Jarrett Degen, Iowa State’s starting 149-pounder, fixed enough of his mistakes and showcased his effort en route to a third-place finish at the Big 12 Tournament, securing a spot at the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland.

“[Jarrett Degen has] probably led the team in mistakes, but he’s probably led the team in effort too,” said Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Dresser before the Big 12 Tournament.

The redshirt freshman reached a high-point in his collegiate career, but Degen didn’t climb up the Big 12 Tournament podium before hitting some bumps in the road.

Start of the season

When the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open rolled around, Degen missed his opportunity to perform in front of Cyclone fans inside Hilton Coliseum for the first time.

Degen suffered a minor rib injury, preventing him from competing. Even though Cyclone fans were deprived of watching Degen at the first tournament of the season, Dresser hinted toward Degen’s potential at media day on Oct. 31.

“He’s going to be fun to watch,” Dresser said. “He’s going to be a nightmare to watch for us too because he rolls around a lot. But he’s also very dangerous; he’s a pinner. I think he’s going to have some good years at Iowa State.”

Once the Cyclone Open passed, Degen sat out for the Drexel dual, while Gavin DeWitt cracked the lineup at 149.

In Iowa State’s third event of the season, Degen got to throw on his cardinal and gold singlet. The Cyclones traveled to St. Charles, Missouri to compete in the Lindenwood Open.

Degen wrestled in six matches, compiling a 5-1 record with two of his wins coming via pins. The Belgrade, Montana native’s only loss came to Oklahoma State’s Boo Lewallen — currently the No. 11 149-pounder according to Intermat.

Next, the Cyclones returned home, hosting Ryder inside Cy Stephen’s Auditorium. Degen competed in his first dual match, defeating Gary Dinmore in a 5-2 decision, but Degen wasn’t satisfied.

“I just got to work harder [to earn bonus points],” Degen said. “[I] can’t give a takedown right off the bat. [I need to keep] working harder, smarter, getting my tilts on top and keeping my hips up. Scoring points, I just want to score more points.”

The calendar flipped to December and Iowa State travelled to the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas.

Degen added three wins to his record, but he also collected two losses to unranked opponents.

Hot start to the Big 12 season

The Cliff Keen Invitational marked the end of regular-season tournaments, meaning Iowa State had 16 duals in a row until the Big 12 Tournament.

After getting his feet wet in the first portion of the season, Degen displayed his skills to start Iowa State’s conference duals.

The 149-pounder knocked off Wyoming’s Sam Turner in a 7-3 decision, and Degen followed that up by dismantling Northern Colorado’s Jimmy Fate, winning 21-6.

“Degen throws it out there,” Dresser said after the dual with Northern Colorado. “He makes mistakes, but he’s the guy that right now is the poster child for what we want. He got tired at the end, but he had 15 points going into the third period. It’s okay if you’re tired, if you score 15 points.”

Even with a dominant technical fall victory, the young wrestler still found flaws in his craft.

“I still made a lot of mistakes tonight, letting the guy get on my legs and stuff like that,” Degen said. “Tonight [I] was just staying in good position… Muscle memory is what I go back to all the time, so I need to be doing these practices more and more, instead of going back to my old stuff.”

Rough patch in Oklahoma

Degen rattled off eight dual wins to begin his Iowa State career, and the redshirt freshman looked to propel himself higher in the rankings by capitalizing on a pair of quality opponents: Lewallen and Oklahoma’s Davion Jeffries.

Lewallen and Jeffries were familiar with Degen after the Cyclone beat Jeffries at Lindenwood, while losing to Lewallen.

During the Oklahoma and Iowa State dual, Jeffries avenged his loss. Jeffries managed to edge Degen out in an 8-5 decision, snapping Degen’s winning streak, but the streak wasn’t the only thing harmed in the match.

After the first period, Degen was examined for concussion symptoms.

“He bridged off his back and choked himself out,” said associate head coach Mike Zadick. “He was out. Cold. There’s not a lot of wrestlers that you can throw on the mat that will literally let their head pop out of their shoulders [to] not get pinned.”

Zadick also added that Degen “popped a rib” the following day, but the 149-pounder still battled Jeffries.

Against Lewallen, Degen suffered a similar result as their first match. Degen closed the gap to an 11-9 loss, but the redshirt freshman still fell short.

At the conclusion of the injury-riddled weekend, Zadick observed some progress from the start of the season out of Degen.

“He’s tightened up the funk of his wrestling that everyone really likes to watch and we do to,” Zadick said. “I think he does a good job with it, but at the beginning of the year he was doing a lot of that funk that was getting him in trouble and now he’s learning to where when he does do it, it’s to his advantage.”

A gauntlet to close the regular season

After the 0-2 weekend in Oklahoma, Degen looked to be back on track, snagging a pair of wins against North Dakota State’s Kyle Gliva and South Dakota State’s Colten Carlson.

To close the regular season, Degen had his work cut out for him, facing two top-12 149-pounders: Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen and Iowa’s Brandon Sorensen.

Before facing the in-state foes, Degen wrestled Fresno State’s Khristian Olivas, resulting in a 15-14 loss.

When the Cyclones went to take on UNI, Degen took another close loss; this time a 7-5 decision. In front of a packed crowd inside Hilton Coliseum, Degen capped his regular season off with a 7-5 defeat to Sorensen.

A solid showing in the Big 12 Tournament

Degen’s season that saw more ups than downs was enough to earn the No. 4 seed at the conference tournament.

Wyoming’s Sam Turner won his first match, advancing to face Degen. Degen beat Turner when the Cyclones host Wyoming, and the redshirt freshman pulled out another win, an 8-5 decision.

Next, Degen ran into Thomsen again. Thomsen got the best of Degen again, picking up an 11-5 win, sending Degen to the consolation bracket.

Degen bounced back, defeating Air Force’s Dane Robbins, 9-5. With a spot at the NCAA Tournament secured, Degen added an explanation mark to close his Big 12 Tournament.

In the third-place match, Degen wrestled Turner for the second time in the tournament. Degen exploded for a 20-5 win.

“That’s what I like about my wrestling, I like my shape and I work hard,” Degen said during the regular season. “In the third period, I know these guys are going to be tired and I like pushing it.”