Tulsa Time: Day 1 Recap

After a perfect regular season in Big 12 meets, the Cyclone wrestlers finally had a down day. The good news: they still managed to qualify 6 wrestlers to the NCAA championships. In addition to that, 3 more have the chance to do so tomorrow. The bad news: going 1-5 in the semifinals crippled their run at a Big 12 tournament title. The Cyclones sit in 5th place. Here’s where the team race stands:

1. Mizzou — 109.5 points
2. OU — 93.5 points
3. Oklahoma State — 90 points
4. UNI — 85 points
5. Iowa State — 82.5 points

In his first match Kysen Terukina clashed with UNI’s Brody Teske. Terukina took the Panther from feet to back in the first period, but the ref was slow on the count. A third period takedown for Teske gave him the lead and his defense just barely held Terukina at bay. On the backside Terukina scored a 6-2 decision over NDSU’s Lucas Rodriguez. Following that Taylor LaMont of Utah Valley decked the Cyclone in just a minute and a half, locking up a tight headlock for the pin. Terukina will take on Mizzou’s Noah Surtin for 7th place on Sunday afternoon. That match will go a long ways in determining if he earns a wild card berth to the NCAA tournament.

At 133, Ramazan Attasauov started his tournament with a dominating 8-0 quarterfinals win over West Virginia’s Garrett Lautzenheiser. His offense and control ties frustrated the Mountaineer. In the semis he ran into the buzzsaw that is OSU’s Daton Fix, dropping that match 13-3. Tomorrow he will have two matches. The first will be against OU’s Tony Madrigal who he defeated 4-1 in the dual. He is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Ian Parker had a rough start to the weekend. After coming in as the top seed in a tough 141 bracket, he was upset by OU’s Jacob Butler in the first round. He bounced back with two straight consolation wins to reserve his spot in the NCAA bracket. In the first match Parker beat Wyoming’s Darren Green 9-5. In the second he put together a solid 5-0 win over OSU’s Carter Young. He can keep climbing the podium tomorrow. His first match is against NDSU’s Dylan Droegemueller. Parker won that 7-4 last time they met.

At 149 Jarrett Degen used a third period takedown to defeat West Virginia’s Jeff Boyd in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals he got a rematch against OU’s Willie McDougald. He gave up the go-ahead takedown with just five seconds left. Degen needs to win his first match on Sunday afternoon to clinch a trip to Detroit for the NCAA tournament. That match will be a dandy against Mizzou’s Josh Edmond. They put 16 points on the board last time they met.

There is no debating David Carr is the star of this team. The top ranked wrestler in the country is headed to his third Big 12 championship match where he will take on 5th ranked Jared Franek. Carr has won all four meetings in the series. He is the only Cyclone to make the Big 12 finals. He racked up bonus points on his way there, too. A pin and tech fall put him in the semifinals, where he won 7-4.

At 165 Isaac Judge had his work cut out for him. He was seeded 7th in a weight where only the top 4 get bids to the NCAA tournament. Judge dropped a quarterfinal match to 7th ranked Peyton Hall of West Virginia. But after that he got to work on fighting through the backside of the bracket. He scored 6 takedowns to dominate his consolation matches. A win tomorrow over NDSU’s Luke Weber puts Judge is wrestling in Detroit in two weeks.

In the crazy deep 174 bracket Joel Devine lost a tight 3-0 match to SDSU’s Cade DeVos in the quarterfinals. With 8 NCAA allocations here all he had to do was win his next match to clinch a spot at the national tournament. Devine won 5-2 over NDSU’s Habisch. After that, 3 seed Anthony Mantanona sent him to the 7th place match, beating the Cyclone 4-2. There Devine will see West Virginia’s Dennis Robin. You may remember Robin shocking Devine with a cradle earlier this season. That led to Devine saying he lost to a guy that sucks. He’ll be motivated to avenge that loss.

Iowa State’s 7th ranked Marcus Coleman started the day against OU’s Keegan Moore, who earned the spot late in the season. Coleman used three takedowns to win that one. In the semis he took on Mizzou’s Jeremiah Kent. For the second time this season Kent scored the upset win, completely controlling the mat wrestling in this one. Coleman needs to win his first match tomorrow to get one of this weight’s autobids. The good news is that match will be against NDSU’s Deanthony Parker, who Coleman tech falled earlier this season.

197 is one of the greatest brackets the Big 12 tournament has ever seen. Yonger Bastida had no time to shake the dust off. His quarterfinal bout was against returning All-American Rocky Elam of Mizzou. Bastida used a pair of takedowns to win the thriller, taking time after the match to fire up the Iowa State fans in the crowd. It only got tougher from there. In the semis his opponent was #2 in the country Stephen Buchanan of Wyoming. Trailing by 1 late in the match, Bastida tried a desperation takedown and was pinned. Sunday afternoon he starts out against another All-American, OU’s Jake Woodley. Bastida is qualified for the NCAA tournament.

Iowa State heavyweight Shootin’ Sam Schuyler lit up the scoreboard in his first match of the day. He used 11 takedowns to win via tech fall. In the quarterfinals Schuyler used a low level shot to topple NDSU’s Big Brandon Metz in sudden victory. That clinched his spot in Detroit. Schuyler continued to get to legs in his semifinal, but OSU’s Luke Surber beat him 3-2. The Cyclone will try to get his second victory against OU’s Josh Heindselman this season on Sunday to climb the podium.

There’s a lot of points left to be decided tomorrow, but they are soundly out of the running for a Big 12 title. Tomorrow’s goals: qualify three more wrestlers for the national tournament and climb back into the top 3 in the conference. Consolation matches start at noon on ESPN+. David Carr and the rest of the finalists compete at 7 PM on ESPN2.