Iowa State wrestling officially concluded its regular season schedule on Sunday by hosting the Last Chance Open at Hilton Coliseum.

With the regular starters getting some rest after getting a 17-16 win over No. 9 Missouri on Wednesday, Sunday’s tournament was a chance to watch some of the other grapplers on the roster in action.

Wrestlers from 10 different teams and clubs competed, as well as a hand-full of athletes participating as unattached.

The Cyclones had 15 wrestlers taking part with nine competing unattached. They finished the day with just one individual champion, as others came up short in their respective championship matches.

Andersen: the lone champion

Redshirt senior Ethan Andersen was Iowa State’s sole individual winner of the afternoon, as he took first place honors in the 285-pound bracket.

Andersen last took to the mat for the Cyclones at the Edinboro Open on Feb. 6, where he went 3-3.

He got off to a hot start on Sunday by recording a fall against Conner Murty of the Iowa State Wrestling Club in 2:53. He followed that up with another bonus points win against Minnesota’s Bennett Tabor. The Altoona, Iowa, native had a quiet first couple of periods, registering just one takedown to hold 2-1 advantage.

That all changed in the final two minutes, as Andersen went on an 8-0 scoring run to put his opponent away for good.

Getting big points off of a four-point near-fall towards the end, Andersen locked up the riding time advantage as well for a 10-1 major decision victory.

Andersen’s momentum didn’t break in the final either, as he used another third quarter offensive run to defeat Keaton Kluever of Minnesota. With the score level at 2-2 after the first five minutes of wrestling, Andersen was able to land a reversal, takedown and near-fall all within the final 1:45 to take the match 9-5.

It was Andersen’s first tournament victory of the season, as he finished runner-up to Iowa’s Aaron Costello at the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open back in November. In four tournaments this year, Andersen has posted a record of 12-6.

Fuessley, Cabanban and Stotts get silver

Outside of Andersen’s victories, it was the trio of Caleb Fuessley, Corey Cabanban and Grant Stotts who added more top-four finishes to Iowa State’s tally.

Fuessley took second place in the 125-pound division after posting a 2-1 record in the four-wrestler round robin format.

After suffering the fastest fall of the day at just 27 seconds at the hands of Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa, Fuessley was awarded an automatic victory after teammate Aime Mukuza had to withdraw on a medical forfeit.

Fuessley got his second chance against Davian Guanajuato of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and wasted no time to make the best of it. Fuessley recorded a 21-5 technical fall victory over Guanajuato thanks recording a four-point near-fall in each of the first two periods on top of getting five takedowns throughout the match.

The win was Fuessley’s first since getting back-to-back victories against Montana State-Northern and Providence University on Jan. 16.

Cabanban also nabbed the runner-up spot at 133 pounds, as he won his first match of the day before falling to Minnesota’s Aaron Nagao in the final. Cabanban received a bye in the first round, and took on Derrick Pendleon of the Iowa State Wrestling Club in the semifinals.

The end result was never in doubt for Cabanban, as he kept using takedowns to keep his opponent at bay and walked away with a 21-9 bonus points victory. However in the final against Nagao, Cabanban was unable to create much scoring opportunities, as the Minnesota freshman took the title by blanking him 8-0.

Stotts was the final Cyclone to finish as runner-up, as lost in the 165-pound final to Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy. Stotts, like his teammate Cabanban, started off the day with a bonus points win by defeating Isaias Estrada of North Carolina 10-2 in a major decision victory.

This was followed up by a close 2-0 win over teammate Austin Kraisser in a match that saw the pair of wrestlers trade shots throughout the first two periods. Stotts was eventually able to get an escape early in the third and tacked on the riding time advantage at the end.

In the final, it was Kennedy who controlled the pace of the match, especially in the second period. With the score tied at 4-4, Kennedy was able to record a takedown and escape that Stotts couldn’t answer to, and he eventually locked up the victory by a score of 7-4.

Cabanban and Stotts each scored 13 team points in their effort for the Cyclones, while Fuessley added 10 more as the Cyclones finished the afternoon with a total of 269.

Seven Cyclones make finals

Perhaps the largest team stat to stand out from the Cyclones’ performances on Sunday was the number of finalists they had.

Including unattached wrestlers, Iowa State led all teams with seven wrestlers competing in championship matches.

In the 157-pound bracket, Jason Kraisser had a pair of bonus points wins on his way to finishing runner-up against Minnesota’s Sebas Swiggum.

Nolan Harsh was another one of Iowa State’s finalists, finishing runner-up at 184 pounds against Sam Skillings of Minnesota. The match was Harsh’s first final of the year, as he finished fifth at the Harold Nichols Open in the 174-pound division.

Skillings initially led 4-1 before finally delivering the fall at the 2:10 mark of the match. The Cyclones may have finished second in the overall team standings, but placed fourth in total winning percentage (56%) with a record of 29-23 on the day.

The Cyclones will be back on the mat on March 5-6, as they will travel to Tulsa, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships.