Iowa State wrestling officially kicked off its 2020-21 season with its wrestle-offs and other intra-squad matches on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.

Eighteen matches were wrestled on Wednesday, 10 of which were for a starting spot in the Jan. 3 dual against Wartburg.

The other eight matches where either additional matches or exhibitions.

Four of the wrestle-offs for a starting spot were decided by either two points or less or went into an overtime period.

Freshman Cam Robinson gave redshirt senior Jarrett Degen, who finished second in the Big 12 Championship in 2019, third in 2020 and is a two-time NCAA All-American, a battle in the 149 pound wrestle-off final.

Tied at five a piece, Degen and Robinson were in a scramble situation, which Degen eventually took control of and scored a takedown with just 34 seconds left in the match to make it 7-5.

Robinson got an escape before the period was up but couldn’t get a takedown, giving Degen the 7-6 win.

2020 Big 12 runner up and second team NCAA All-American, redshirt senior Alex Mackall defeated redshirt sophomore Corey Cabanban 3-1 in the 125 pound wrestle-off final, thanks to a late takedown at the end of the second period and a escape early in the third period.

Another freshman, Zach Redding shined in his wrestle-off final in the 133 pound weight class.

He managed to get a escape against redshirt freshman Ramazan Attasauov (who just won a U23 National Title last month) to win 4-3 in the first tiebreaker period.

In the 165 pound wrestle-off final, redshirt sophomores Grant Stotts and Isaac Judge went into the second sudden victory period, where Judge scored a takedown with just five seconds left in that period (the seventh overall period, fourth extra period) to win the match 4-2.

One of the wrestle-offs for a starting spot, the 184 pound weight class, ended in a victory by injury default, as redshirt sophomore Joel Shapiro appeared to suffer an injury to his left leg during the match. 

His opponent, redshirt sophomore Tate Battani, was declared the winner after Shapiro went down with the injury.

Shapiro left the mat under his own power.

At the 197 pound weight class, freshman Yonger Bastida defeated fellow freshman Cody Fisher by major decision, 9-1.

According to the team (via their Facebook Live Broadcast) Bastida and two-time Big 12 Medalist and two-time NCAA tournament qualifier, redshirt junior Marcus Coleman and will wrestle off for the starting spot at the 197 pound weight class, at a later time.

One wrestle-off featured two starters from last season’s team, the 141 pound final between defending Big 12 champion and NCAA All-American Ian Parker and 2020 NCAA tournament qualifier (at 133 pounds) Todd Small.

Parker dominated the second and third periods, outscoring Small 16-1 in those periods combined, winning the match by technical fall 19-4.

Defending 157 pound Big 12 champion and NCAA All-American redshirt sophomore David Carr, as well as heavyweight 2020 Big 12 runner up and NCAA All-American redshirt senior Gannon Gremmel won both of their wrestle-offs by major decision.

Carr defeated redshirt freshman Carter Schmidt 17-3, while Gremmel defeated redshirt senior Francis Duggan 12-4.

Rounding out the winner of the wrestle-off finals is redshirt freshman Julien Broderson who pinned redshirt junior Mac Southard at the 1:48 mark in the first period of the 174 pound wrestle-off final.

Barring any injuries or illness, this is what the starting lineup will be for Iowa State’s first dual of the season on Jan. 3 against Wartburg.

125: Alex Mackall

133: Zach Redding

141: Ian Parker

149: Jarrett Degen

157: David Carr

165: Isaac Judge

174: Julien Broderson

184: Tate Battani

197: Yonder Bastida 

HWT: Gannon Gremmel

This lineup could obviously change is someone goes down with an injury/illness, more wrestle-offs happen with different results, or the team decides to shake-up the lineup.

According to the Des Moines Register, more wrestle-offs are going to take place with Coleman (at 197), freshman Kysen Terukina (at 125), redshirt junior Austin Gomez (at 133) and redshirt senior Sam Colbray (at 184) are all expected to wrestle-off for a starting spot in their weight class.

Eight additional matches/exhibition matches happened on Wednesday and here are the results for those:

141: Redshirt sophomore Charlie Klepps defeated freshman Jacob Perez-Eli (decision 5-3)

149: Freshman Ben Monroe defeated redshirt freshman Andrew Flora (decision 10-3)

125: Freshman Kysen Terukina defeated redshirt freshman Aden Reeves (decision 5-3)

Exhibition: Redshirt sophomore Brandon Tessau defeated freshman Andrew Huddleston (decision 5-3)

174: Redshirt freshman Caleb Long defeated redshirt junior DeMichael Franklin (decision 5-3)

197: Redshirt junior Marcus Coleman defeated redshirt sophomore Hunter DeJong (major decision 16-2)

Exhibition: Redshirt freshman Caleb Fuessley defeated senior Sinjin Briggs (decision 8-2)

141: Redshirt sophomore Charlie Klepps defeated freshman Drew Woodley (decision 6-5)