Iowa State wrestling is right around the corner, and there are certain storylines to follow heading into the season.

That much was clear at the team’s media day Tuesday.

Degen and Parker to duke it out at 149

Two staples of the Iowa State wrestling program have been seniors Ian Parker and Jarrett Degen, who have qualified for the NCAA tournament multiple times, at 141 and 149, respectively. 

Now, these two are set to face off for the starting spot at 149, with the wrestle-offs being a week or so away, according to Iowa State Head Coach Kevin Dresser. 

The first question that Parker, a Saint John’s, Mich., native, was asked at Iowa State’s media day Tuesday was about his decision to move up a weight class.

This transition is one that Dresser has welcomed.

“He came to me early in the fall and just said, ‘Hey, I’m big and I’m strong, and I feel really good right now’ and I want to stay here,” Dresser said. “I support any of our athletes that want to move weight classes, you know, sure you always give them your recommendation but I learned a long time ago as a coach that you know, the minute I told a guy to go to a weight it blew up in my face so I’m not going to do that.”

Since wrestling attached for Iowa State in the 2017-18 season, Parker has compiled an 80-25 record, was the 2020 Big 12 champion and is a three-time NCAA tournament qualifier. 

His counterpart in this situation is pretty accomplished as well.

Degen, the Belgrade, Mont., native, is a four-time NCAA tournament qualifier, has a 74-28 record since transferring from Virginia Tech prior to the start of the 2017-18 season and is welcoming the competition that Parker is bringing. 

“I mean when I transferred here it wasn’t my spot and so I had to earn it then too,” Degen said. “Ian’s obviously a top notch wrestler, but I’m not gonna say it’s his spot or my spot, so we’ll see where it goes.”

An intriguing option is to move Degen up to 157 and bump up Carr to 165, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen.

Dresser’s words in regards to this were “probably not.” 

“I don’t know if Degen fits into the whole 157, Carr’s pretty adamant about being at 157 one more time, so I don’t know if the following year will be the same thing but that’s kind of the plan right now,” Dresser said. 

For Carr, he’s coming off a national title in the 2021 season, but now it’s a clean slate.

Carr looking to go back-to-back

With a win over Rider’s Jesse Dellavecchia in the finals of the 2021 NCAA tournament at 157 pounds, David Carr won his first NCAA title in the first NCAA tournament he competed in (he would’ve wrestled in the 2020 NCAA Championships, but that was canceled due to COVID-19).

He’s coming off a perfect 20-0 season, but to Carr, this new season means new goals and letting the past stay in the past. 

“It’s a new season, what I did last season is in the past and what I can do this season is what I’m focused on,” Carr said.

The Canton, Ohio, native has quite the resume so far in his three years at Iowa State.

He enters his redshirt sophomore year as an NCAA Champion, two-time Big 12 Champion, a two-time NCAA All-American, a junior world champion, as well as being the 2021 Big 12 Wrestler of the Year and a Hodge Trophy Finalist.

His goal for each match this season is simple: Score as many points as possible.

“The goal is just to score points,” Carr said. “You know, every match, you want to go in there, and try to score as many points as you can. Whether it’s a tech fall or a pin, that’s my goal, every match.”

Carr said one of his biggest points of emphasis is being more of a leader in the wrestling room. 

“[I’m] encouraging the guys, they’re all my brothers,” Carr said. “We’re a family here, I would say that’s something that we embody as family and a brothership. So I think my job is just to encourage them, I would rather bring these guys along and just try and set the example as far as it’s coming in for extra workouts.”

While Carr has made a name for himself at Iowa State, his roommate, redshirt sophomore Ramazan Attasauov is looking to make a name for himself at 133 this season.

Attasauov front-runner for 133 starting spot

While the starting lineup for the first couple of meets this season won’t be made until after wrestle-offs happen in a few weeks, the probable starter listed at 133 pounds is Attasauov.

The Nalchik, Russia, native is one of two wrestlers on the roster, along with Yonger Bastida, who has to make the transition from freestyle wrestling to folkstyle wrestling (collegiate wrestling).

“Well basically I think freestyle and folkstyle are totally different sports,” Attasauov said. 

He said the hardest adjustment he had to make was not locking hands when riding an opponent and not doing any gut wrenches, but that there were different adjustments that the coaching staff had to help him with.

“Definitely had to change with a high base wrestling because like obviously, our European style is more like control and stuff but here in Iowa and just Iowa from coach Metcalf, just having learned different style like ‘go, go, go, go,’ so it’s been an awesome coaches who can help me,” he said. 

He’s had some time to adjust from freestyle to folkstyle, having wrestled in high school in Massachusetts and having been with the Cyclone program for two years now. 

Attasauov had a successful fall in 2020, as he won the U23 National Champion at 57 kilograms.

He also had a 9-3 record while wrestling in mostly “B” duals last season at 133, while sitting behind sophomore Zach Redding, who has moved to 141. 

And Attasauov has apparently built off of that. 

“I especially like what I’ve seen on Ramazan in the last week or so,” Dresser said. “He’s super super dedicated and trains really hard, wrestling is very important for Ramazan.”

The biggest obstacle ahead for Ramazan in Dresser’s eyes? 

Confidence.

“Just needs to get a lot more confidence. He’s got some good wins under his belt, but right now he’s the front runner at 133.”

Confidence is a tricky thing and can be very hard to get. But he’s got a boost in having the support of his roommate, who is a national champion.

And in Carr’s eyes, he’s already a “beast.”

“He’s a beast as my roommate, so I see all the little things he does,” Carr said. “He’s disciplined. He goes to sleep and eats the same food, I mean, he does everything right and so I think you’re going to see a lot of great things out of him. I’m excited to see him just out just wrestle his best. I mean, he’s been looking amazing. So you’ll get to see what he’s all about this season.”