After an eventful senior night, the Cyclone wrestling team looked to finish out their home dual season strong Saturday against Air Force.

Although it wasn’t the cleanest of victories, the No. 5 Cyclones came out on top against the Air Force Falcons with a score of 27-12. 

Iowa State wrestlers shined in all the weight classes, as many took advantage of their last taste of Hilton magic to dominant their opponents and keep the Cyclones rolling.

Bounce-back wins in opening matches

The Cyclones had a tough start to their dual against West Virginia, dropping the first two matches to go down early.

Iowa State’s Isaac Judge had a tough time handling West Virginia’s Peyton Hall in the 165-pound match. West Virginia’s Dennis Robin also pulled out a shocking victory over No. 18 Joel Devine at 174 pounds with a fast pin.

After these tough losses, Judge and Devine had a short turnaround before taking the mat again. The losses did not seem to affect their mentality at all, as both wrestlers came out hot to start the dual against Air Force.

Judge fought hard against Air Force’s Trey Brisker to secure a 4-3 decision win.

Although he wasn’t able to run away with the match and gain bonus points for the Cyclones, points on the board helped them start the dual off on a high note.

As the heavy-weight classes took to the mat, the momentum from the start of the dual would prove to be key. 

Deja vu for Coleman and Bastida

Pins have been the only thing on the mind for the 184-pounder Marcus Coleman as he took the mat in Hilton Coliseum for the final time of the season.

It was announced yesterday that Coleman will be returning for one final season as a Cyclone.

But for now, he was only focused on the match at hand.

After pinning his opponent in the previous day’s dual against West Virginia, Coleman was looking to pounce on the next opportunity that presented itself.

With time running out in the final period, Coleman got the better of Air Force’s Jake Thompson to record a fall in 5:52. This was Coleman’s 12th-straight victory and he gets there in fashion with back-to-back pins.

No. 16 Yonger Bastida also had himself a day. The 197-pound sophomore pulled out a win in his final match of the season at Hilton Coliseum.

Bastida came out hot against Air Force’s Kayne Hutchinson to record a flurry of takedowns. Bastida’s gauntlet of moves proved to be too much to handle for Hutchinson, as Bastida cruised to a technical fall victory 4:31.

This match gave Bastida his second straight technical fall and 12th dual meet win of the season.

The bonus points gained from these matches helped the Cyclones cruise to a victory over the Falcons.

Going out in style

The final home wrestling dual meet of the season turned out to be a great send off for the Cyclones.

No. 27 Kysen Terukina shifted the momentum back in Iowa State’s favor with his win over Air Force’s Jared Van Vleet in the 125-pound weight class. Senior Sam Schuyler fell to No. 6 Wyatt Hendrickson in the heavyweight match by a fall in 2:58. It was clear that Terukina would not let Air Force get back into the meet.

Trailing 2-6, Terukina buckled down and got to work. Terukina came back from the deficit to tie the match at 6-6 going into the final seconds. With one final effort, Terukina scored a takedown with 0:02 left on the clock to give him the 8-6 decision win.

Jarrett Degen also finished out his career at Hilton on a high note. Degen dominated the 149-pound match from the start to record an 11-3 major decision win over Air Force’s Dylan Martinez.

Degen put on a show on Friday during senior night and kept that momentum going through Saturday’s match. After his major decision win, Degen received a standing ovation from the Hilton crowd.

Not a bad way to go out.

The Cyclones did drop a couple matches in the 141-pound and 157-pound weight classes. With the dual nearly wrapped up, the Cyclones looked to get reps in for a couple of the backup wrestlers.

Charlie Klepps put up a fight against Air Force’s Cody Phippen at 141 pounds, but could not hold him off as he fell by 6-1 decision. 

Iowa State’s Andrew Flora took David Carr’s place in the 157-pound weight class. Flora took on Giano Petrucelli but could not get things moving in the match. Petrucelli took the match by a 3-0 decision.

Iowa State was able to hold onto the dual to secure a 27-12 win over Air Force. The Cyclones will look to keep rolling as they finish out the remainder of the season.

The Cyclones will take a short road trip to face off against Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. on Feb. 11, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.