Iowa State, Northern Iowa both pick up Big 12 wrestling road victories

Iowa State and Northern Iowa are now into the thick of their respective Big 12 Conference wrestling schedules. On Friday night, both teams picked up road victories.

The Cyclones defeated South Dakota State 22-17, while the Panthers beat Northern Colorado 32-6.

Iowa State heats up after slow start

The 14th-ranked Cyclonesdid what Northern Iowa could not — secure a win over the scrappy, up-and-coming South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

Iowa State ultimately took six of 10 matches and scored a pair of bonus-point wins to upend South Dakota State at Frost Arena in Brookings. The Cyclones improved to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 duals. The Jackrabbits dropped to 6-4 and 3-1.

It took a while for the Cyclones to heat up, though.

SDSU opened with consecutive major decisions. At 184, Zach Carlson scored three takedowns in an 8-0 win over Marcus Coleman. Alburnett native Tanner Sloan rolled up three more takedowns at 197, including two in the third period, to beat Joel Shapiro 10-2. That gave the Jackrabbits an 8-0 lead.

Iowa State then won four in a row, highlighted by Alex Mackall’s second-period pin over Daniel Vega at 125 pounds. Vega, a former Cyclone, scored a takedown to tie Mackall, 3-3, then went for a turn when Mackall grabbed Vega’s head, scored a reversal and a pin in 4 minutes, 54 seconds.

Mackall’s pin gave Iowa State a lead it would not relinquish — but it would shrink.

Back-to-back decisions from Todd Small and Ian Parker gave the Cyclones a 15-8 lead. Henry Pohlmeyer, a Johnston native, beat Iowa State’s Ryan Leisure 1-0 at 149. David Carr came back with a 16-5 major decision over Colten Carlson at 157 in which he came up slowly after a second-period shot sequence. 

That made it 19-11 for the Cyclones with two matches remaining. Chase Straw looked primed to clinch the dual outright after two takedowns gave him a 5-1 lead over Tanner Cook at 165. But on the second takedown, Cook flipped Straw to his back for the pin in the second period, bringing the Jackrabbits to within 19-17.

That left the dual up to Sam Colbray at 174. He calmly scored two takedowns in a 6-1 win over Cade King and secured the victory for the Cyclones.

Iowa State was scheduled to wrestle North Dakota State (3-3, 0-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum, but the dual was postponed due to inclement weather. Both programs are working to find a makeup date.

► RELATED: Iowa State's Sam Colbray explains the decision to drop to 174 pounds

Holschlag returns as UNI tops Northern Colorado

For the first time all season, Northern Iowa no longer has a losing dual record.

The Panthers are now 3-3 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 duals after flattening host Northern Colorado 32-6 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley on Friday night. Northern Iowa cruised from start to finish, taking eight of 10 matches.

The highlight came in the second-to-last match, as Jacob Holschlag made his long-awaited return to the lineup at 197 pounds. The 2018 All-American missed last season with a knee injury and injured his other knee in the Panthers’ dual against Northwestern back in November.

The return featured a pair of knee braces and plenty of excitement that was visible on the Northern Iowa bench. But the match did not go as hoped as Holschlag lost 4-0 to Alan Clothier, who is ranked No. 28 nationally at 184 pounds.

But by then, the Panthers had secured the dual by taking the first eight bouts — a run that included pins from Jacob Schwarm (125) and Taylor Lujan (184) and a technical fall from Bryce Steiert (174) — for a 32-0 lead over the Bears (1-4, 1-3).

Between Schwarm and Steiert were five-straight decisions from Jack Skudlarczyk (133), Michael Blockhus (141), Max Thomsen (149), Keaton Geerts (157) and Austin Yant (165). Skudlarczyk bounced back after losing big against Missouri’s Allan Hart with an impressive 10-3 win over Northern Colorado’s 19th-ranked Mosha Schwartz.

The bonus points from Steiert and Lujan clinched the dual for the Panthers. After Holschlag’s result, West Liberty product Bryce Esmoil got the nod at 285 pounds, but gave up two takedowns and lost 4-2 to Robert Winters Jr.

Northern Iowa will stay in Colorado and wrestle Air Force (2-2, 0-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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

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No. 14 Iowa State 22, South Dakota State 17

• 184: No. 12 Zach Carlson (SDSU) maj. dec. No. 29 Marcus Coleman (ISU), 8-0
• 197: No. 19 Tanner Sloan (SDSU) maj. dec. Joel Shapiro (ISU), 10-2
• 285: No. 14 Gannon Gremmel (ISU) dec. Blake Wolters (SDSU), 4-3
• 125: No. 13 Alex Mackall (ISU) over No. 26 Daniel Vega (SDSU) by fall, 4:54
• 133: No. 13 Todd Small (ISU) dec. Zach Price (SDSU), 11-5
• 141: No. 8 Ian Parker (ISU) dec. Clay Carlson (SDSU), 8-2
• 149: No. 10 Henry Pohlmeyer (SDSU) dec. Ryan Leisure (ISU), 1-0
• 157: No. 3 David Carr (ISU) maj. dec. Colten Carlson (SDSU), 16-5
• 165: No. 26 Tanner Cook (SDSU) over No. 33 Chase Straw (ISU) by fall, 3:47
• 174: No. 14 Sam Colbray (ISU) dec. Cade King (SDSU), 6-1

No. 15 Northern Iowa 32, Northern Colorado 6

• 125: No. 27 Jacob Schwarm (UNI) over Jace Koelzer (NCO) by fall, 2:29
• 133: Jack Skudlarczyk (UNI) dec. No. 19 Mosha Schwartz (NCO), 10-3
• 141: No. 20 Michael Blockhus (UNI) dec. Christopher Sandoval (NCO), 6-4 (SV1)
• 149: No. 8 Max Thomsen (UNI) dec. Ethan Leake (NCO), 6-1
• 157: Keaton Geerts (UNI) dec. Jimmy Fate (NCO), 6-1
• 165: Austin Yant (UNI) dec. Austin Matthews (NCO), 2-0
• 174: No. 5 Bryce Steiert (UNI) tech. fall Billy Higgins (NCO), 16-1
• 184: No. 4 Taylor Lujan (UNI) over Seth Bogulski (NCO) by fall, 5:31
• 197: Alan Clothier (NCO) dec. Jacob Holschlag (UNI), 4-0
• 285: Robert Winters Jr. (NCO) dec. Bryce Esmoil (UNI), 4-2

Rankings from Trackwrestling.