The tenth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones suffered its first loss of the 2021 season on Sunday at the hands of the ninth-ranked Missouri Tigers.

In Sunday’s loss, Iowa State lost five out of the six matches that were decided by five points or less and five of Missouri’s eight wins came from either a junior or a redshirt junior.

In the post-match press conference, Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser was optimistic about the team’s potential moving forward. 

“There’s probably a lot of people out there that are going to read the score and think ‘oh my’ but I really don’t look at it that way,” Dresser said. “I can go up and down each weight class and I’ve got something positive to say.

“I don’t think it’s a wake-up call and I think there were a lot of good things.”

In Sunday’s dual, Iowa State started four true freshmen and redshirt freshman, Julien Broderson at 174.

These five went 0-5 (Iowa State lost eight out of the ten matches in the dual) on Sunday. Out of the ten starters for Iowa State, seven of them were redshirt sophomores or younger.

Iowa State’s underclassmen accounted for seven of Iowa State’s eight losses on Sunday. Four out of the seven losses by Iowa State’s underclassmen came by four points or less, including three one-point losses.

Iowa State freshman Kysen Terukina came close to winning his match at 125 pounds but allowed a reversal while tied at three in the third period with Missouri’s redshirt junior Connor Brown (ranked 19th in NCAA by Intermat).

Terukina got an escape before the period ended but it wasn’t enough as Brown won 5-4 and gave Missouri a 3-1 lead.

Following Terukina’s loss, fellow Iowa State freshman Zach Redding led against 3-2 Missouri’s redshirt junior Matt Schmidt (ranked 17th) in their match at 133 pounds.

Schmitt got a late takedown to win 4-3.

Iowa State freshman Yonger Bastida (ranked 16th), a Cuba native that is still adjusting to freestyle wrestling, also lost his match by one point, after getting called for stalling in the down position in the third period against Missouri’s freshman Rocky Elam (ranked 19th).

In that third period, Bastida had a 4-3 and chose to start the period in the down position.

Dresser said the decision for Bastida, was a collective decision by the coaching staff.

“We (the coaching staff) kind of all looked at each other and I think Coach Metcalf, Coach St. John and I were like, ‘you know this is a learning year,’ and the only way that he’s ever going to figure out bottom [position] is when it’s hard and you’re tired and that’s what we did (tell Basitda to start in the down position in the third period,” Dresser said. “So maybe that bit us in the butt and maybe that’s bad coach, maybe we need to take the loss there, but we need to have a little ammunition to jump-start him in the week.”

After being hit with a stalling warning earlier in the period, Bastida was called for stalling and Rocky Elam was awarded a point which tied it at four.

Rocky Elam had the advantage in riding time, so he was awarded a point which gave him the 5-4 win over Bastida.

Dresser said in regards to how these three freshmen move forward after their tough losses, “Just keep coming.”

After Terukina and Redding’s losses, Missouri increased its lead to 12-0 with two more close wins, one by redshirt junior Allan Hart (ranked 13th) over redshirt senior Ian Parker (ranked fifth) by a score of 7-4 at 141 pounds and the other came from junior Brock Mauller (ranked third) at 149 pounds over Iowa State freshman Cam Robinson by a score of 7-3.

The Cyclones’ two wins on Sunday came from redshirt sophomore David Carr at 157 pounds and redshirt senior Gannon Gremmel at Heavyweight.

Carr (ranked third) defeated Missouri’s junior Jarrett Jacques (ranked 14th) by major decision 14-1, while Gremmel (ranked ninth) defeated Missouri’s senior Zack Elam by a 7-2 decision.

Gremmel’s match was the last of the day and he talked about, in the post-match press conference, what his mindset was heading to his match.

“My mindset was I kind of feeling the whole dual and the scoreboard before the match, I don’t watch it much but I just came out ready to go,” Gremmell said.

The Cyclones had it’s first opportunity to get a major win in facing the Tigers on Sunday but ultimately lost.

“I think a lot of the guys got big eyes, had a good opponent and missed a huge opportunity,” Gremmel said. “So it’s hard to watch to watch that as the last guy going out there and wrestling”

In regards to Sunday’s team loss, Carr said, “I think we’re a really talented team and once we figure out the little things, that’s what’s going to make the difference.”

“My dad (Nate Carr, a former Iowa State wrestler who won three NCAA Championships in the 1980s) always says ‘greater later,’ that’s how I think of it,” Carr said. “If you don’t get the result you want, ‘greater later.’ you just go back to work and keep working. I think this team is very special and we still have a chance to prove that.”