Iowa State wrestling has a storied history. In the 2016-17 season, the Cyclone wrestling program slumped to an all-time low.

In dual matches, Iowa State mustered only one win paired with 12 losses. The Cyclones’ 1-12 record marked the first season under .500 since 2011-12 and the first one-win season since 1942-43.

“[To change the results of last season] you just come in and implement your philosophies, your ideas, your work ethic, your motivation, whatever it may be,” said assistant coach Derek St. John. “There’s a ton of work and a ton of different little things that go into building a program.”

With last year’s abysmal season, a lot has changed in the off-season.

Toward the end of last season, former Iowa State coach Kevin Jackson announced he would be resigning from his position.

In February, Kevin Dresser officially announced he would be taking over the head coaching duties at Iowa State.

This season Iowa State fans will not only see new faces in the coaches corner, but many of the athletes on the mat will look unfamiliar.

Iowa State’s final regular season dual last season was against Minnesota. Currently, only three of the 10 athletes that competed in that dual are on the Cyclone roster.

One of those new faces for Iowa State is 133-pound freshman Austin Gomez. With redshirt freshman Ian Parker and redshirt sophomore Markus Simmons on the roster, Gomez will start the season redshirting.

“Just watching the guys in tournaments [will be valuable to me],” Gomez said. “[Seeing] how they’re working together in dual meets, how we’re all coming together and working [will be important].”

With 11 seniors on the 2016-17 roster, along with transfers after the season, Dresser and his staff will rely on some of the younger athletes to provide leadership.

“I’m hoping that we can get somebody to step up on this team and maybe be more of a verbal leader,” Dresser said. “We [have] some really good guys that lead by example in the room, but I think it would be a great thing for us right now [to have a verbal leader].”

Not only is Dresser’s verbal leader up in the air, but the new coach also has a lot of questions regarding his projected starting lineup.

Highly-touted redshirt freshman Kanen Storr and redshirt senior Dane Pestano have locked up the 141-pound and 184-pound spots on the roster. The other spots are up for grabs.

The 174-pound class is a class worth watching because it will be a highly competitive class for Iowa State.

The 174-pound spot has the most athletes listed. The probable starters currently reads as: redshirt junior Danny Bush, redshirt sophomore Hank Swalla or redshirt junior Luke Entzel.

With that class being one of the most experienced weights for Iowa State, the competitors will likely jostle for the starting spot throughout the whole season.

“There’s a lot of kids at the weight [174],” Swalla said. “There’s a couple freshman and I think they’re going to probably redshirt. Then, it’ll be a battle between everybody not redshirting.”

The 174-pound class is the most competition for a starting spot, but 125-pound, 133-pound, 149-pound, 157-pound, 165-pound, 196-pound and 285-pound classes are all in open competitions.

Iowa State’s 2017-18 season will feature talented young athletes, but Dresser and his staff expect some growing pains throughout the year.

“In mid-March I said ‘it’s going to be bumpy for a while’ and that’s what I tell the Cyclone nation and that’s what I tell all you [the media] and that’s what I’m going to continue [to be] telling,” said  Dresser. “It’s going to be bumpy.”