‘I feel like a monster’: Iowa State’s Sam Colbray has big goals in decision to drop to 174 pounds

AMES, Ia. — Last week, Sam Colbray stepped on the scale and weighed in at 174 pounds for the first time in his collegiate career. On Tuesday, the Iowa State junior was asked when he last saw those numbers on the scale.

It did not take him long to find the answer.

“Like seventh grade,” Colbray said, sparking laughter. “It’s been a long time, but it feels good. I feel like a monster.”

Indeed, a quick search through Trackwrestling's archives show the Oregon native wrestled at 170 pounds in March 2012. A few months later, he won a Cadet Greco-Roman national title … at 182.

When he graduated from Hermiston High School as the No. 23 overall recruit in the 2016 class, he was the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 195.

Now, Colbray is back down to 174 as the 14th-ranked Cyclones (4-3, 1-0 Big 12) are set to face both South Dakota State and North Dakota State this weekend. His debut weekend at his new weight went pretty well. He went 3-1 — he’s now 9-5 overall this year — and looked more comfortable with each match.

In those four matches, he recorded 10 takedowns. He had scored just 12 in his previous 10.

“For the first time down to (that) weight, I thought he did pretty good,” Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. “When that guy goes out there very intentional for seven minutes, I think the sky is the limit for him. He just has to do more and push more.”

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The idea of dropping Colbray — and, conversely, bumping sophomore Marcus Coleman up to 184 — was first hatched by Dresser after the Cyclones’ 26-7 win over UT-Chattanooga back on December 14. A combination of factors were at play.

For one, unbeknownst to Iowa State at the time, Coleman was dealing with mono — a product, Dresser believes, of trying to hold 174. Combine that with the fact that Colbray’s weight certification allowed him to drop to 174, and Dresser talked to both about possibly switching.

Both guys agreed. Coleman spent the rest of December getting healthy and putting on weight — “He had a great lift this morning, throwing around all kinds of weights,” Dresser said Tuesday — while Colbray tweaked his diet and logged plenty of miles on the treadmill.

But what really sold Colbray was Dresser's vision.

“I told him, ‘We’re not doing this to be an All-American,’” Dresser said. “‘We’re doing this to be in the (NCAA) finals. This is a move to get to the finals, and if you’re not on board with what it takes to get to the finals, then let’s just stay up at 184.’

“I think it’s important to him. I think there’s still another notch of ‘It’s important to me.’ Like you get up every morning and you want to be that guy on the top step of the podium. I think he gets up some mornings and wants to, and gets up other mornings and he’s not sure.

“But if you get up every morning wanting to be the top guy on the podium, then you have a chance to be the top guy on the podium. I mean, truly wake up and want to be the top guy. Like, you go to bed on time to make sure you wake up and feel good. I see the potential.”

Dresser paused, then joked.

“If he doesn’t do it this year, we might move him to 65 next year.”

► For more on Iowa State's recent lineup change and the upcoming weekend in college wrestling, check out the latest In The Room podcast:

Yes, part of Colbray’s descent that is both interesting and a little funny is the fact that he’s now wrestled at four different weights in his collegiate career. He actually bumped up to 285 for his first collegiate match. He spent the rest of the year at 197, then last season at 184, when he went 28-8 and reached the NCAA quarterfinals. He enters this weekend ranked No. 14 nationally at 174 by Trackwrestling.

Conversely, Coleman is ranked No. 29 at 184, but didn’t look undersized despite going 2-2 over the weekend, which included an overtime loss to No. 11 Andrew Morgan of Campbell and a lopsided-yet-encouraging defeat against Arizona State’s top-ranked Zahid Valencia.

“I think you saw only a little bit of Marcus,” Dresser said. “He got beat by the 11th-ranked guy in the nation, from Campbell, in overtime on really four days of practice. Then he wrestled Valencia pretty darn tough at the end of that match.

“I think it’ll be a good move for us.”

Colbray thinks so, too.

“I wanted to make more of a sacrifice to get a bigger payout,” Colbray said. “I knew that I was cut out for 184, but I wanted to excel. So making 174 not only makes my training and cardio better, but you sacrifice more when you want a bigger reward.

“I want the heights of the mountains. I want to win. I’ll do anything to win.”

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

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Iowa State weekend doubleheader

Friday vs. South Dakota State (6-3, 3-0)

• 7 p.m. at Frost Arena, in Brookings, S.D.

Sunday vs. North Dakota State (3-3, 0-1)

• 2 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa