After a disappointing dual loss to Drexel this past weekend, the Iowa State wrestling team will be traveling to the Lindenwood Open and the Cyclones will debut several athletes for the 2017-18 season.

The Open runs all day Saturday.

The Cyclones have Jonathan Marmolejo, a former Purdue transfer at 125 pounds, and Dante Rodriguez and Jarrett Degen, who both wrestle at 149 pounds, making their debuts this weekend.

Both Rodriguez and Degen are who coach Kevin Dresser sees as front runners starting at 149 pounds.

The performance of Marmolejo is key as he is expected to start at 125 and is extremely unproven having only wrestled at two tournaments last year. At those competitions, he finished 5-3.

Dresser is unsure of of what to expect out of the unproven Marmolejo.

“I’m curious to see him perform,” Dresser said. “Obviously, what you see in [the wrestling room] doesn’t always translate to what happens out there because of maybe styles, personalities and factors like making weight.”

On the other hand, Dresser seemed optimistic about Degen, who followed the coach to Iowa State from Virginia Tech.

Degen has shown Dresser the ability to be a good wrestler, but struggled with inconsistency wrestling unattached at Virginia Tech last year.

“I saw him looking really really good some weekends last year when we were at Virginia Tech,” Dresser said. “And then I saw some tournaments where it was like wow. You know he just had some rough weekends.”

As several athletes make their debut, 141-pounder Kanen Storr looks to continue his success after finishing with a 22-7 tech fall at his debut at the Drexel dual.

Storr says he anticipates a matchup against No. 4 ranked Jaydin Eierman from Missouri while Storr is ranked No. 13, per FloWrestling.

“I think he might be the highest ranked guy there this weekend,” Storr said. “If that’s the case, after this weekend I want to be the highest ranked guy. I want to be the one to take him out.”

Storr is extremely confident heading into the weekend having built up his confidence after a tentative first period against Drexel. After the first period with a 4-1 score, Storr’s performance kicked into overdrive and that momentum has followed him through the week.

Storr has high hopes for the weekend, but he will not be overlooking any opponents.

“I want to come home with a gold medal, but one match at a time,” Storr said.

Storr and the Cyclones will be facing tough competition during the Lindenwood Open as Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma will be bringing athletes to compete. Iowa State will be bringing all healthy athletes – 36 total.

As Iowa State faces tougher competition, it will become clearer how several Cyclones will perform and grow this season and beyond.