There was a whole lot of wrestling going on in Lincoln, Neb., this weekend at the National Duals, and Iowa State pulled out a sixth-place finish, thanks to some close wins and a few tight losses.

The Cyclones, ranked third in the nation, slipped out of championship contention with a loss to Oklahoma State, who went on to topple the University of Iowa in the battle for first place. It was Iowa’s first dual loss in 42 meets and over two years.

After the loss to Oklahoma State, ISU went up against Penn State in the consolation semifinals. The Cyclones lost three matches by a single point, including Barry Weldon’s battle with PSU’s Frank Morici at 177 pounds.

“I did lose a match that I shouldn’t have lost,” Weldon said, pointing out that he had dominated several other ranked wrestlers before going up against Morici, who isn’t ranked. “It was a little letdown.”

Iowa State boasted only two victories, Dwight Hinson’s decision at 134 pounds and Chris Bono’s technical fall at 150, which were not enough to win. After one team point was deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct, the team total stood at 6, compared to PSU’s 30.

Next, Iowa State took to the mat against Michigan State in a war for fifth place.

Big but close wins for Cody Sanderson at 118 pounds and Barry Weldon at 177 gave the Cyclones a much-needed boost.

Head Coach Bobby Douglas said both Sanderson and Eric Keller, who wrestled at both 118 and 126 pounds, “performed well, but they had some tough competition.”

“I saw that I have a lot of room for improvement,” added Sanderson, who also lost in a squeaker against Penn State’s Jeremy Hunter. “I’m making a lot of little mistakes, and a lot of people on our team are too. Coach is already helping me work on them,” Sanderson said.

Hinson and Bono also came through with victories, as did heavyweight Trent Hynek in the last match.

Despite Iowa State’s efforts, however, Michigan State had garnered enough points to grab fifth place by a score of 19-16.

Coach Douglas said while he would have liked to have nabbed the first-place honors, he knew it was out of Iowa State’s reach.

“We always like to finish first, but obviously we couldn’t do that,” he said. “Our overall performance was a ‘C.’ We’re not a very good dualing team. We’ve got people out of the lineup and people injured.

“It’s not so much that we’re a weak team. When we match up our strengths with another team’s weaknesses, we come up at about 50 percent. We don’t have eight guys in the top five like Iowa does.”

Weldon also said the team’s overall youth has led to some losses, simply because of inexperience. “We didn’t perform as well as we should have,” he said. “We weren’t real consistent. And we have some young people on the team. I remember I took my lickin’s when I was young. They’re still learning.”

Despite the sixth-place finish, though, Douglas said he was satisfied with individual performances.

“We won some great matches and lost some very close heartbreakers,” he said. “We’re where we want to be at this point.”

And in the coming weeks, the squad will be put to the test; they go up against some tough conference opponents, three of which are ranked in the top eight, including Oklahoma State this Sunday.

Sanderson, for one, has been preparing for a while. He has already gone up against OSU’s Teague Moore and lost a couple of close ones.

He plans to reverse the trend this weekend.

“I’m just gonna do my best and what happens, happens,” he said.

Douglas, too, is eager for the keen competition. “Oklahoma State has a very strong team, a very good dual meet team,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it.”