Wrestling: Todd Small, Austin Gomez, and Iowa State's future at 133 pounds

AMES, Ia. — Todd Small stepped into a throng of media standing outside the Harold Nichols Wrestling Room on Tuesday afternoon. His eyes wandered, as if to try and ignore the cameras and recorders in front of him.

But not even he could deny that things have changed a little bit.

“I’ve been waiting on this opportunity,” said Small, a redshirt junior on the Iowa State wrestling team, “so I’m just going to keep working hard, thank God that I’m in this position and just try to take advantage of it.”

A few days before, Small and the 15th-ranked Cyclones competed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, the toughest in-season tournament in Division I wrestling. Iowa State placed sixth as a team, a good-but-not great finish for a team with high expectations.

Small was part of the good, going 6-2 and taking fourth at 133 pounds. He left two ranked foes in his wake: Virginia’s 21st-ranked Louie Hayes and Kent State’s 27th-ranked Tim Rooney. In his six wins, he outscored his opponents by a combined 49-22. He only lost to Cornell’s Charles Tucker, the eventual champion, and Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett, who beat Small for third.

As a result, Small jumped into Trackwrestling’s national rankings himself this week, debuting at No. 10, and his continued improvement will make things interesting for Iowa State.

Austin Gomez was the presumed starter at 133 entering the year. He went 24-7 last season and was just one win shy of attaining All-American status. He became a crowd favorite because of his explosive wrestling style — 11 of his 24 wins earned bonus points (four major decisions, four technical falls, three pins).

But Gomez ate a little too much during the offseason, which meant his descent plan didn’t allow him to hit 133 until December. What’s more, a concussion in practice set him back even further. Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said he was only cleared to train this week, but can’t wrestle yet.

That opened the door for Small, who went 14-4 as a redshirt last season, the highlight being a fifth-place finish at the Southern Scuffle. He joined Iowa State after winning two junior-college national titles at Iowa Central. Before then, he won two Georgia state titles at North Gwinnett. He also reached the finals of the Junior Greco-Roman national championships.

After winning the Cyclone Open, Small put forth a couple of lackluster performances. He dropped a 3-1 decision to Bucknell’s Darren Miller in Iowa State’s first dual of the season, then fell to Iowa’s top-ranked Austin DeSanto a week later by a 16-5 major decision. (The latter is a little more understandable, but Miller is only 6-5.)

Those worries evaporated after Small’s performance in Vegas. In all six of his wins, he recorded the first takedown. He won comfortably (by scores of 9-3, 12-6 and 10-5) and muscled out close victories (6-4, 5-3) in equal measure.

“Todd made some progress this weekend,” Dresser said. “He just started relaxing a little bit. He let the wrestling come to him. He’s had a lot of success, but he really needed to get caught up to the Division I speed. It’s just different than high school and junior-college.

“The constant opponent-after-opponent-after-opponent, when they’re all good guys, that’s an adjustment.”

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Here’s where things get interesting.

Dresser is playing Gomez’s situation extremely safe. Gomez has twice been hampered by concussions since being at Iowa State (the first came during his redshirt year). Both times, he’s flown to Pittsburgh to see a specialist. He will likely not compete again until after the new year.

“There’s no worry of him not being able to wrestle or anything,” Dresser continued. “But when you get over a certain level in concussions, you have to be careful. I don’t want to put a guy on the mat if there might be some concussion issues.”

There’s two options from that point. Once cleared, Gomez can continue his descent plan and compete during the second semester, which includes duals against No. 5 Arizona State, No. 8 Northern Iowa, No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 14 Missouri, plus the Big 12 and NCAA Championships.

Or, Iowa State could apply for a medical hardship waiver, which would keep Gomez on the bench for the remainder of the season but still give him three years of eligibility at Iowa State.

This is where Small’s progression could play a role in that decision. His performance in Vegas is just one weekend, of course, but if he continues to improve at his current rate, he could take the spot and run with it for the remainder of the season.

“Todd Small has inserted himself there,” assistant coach Derek St. John said, “but it’s still open for discussion. Obviously, Austin has to get healthy, but he has to prove himself to us a little bit that he wants to be there, if that’s the weight he wants to go.

“As far as Todd, I feel really good (about) the adjustments he’s made throughout the season so far. The sky’s the limit for that guy, and he’s got more than enough ability to insert himself in with the top guys in the country.”

Gomez’s inclusion in the lineup makes Iowa State a tougher team. He has the experience of last year’s NCAA Championships, as well as other credentials — he made the 2018 Junior men’s freestyle world team, too — that give him an edge.

But the opportunity belongs to Small for now. The next chance for him to showcase his continued improvement comes Saturday night, when the Cyclones host UT-Chattanooga at Hilton Coliseum. The start time is 7 p.m.

His presumed opponent isn’t a world-beater, meaning he should win comfortably. Strong impressions and performances will only help his case.

Things may have changed for Small, but he hopes to keep this particular situation going for a while.

“Getting into a routine has been big for me,” he said. “That’s been key, so it’s been good.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

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No. 15 Iowa State (1-1) vs. UT-Chattanooga (3-4)

WHEN: 7 p.m., Saturday.

WHERE: Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa

WATCH: Cyclones.tv/Flowrestling