Tulsa Time: Cyclones Place 3rd in Big 12 Tournament

The Iowa State wrestlers finished 3rd at this weekend’s Big 12 tournament — behind Missouri and Oklahoma and just ahead of Oklahoma State. They won 10 of 17 matches on Sunday to move up from 5th place. David Carr became the program’s first 3x Big 12 champion since Kyven Gadson. Ramazan Attasauov and Marcus Coleman earned bronze medals. Jarrett Degen and Sam Schuyler finished 4th. In addition to those five, Ian Parker, Joel Devine and Yonger Bastida earned auto-bids to the national tournament in Detroit. Only Oklahoma earned more auto-bids in Tulsa. Kysen Terukina and Isaac Judge are still alive for wild card berths.

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Kysen Terukina’s only match of the day took an extra period to decide. In sudden victory against Mizzou’s Noah Surtin, Terukina attacked and nearly scored before giving up the match deciding takedown. He finished 8th. The 125-pounder is likely to earn a wild card berth to the NCAA tournament, but will have to wait until later this week to find out.

At 133, Ramazan Attasauov gritted out back-to-back wins to take 3rd place in his first Big 12 tournament. The first was against OU’s Tony Madrigal, where Attasauov’s riding time put him ahead. The second came against Air Force’s Sidney Flores. Trailing with just a minute and half remaining, Attasauov scored 4 straight points to end the match. He is headed to Detroit, and his ability to frustrate opponents makes me optimistic he can make some noise there.

141-pounder Ian Parker’s down weekend continued, but ended on a high note. In the consolation semifinals, he dropped a 5-3 match to NDSU’s Dylan Droegemueller, whom he beat earlier this season. In the 5th place match OU’s Jacob Butler got out to a 6-0 lead before Parker battled back to win. Take his results this weekend with a grain of salt — Dresser said he had a stomach bug. He’s on to Detroit.

At 149 Jarrett Degen became Iowa State’s first ever 5x national qualifier. And he did so in thrilling fashion. Mizzou’s Josh Edmond scored FOUR takedowns in the first period. Degen trailed by three with 30 seconds left in the match. An escape and takedown tied it for him, but the sixth-year senior didn’t stop there. As time expired Degen tilted the Tiger for the 15-13 victory. After losing 8-6 in the following match, Degen finished 4th.

Now THREE time Big 12 champion David Carr remains undefeated in Big 12 matches in his career. He used three takedowns to dominate fifth ranked Jared Franek of NDSU. Carr’s active win streak of 54 matches is 38th longest in the history of college wrestling. He is the 15th 3x conference champion in program history. The defending NCAA champion is expected to be the top seed in Detroit.

Isaac Judge fell short of qualifying for the NCAA tournament at 165. NDSU’s Luke Weber beat him 7-1. Joe Grello of OU turned around the result from earlier this season, winning 6-2 over the Cyclone. Judge battled through an ankle injury. After a 6th place finish, he will have to hope for a wild card berth.

In his only match of the day Joel Devine won a controlling 6-0 decision against West Virginia’s Dennis Robin who pinned him earlier this year. It was textbook stuff from start to finish, scoring two takedowns, an escape and a riding time point. That earned him 7th place at 174 pounds. He moves on to the NCAA tournament.

At 184 Marcus Coleman bounced back strong in the consolation bracket. Three sets of nearfall propelled him to an 18-2 tech fall victory which clinched his fourth trip to the NCAA tournament. In the 3rd place match Coleman saw OU’s Keegan Moore for the second time in the tournament. The Cyclone widened the gap, posting a convincing 19-6 major decision.

Yonger Bastida finished fifth in a LOADED 197 bracket. His first match today was against OU’s Jake Woodley. Woodley is one of maybe two guys in the country that has Bastida’s number. The Sooner won that match 1-0, stopping all of Bastida’s attacks. That was the only match of the day for Bastida as NDSU’s Owen Pentz was injured in the semifinals and unable to wrestle the rest of the tournament. Bastida heads into his first NCAA tournament as one of the most dangerous wrestlers in the bracket.

At heavyweight Sam Schuyler scored two takedowns to beat OU’s Josh Heindselman for the second time this season. He dropped his next bout 6-1 to Mizzou’s Zach Elam to finish 4th. Schuyler gets to legs more than just about any heavyweight in the country. He’ll be bringing that offense to the NCAA tournament.

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The third place finish is obviously a disappointment after going undefeated in Big 12 duals. Now the Cyclones have ten days to prepare for the NCAA tournament. They will bring at least 8 wrestlers to Detroit, with Terukina and Judge finding out their season’s fate this coming week. Stay tuned.