The Iowa State/Iowa wrestling dual started and ended well for the Cyclones, but for the most part the clash was dominated by the second-ranked Hawkeyes. The 28-10 victory gave Iowa a 43-14-2 edge in the overall series.

“Right now they just have better wrestlers,” Coach Bobby Douglas said. “Our chances weren’t that good against their national champions.”

Cody Sanderson, David Maldonado and Trent Hynek all recorded victories for the Cyclones. Maldonado won by major decision.

Seventh-ranked Sanderson defeated Eric Juergens 2-1, running his record to 9-1 at 118 pounds to start of the dual.

“I thought Sanderson wrestled very good,” Douglas said. “I thought he wrestled a very smart match.”

The two were relatively conservative in the match, and both received a stalling warning in the first period.

“I really didn’t think I opened things up enough,” Sanderson said. “He was young and I felt that I should’ve been able to do more against him.”

In the second period, Juergens escaped Sanderson’s grip to gain a 1-0 lead.

During the final period, Sanderson also made an escape and earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory with riding time.

The 126-pound match between third-ranked Dwight Hinson and Doug Schwab ended a bit off-the-wall. In the final period, with Hinson leading 3-2, he was called for stalling four times because he would not return to the middle of the mat. He was later disqualified.

He had used his allotted one minute of injury time during the second period due to leg cramps in his calf. Then, with 1:23 in the final period, his legs began to cramp again and he started to walk off the mat, but returned to wrestle at the urging of the coaching staff. With just 13 seconds to go, his legs would not allow him to finish, giving Schwab the victory and Iowa a 6-3 advantage.

“Dwight’s body just shut down,” Douglas said. “We are concerned about his weight control, but give Schwab credit. He wrestled a tough match and found some weaknesses and took advantage.”

Next, ISU’s Frank Kisley was pinned by All-American Mark Ironside.

Cole Sanderson then wrestled former national champion Jeff McGinness, losing a close match 6-4.

At 150 pounds, Maldonado dominated his match against Kasey Gillis. He started slowly, but in the second period he escaped, was awarded a point for stalling and took down Gillis. In the final period, Maldonado earned two takedowns and amassed 1:27 in riding time to pick up the 9-1 decision and narrowed the team margin to 15-7 in favor of Iowa.

“I knew if I wrestled like I knew I could, I would win,” he said.

The Cyclones then proceeded to drop the next four matches. Ben Schwab (158) was beaten 10-2 by Hawkeye Justin Decker; Matt Patitz (167) lost to Iowa’s No. 1-ranked Joe Williams 15-8; ISU’s Brad Horton (177) fell to Lee Weber 14-9; and Zach Thompson (190) lost 2-0 to top-ranked Lee Fullhart.

The heavyweight match was the only contest that matched ranked opponents. Iowa’s Wes Hand, No. 7, was pitted against No. 9 Trent Hynek. The two have a rivalry that dates back to their high school years.

In the first two periods, an exchange of stalling points left Hynek leading 2-1.

In the beginning of the third period, Hynek escaped to gain a 3-1 advantage. With :52 left in the match, Hand took down Hynek to tie the score. But Hynek swiftly escaped the Hawkeye to earn himself a 4-3 victory.

“Hand just waited too long,” Iowa Coach Jim Zalesky said. “He didn’t start wrestling until the third period, and by that time it was too late. Hynek came out ready to wrestle and that was the difference.”

The seventh-ranked Cyclones now have a dual record of 3-1. They head to grapple at the Midlands in Chicago on Dec. 29 and 30.