Iowa State continues west coast swing on a baseball diamond

Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Dresser (left) and assistant coach Brent Metcalf (right) cheer after then-freshman Zane Mulder takes down South Dakota State senior Logan Peterson during their match in the 165-pound weight class. The Iowa State wrestling team won 47-0 against South Dakota State at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 1.

Zach Martin

Chase Field has hosted some of sports most memorable events.

For the first time ever, the Arizona Diamondback’s stadium can add wrestling to its hosting repertoire.

The annual SunDevil Duals will take place in Phoenix on Saturday where fourth-ranked Arizona State welcomes 11th-ranked Iowa State, Campbell and Harvard to the desert.

The Cyclones will kick off the full day of wrestling against the Camels at high noon local time, followed by a battle Crimson two hours later and the evening culminates in a top-15 matchup with the Sun Devils at 8 p.m. local time.

“We got a long training period, get them rested up,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser said. “Getting three dual meets in one day, I really like how Arizona State has got it laid out. It’s a little bit of how a day will be like at the NCAA Tournament.”

It’ll be the second top-five dual the Cyclones have wrestled this season. They’ll look to improve on the 29-6 defeat to the Iowa Hawkeyes, their first top-five dual back in November.

Following Iowa State’s (3-1) conference opening shellacking of Utah Valley – a 45-0 shutout – improvement is noticeable.

Thirty of those points came from pins as Joel Shapiro (197 pounds), Alex Mackall (125), Ian Parker (141), Ryan Leisure (149) and David Carr (157) all earned bonus point victories. Shapiro, Mackall, Leisure and Carr finished their opponents in the opening period.

“We need to compete well against them,” Dresser said. “We’re going to win. If we don’t win, I’m not going to be happy. Mostly, we want to compete. Leave it all out there, we’ll be the first guy to shake your hand when you come off the mat.”

It was also the debut of a flip flop of weights for Sam Colbray and Marcus Coleman. Colbray will move down to 174 – his fourth different weight class in his tenure at Iowa State – and Coleman will bump up to 184.

Both moves are expected to last the remainder of the season.

Not only are the teammates switching weights, but also switching opponents during the Iowa State-Arizona State dual.

InterMat’s Ninth-ranked Colbray will now wrestle 10th-ranked Anthony Valencia while Coleman will deal with top-ranked Zahid Valencia. The brothers have beaten their former weight class foes once already this year.

This time around, Dresser is taking extra measures to prep for the undefeated Valencia.

“We might need to bring a bat and a two-by-four,” Dresser said jokingly. “You gotta have weapons to beat that guy, he’s a force.”

Four ranked matchups highlight the final dual of the evening. To go along with the top-10 battle at 174, heavyweight will feature seventh-ranked Tanner Hall upon against ninth-ranked Gannon Gremmel.

The only rematch will be at 125, where 12th-ranked Alex Mackall will look to snare his second victory over 13th-ranked Brandon Courtney. Mackall won the fifth place match 8-5 at Cliff Keen.

“I’m excited to starting wrestling again, put on the singlet back on,” David Carr said. “We train for that and I think it’ll be fun.”

Even with the flavor and juiciness of the main draw, the Cyclones will get tested by Campbell and Harvard.

The Camels feature five ranked wrestlers – four in the top-15 – and will have three matchups pitting ranked foes against each other. The highlight will be a top-10 battle at 141 where Parker, ranked fifth, will face one of the best wrestlers of the SoCon conference, ninth-ranked Josh Heil.

Against the Crimson, Gremmel will get a rematch with 12th-ranked Yaraslau Slavikouksi, the opponent he beat in the bloodhound at Vegas 8-6.

Gremmel and the Cyclones’ Chase Straw are the only two wrestlers in the lineup that could face a top-20 wrestler for each of the duals.

“Let’s keep it going, keep winning,” Gremmel said.