Sophomore Jake Varner didn’t just see the black and gold – he could hear it. The 184-pound wrestler was one of just four Cyclones to walk away with a victory in front of an announced crowd of 8,998 at Hilton Coliseum.

“That’s just the fun of it,” Varner said. “You get to fill out Hilton and hear that crowd.

Varner heard more than just cheers. Several times during the Hawkeyes’ 20-13 victory, chants, of “Let’s go Hawks,” echoed throughout the stadium – especially at the end of the meet, as Iowa’s senior heavyweight Matt Fields took down Cyclone sophomore David Zabriskie.

“I thought our new guys handled it tremendous,” said Hawkeye coach Tom Brands.

It was some of those young guys that were igniting the Hawkeye fans in the crowd. Joe Slaton, 133-pound sophomore, jumped up from his knees at the end of his 6-5 win over ISU sophomore Nick Fanthorpe and lifted his arms toward the stands to excite the Hawkeye faithful. One match later, sophomore Dan LeClere put the finishing touches on his 3-1 win by flexing his muscles toward the crowd.

“These guys have been getting ready for big matches their whole career,” Brands said. “We feel good about our guys and how they can handle this.”

All wrestlers had to adjust to an additional 1,000 fans who were allowed to purchase tickets for Sunday’s meet as the Coliseum’s curtain was moved back, allowing 9,000 fans in, instead of the usual 8,000. It was the largest crowd since 2002 against Nebraska, and Cyclone coach Cael Sanderson said he wished he could have given them a victory to go home with.

“You get that many fans in there, you want to entertain them, give them something to cheer about,” Sanderson said. “We didn’t give them quite enough to cheer about.”

Brands said he liked the idea of the adjustment.

“It felt like a big meet against two titans, maybe, from the outside looking in, two programs that are supposed to be very competitive,” Brands said. “There was a buzz. There was a buzz last year and they sold it out.”

Most of the buzz Sunday surrounded the Hawkeyes, who won the first five matches of the day. The Cyclones’ first victory came at 157 pounds, when sophomore Cyler Sanderson defeated Hawkeye sophomore Ryan Morningstar. By then, Iowa had already built up a 13-3 lead and most of the momentum.

“You don’t really hear that much; you don’t really notice the surroundings. You’re more focused on what you’ve got coming and what’s in front of you,” Brands said. “It seemed like it was pretty loud, pretty steady to me.”