Even though nearly a week has passed since their last meet, the Oklahoma State dual remains fresh in the minds of the ISU wrestlers.

“I don’t think that the head to head matchup was an indication to how we really wrestled,” said ISU coach Kevin Jackson. “I think that each and every match our guys competed, we just didn’t finalize some positions when we had the opportunity to win.”

The Cyclones were handed their first road loss of the season Jan. 24, losing 29-3 to the No. 9 Cowboys. Iowa State won only one match but lost several close matches along the way.

The lone victory for the Cyclones came from All-American, redshirt junior Kyven Gadson, who personally had a lot riding on this match.

“Last year, we wrestled each other four times,” Gadson said prior to the OSU match. “The second or third time was down in Stillwater [Okla.], and there were some choice words said by the crowd following that dual. From that point on, there’s not really been a big bond.”

With just minutes to go in the third period, Gadson scored a late takedown against Oklahoma State’s Kyle Crutchmer, sealing the victory 3-1.

With the win, Gadson has now recorded his 24th straight dual match victory and is now 17-2 overall on the year.

Hanging in the Balance

On paper, it may look like the Cyclones couldn’t get much done Jan. 24 in Stillwater, Okla. Many matches, however, were closer than people may think.

Two ISU wrestlers fell in overtime periods, and several others lost by three points or less.

Had the matches gone their way, however, Jackson feels like they could have gotten a lot more accomplished.

“That’s what it’s all about; competing for every second of the match you’re out there,” Jackson said. “I think our guys are aware of that; it’s just a matter of doing it.”

And for the most part, it seems like the players know that as well. As far as redshirt freshman Gabe Moreno is concerned, he isn’t going to let this learning experience go to waste.

“From start to finish, we weren’t on top of our game,” Moreno said. “Some people just faded toward the end, or some people didn’t get started right away. We just need to work on wrestling hard for the full seven minutes. Not five, not six, but the full seven.”

Yet another close match for the Cyclones came at 149 pounds, when redshirt junior Luke Goettl lost his match by a mere three points.

And while Goettl may have lost his match, he still saw some good things from his team on the mat. And more importantly, he thinks he knows what both he and the team need to do to reach their full potential.

“I think that we wrestled all right, but definitely not to our full potential,” Goettl said. “We really need to go and give a performance as good as we wrestle in the room. That’s what we need to put out on the mat, all 10 of us.”