Iowa State wrestling reveals 2020-21 schedule filled with tough tests

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T.C. Brewster

Iowa State Head Coach Kevin Dresser claps during a match at the Big 12 Championships on March 8 inside the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa.

Zach Martin

With nine of the 10 starters returning, the comeback of Austin Gomez and depth at every weight, Iowa State is returning a bounty of experience on the mat.

That experience will be tested with a loaded 2020-21 schedule.

Head Coach Kevin Dresser released the away portion of the Cyclones schedule on April 3 on Twitter and followed up with the release of the seven duals that will take place inside Hilton Coliseum as well as the Cyclone Open and a matchup at a high school on Tuesday.

Dresser and Purdue Head Coach Tony Ersland are natives of Humboldt, Iowa, and the two programs will wrestle at Humboldt high school in December.

The Boilermakers are one of three Big 10 schools Iowa State will face next season and none of them will be in Ames.

It’ll travel to Iowa City for the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk dual against the Iowa Hawkeyes and head east to Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, for a bout against Penn State and Iowa State alum Cael Sanderson.

The Cyclones will head back to Nevada for the second consecutive season to wrestle in the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. According to Dresser, he is still wanting to schedule an opponent to wrestle in early January in Montana, the home state of redshirt senior Jarrett Degen.

For the non-conference portion of the schedule, Iowa State will host one of the premier Division III programs in Wartburg as well as Arizona State, a team it lost to in Phoenix part of the Sun Devil duals last season.

In the Big 12, the Cyclones will host Utah Valley, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Northern Colorado while hitting the road to face South Dakota State, North Dakota State, West Virginia and Northern Iowa.

The Big 12 Wrestling Championships will once again be in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held in St. Louis, Missouri.