ISU coach Kevin Jackson looked at the scoreboard after the 197-pound match and let out a sigh of relief. He knew that Iowa State had clinched the win before the last match of the dual.  

Iowa State (3-2, 1-0 Big 12) defeated a new Big 12 opponent in Wyoming (1-2, 1-1 Big 12), 19-14. The win came from the leadership of the ISU veterans and an upset to change the momentum. 

“Coach told us veterans yesterday that he expects wins from us because we’re the leaders of the team,” said redshirt junior Lelund Weatherspoon. “We took his talk and applied it to today’s match, and it resulted in a win for us.”

Lelund Weatherspoon came into today’s match as the underdog for the second time this season. He slowly turned the tables throughout his match against No. 13 Benjamin Stroh in the 174-pound class.

Weatherspoon had a successful second period that resulted in a four-point near fall and an 8-5 lead going into the third period. His defensive mentality in the third period led him to an 11-5 upset win.  

“Overall, I think it was one of [Weatherspoon] best matches of the season,” Jackson said. “He hasn’t wrestled to his full abilities this year, but I believe we’re starting to see signs of the Lelund we expected to see.”

Not only did Weatherspoon have a dominant performance, but Earl Hall and Tanner Weatherman came out with an aggressive style. Hall watched Kyle Larson lose his match at 125-pounds and knew he had to win to stay in the match.  

Hall started out fast, getting to a 6-1 lead midway through the second period and finished with a 14-4 win against P.T. Garcia in the 13- pound class. Hall wasn’t worried about the opening loss but more focused on his individual performance for the team. 

“For me, it was about going out there and scoring,” Hall said. “I can’t think about what the team does. I have to think about me in that situation. If I wrestle like Earl Hall, then everything would be fine.”

Iowa State went into intermission down 11-5 against Wyoming, but the team caught a second-half wind, starting with Weatherman. 

Weatherman had seven takedowns in his match, but he started backing off towards the third period. This led to his opponent, Kyle Pope, getting a four-point near fall and tying the match at 16, sending it to overtime.

Weatherman was awarded the takedown in overtime to win his match, 18-16. Jackson said if Weatherman didn’t get the win in his match, Iowa State would’ve probably lost the match. 

The other wins came from Gabe Moreno, Dane Pestano and Duke Egli, who particularly impressed Jackson because of their work in practice. 

@d1_egli gets my MVP vote tonight! Freakin huge win for the team to seal the dual when things got hairy!

— Nubes Moreno (@Miguel70kgUSA) December 12, 2015

The win today will be this last match for the Cyclones until halfway through Winter Break. Now, it’s time for these wrestlers to focus all their attention on finals.

“I commend these guys for wrestling at this time of year,” Jackson said. “Finals are next week and these student athletes have a hard couple of weeks, so seeing this win today is important to me and exciting for our program.”