The Iowa State wrestling team rallied from an early deficit to No. 5 Oklahoma to force a sweet and sour 18-18 tie.

The Cyclones are ranked fourth nationally and met Oklahoma for the second time in a week. This makes ISU’s record 14-4-1 on the season with its only losses coming to No. 3 Iowa and top-ranked Oklahoma State with each team defeating the Cyclones twice.

Sunday’s dual meet began at the 141-pound weight class and featured ISU’s Benjie Winegarden versus fifth-ranked Michael Lightner. Winegarden trailed 8-2 after the first period, but was able to force a scoreless second and wrestled tough the remainder of the match, even though he lost an 11-2 major decision.

The second match of the day would prove to be a very important and controversial turning point in the dual meet. After a scoreless first period Cole Sanderson appeared to slightly injure his knee following a potentially dangerous situation that caused the match to be temporarily stopped.

Despite his injury, Sanderson was able to come up with a reversal with seven seconds remaining in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. After OU’s Jared Frayer scored a takedown to even the score at two apiece, Sanderson pulled off an escape with only two seconds remaining in the match.

Because Frayer had a huge advantage in riding time, the match was tied at 3-3 and subsequently went into overtime where neither opponent was able to score any points. Then the match went into sudden death overtime where Sanderson was given 30 seconds to either get an escape or a reversal on Frayer.

In the waning seconds of the match, Sanderson fought valiantly to gain what appeared to be a point-scoring position. However, the referee thought differently and awarded the victory to Frayer, much to the displeasure of ISU coaches and players.

Sanderson defeated Frayer handily 10-4 in their last meeting, in which the Cyclones won by a narrow 19-17 margin, so ISU knew it would have to come up with either an upset or record a fall to make up the difference in the 149-pound match.

The upset gave the Sooners an early 7-0 lead, but the Cyclones were entering the strength of their line-up lead by 157-pounder David Maldonado.

Maldonado proceeded to defeat No. 9 David Kjeldgaard by a 6-2 score. The win gave eighth-ranked Maldonado his 17th win of the season and narrowed the Cyclones deficit to 3-7.

This set the stage for the 165-pound match that featured a rematch between two of the best wrestlers in the country. Iowa State’s Joe Heskett handed fourth-ranked Rodney Jones only his second loss of the season the last time they met and needed to come up big once again if the Cyclones were to have any chance of winning.

After a see-saw battle throughout the match, Heskett was able to escape the grasp of Jones to take a 7-6 lead with less than a minute remaining and then hold on for the victory.

“It felt good (to defeat Jones again) because he had a great strategy against me,” said Heskett, “I’m not totally pleased with my performance, but when you’re wrestling a tough guy like that you have to be happy with the outcome of the match.”

In the 174-pound contest, Perry Parks battled the Sooners’ Michael Barger in a match that went back and forth much like the Heskett-Jones match.

Parks scored an escape late in the third period to even the score at 5-5, but Barger held a 1:45 advantage in riding time which gave him a 6-5 win. The decision gave both wrestlers an even record on the season, but more importantly gave Oklahoma a 6-10 advantage in the meet.

Going into the 184-pound match the Cyclones knew they needed to gain some momentum back and depended on Cael Sanderson to provide it for them.

“I was working hard for a fall, because I knew we were in a little trouble so I tried to get some extra points,” said Cael.

That is exactly what he accomplished by pinning Tom Grossman at the 6:20 mark to give ISU a 12-10 lead.

“Cael’s win meant a heck of a lot, and it shows how we are coming together as a team,” said Heskett, “When some of us don’t pull off a win, others pick up the pins and extra points, and that’s what our team is all about.”

Zach Thompson followed up Sanderson’s feat with a 4-1 win over Waymon May and gave Iowa State its largest lead of the day 15-10. Thompson knew he had to win, but was more impressed by the way Cael fought hard for his pin.

“It showed the fight in us. You have to have big moments, and Cael came through for the team,” said Thompson.

Oklahoma was able to regain the lead after back-to-back major decisions at heavyweight and 125 pounds. With the Cyclones trailing by three heading into the final match, the final outcome would rest on the shoulders of the oldest Sanderson, fourth-ranked Cody.

After gaining an early advantage it was clear that Sanderson had control of the match against returning All-American Dane Valdez. Late in the third period it became evident that Valdez was content with a loss and repeatedly scrambled away from Sanderson’s aggressive moves.

The match ended in a 6-1 victory for Sanderson which was enough to tie this Big-12 meeting at 18-18. Iowa State will resume action at 2 p.m. this Sunday at Nebraska against a team that also appeared at the National Duals.

“Nebraska is a tough team and I’ll just look to do my best, personally,” said Heskett, “Our team is definitely coming along well so we will be ready for them.”