Wrestling: Cyclones look flat in lopsided loss to No. 10 Oklahoma State
Cody GoodwinAMES, Ia. — The Iowa State wrestling team couldn’t replicate the same magic that its Big 12 in-state counterpart created on Saturday night.
The 14th-ranked Cyclones lost to No. 10 Oklahoma State, 23-9, here at Hilton Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. Less than 24 hours after the Cowboys lost to Northern Iowa for the first time in 29 years, they rebounded to spoil Iowa State’s first home dual in 43 days.
The Cyclones, now 5-4 overall and 2-1 against the Big 12, could not do what the Panthers did at the McLeod Center, not even with a slightly larger crowd, announced at 4,403. On Saturday, Northern Iowa won six of 10 matches, scored two upsets and wrestled with energy. On Sunday, the Cyclones won just three and generally looked flat.
“Hats off to them for coming back and wrestling us tough,” Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. “But we made it way too easy on them.”
Oklahoma State (8-2, 4-1) put up 83 total match points to the Cyclones’ 52, and scored 18 total takedowns to the Cyclones’ 12. The Cowboys scored bonus points at three weights, held five of their Iowa State opponents to four points or less and outscored Iowa State 35-21 in the third period — and 12 of the Cyclones’ 21 points were escapes.
The majority of the Cowboys’ third-period success came from two of their three bonus-point scorers. At 125 pounds, two-time All-American Nick Piccininni scored a takedown and two nearfall in the final frame to beat Iowa State’s Alex Mackall by a 10-2 major decision. At 197, Dakota Geer scored four third-period takedowns in a 21-8 major over Francis Duggan.
The third: Boo Lewallen, likely the No. 1-ranked 149-pounder in the country after this weekend, erupted for a takedown and two sets of back points in the first period on his way to a 13-1 major over Ryan Leisure. He added a takedown in the third for good measure. In all, Oklahoma State scored 10 third-period takedowns on Sunday while the Cyclones collected just two.
“This group of guys — two things,” Dresser continued. “They don’t want to do the details that it takes to be great wrestlers. Weight issues, the lifestyle issues — the little things, I call them. The little things that make you feel good at the end of matches. They don’t want to do that.
“It wasn’t that our effort was terrible, but you can’t fake it when you don’t feel good.”
Leisure was one of five Cyclone wrestlers that failed to score a takedown in their respective matches, and only three scored more than one. Of team’s 12, five came from David Carr in his 14-6 major decision over Wyatt Sheets at 157 pounds. Ian Parker and Gannon Gremmel both added decision victories at 141 and heavyweight, respectively, for Iowa State’s only victories.
Todd Small nearly had a fourth in the dual's second match. He and Reece Witcraft engaged in a thriller at 133 pounds. After trailing 3-2 after the first period, Small regained a 7-4 advantage thanks to two takedowns in the second. But Witcraft prevailed, 9-8, by taking Small to his back in the final frame for a takedown and two back points.
A win Sunday would’ve put Iowa State in the driver’s seat for a Big 12 regular season title. Instead, the Cyclones have now lost three of their last five and already have the same amount of losses they ended last season with. Up next: a trip to Fresno State next Friday.
“It can be frustrating at times,” Parker said. “I love my teammates more than anything. I’ll stand with these guys, and I know they’ll fight with me. It’s just some little things we need to tweak.
“It’s also a matter of, like, how bad do you want it? Making decisions on what to eat, whether to go out and party or not or whatever. How bad do you want it? If you really want it that bad, those decisions aren’t that hard.”
Added Carr: “I’m about doing whatever it takes. I don’t like seeing my team lose. I don’t care what we have to do. I’m about winning.”
In the post-dual press conference, Dresser looked inward. The Cyclones began the 2019-20 season with top-10 potential, but injuries, lineup battles and overall inconsistency have kept Iowa State from taking the next step.
Now, three months in, the third-year coach seeks the same energy and mental fortitude that led to last year’s 10-win campaign.
And he knows March is only one month away.
“I read this to them a long time ago: ’Coaching isn’t about holding people accountable. It’s about teaching them to hold themselves accountable,’” Dresser said. “I was a high school coach for 18 years. When you’re coaching high school kids, you have to teach them everything. You have to teach them how to put their sweats on, take their sweats off. You have to teach them how to measure their food out. You have a micromanage them like crazy.
“Hopefully by the time they’re seniors, you don’t have to micromanage them as much, but because of maturity reasons, some of them you have to micromanage all the way through. You shouldn’t have to do that as much in college. But this team, starting tomorrow morning at 6:30, is going to be micromanaged.
“We’re going to put them on the scale like ninth-graders every day, multiple times a day. I let them do it their way, and it’s not working. I’m saying that overall as a team. Obviously we’ve got some individuals that are doing good things, but we have guys who need to be held accountable.”
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
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No. 10 Oklahoma State 23, No. 14 Iowa State 9
- 125: No. 4 Nick Piccininni (OSU) maj. dec. No. 13 Alex Mackall (ISU), 10-2
- 133: No. 19 Reece Witcraft (OSU) dec. No. 13 Todd Small (ISU), 9-8*
- 141: No. 8 Ian Parker (ISU) dec. Dusty Hone (OSU), 5-2
- 149: No. 3 Boo Lewallen (OSU) maj. dec. Ryan Leisure (ISU), 13-1
- 157: No. 3 David Carr (ISU) maj. dec. No. 27 Wyatt Sheets (OSU), 14-6
- 165: No. 11 Travis Wittlake (OSU) dec. No. 33 Chase Straw (ISU), 9-4
- 174: Joe Smith (OSU) dec. No. 13 Sam Colbray (ISU), 5-2
- 184: No. 21 Anthony Montalvo (OSU) dec. No. 30 Marcus Coleman (ISU), 6-2
- 197: No. 8 Dakota Geer (OSU) maj. dec. Francis Duggan (ISU), 21-8
- 285: No. 14 Gannon Gremmel (ISU) dec. Cornelius Putnam (OSU), 6-2
Rankings from Trackwrestling.
*Both teams were deducted one team point during the 133-pound match