’s still looking for a marquee win and lost to Wisconsin’s Zargo, who Swiderski beat. Expect Swiderski to cruise to victory.

149: #5 Paniro Johnson vs. #1 Yianni Diakomihalis *KEY MATCHUP*

• This is the premier match of the tournament. Diakomihalis entered the season with 3 NCAA titles already, but took a surprising loss to Austin Gomez in his only collegiate match so far this year. That is the same Austin Gomez that Paniro Johnson beat decisively on opening weekend. There will be fireworks and the winner will be at the top of the rankings next week. Yianni is certainly favored, but Johnson has a chance to show just how sky high his potential is.

157: Jason Kraisser or Isaac Judge vs. HM Colton Yapoujian or Cole Handlovic or Gage McClenahan

• This match is why I love dual meets. Iowa State and Cornell have loaded lineups, with All-Americans and ranked wrestlers all over the place. But at the end of the day the meet just might be decided at 157 — where both teams still have question marks.

165: #3 David Carr vs. #8 Julian Ramirez

• On one hand Ramirez was one win away from All-American status last year. He’s no doubt a top ten wrestler at 165. On the other hand he got majored by Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti and pinned by West Virginia’s Peyton Hall. Can Carr get bonus points here for the Cyclones?

174: Julien Broderson or MJ Gaitan or Joel Devine vs. #6 Chris Foca or Christian Hansen

• Foca really impressed me with his performance at the CKLV tournament. He’s a really fun wrestler to watch and we’ll probably see some good sequences here. Outside of 125 and 133 this is where Cornell is favored most.

184: #5 Marcus Coleman vs. Evan Canoyer or Christian Hansen

• Returning All-American Jonathan Loew is out with an injury. Canoyer is an athletic freshman with a strong Greco background. Hansen is listed as a 174 that would be bumping up. There’s huge potential for bonus points from the Cyclone star here.

197: #2 Yonger Bastida vs. #23 Jacob Cardenas or Ethan Hatcher

• Cardenas has only wrestled one match this year, which he lost to Amos of Wisconsin. If he’s the guy for Cornell I expect Bastida to score a few takedowns on the way to victory. However, if Hatcher goes then Bastida should blow it open.

285: #9 Sam Schuyler vs. #15 Lewis Fernandes or Brendan Furman

• Schuyler and Fernandes had very different NCAA tournaments last season, with Fernandes advancing to the bloodround while Schuyler went 0-2. But with the hot start Schuyler has had this year they have extremely similar resumes. I’d give Schuyler a slight edge based on both of their results against Wisconsin’s Hillger. This is a swing match for sure.

Prediction

Iowa State 17, Cornell 16

This dual is going to be awesome. It has even, meaningful matchups and spots where both teams will be looking for bonus points. I think the Cyclones squeak this one out in a meet where both teams win five matches.