Iowa State Set to Host Sun Devils and Panthers

02.11.2015 | Men's Wrestling

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa – The No. 8 Iowa State wrestling team (8-2, 2-1 Big 12) will welcome Arizona State (7-6, 0-2 Pac 12) and Northern Iowa (7-7, 4-3 MAC) into Hilton Coliseum this weekend. The Cyclones will scrap it out with the Sun Devils on Friday evening at 7 p.m., and will wrap up the weekend facing the Panthers on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Where: Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa
When: Feb. 13 at 7:00 p.m. CT and Feb. 15 at 2:00 p.m.
Broadcast: Both duals will be streamed live via Cyclones.TV (Tom Kroeschell and Jim Gibbons)
Live Blog: The Iowa State athletics communications office will host a live blog during the duals. Fans are invited to follow the action and participate in the blog by asking questions.
Live Stats: Live results for the ISU-ASU and ISU-UNI duals will be available online via trackwrestling.com
Social Media: Be sure to follow @CycloneWR on Facebook and Twitter for match-by-match results and team notes throughout the dual.

The Cardinal and Gold are returning home after spending the last two weekends on the road. The Cyclones advanced to 2-1 in Big 12 dual action with a commanding 29-7 victory over West Virginia last Saturday.

Arizona State
Iowa State will look to push its dual win streak against the Sun Devils to 11 in a row. Two matches in the ISU-ASU dual will feature ranked opponents squaring off against each other in the 184 and 149-pound weight classes.

No. 14 Gabe Moreno will look to notch another win against a ranked opponent in Arizona State's No. 7 Christian Pagdialo. Pagdialo will bring a 17-2 overall record on the season into Friday's dual. Moreno has been hot as of late, too. He is currently tied for the most wins on the team this season with 22. Moreno has posted an 8-2 mark in duals this season.

Quietly, No. 14 Lelund Weatherspoon has built a solid unblemished 5-0 record in the New Year. Last Saturday, he pinned West Virginia's Jakob Scheffel in 2:52. He draws Arizona State's No. 6 Blake Stauffer in the 184-pound bout. Stauffer is 26-1 on the season with his only loss coming at the hands of Ohio State's Kenny Courts by 3-1 decision in over time.

Northern Iowa
The matchup of the day will be at 165-pounds in this year's Iowa State- UNI dual. No. 2 Michael Moreno and No. 11 Cooper Moore are set to square off in this one.

The two have met on three previous occasions with Moreno holding a 3-0 series lead over Moore. Their most recent showdown occurred at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where Moreno pinned Moore in 2:46.

Quean Smith will be looking to avenge a loss to UNI hevyweight Blaize Cabell on Sunday. Ranked No. 10 in the Intermat poll, Cabell notched a 5-2 decision in last year's dual in Cedar Falls.

@CycloneWR headlines
-No. 8 Iowa State (8-2 overall, 2-1 Big 12) hosts Arizona State (7-6, 2-2 Pac 12), Friday, and Northern Iowa (7-7, 4-3 MAC), Sunday, at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones claimed their second consecutive road win over a conference opponent with a victory over West Virginia, 29-7, in Morgantown on Saturday.
-With convincing wins over Oklahoma and West Virginia, Iowa State retained their No. 8 national ranking in the most recent polls (Feb. 10).
-Seven Cyclone wrestlers are earning national rankings in Earl Hall (3/ 4 / 2), Gabe Moreno (14 / 12 / 8), Michael Moreno (3 / 2 / 6), Tanner Weatherman (12 / 12 / 15), Lelund Weatherspoon (16 / 14 / 14) and Kyven Gadson (2 / 2 / 2), each earning top-15 spots across the Intermat, TheOpenMat or Flowrestling polls. Freshman Dante Rodriguez is making his first appearance in the polls, coming in at No. 20 in this week's Flowrestling rankings.
-The Cyclones took all but two matches against the Mountaineers, earning bonus points in three of their eight wins, with Gabe Moreno (major decision), Tanner Weatherman (major decision) and Lelund Weatherspoon (fall).
-Earl Hall is undefeated in the New Year, wrestling to a perfect 10-0 record through the Southern Scuffle and five dual matches. Hall has defeated five ranked wrestlers during the streak, including No. 2 Cody Brewer of Oklahoma, earning Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors for the second time this season.
-With a major decision over Oklahoma's Parker VonEgidy, Tanner Weatherman recorded his 10th bonus-point win on the 2014-15 season, including tournament and dual matches.
-At the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Iowa State was one of two schools (Minnesota) to place at least five individuals in the top-5 at their respective weight classes. The team's showing was highlighted by four top-3 finishes and a title-winning performance from Gadson at 197.
-This season, Cyclone wrestlers have accounted for 168 bonus-point victories (BPVs), scoring 93 pins, 25 tech-falls and 50 major decisions. Five Cyclones currently hold winning percentages of over .800 in Gadson (20-1, .952), M. Moreno (18-2, .900), Weatherspoon (15-2, .882), Hall (22-4, .846) and G. Moreno (22-5, .815).
-Gadson has continued his dual-competition dominance in 2015, riding a 40-match dual winning streak. The Waterloo, Iowa, native has won 15 of his 21 matches via bonus points this season, scoring nine pins, a tech-fall and five major decisions.
-M. Moreno is seeing similar success on the mat, scoring three major decisions, three tech-falls and five pins on the year. The Urbandale, Iowa, native is second on the team in bonus-point victories (11).
-Moreno and Gadson are two of just nine wrestlers nationally to win 30 matches and earn a spot on the NCAA All-America podium in each of the past two seasons. Both are on pace to do so again for the third-straight season, earning top-10 rankings in every national poll.