Iowa State lost two of the nation’s top wrestlers in their weight classes because of graduation last season — but didn’t entirely lose them.

Kyven Gadson was a No. 3 seed entering the NCAA tournament and came out a national champion, and Mike Moreno was a No. 2 seed heading into the tournament.

Neither are wrestling for the Cyclones any longer, but both of them are back this season as graduate assistants to help out ISU wrestling.

ISU coach Kevin Jackson said the team had one of its best off-seasons in a while, and right now, the Cyclones are ahead of schedule. Some of that can be attributed to the former Cyclone stars.

Gadson and Moreno are setting the tone in workouts. ISU wrestlers have former players to look to as they train and get ready for the season.

“It’s great for me,” Jackson said. “For the first time since I’ve been here, [we] have a couple athletes that have been through our system and that have been through our program.”

Tanner Weatherman said this has been one of the hardest preseasons he’s had since he’s been here.

Last season, Weatherman wrestled at 174 pounds. After Moreno graduated and left a void at 165 pounds, coaches asked Weatherman to cut nine pounds and wrestle at 165 pounds to take Moreno’s place.

Weatherman is still trying to get down to that weight, but having Moreno around is helping him get a feel for what his new weight class will be like.

“It’s nice for me, I can wrestle Moreno a couple times a week,” Weatherman said. “It’s good to get a feel [for someone else] besides [the usual person] you beat up on, or get beat up by.”

Lelund Weatherspoon didn’t have the NCAA tournament he wanted last season, largely because he was injured going into it. Weatherspoon, like Weatherman, is cutting weight for this season.

Weatherspoon wrestled at 184 pounds last season, and he’ll be at 174 pounds this season — filling the void Weatherman left by moving down a weight class. Weatherspoon’s weight is between both Moreno’s and Gadson’s, so he gets to wrestle them both.

“They’re kicking my ass, that’s how they’re helping me out,” Weatherspoon said with a laugh.

When he’s not wrestling with them, Weatherspoon is asking for advice about how to do a certain move when he messes it up. If he’s wrestling somebody else, and Moreno and Gadson are sitting on the bench, he’ll ask them to watch and tell him what he’s doing right or wrong, and what areas he needs to improve on.

Helping wrestlers on the mat isn’t the only place Gadson and Moreno are contributing. They can relate to the wrestlers having been student-athletes last year. They can see both sides of the coin.

“They have closer relationship from a friend standpoint than us as coaches have with these guys,” Jackson said. “They can share some things that we might not be able to share.”

Jackson said the wrestlers are benefitting from their former teammates working as graduate assistants already this season, and they might be the missing pieces the Cyclones need to capture a national title — always their ultimate goal.

“For me, it’s like two extra pieces of the puzzle being able to help our program out,” Jackson said. “Having those guys still be in the room and still on staff is really exciting for us, and we’re glad to have them.”