This past Sunday (11/23) was a good night at Hilton. I especially appreciate it because it's the last wrestling meet there until Januardy 23rd. Since I won't be able to make it to Iowa City, I won't be watching any live wrestling anytime soon.
With 3 Wrestlers at the NWCA All Star Classic, and 2 starters taking a rest, the Cyclones team this meet featured lots of reserves. I think this was a good test to see how deep our team is. If you're going to be one of the best in the nation, you need to have guys that can step up in case a starter gets injured.
Here are the results:
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125: #11 Tyler Clark vs. #8 Anthony Robles
- Clark wins by decision 9-3 (ISU 3, ASU 0)
- Robles is an inspriational story: he has one leg and is one of the best wrestlers at his weight class. He has a strong upper body and is pretty quick as well.
- The match was close in the first period and part of the way through the 2nd. It looked like Robles hurt his elbow, and from there he wasn't the same.
- Clark capitalized on some opportunities and stayed aggressive as he got back points as well.
- A decent match to match, but I sort of wish Robles hadn't gotten hurt. Either way, he's tough and it was a good match for Clark.
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133: # 5 Nick Fanthorpe vs. Tyler Bowles
- Fanthorpe wins by tech. fall in 6:55 (22-5) (ISU 8, ASU 0)
- Fanthorpe was just too much for Bowles: he kept attacking, got 8 back points in the match, and it was just one sided.
- Fanthrope looked good just dominating someone that wasn't anywhere near his level.
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141: Joey DeMarie vs. #7 Chris Drouin
- Drouin wins by major decision 16-5 (ISU 8, ASU 4)
- Nothing against DeMaries, but he just didn't stand a chance against Drouin. It was good that DeMarie was able to avoid back points and was able to not get teched. He fought hard, just wasn't good enough which wasn't really surprising.
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149: Dalton Jensen vs. Vincente Varela
- Varela wins by decision 7-3 (ISU 8, ASU 7)
- Varela set the tone early. He built a lead an maintained it throughout
- Jensen was down by 3 (actually 4 with riding time) and needing something big, but he just looked tired. I think he hit the wall from Varela buildling up riding time.
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157: Nate Carr Jr. vs. Jarrad Trulson
- Carr wins by decision 10-3 (ISU 11, ASU 7)
- Carr was aggressive early, which I really liked. He got the first takedown quickly and started working Trulson to his back and got 3 back points. Carr was up 7-1 after the first period.
- After the first, the rest of the match was pretty slow. Trulson was being defensive, and when he was free it was clear he was too tired to really try anything.
- This is a kind of match that shows the importance of coming out the gates aggressivley. He built up a good lead, and wore his guy out.
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165: # 3 Jon Reader vs. Kyle DeBerry
- Reader wins by major decision 16-7 (ISU 15, ASU 7)
- Similar theme: Reader was clearly the better wrestler and dominated in this match.
- Reader got 5 takedowns which shows his aggression on his feet. DeBerry had no chance it was a lopsided match.
- Good job to Reader for staying aggressive throughout
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174: # 8 Duke Burk vs. Eric Starks
- Burk wins by decision 8-4 (ISU 18, ASU 7)
- This was Burk's first match at Hilton and it was good to take a look at the NIU transfer.
- This was a tough match in which Starks wreslted hard. Not too much action, but in the third Burk really pulled away. I still give credit to Starks for hanging tough
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184: Jerome Ward vs. Jake Merideth
- Ward wins by decision 6-4(SV) (ISU 21, ASU 7)
- Close hard fought match by both guys
- Down 2-4 in the third with 30 seconds left, Ward got the takedown to tie the match and the crowd erupted! It was the first really exciting moment in the night and it's being at home in front of 3000 fans which helps you fight being tired to get the much needed takedown.
- In Sudden Victory, Ward got the takedown relativley quickly and the match was over.
- Ward was tired, but our fans I believe really helped him get though this and clinch the match for ISU!
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197: Joe Curran vs. Thor Moen
- Curran wins by decision 8-3 (ISU 24, ASU 7)
- Close match until the 3rd period. Curran was up 5-2 going into the third.
- In the 3rd, Curran was able to turn Moen to get the 2 point nearfall, the 1 point riding time, and the victory. It was cool to see him go for the pin, even when he had the match in hand
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HWT: Kyle Simonson vs. Erik Nye
- Nye wins by major decision 8-0 (ISU 24, ASU 11)
- Simonson was the sacrificial lamb to Nye. Nye is a stalky heavyweight and Simonson is our 3rd option at 197 (tall and a little lankey)
- Nye was in control the whole time; Simonson just didn't know how to handle a guy at such a high weight. Nye is like your typical high school heavyweight: large, mostly fat, and he just didn't look like a good NCAA wrestler.
- I felt bad for Simonson, but he needs to learn to use these big guys' weight against them.
Final thoughts:
Some of this dual was a bit of a dud for some. Not a ton of cheering or really much of a crowd reaction. There were a lot of lopsided matches. The story here was that our guys kept going for more points when we were ahead (improved aggression), and that our team is deep enough to throw out our #2 squad at a lot of weights and beat a mediocre team.
I hope some of you can make it to Iowa City to cheer on our Cyclones as we face #1 Iowa. It should be a close dual and the atmosphere will be crazy! I won't be able to make it, but it's worth going to if you can.