This Saturday, Iowa State will be hosting the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open. The tournament is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and will take place at Hilton Coliseum.

This tournament will be key for the current coaching staff, headed by new coach Kevin Dresser, to establish starters at all but two weight classes. Dresser was previously the head coach at Virginia Tech for 11 seasons before accepting the head coaching job in Ames.

The only athletes listed as starters are No. 13 ranked Kanen Storr per FloWrestling at 141 pounds and Dane Pestano at 184 pounds. All of the other weights have at least two, maybe three, wrestlers competing for that starting position. 

The tournament will act as a sort of wrestle off as the mostly young Cyclones fight for spots with 11 of the 17 athletes competing for starting spots being underclassman.

Though unproven, the redshirt freshmen competing for starting spots are all top 100 recruits being Daniel Vega at 125, Ian Parker at 133, Jarrett Degen at 141, Samuel Colbray at 197 and Gannon Gremmel at 285.

“I’m going to compete,” Colbray said. “You can’t really give a projection in the future just because you prepare yourself for everything that is going to be thrown in front of you, but just like daily life something might come up.”

Colbray echoed the uncertainties that can affect a wrestler’s performance, but believes that he is capable of competing at a high level.

“As far as I’m concerned I want to be standing on top of the podium,” Colbray said. 

Colbray finished with a 4-4 record while wrestling unattached last year. In high school, Colbray was a five-time Fargo National Champion and a four-time Oregon State Champion.

Many Cyclone fans were anticipating the debut of freshman Austin Gomez at 133 pounds. Gomez, who would most likely be wrestling unattached as a redshirt, will be sidelined from a minor concussion, Dresser said.

Gomez is well decorated coming out of high school being a two-time Pan American Champion, a two-time Fargo Champion and a three-time State Champion at Illinois.

Another athlete sidelined with a rib injury is Degen. He’s listed as competing at the 149 pound spot against Dante Rodriguez. Degen is also the lone Virginia Tech transfer to follow the Dresser coaching staff to Iowa State.

“They know my style, they’ve watched me wrestle,” Degen said. “I feel that they are not going to change my style and that is a really good coaching situation for me with these [coaches].”

Rodriguez qualified at the NCAA Championship in 2015. The only other qualifiers on the squad are Pestano, who qualified in 2016, and Marcus Harrington who qualified last year at 197 pounds. This year, Harrington is moving to 285 and will compete against Gremmel.

Despite the need for clarity at most weight classes, Dresser said the competing wrestlers will be held to three matches each during the weekend.

Last season at the Open, the Cyclones finished with 11 place winners during the tournament.