Cyclones.tv: Wrestling Holds Media Day

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State wrestling team held its annual media day Monday as the team prepares for its first home event of the season, the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open on Saturday.

The 2012-2013 grapplers will look to build off of a season which saw many young Cyclones gain valuable experience on the mat against tough competition.

"There's no surprises as we wrestled the toughest schedule in the country last season," head coach Kevin Jackson said. "We had three guys at 125, 133 and 141 who faced the toughest individual schedules in the country. These guys all understand now that you have to wrestle at a very high level every time you hit the mat."

Two seniors, Matt Gibson and Max Mayfield, will provide the bulk of leadership for this year's squad. Gibson is the reigning Big 12 Champion at heavyweight and will look to build off a strong junior campaign where he finished 26-10. Mayfield was forced to sit out due to injury last season, but will look to build off of a successful 2010-2011 season where he posted 18 wins.

Gibson is one of four returning NCAA Championship qualifiers on this year's team. Ryak Finch (125), Luke Goettl (141) and Boaz Beard (184) are the other returning NCAA qualifiers.

Finch and Goettl both experienced success despite facing the toughest individual schedules at their weight classes last season. Finch went 15-10 in his redshirt freshman campaign at 125 pounds. He started his Cyclone career with eight consecutive victories. Goettl posted 12 wins wrestling at 141 pounds, including a victory over No. 1 ranked Kendric Maple of Oklahoma.

Redshirt sophomore Kyven Gadson is another bright spot on this year's Cyclone roster. Gadson, who will be wrestling live at practice this week for the first time since injuring his shoulder last season, is currently ranked No. 16 at 197 pounds by InterMat.

"Kyven is doing fine," Jackson said. "We gave him twice the amount of time needed to come back from that injury. His first week of live wrestling will be this week. He wanted to wrestle this weekend but it was my decision not to wrestle him."

It is currently undecided whether or not two highly touted true freshmen will redshirt this season. Freshmen John Meeks and freshmen Gabe Moreno were both ranked No. 2 in the country at their respective weight classes coming out of high school last season.

"Our philosophy is to redshirt our freshmen," Jackson said. "If you're a freshmen who is the best guy and capable of being an NCAA champion and you believe that as well as me, we will consider wrestling you. Both those guys are very capable, but there's still a lot of work left to do to determine whether we will consider wrestling those guys or not."

Though it is long away, Iowa State will be hosting this year's 2013 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa at Wells Fargo Arena upcoming this March. It will mark the first time since 1993 that Iowa State will host the NCAA Championships.

"It's a great opportunity for this university," Jackson said. "It's great also that our administration is so supportive of wrestling and hosting this tournament."

The doors open at Saturday's Harold Nichols Cyclone Open at 8 a.m., with the meet beginning at 9 a.m. Iowa State will then be off a weekend before entering the dual season against Old Dominion on Sunday, Nov. 25. at Hilton Coliseum.

Click the links at the right for head coach Kevin Jackson's media day press conference as well as Cyclones.tv's media day special (premium), hosted by John Walters.

Walters went one-on-one with Jackson and wrestlers Matt Gibson and Tanner Weatherman.

Players Mentioned

Boaz Beard

Boaz Beard

Ryak Finch

Ryak Finch

Matt Gibson

Matt Gibson

Luke Goettl

Luke Goettl

Max Mayfield

Max Mayfield

Gabe Moreno

Tanner Weatherman

Tanner Weatherman

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