When the 184-pound Dane Pestano took the mat for the first time this year, senior leader and No. 9-ranked Earl Hall, nearly cried.

“Damn, he’s come a long ways,” Hall thought as Pestano took the mat.

Pestano has come a long way both as a wrestler and in the distance he has traveled. He hails from Waimanalo, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.

Pestano met ISU coach Kevin Jackson a few times at the Fargo Rumble, a high school tournament in Fargo, N.D. They exchanged phone numbers and kept in touch.

In high school, Pestano compiled a 73-6 record and led his team to a Hawaii state championship as a senior at 215 pounds.

His first year at Iowa State, in 2013, he redshirted, but he still wrestled at 197, unattached in two tournaments. He was undersized at that weight, but that was the least of his worries.

“If you watched him wrestle a couple of years ago, we were on the fence,” Jackson said. “Can he compete at this level? Does he have the mentality to win at this level?”

Pestano had the same questions in his head about whether he could compete.

“I wasn’t really sure at first, either,” Pestano said. “I was kind of questioning myself about wrestling D-I.”

Pestano cut even more weight as a redshirt freshman to get down to 184 pounds. He wrestled in just two tournaments and finished the season 6-3.

Competing in two tournaments isn’t a huge workload, but it was enough to show Pestano something. It proved to him that he could compete at a Division I level. 

Competing at the highest level in college and winning to become an NCAA qualifier are two completely different things, however. Coming into this season, the 184-pound weight class was expected to be a weak spot in the ISU lineup until Pat Downy was eligible.

Pestano was only supposed to be a placeholder and scrap out a few wins here and there for the Cyclones.

He put in a lot of work this summer because Pestano, likely, wouldn’t be the one to say anything about it. Off the mat, Pestano is a quiet person. He keeps to himself and just does what he needs to do. He’s not an outspoken person.

On the mat, Pestano flips a switch and becomes a competitor.

“He’s turned into a tough guy,” Jackson said. “That’s a tough guy out there.”

When wrestling, Pestano relies on what Jackson has taught him.

“I stick to what I know and what I trained for and just know that I trained harder than all these dudes,” Pestano said. “[I] let them know that I put in the work.”

In practice, when the team does sprints, he attempts to keep up with Hall, the fastest and quickest guy on the team, who’s carrying 51 fewer pounds than Pestano. Hall said Pestano would grab him after practice and ask him for advice.

He asked what he can do to get better, what technique he can do in a certain situation and what he can do in certain positions. The two are roommates, so they talk about wrestling all the time.

“Day in and day out he’s grinding,” Hall said. “Guys like that, guys that want to be great, I don’t have any problem helping out.”

That’s one of the things that attracted Pestano to Iowa State. Everyone was willing to help each other to get better. It felt like a family.

In the Hawaiian culture, family is very important. Ohana.

Iowa State has a rich history of wrestling. It boasts 65 individual NCAA champions, eight team NCAA championships and six Olympic gold medalists.

Pestano appreciated all of that, but it wasn’t the reason he came here.

“It feels like a family when I’m here,” Pestano said. “If you don’t feel like you’re incorporated then I don’t think anything would workout. Here, I felt like I was welcomed. It felt really nice.”

All of the hard work he is putting in is paying off for Pestano. He’s gone from short-term placeholder to a potential NCAA qualifier with a 19-8 record.

“He’s had some big wins this year,” Jackson said. “I think right now he’d be an NCAA qualifier. I’m pretty confident of that. That’s amazing from where he came from early in the season, even last year to where he’s at now.”

Pestano is even competing to stay at 184 pounds when Downey is ready to enter the ISU lineup. Jackson won’t be the one to decide who gets to wrestle going forward. He said it’ll be decided by those two and how they compete head-to-head and nationally.

Regardless of whether Pestano continues to wrestle at 184 pounds or is forced to relinquish his spot to Downey, any time you utter the name “Dane Pestano” around the wrestling room people will perk up and express how proud they are of Pestano.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of Dane,” Jackson said.

People around ISU wrestling might be proud of Pestano and how far he’s come, but he’s not satisfied, at least not yet.

“I still have a lot more room to improve,” Pestano said.