Senior night turned out to be rather eventful for the Cyclone wrestling team as they took down West Virginia in dominant fashion on Friday.

The seniors put on a show in front of a packed Hilton Coliseum to keep the Cyclones’ win streak going. Although West Virginia came out hot, the Cyclone heavyweights shut them down early to secure a 31-9 victory.

Iowa State started the meet slow by dropping the two opening matches at 165 and 174 pounds. 

“We obviously didn’t start out great there with those first two matches, so I was wondering what kind of letdown we might have after a big Sunday, but we came back there, so good for those guys,” Head Coach Kevin Dresser said.

No. 32 Isaac Judge had a tough matchup against West Virginia’s Peyton Hall, ranked No. 16 in the 165-pound weight class. Judge put on the jets late in the match, but it was too little too late, as Hall walked away with a 4-3 decision victory.

West Virginia’s Dennis Robin also pulled out an upset victory over No. 18 Joel Devine by securing a pin in just 1:09 in the 174-pound weight class. This fall by Robin gave West Virginia the 9-0 lead over Iowa State. The heavyweight wrestlers would have to perform if the Cyclones wanted to turn the dual around.

They did just that.

Marcus Coleman took the mat next at 184 pounds against West Virginia’s Anthony Carman and came out firing on all cylinders. Coleman fired back with a pin of his own in 1:14 to cut West Virginia’s lead to 9-6.

“He’s chosen to separate himself, which he has never done in the past. When he gets a guy who is maybe not highly ranked, and he is supposed to dominate, he really goes out, and not only does he win the match, but he gets the bonus points,” Dresser said of Coleman.

The bonus points were just what the Cyclones needed. Coming back from a nine-point deficit is hard without the help of larger victories. 

After a tough loss at 174 pounds, where the Cyclones were heavily favored according to Dresser, a momentum shift was needed at 184 pounds to get the ball rolling for Iowa State.

Coleman knew he had a job to do, and he went out and proved why he is a top-10 wrestler in the 184-pound weight class.

“My goal is always to get a pin when I step on the mat,” Coleman said. “Taking care of business; doing what’s best for the team. An opportunity presented itself, and I went for it.”

It was clear after the 184-pound match that the momentum was in the Cyclones’ favor. Iowa State could take the lead and possibly put the dual away with strong performances in the final heavyweight classes. 

In the 197-pound weight class, Younger Bastida put on a dominant performance against West Virginia’s Jackson Moomau. Bastida opted to rack up as many takedowns as possible to shoot for a technical fall in the match. 

He did not disappoint.

Bastida ran away with the match with a 23-8 technical fall after scoring ten takedowns and cruising to a victory. With Bastida’s dominant outing, the Cyclones retook the lead to go up 11-9 early in the dual. 

The final heavyweight to go was No. 21 Sam Schuyler, as he was faced with a tough match against No. 23 Michael Wolfgram for West Virginia. It was clear from the start that Schuyler would have to put his head down and grind if he wanted to take down Wolfgram.

A back-and-forth first period ended scoreless as Schuyler opted for bottom to start the second. A pair of escapes by Schuyler and a takedown by Wolfgram saw the match still tied going into the final period.

Both wrestlers fought hard, but neither gave an inch, as the match went into overtime tied at four. It was clear that neither wrestler wanted to give up the momentum going into the next match, which featured No. 27 Kysen Terukina taking on No. 5 Killian Cardinale.

With the pressure on and the Hilton crowd on their feet, Schuyler went for Wolfgram’s legs and, with a final effort, heaved him over for a takedown to pull out the 6-4 decision in the sudden victory overtime period.

This win would give Schuyler his tenth-straight victory and his fourth-straight win against a ranked opponent. The momentum from this win also carried over into the rest of the dual, as the Cyclones closed out the dual with no losses in the remaining weight classes.

The match following the heavyweights was the nail in the coffin for West Virginia. Terukina came into the 125-pound match as an underdog, but fought hard against a top five ranked wrestler to secure another decision win for the Cyclones.

“That was a big win. That’s probably the biggest win I have seen Kysen have at Iowa State,” Dresser said.

The Cyclones are going to look for more big wins going forward as they prepare to finish out the season strong.

The Cyclones have a short turnaround before their next dual against Air Force. The dual against the Falcons is set to begin at noon on Saturday, at Hilton Coliseum.

Results:

125: No. 27 Kysen Terukina (ISU) dec. No. 5 Killian Cardinale (WVU), 6-5

133: No. 33 Ramazan Attasauov (ISU) maj. dec. Garett Lautzenheiser (WVU), 10-2

141: No. 9 Ian Parker (ISU) dec. Caleb Rea (WVU), 8-2

149: No. 22 Jarrett Degen (ISU) dec. Jeffrey Boyd (WVU), 8-3

157: No. 1 David Carr (ISU) maj. dec. Alex Hornfeck (WVU), 17-5

165: No. 16 Peyton Hall (WVU) dec. No. 32 Isaac Judge (ISU), 4-3

174: Dennis Robin (WVU) pins No. 18 Joel Devine (ISU) in 1:09

184: No. 8 Marcus Coleman (ISU) pins Anthony Carman (WVU) in 1:14

197: No. 16 Yonger Bastida (ISU) T.F. Jackson Moomau (WVU) 23-8 in 6:17

285: No. 21 Sam Schuyler (ISU) dec. No. 23 Michael Wolfgram (WVU), 6-4 (SV-1)