In its 35-6 win in the varsity dual over the Wartburg Knights (Division III) on Sunday, No. 8 Iowa State got the wins it expected from its All-Big 12 wrestlers.

All five of its 2020 All-Big 12 wrestlers and NCAA tournament qualifiers from a season ago that were in the varsity lineup on Sunday, redshirt sophomore David Carr (157), redshirt seniors Alex Mackall (125), Ian Parker (141) and Gannon Gremmel (Heavyweight) won their matches in convincing fashion (Carr technical fall 17-0, Mackall by pinfall with five seconds left in the first period, Parker by 9-1 major decision and Gremmel by major decision 17-4).

Along with the wins from their returning All-Big 12 wrestlers and redshirt sophomore Tate Battani (won by a 14-7 decision in the 184-pound bout) Iowa State had three wins in the varsity dual by a new face in the starting lineup.

But the main story was freshmen Cam Robinson, Zach Redding and Yonger Bastida winning each of their collegiate debut matches on Sunday.

“I think Junger, Zach and Cam were all pushing the pace, executing, scoring and trying to score a lot,” Iowa State Head Coach Kevin Dresser said. “I think this was a good chance for them to come out and kind of get their feet wet.”

With this being the first collegiate matches of their career, Carr said the nerves will be there.

“I think everyone is a little bit nervous in their first time in Hilton,” Carr said. “My freshman year I was always super nervous, had butterflies and stuff like that.”

Carr said next week he expects everybody to be even more ready and prepared.

The most decisive win from those three came from Redding, a New York native, who won his match by technical fall (16-1, 7:00) over sophomore Joe Pins in the 133-pound weight class.

“I really like his pace (Redding’s) and not much rattles him,” Dresser said.

Redding was dominant from the get-go in his match, scoring two takedowns, 56 seconds of riding time and held a 4-1 lead after the first period.

In the second period, had an escape, a takedown and a pair of two-point near fall to increase his lead to 11-1.

Redding scored four more points in the third and because he had the advantage in riding time, he earned an additional point to win by technical fall 16-1.

“It was a lot of fun, anytime you do anything [good] people in Hilton [Coliseum] go crazy which makes it fun to be in that environment,” Redding said. “I feel like I wrestled to my ability and pushed the pace.”

In the bout in the 149-pound weight class, Robinson also won decisively, beating junior Brady Fritz by major decision, 15-3.

Robinson, a Pennsylvania native, filled in for redshirt senior Jarrett Degen, who has a tweaked knee and is “week to week” according to Dresser.

Dresser said that he thought Robinson “did a really good job” on Sunday.

Robinson had a pair of takedowns in the first period but allowed two escapes which gave him only a slim 4-2 lead at the end of the first.

In the second and third period, Robinson used his quickness and agility to his advantage.

This then led him to outscore Fritz 11-1 in the second and third periods combined.

Robinson had four takedowns in his match and had some near-falls in the third which boosted his lead.

The pace of the match in the second and third periods, was also why Bastida won his match over Wartburg senior Kobe Woods, in the 197-pound weight class.

It was a tie at six in the middle of the second period when Bastida began to take over.

He managed to get an escape and takedown before the period ended.

To finish the match, Bastida got another escape, his fifth and sixth takedowns of the match and also earned a point for having the advantage in riding time to defeat Woods 15-8.

Bastida, a Cuba native, is relatively new to the collegiate style of wrestling (folkstyle) as he used to wrestling freestyle at international competitions

“He’s only been in the U.S. for 40 days, so you could rest him, not wrestle him and get him a little more savvy with folkstyle wrestling or you could throw him out there and learn on the fly and that’s what I think he’s doing,” Dresser said.

Bastida, a silver medalist at the 2020 Junior World Championship and Granma y Cerro Pelado Championship also showed his on Sunday raw wrestling ability in the neutral position.

He had six takedowns (nearly a seventh at the end of the match) in his win against Woods.

Iowa State had four freshman starters on Sunday and they went 3-1 collectively, with the lone loss coming from redshirt freshman Julien Broderson (lost by decision 8-1) in the 174-pound weight class.

“Julien just made a mistake in the second period,” Dresser. “I think [Kyle] Briggs (Broderson’s opponent) is pretty darn good and when somebody puts a hard ride on you, you just want to get that one [point] (an escape) and I think he went for the fences in that second period and ended up losing four back points where I think if he just would’ve stayed more fundamentally solid and got the escape, he would’ve went up 1-0 and then it becomes a different match.”

Broderson’s loss was one of two losses in the varsity dual, along with redshirt sophomore Isaac Judge’s loss to Iowa State transfer, junior Zane Mulder, by an 8-6 decision.

Bastida, Redding and Robinson were not the only Iowa State freshmen who won on Sunday.

Out of the 25 matches combined (10 starting lineup matches, 10 team B and five exhibitions), Iowa State won 22 of them.

Out of those 22 wins, 10 of them came from a freshman (redshirt and true), including two wins by redshirt freshman Carter Schmidt.

The Cyclones return to Hilton Coliseum to face Nebraska-Kearney on Jan. 10.