The No. 4 Iowa State wrestling team’s dominant start to the season ended as they lost to the Oklahoma State Cowboys 21-12 Saturday night.
Iowa State came into Stillwater, Oklahoma, having dominated Oklahoma 37-4 the night before. The team could not get the job done for the third straight year against the Cowboys.
Taking ‘Carr’ of business
If there is one thing that is almost always automatic, it is that David Carr will get the Cyclone wrestling team on the scoreboard. Carr came into the match with a 15-1 record including a win in Norman, Oklahoma the night before. Carr’s last defeat came to Julian Ramirez from Cornell who also lost to No. 4 Izzak Olejnik of Oklahoma State.
Carr faced Olejnik and did not let the packed crowd affect the match. Carr added two more takedowns on the year and defeated Olejnik 8-1, the only point came in an escape by the Cowboy.
This win marks Carr’s fourth victory of the season over a top-five opponent. Wins like these are sure to help Carr keep climbing to get back to the No. 1 spot in his weight class.
The south stalls a few Cyclones
A few Cyclones came into the match red-hot, looking to steal a few wins in Stillwater and climb up in the rankings. For a few, they sure impressed the coaches poll, but for others, they have a ton of work to do to help the Cyclones add another trophy come March.
No. 25 Kysen Terukina had not lost since the Cliff Keen Invitational and was looking to add another ranked win to his belt against No. 20 Troy Spratley. Terukina dropped a 4-2 decision and has some work to do to move up in his class.
At 133 pounds, true freshman No. 7 Evan Frost has taken full advantage of being in the lineup and has had an impressive start to his young career. He came into the match with a 12-2 record and a few ranked wins already. However, he had yet to face a dominant wrestler like No. 3 Daton Fix and dropped a major decision 11-3. This is Frost’s best loss in his young career and definitely will use this match moving forward to grow and get better.
In probably the closest match of the night, No. 8 Anthony Echemendia took on No. 9 Tagen Jamison and this brawl could have gone either way. Extra time was needed to call this match as Echemendia fell 4-1 in a sudden victory to Jamison. A controversial stall out on Jamison could have been called to change the decision on the match.
No. 10 Casey Swiderski and No. 23 MJ Gaitan continued to impress and kept the Cyclones in the dual with a pair of wins.
Swiderski took on No. 17 Sammy Alvarez and used a couple of takedowns to win 8-2. Gaitan faced No. 25 Brayden Thompson and was the more aggressive throughout the entirety of the match. Thompson escaped a few of Gaitan’s shots however, in sudden victory, Gaitan secured a challenged takedown to win 6-3 and bring the Cyclones closer to a comeback.
Cyclone fans should be pleased to have Swiderski back in the lineup as he makes a huge difference; however, way too many bonus points were given up as a team which led to a larger loss than expected.
Bastida Stays hot
Who is 17-0 in his first season at Heavyweight? The name is Yonger Bastida, and the wrestling world may want to learn it if they have not already.
The third-ranked Bastida put on 43 pounds during the offseason while lowering his body fat percentage. Bastida leads the team in takedowns with a 65-1 ratio and is not slowing down.
The Cuban powerhouse dominated No. 9 Konner Doucet 7-2, securing another top-10 victory. Come March, it will be no surprise if No. 3 became No. 1 in his first year in the heaviest weight class in college wrestling.
