After accumulating an 8-10 overall dual record and 3-6 conference dual record, the Iowa State wrestling team is preparing to send its first batch of wrestlers to the Big 12 Championship to vie for a bid at the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament begins on Saturday, March 3 and ends Sunday, March 4.

Iowa State has several wrestlers that could punch their automatic bid to the NCAA’s with a strong showing at the Big 12 Tournament.

The most likely wrestlers for Iowa State to finish with automatic bids are Ian Parker, Jarrett Degen, Sam Colbray and Marcus Harrington.

While Degen’s and Harrington’s pre-seed predicts that the two will earn the automatic bids, Parker and Colbray will have to battle tough opponents to make the cut.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say [I’m feeling] pressure….It adds more excitement, more fun to it,” Parker said. “I feel like, [there’s] even more stakes on the line.” 

The three wrestlers seeded ahead of Parker at 141-pounds are Wyoming’s Bryce Meredith, who is the No. 1 141-pounder in the nation according to Intermat, Oklahoma’s Dean Heil, who is the No. 7 141-pounder in the nation, and Northern Iowa’s Josh Alber, who is the No. 9 141-pounder.

Parker has only been a 141-pounder for three duals. The redshirt freshman faced Heil, whom he beat 3-1 en route to being named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week.

Earlier this season, Kanen Storr faced Meredith prior to his transfer two times in a two-week span. The first match saw Meredith pin Storr in 2:04, while in the second match Meredith retired Storr in 1:12.

Parker was unable to face Albers at Iowa State’s dual against Northern Iowa due to his knee being scoped. Upon returning to the starting lineup, he lost a 13-5 major decision to Iowa’s Carter Happel.

Leading up to the Big 12 Championship, Parker has worked on fine tuning his technique and skills with the coaching staff.

Colbray on the other hand has faced all four of his opponents pre-seeded ahead of him and has beaten two of them.

South Dakota State’s Nate Rotert, who is pre-seeded at No. 2 and ranked No. 10 in the nation, was pinned in 5:22 earlier this year by Colbray.

“We’ve been putting in the work the whole entire season,” Colbray said. “Throughout the season we learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Against Jake Smith from West Virginia, Colbray won 6-5 in sudden victory after continually pushing the pace against Smith and drawing stalling calls, including one that gave Colbray the immediate victory in the extended period.

Colbray has faced Oklahoma State’s Preston Weigel once where Colbray lost 4-1 and Northern Iowa’s Jacob Holschlag twice.

At the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Colbray lost to Holschlag 9-2 and Holschlag beat Colbray a second time during Iowa State’s dual versus Northern Iowa 2-0.

Despite wrestling the Big 12’s top 197-pounders in close matches, Colbray has also struggled against other Big 12 opponents, including a 7-2 loss to Fresno State’s Josh Hokit, who projects to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12.

Colbray mentioned the expectations he has for himself at the Big 12 Championship.

“I want to win the thing,” Colbray said. “Like anybody else that steps out there, I’m not going to second guess myself [and] tell myself I can’t win [the championship].”