Cyclone Wrestling Ready for Iowa

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State wrestling team (1-3, 1-3 Big 12) takes on the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes in this year's installment of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series. This will be the 81st meeting between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes.

The Cardinal and Gold will look to build off of their 12th-place finish in Las Vegas, which included four medalists. Redshirt freshmen, No. 18 Markus Simmons and No. 17 Chase Straw both took eighth place at their respective weights. Redshirt seniors, No. 11 Lelund Weatherspoon and Quean Smith finished fourth and eighth, respectively, last weekend.

Where: Carver Hawkeye Arena – Iowa City, Iowa
When: Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016 – 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats: Live results and match-by-match updates will be available at trackwrestling.com
Live Stream: BTBPlus ($) will have a live broadcast of the dual.
Live Updates: Follow @CycloneWR on Twitter for live scoring, match-by-match results and Periscope content.

Cy-Hawk Dual History
- In the Cy-Hawk series, Iowa holds a 16-62 all-time advantage over the Cyclones.
- Their first meeting came 100 years ago on March 3, 1916. Iowa won the dual by a score of 17-8.
- Iowa State will be looking to break Iowa's 12-match winning streak in the series. The Cyclones' last win against the Hawkeyes came in 2004 in Iowa City (19-16.)

Cyclone Headlines
- Iowa State heads to Iowa City this weekend to take on the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes in the annual Cy-Hawk dual.
- Last weekend, the Cyclones took to the mat in Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. ISU took 12th place as a team with 49 team points behind top-8 finishes from Markus Simmons (eighth), Chase Straw (eighth), Lelund Weatherspoon (fourth) and Quean Smith (eighth).
- For Simmons, Straw and Smith, it was their first time on the podium in Vegas. For Weatherspoon, it was the second time the 2016 All-American has earned at top-8 finish, and the best of his career. He finished fifth in 2014.
- Colston DiBlasi picked up two more falls out in Las Vegas to bring his season total to a team-best, eight. In his last eight wins, he's pinned his opponent six times.
- In their last dual competitions, the Cyclones went 1-1 on a road trip to the Rocky Mountains. Iowa State beat Northern Colorado, 19-16, but suffered a 19-15 loss to Wyoming to cap off the road trip.
- A quartet of Cyclones posted their first career dual victories in the Big 12 matchups. Markus Simmons, Chase Straw, Colston DiBlasi and Joe Teague all picked up a win on the road.
- Five Cyclones are ranked in this week's national polls. Markus Simmons (19,18, 18) Earl Hall (7, 15, 10), Chase Straw (UR, 17, UR) Lelund Weatherspoon (11, 12, 10) and Patrick Downey (9, 8, 7) all begin the weekend slotted in the top-20 in FloWrestling, TheOpenMat and Intermat rankings.
- Kanen Storr has put up four top-three finishes in open tournaments and has compiled a 19-3 record with 13 bonus-point decisions. Ian Parker has garnered four top-four finishes and has pieced together a 15-6 mark to begin the year.
- In the annual Harold Nichols Cyclone Open, 11 ISU grapplers finished on the podium. Pestano and Weatherspoon took home titles at their respective weight classes, while Hall finished runner-up.
- A trio of freshmen took third-place honors at the Cyclone Open. Markus Simmons, Ian Parker and Kanen Storr all scrapped hard on the backside of their brackets.
- Eight ISU grapplers finished on the podium at the Grand View Open, including three finalists. Marcus Simmons (2nd), Danny Vega (5th), Ian Parker (3rd), Kanen Storr (1st), Chase Straw (2nd), Zemua Baptista (4th), Luke Entzel (5th) and Dale Hilleman (6th) all finished in the top-6 for the Cyclones.
- Hall and Weatherspoon are both knocking on the door of 100 career wins. Hall has tallied 89 career wins, and Weatherspoon has compiled 82 career victories.
- Hall (7), Weatherspoon (6) and Downey (5) are all coming off of All-America finishes in 2015-16. The Cyclones are one of just eight squads in the country to return three or more 2016 All-Americans.
- Iowa State head coach Kevin Jackson is in his eighth year leading the Cyclones.

Players Mentioned

Zemua Baptista

Colston DiBlasi

Luke Entzel

Earl Hall

Dale Hilleman

Ian Parker

Markus Simmons

Quean Smith

Kanen Storr

Chase Straw

Joe Teague

Lelund Weatherspoon

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics