After years of poor performance, the Iowa State wrestling team found its stride again in the 2018-2019 season with nine NCAA qualifiers.

Second-year coach Kevin Dresser seemed to change the entire culture of the program and the result of that culture change was the best season in years.

Among their ten starters, the Cyclones only lost one wrestler to graduation. The 197-pound Willie Miklus will stay on as an assistant.

The other nine wrestlers aim to be back and they’ll be joined by one of the most coveted young wrestlers in the nation in David Carr.

Carr, who is listed at 157-pounds, was ranked as the No. 5 overall recruit coming out of high school according to FloWrestling.

He’ll fit somewhere in the 157/165/174-pound range, but since the hole is opening up at 197-pounds, Dresser will have to shift some of his guys around.

As for returning wrestlers, none may be more likely to make waves than redshirt junior Jarrett Degen.

Degen uses an unconventional style to dominate opponents at 149-pounds. His tall and lean frame is atypical for a wrestler, but despite that, Degen has shown the ability to dial it in when it matters.

Alongside just Miklus, Degen earned All-American honors last season where he finished seventh among his weight class.

The previous season, he was the only Cyclone to even earn the NCAA qualifier distinction.

Someone a bit more conventional and a lot more aggressive on the team is redshirt sophomore, Austin Gomez.

Gomez is an energetic presence on the mat and that helped him routinely find his way in the top ten of the 133-pound weight class last season.

He finished with a 24-7 record (11-3 in duals) and ended up taking third in the Big 12 championships.

Though he wasn’t an All-American, it was only his first season wrestling collegiately which means he has nowhere to go but up.

Rounding out the high-end talent on the Cyclones’ roster are two redshirt juniors in Ian Parker and Samuel Colbray.

Parker, who wrestles at 141-pounds, faced a tough schedule last season but was a steady contributor.

He was a change of pace as a consistent wrestler right behind Gomez who could get tripped up occasionally.

For much of the year, he was ranked in the top 15 of his weight class.

Colbray had a similar season to Parker, but it wasn’t as expected.

Colbray wrestled at 197-pounds in the 2017-2018 season, but when Miklus transferred to Iowa State, Colbray had to shed some weight.

At 184-pounds, he found his stride in his second competitive year. Colbray was highly recruited but didn’t live up to expectations in his first season.

He garnered national attention with a breakout year last season and a lot of eyes will be on him to see if he can keep that up.

For the 2019-2020 season, Iowa State is in a good position to make some noise again.