Weatherspoon, Pestano Win Cyclone Open Titles

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State wrestling team (0-2, 0-2 Big 12) hosted the annual Harold Nichols Cyclone Open on Sunday. Nearly 275 wrestlers took to the mats at Hilton Coliseum in front of 2,345 fans.

A total of 11 wrestlers finished in the top-six for the Cyclones, with six grapplers finishing in the top-tree. Redshirt junior Dane Pestano and redshirt senior Lelund Weatherspoon both came away with titles in their respective brackets.

Pestano rolled to the finals. He pinned Christian Warner of Central in 4:34, beat Midland's Cooper Self by 19-4 technical fall, notched a major-decision victory over Nebraska's Justin Arthur and scrapped to a 7-5 decision over Northern Iowa's Brody Beck.

In the finals, Pestano was locked in with Nebraska's Dustin Williams. After seven minutes of action, the score was knotted at 2-2. In the first overtime period, Pestano connected on a shot to Williams' leg and secured the takedown for the victory.

Weatherspoon's path to the finals was much like Pestano's. He started things off with a fall over Pratt's Jose Cortez and followed it up with a 16-0 win against Jake Stilling of Wisconsin. After receiving a medical forfeit to reach the semifinals, he won a gritty 3-1 match in sudden-victory over Kimball Bastian to go to the finals.

The 174-pound final match did not last long. Weatherspoon earned an early takedown, and used his position to turn Navy's Jadaen Bernstein. In 2:27, Weatherspoon was able to lock in the fall and earn title honors.

Senior Earl Hall also reached the finals. In the 133-pound title match, Hall was pitted against No. 4 Eric Montoya of Nebraska. Hall jumped out to a quick lead, but Montoya would scrap back. In the end, the Husker edged Hall, 5-3.

The Cardinal and Gold freshmen were on display once again. Redshirt freshman Markus Simmons, freshman Ian Parker and freshman Kanen Storr all took third place.

The three youngsters had no problem scoring points and wrestling well on the backside of their brackets. They combined for 10 total bonus-point decisions and compiled a record of 17-3 on the day.

The Cyclones will be getting a brief break before returning to the mat. The team will head west to battle with Northern Colorado on Nov. 26 at 3 p.m. local time.

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Players Mentioned

Earl Hall

Ian Parker

Dane Pestano

Markus Simmons

Kanen Storr

Lelund Weatherspoon

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Iowa State University Athletics