TULSA, Okla. – Iowa State capped off a successful first day at the 2020 Big 12 Wrestling Championships. The Cyclones finished the day in second place with 92.0 team points.

Session I

The morning session of day one saw eight Cyclones make their way through their quarterfinal matches and into the semifinals.

The first semifinalist of the day was Alex Mackall (125 pounds), who took down South Dakota State’s Danny Vega in a 13-6 decision to move on.

Ian Parker (141) picked up a pair of wins to move on to the semifinals, recording a 7-2 decision over North Dakota State’s Dylan Droegemueller and an 8-4 decision over SDSU’s Clay Carlson.

Jarrett Degen (149) picked up a 4-3 decision over Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado to move onto the semis.

Iowa State’s lone No. 1 seed David Carr (157) wrestled in one of his first true matches since returning from injury. Carr took down Wyoming’s Dewey Krueger in a 11-5 decision.

Despite an up and down year, Chase Straw (165) showed up big for the Cyclones, defeating Northern Colorado’s Jordan Robinson in a 7-4 decision. The unseeded Robinson had upset the No. 3 seeded Randy Meneweather II of Air Force prior to facing Straw.

Sam Colbray (174) and Marcus Coleman (184) won tight matches that were decided by just a point. Coleman recorded a takedown at the buzzer to beat Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado.

Gannon Gremmel (285) recorded an escape and takedown in the third en route to his 3-0 decision victory over NDSU’ Brandon Metz, becoming the eighth semifinalist for Iowa State.

Todd Small (133) and Joel Shapiro (197) lost their respective matches, sending them into the wrestlebacks.

Session II

The second session of day one saw half of Iowa State’s semifinalists make it to the finals.

Mackall and Parker continued the hot streak to start the second session the Cyclones, winning their respective matches to make it to the finals.

Waiting for them in the finals is Nick Piccininni (125) of Oklahoma State and Dom Demas (141) of Oklahoma.

Carr set himself up as the third Cyclone to reach the finals, defeating Oklahoma’s Justin Thomas in a 4-1 decision. Carr is slated to face Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Sheets in the 157 finals.

Gremmel was the fourth and final wrestler to reach the finals for Iowa State. Gremmel took down Northern Colorado’s Dalton Robertson in a 10-3 decision and will face Wyoming’s Brian Andrews in the finals.

Degen fell short of the finals, giving up a third period pin to the No. 1 seeded Boo Lewallen of Oklahoma State in 6:17.

Straw was sent to the wrestlebacks after losing to NDSU’s Andrew Fogarty in a 15-2 major decision.

Colbray and Coleman were on the losing end of the close matches in the semifinals.

Colbray gave up an escape with seconds remaining in the third to Oklahoma’s Anthony Mantanona, falling to the No. 2 seed 6-5. Coleman was outlasted in a 4-0 decision to the No. 1 seeded Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa.

Small and Shapiro lost in their wrestleback matches, however Small will in a small bracket that determines ninth place and a potential at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.

Day two action

Action will pick back up at 11 a.m. Sunday with Session III, which will be streamed through ESPN+. The Big 12 Championship finals will begin at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.