Coach Kevin Jackson returned to Ames to take over the ISU wrestling program after former coach Cael Sanderson departed to take the head coaching job at Penn State after three seasons as the Cyclones’ head coach.

Jackson, who placed second at 167 lbs. as a collegiate wrestler on Iowa State’s last national title team in 1987, inherited a team that was rich in talent and featured five All-Americans — including a reigning national champion in Jake Varner at 197 lbs. — who were all respected leaders on the team.

The season started with a 43–3 dual meet victory over South Dakota State, followed two days later by the Harold Nichols Open where seven Cyclones won individual titles. It was there that senior All-American Nick Gallick suffered a deep thigh bruise that would later require surgical attention to end his senior season. However, Jackson has said that they will be seeking a medical redshirt for Gallick so he will be able to return next season at 141 lbs.

Despite his injury, Gallick did compete in the dual meet against top-ranked Iowa on Dec. 6, which took place in front of a crowd of 11,137 in attendance at Hilton Coliseum. Gallick defeated Iowa’s Dan LeClere by a sudden victory decision of 8–6 to score the first team points for the Cyclones, who had dropped the first two matches which awarded Iowa six points. It was the last match Gallick competed in during the season.

Junior Jon Reader defeated the Hawkeyes’ Ryan Morningstar for the first time in four career matches at that dual meet after earning a point at the very end after holding over a minute of riding time to win by a decision of 4–3.

However, Reader was not as pleased with the manner in which he wrestled to get his first victory over Morningstar.

“I know I’m capable of more,” Reader said after the match. “A win’s a win, but I’m disappointed with the way I competed.”

Sophomore Jerome Ward also electrified the crowd after beating Phillip Keddy by a 5–3 decision to end the Hawkeyes’ string of victories. However, Iowa squeaked by with the 18–16 victory, handing the Cyclones their first loss of the season and the first loss of Jackson’s collegiate coaching career.

Iowa State redeemed itself by beating Northern Iowa, 42–0, in a dual meet at Cedar Falls. Sophomore Dalton Jensen made his first dual meet appearance of the season, stepping in for Gallick, where he managed to pin the Panthers’ Alec Hoffman in 1:17 to end the dual meet.

“To have Dalton get out there and pin the guy is just awesome,” Jackson said. “He’s a pinner and if he gets on top of a guy, he’s looking for it.”

At the Midlands Championships, four Cyclones advanced to the championship matches but only Varner walked away with a Midlands title, avenging his second-place finish at last year’s Midlands.

Redshirt freshman Andrew Long lost for the second time to Iowa’s Matt McDonough after losing a lead in the third period to go into overtime, where he would lose, 9–7. Reader also lost to the eventual national champion at 165 lbs., Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe, by a 3–1 decision after two sudden victory periods.

After the Midlands, Iowa State faced a tough opponent in No. 5 Minnesota, but managed to beat them in a close dual, 19–16. The Cyclones were fueled by a pin from Varner and Long’s victory over then-No. 3 Zach Sanders at 125 lbs. Long, who was ranked 13th in the nation at the time, defeated Sanders by an 8–4 decision, not letting Sanders score an offensive point.

“There were definitely some good scrambles in the match,” Long said. “But I felt strong in all of the positions.”

The Cyclones moved on to the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, where they won three-straight duals en route to a rematch with Iowa in the championship dual. A lethargic ISU team was no match for Iowa, dropping its second straight dual meet against the Hawkeyes, 19–12. The Cyclones placed second in the event, which was their best finish since 2000.

After a challenging winter break, the Cyclones returned to Ames to defeat No. 24 Illinois, 33–9, before embarking on a four-meet road trip. Iowa State opened its conference schedule by beating No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 3 Oklahoma State within the span of two days. The next week, the Cyclones traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to face Cornell, who they beat, 24–13.

They ended their road trip the next week by beating Arizona State, 30–10, to earn the program’s 1,000th dual victory, becoming the first collegiate wrestling program ever to do so.

“It only comes around once,” said sophomore 157-pounder Andrew Sorenson. “To be a part of that with the senior group that’s been here for five years and the four years they’ve been training and for them to get the 1,000th dual win and to be a part of it is something special.”

The Cyclones returned home, going on to beat the Missouri Tigers, 28–10. In that dual, senior Duke Burk pinned Dorian Henderson in dramatic fashion during the first tiebreaker period with a fall time of 8:29. Henderson previously beat Burk at the Midlands.

“For us it was exciting as a coaching staff because we’ve been waiting for that true competitive fight for seven minutes out of him, and I guess he had to go overtime to do that too,” Jackson said of Burk. “It was a big highlight.”

In the season finale dual meet, Jake Varner defeated Nebraska’s Craig Brester by a 6–4 sudden victory decision in what was possibly the most electrifying match at Hilton this season. Varner managed to ride Brester after a takedown to diminish Brester’s riding time to exactly 59 seconds, denying Brester the extra point to force the sudden victory period in which Varner scored his winning takedown.

“I knew I had to ride him for four seconds,” Varner said. “You don’t really count that in your head but I know how long that is to ride the guy.”

At the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., Iowa State failed to secure a fourth-straight Big 12 Title, losing to Oklahoma State by 1.5 points. However, senior heavyweight David Zabriskie managed to avenge a loss earlier in the season to Oklahoma State’s Jared Rosholt by beating him in a 3-1 decision in two sudden victory periods. Zabriskie’s victory over the then-top-ranked Rosholt earned him his third Big 12 Title and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, where he would go on to defeat Rosholt again in the championship match to win the national title.