Cyclones In Eighth, Weatherman To Midlands Semis

EVANSTON, Ill. – The Iowa State wrestling team (3-2, 1-0 Big 12) wrapped up the first day of the Midlands Championships with 38.5 points and sits in eighth-place. Iowa currently leads the team race with 96 points.

Tanner Weatherman is the lone Cyclone wrestler alive on the front side of the bracket. He posted a 3-0 record on Tuesday with two major-decisions and a fall.

Second Session
The nightcap was a tough one for the Cyclones. Iowa State brought 12 wrestlers into the second session, however, only six would advance to Wednesday's blood round.

Earl Hall, Gabe Moreno, Tanner Weatherman, Lelund Weatherspoon, Dane Pestano and Quean Smith all advanced, with Weatherman still in the hunt for a title.

In the 133-pound quarterfinals, Hall faced Rutgers' Anthony Giraldo. It was Giraldo that got the better of Hall in this bout, taking it 5-4.

Moreno was pitted against returning NCAA Champion Jason Tsirtsis in his quarterfinal match. The Northwestern Wildcat wrestled up to his name, defeating Moreno, 8-2.

Weatherman provided the fireworks for the Cyclones in the quarterfinals. His opponent was Iowa's Patrick Rhoads. It took the Huxley native only 45 seconds to score on a takedown and then secure a cradle to pin the Hawkeye to advance to the semifinals.

At 174, Weatherspoon fell to Cody Walters of Ohio in the quarterfinals. The Bobcat defeated Weatherspoon by 7-2 decision.

Pestano continued to do what he did so well in Las Vegas; wrestle hard on the backside of the bracket. He notched two more victories in the night session, with a 9-5 win over UNI's Cody Caldwell and an 11-6 dec. over Ryan Christensen of Wisconsin.

Smith was also hard at work on the backside of the 285-pound bracket. He defeated Chris Johnson of SIU Edwardsville by 9-5 decision and then scored on a takedown in SV-1 of his match against Princeton's Ray O'Donnell to win 3-1.

Wrestling will resume tomorrow with the blood round and consolation matches. The finals will be wrestled beginning at 7 p.m. CT.

First Session
Following first session action in the morning, Iowa State posted a 19-9 record. Four wrestlers remained on the front side of the bracket for the Cardinal and Gold in Hall, Moreno, Weatherman and Weatherspoon. Eight were still alive on the backside.

At 125-pounds this week, Iowa State sent both Kyle Larson and Nathan Boston to Evanston. Each posted a 1-1 record in the opening rounds and remained alive on the backside of the 125-pound bracket.

Hall was one of the four that remained on the front side of his bracket. He started off the tournament 2-0 with a fall in 1:55 over Nebraska's Brian Peska and a 6-5 win against Cody Pae of Purdue.

Moreno also remained in title contention heading to the evening session. He defeated Illinois' Eric Barone, 7-2 in the first round. A defensive pin in 4:23 over Alex Kocer sent the Urbandale native into the quarterfinals.

Both Logan Breitenbach and Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer dropped their first round matches. However, each was able to post a 2-0 mark to stay alive on the backside of the 157-pound bracket.

Weatherman posted a 2-0 mark in the opening session. He recorded two major-decisions, beating Stacey Davis of NC State 15-4 and Max Elling of Columbia, 13-4.

Colston DiBlasi is also competing for the Cyclone at 165 this week. He went 2-1 to begin the tournament. After losing in his first round match, he went on to defeat Gabe Koontz from Indiana by 13-4 major decision and Maryland's Brendan Burnham, 7-0.

Weatherspoon notched two wins to begin his tournament. He downed Oregon State's Ali Alshujery by technical-fall, 17-2 and David Kocer of South Dakota State, 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Dane Pestano lost his opening round match to Iowa's Sammy Brooks, but remained alive with a 10-4 win over Illinois' Danny Hicks, 10-4.

Marcus Harrington is making his 2015-16 debut for the Cyclones this weekend. In his first match of the season, he beat Austin Coburn of Old Dominion, 10-4. He then had to face Iowa's Nathan Burak. He dropped a 16-3 major-decision to the Hawkeye.

Quean Smith kicked off the tournament with a 5-3 decision over Purdue's Tyler Kral. In the second round, he was pitted against Big 12 foe Ross Larson. Smith jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but Larson was able to pin Smith in 0:39.

Cyclones In Eighth, Weatherman To Midlands Semis

Players Mentioned

Nathan Boston

Logan Breitenbach

Colston DiBlasi

Earl Hall

Marcus Harrington

Kyle Larson

Gabe Moreno

Dane Pestano

Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer

Quean Smith

Tanner Weatherman

Lelund Weatherspoon

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Iowa State University Athletics

Cyclones In Eighth, Weatherman To Midlands Semis

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Players Mentioned

Nathan Boston

Logan Breitenbach

Colston DiBlasi

Earl Hall

Marcus Harrington

Kyle Larson

Gabe Moreno

Dane Pestano

Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer

Quean Smith

Tanner Weatherman

Lelund Weatherspoon

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