Ty Malia is aware of the problems the ISU wrestling team had at the 125-pound, weight class last season. In fact, he helped contribute to them.

While wrestling at Nebraska last season, Malia won by technical fall over Cyclone Jacob Moore in the team’s dual meet. Now Malia is wrestling for, instead of against, the Cyclones and is slotted as the starter at 125.

Malia transferred to Iowa State after seeing limited action last season at Nebraska behind Big 12 champ Jason Powell.

“I knew they had an opening here at 125, and I got my release from Nebraska,” Malia said. “I came here on a recruiting trip and talked to the coaches, and everything just pointed in this direction. It looked like this is the place where I could fit in the most and help this team win a national championship.”

The Cyclones didn’t win one match at 125 in 23 duals last season, so immediate help was a major concern for the coaching staff.

“When you look at our number of wins at 125 the last couple of years, we’ve had some problems there,” ISU head wrestling coach Bobby Douglas said. “I think Ty Malia will do a good job for us. He’s very committed to his wrestling.”

The popular talk regarding Malia among the Cyclone wrestling room is that the sophomore is a scrapper. Assistant coach Cody Sanderson wrestled at 125 and 133 through his career and feels that style will suit Malia well.

“Traditionally, the guys at the lower weights have got to be scrappy, they have to be able to move and fight from every position,” Sanderson said. “That’s just one of those things that goes with being at a lower weight, and [Malia] can do it.”

Entering the season as an unknown, Malia plans on using his brawling, aggressive style to send a messages to his highly ranked opponents.

“I’m not a big name wrestler right now and with our tough schedule, I’m going to see some tough kids,” Malia said. “They’ll be ranked a lot higher than me, so I’m going to have to go out and get in their face right away . wrestling to win.”

At last Saturday’s wrestle-offs, Malia defeated true freshman Jesse Sundell. On his way to winning four state titles at Ogden, Sundell was a master of scoring points in scramble situations and sees that potential in Malia.

“A lot of people don’t like to get into scrambles because they don’t feel real comfortable, and I think that could be a big advantage for Ty,” Sundell said. “He’s real quick and scrappy. If you get in a scramble with him, you better hope you can end up on top, because he’s real good in scrambles and can get the takedown.”

Coming to a new school with high expectations to strengthen a weight class that has been a weakness, Malia put in a lot of offseason work to get ready.

“I went out and did Cody Sanderson’s camp in Utah, and he helped me out with a few things,” Malia said. “The whole team went to the Olympic training center and worked with the Olympic team for a week and I gained a lot there. I’ve also been working on little things and been watching tape of my matches with Coach Douglas.”