Four of the five months in the 2019-20 regular season have come and gone in a blink of an eye.

Iowa State concluded the regular season with a 10-5 dual mark and a 7-1 record in the Big 12 Conference, sharing the conference dual title with Oklahoma State. Iowa State won half of its matches inside Hilton Coliseum and went a perfect 4-0 on the road in conference.

The Cyclones wrapped up their final weekend going 1-1, losing to Missouri 27-6 before mounting two comebacks to triumph over North Dakota State 22-16.

Short-term and long-term impacts of latest injury

Bubble wrap might be the best way to protect all the 133-pounders on Iowa State’s roster. That weight has described its entire season.

Todd Small’s scream that brought Hilton to a stunned silence in the opening period against the Bison’s Cam Sykora was the lowest point the Cyclones have been in all year.

The difference between this injury and the others was this happened in front of over 3,000 spectators, and it happened in a flash.

Head Coach Kevin Dresser said the redshirt junior will be off the mat for a couple of days but is hopeful the injury is not serious.

Regardless, if this is just a week stint or an entire March thing, it impacts Iowa State in multiple ways.

If Small can’t wrestle at the Big 12 Tournament in under two weeks, his resume is teetering for an at-large spot. His best wins came against Kent State’s Tim Rooney and Virginia’s Louie Hayes at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. His best conference win is against Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont.

Truly, his only “bad” loss was on Saturday against Missouri’s unranked Allan Hart. Small could never get to his offense, and Hart is tall and lengthy at 133, the type of body frame Small struggles with.

If the over 10 days of rest can get Small back on the mat in Tulsa, how long can he wrestle? The allocation numbers for the conference tournament haven’t been released yet, but with five wrestlers at 133 ranked in the top-20 by InterMat, the number might be five or six.

Can the Georgia native toughen it out to get to the quarterfinals and win a wrestle back match? Right now, it’s too early to say.

The Cyclones are either taking Small to the Bank of Oklahoma Center or not entering someone at 133, which shrinks their expected NCAA qualifiers down a notch, but this injury came at arguably the worst time.

Backups fall just short against Tigers

With four starters competing at the Last Chance Open at Gilbert High School and Ian Parker resting, it provided one final opportunity for five backups to take the mat in a dual-team setting.

Noah Nemer (141), Issac Judge (157), Mac Southard (174) and Hank Swalla (184) grabbed a spot in the starting lineup for the first time in the Cyclones’ 27-6 defeat against No. 24 Missouri, while Ryan Leisure made another start at 149.

Only Swalla fell to a bonus point defeat, with Swalla getting pinned in the second period against Dylan Wisman. The others were all within four match points of going to overtime.

Nemer rode out Alex Butler for the entire third period but fell one second short of the riding time point that would’ve tied the match at four. Butler got called for stalling twice in the period, but a takedown earlier in the match was the difference.

Leisure and Southard fell victim to conservative wrestlers Brock Mauller and Connor Flynn, with the two Tigers combining for three takedowns in their respective wins.

Isaac Judge faced the most complete wrestler of the quartet in Jarrett Jacques, as the 14th-ranked grappler used three takedowns to spur his way to a 7-3 win.

Iowa State didn’t get to its offense quick enough against the majority of Missouri’s wrestlers, one reason why the four-match winning streak coming in was halted.

Degen displays grit

The shoulder injury Jarrett Degen suffered in December is going to be a nagging one. Plenty of evidence was found when his shoulder needed popping back into place in his battle with Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen.

Even on Sunday against Jaden Van Maanen, Degen struggled to execute takedowns he normally would.

So when the match was tied at three and Iowa State was up three, the redshirt junior used one of his biggest strengths: riding.

Degen rode out Van Maanen for the entire two minutes in the final period, making it a factor and giving himself that extra point that was the deciding point in the 4-3 win.

It clinched the dual for the Cyclones and capped off a season where they won the most conference duals in program history.

As for Degen, as long as the shoulder stays in place, to go along with claiming three wins on the weekend to up his winning percentage, he’s in a good position to claim a spot at the NCAA Tournament.