A crowd of 11,137 in attendance stood to their feet as Nick Fanthorpe headed into the last minute of the third period against Iowa’s Daniel Dennis in Sunday night’s dual meet against Iowa at Hilton Coliseum in which the Cyclones lost 18–16.

Fanthorpe, a senior at 133 pounds, wrestled in his first match of the season after sustaining an injury to his hamstring before the start of the season. The match went into overtime, where Fanthorpe fell to a last-second takedown that cleared both benches as controversy brewed and Hilton Coliseum erupted in a silhouette of cheers and boos.

The Hawkeyes took an early 6–0 lead after two nail-bitingly close matches. However, senior Nick Gallick was the first to turn the tables on what turned out to be a topsy-turvy competition between the in-state rivals.

After falling to a last-second takedown while holding a 5–4 lead, forcing an overtime period, Gallick squeaked out with a quick takedown of Iowa’s Dan LeClere, giving him an 8–6 victory by decision. Gallick was nursing his left thigh, which he injured during the Harold Nichols Open almost a month ago. After three weeks of recovery, the Tucson, Ariz., native was confident that his injury had healed, although the pain unfortunately began to creep back up on him during his match against LeClere.

Senior Mitch Mueller took an early lead with a takedown of Brent Metcalf in the first period of the 149-pound match. Metcalf retaliated, nearly pinning Mueller at the conclusion of the first period, giving him a 6–2 lead. Mueller trailed the top-ranked Metcalf 9–2 at the beginning of the third period. Despite valiant efforts to make a comeback, Mueller was pinned by Metcalf with a fall time of 5:50.

Mueller has yet to beat Metcalf in his career,

despite facing him on four separate occasions.

“Getting pinned is unacceptable,” ISU coach Kevin Jackson said. “Mitch Mueller is very capable of winning matches, he’s very capable of competing with Metcalf, but he had a mental lapse that ended up costing him a match. I talked to Mitch and I told him that we’re disappointed that he didn’t continue to wrestle, that he can’t afford to give up falls.”

ISU Junior Jon Reader recorded his first win against archrival Ryan Morningstar, despite giving up a last-second takedown at the end of the third period. With riding time on his side, Reader earned a bonus point to solidify his first victory over Morningstar in four attempts.

The crowd erupted into a roar of cheers as junior Jerome Ward clamped on to Phillip Keddy, not allowing Keddy to escape his clutches throughout most of the first period. Ward made his triumphant return to the mats after sustaining an injury before the Kaufman-Brands Open in late November. Ward appeared spry and energetic against top-ranked Keddy, who defeated him in last year’s dual by a decision of 3–2.

The sea of Cardinal and Gold erupted ecstatically as Ward recorded a takedown with a minute left to go in the third period of the 184-pound match. The Evergreen Park, Ill., native held off an exhausted Keddy to win by a decision of 5–3.

“It just means that all of the hard work I was doing in the summer, with the stadium stairs, two-a-days, it just paid off,” Ward said referring to his victory.

Ward’s win caught the attention of the fans, as well as the coaching staff, after bringing the Cyclones within nine points of a possible victory.

“We’re proud of Jerome and the way he competed,” Jackson said. “He brought his heart and soul and mental attitude to the mat. He beat a pretty good competitor in Keddy, [whom] he lost to last year. He connected the things that we’re trying to get our guys to do, and that’s control the tie-up, that’s to score takedowns and that’s to compete for seven minutes. You can tell by the way he performed that he’s gotten better from last year.”

Jake Varner recorded the only major decision of the night for the Cyclones by beating Chad Beatty by a score of 12–4 in the 197-pound match.

The entire meet fell on the broad shoulders of David Zabriskie, whose match served as the grand finale to the dual. Zabriskie faced off against sophomore Blake Rasing, who stepped in for All-American Dan Erekson.

Erekson, who Zabriskie beat by a decision of 5–1 at last year’s dual, underwent surgery on his pectoral in October.

Zabriskie’s match took a scary turn for the senior heavyweight, almost giving up the deciding two points in the overtime period against Rasing. Zabriskie kept his footing and went on to score on Rasing, leading to a decision of 3–1.

Although the Cyclones recorded victories in five matches, the Hawkeyes pulled away with the final score of 18–16.

“We are flawed in a few areas that we have to improve in,” Jackson said. “We’ll get better. We’re not going to bow our heads, we’re not going to be embarrassed by any means. We’re going to let this motivate us to get better.”