Through the first half of the season, the spotlight has been on the Cyclones’ highly ranked wrestlers Andrew Sorenson and Chris Spangler. On Thursday, redshirt freshman Luke Goettl stole the show. 

Taking part in the 49th Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill., the Cyclones finished the first day of action in seventh place as a team and advanced two wrestlers to the semifinal rounds Friday. 

One of those wrestlers will be Goettl after the freshman upset two nationally ranked wrestlers at 141 pounds.

Already with two victories on the day, Goettl pulled a surprising upset over Penn’s All-American and the nation’s No. 2 wrestler, Zach Kemmerer, with a takedown in the final 30 seconds for a 5-3 decision. 

With the victory against Kemmerer, Goettl advanced to the quarterfinals on Thursday night where he met No. 10 Bill Ashnault of Rugters. Goettl and Ashnault entered the third period tied 2-2, and at 6:24, Goettl pinned Ashnault for his second upset of the tournament and for a spot in the semifinals on Friday afternoon. 

The Cyclones’ Andrew Sorenson remained undefeated on the season after picking up three more victories. Sorenson pinned his first two opponents before facing off against No. 8 Bekzod Aburakhmanov of Clarion in the quarterfinals.

Tied 3-3 entering the final period, Sorenson picked up an early escape to take a 4-3 lead and then got a takedown to seal a 6-3 victory and a second semifinals match for Iowa State on Friday.

Iowa State also saw freshman Tanner Weatherman and No. 6 Chris Spangler advance to the quarterfinals in the 174-pound bracket.

Weatherman fell in his quarterfinal match 3-1, while Spangler lost by default after getting injured. Spangler took a 1-1 tie into a second overtime, but after getting injured he was not allowed by trainers to return to the mat.

The Midlands Championships will continue on Friday at noon with consolation matches followed by the semifinals. The championship round will begin in a second session on Friday at 7 p.m.