The experience gained after two losses helped ISU wrestler Jake Varner close a two-year experience gap in March’s NCAA Tournament.

The ISU 184-pound wrestler lost two convincing decisions as a freshman last season to Minnesota’s then-junior Roger Kish. In the NCAA Tournament semifinals, Varner came up with a 4-2 overtime victory over Kish and is ranked No. 1 to start the season.

Varner (4-0) has a chance to prove that billing against the second-ranked Kish (2-0) on Monday at the 42nd NWCA All-Star Classic in Eugene, Ore.

“He went out to dominate those first two matches, and it didn’t quite work out for him,” said coach Cael Sanderson. “But we figured out and learned a lot, which helped him eventually win the one that mattered the most.”

Kish won a 7-2 decision in Ames last December and a 5-2 match at the National Duals in January. Sanderson said the first two matches allowed for Varner to come into the semifinal match with the proper strategy. Varner said he waited for Kish to initiate the action in the third match.

“I mean the only time he really took me down was when I was pushing on him a lot,” he said. “Other than that, he didn’t really do nothing unless I did something. The semifinal match I didn’t push as much. I don’t know, I shut down his offense a little bit, because if he didn’t shoot, nothing really happened.”

If Kish looks at the semifinal match as a fluke, Varner doesn’t care.

“I mean, he can look at it any way he wants,” Varner said. “Everyone improves during the season. I did, and I’m going to take [Monday’s match] like any other match. Same mindset to go out there and win and wrestle to win. And whatever he thinks of it, oh well.”

Sanderson said the match is “all about preparation,” and that there is no better way for Varner to get better than to wrestle a top opponent like Kish.

Varner will wrestle in Friday’s dual against Rider, fly back on Saturday, and meet up with Sanderson on Sunday to leave for Oregon. He is the 63rd Cyclone to wrestle in the event that aims to pit the first-ranked and second-ranked wrestlers at each weight class against each other.

The match is labeled an exhibition match and won’t count towards each wrestler’s record. Some coaches and wrestlers choose not to compete in the meet, which Sanderson disagrees with.

“You can look at it in so many different ways. If you’re the number one guy, why go out there and put in on-the-line type mentality, which really shouldn’t matter to you at this point,” said Sanderson, who won a 6-5 decision over West Virginia’s Vertus Jones in the All-Star Meet in 1999. “Even them making the match not count on your record is kind of ludicrous, really. If you have to do that to get people to participate – and that’s something they just did in the last couple years.”