More than 6,000 attending the dual meet between No. 2 Iowa and No. 7 Iowa State on Sunday left Hilton Coliseum with almost no fingernails left.

Every nail in the house was bitten to the quick, thanks to the closest intrastate dual since Feb. 21, 1988. The lead see-sawed back and forth between the two wrestling titans before finally settling in Iowa’s favor, 20-18.

The meet got started with a heart-pounder at 118 pounds. Cyclone Cody Sanderson battled No. 5 Jesse Whitmer, and by the end of the first period, the ‘Clone was behind 6-2.

Sanderson pounded his way back, keeping himself in the match with a takedown in the second period. He couldn’t hold on, though, and Whitmer won the decision, 11-9.

“That first match was a big match,” said Head Coach Bobby Douglas. “It set the tempo, and unfortunately, the tempo started off in the wrong direction for us.

“It was a huge match for us, the momentum match. We had a freshman wrestling the match of his life. He wrestled good; I’d like to have every freshman wrestle a match like that.”

At 126, two wrestlers fought a true war. No. 3 Dwight Hinson of ISU met up with No. 2 Mike Mena of Iowa. Both were warned for stalling early on, and Hinson built up a 4-1 lead by the beginning of the third period.

Mena found his way back to tie it up in the third, but a Hinson escape cemented the win at 6-5. Hinson celebrated with a little mat dance and a dive into a throng of teammates who were in the stands.

An Iowa major decision at 134 put Iowa up, 3-7.

At 142 pounds, Iowa State’s David Maldonado dominated Iowa’s Kasey Gillis. The two had met only once before, and that match ended the same way yesterday’s did: with a sound ISU decision, 9-3.

Chris Bono, returning national champion at 150 pounds, did not have the chance to wrestle his nemesis, Hawk Lincoln McIlravy, because McIlravy is still recovering from a double concussion. Bono took out any disappointment on his opponent, Eric Koble, who didn’t score a single takedown. Bono snagged the major decision, 20-7, pushing ISU to a 10-7 lead before the intermission. The Hawks came back after the break at 158 pounds. No. 1 Joe Williams of Iowa nabbed a technical fall over ISU’s John DeLeon at 5:50.

Iowa State came back at 167 pounds with an explosive performance by ISU’s Bart Horton. Horton scored a three-point near-fall against Mike Uker with a heartbeat left in the first period, and that was the end of the Hawk.

“Horton wrestled extremely well,” Douglas said. “Our people that won did an outstanding job.”

The major decision put ISU up, 14-12.

Barry Weldon, ranked first in the nation for Iowa State, kept up the pattern of winning at 177 pounds. His opponent, Tony Ersland, didn’t score a single takedown on Weldon, who scored points toward the end of each period.

The Hawks came back at 190 pounds with Lee Fullhart’s technical fall over ISU’s Matt Mulvihill. The win brought Iowa to 18-17, with ISU ahead by a mere point.

So everything came down to the match-up between heavyweights Trent Hynek of Iowa State and No. 9 Wes Hand of Iowa.

After a scoreless first period, Hynek went up with an escape point. Both athletes got a point for the other’s stalling.

Amid chants of “Let’s go, State” and “Here we go, Cyclones, here we go,” the two wrestlers battled it out. A third-period escape by Hand, which Coach Douglas told Hynek to allow, put Hand up by a point, and that’s how the match ended, 3-2.

“We had to take him down to beat him,” Douglas said, adding that he wouldn’t change his decision to let Hand up.

“Every second we were on top, the best chance we had was one point. We needed them up on their feet. That wasn’t a hard decision to make.

“I just told him we’d been in this situation before, that he was prepared. He wrestled a good match.”

Overall, Coach Douglas said that several individuals stood out against Iowa, but it just wasn’t enough to score a win against them.

“It’s coming,” he said. “It’s a slow process, but I have the patience. I have to; I have no choice,” Douglas said.