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Wrestling
Cyclone Invitational
Iowa State University Athletics
Thursday, March 17
New York City, N.Y.
All Day
Iowa State University
vs
NCAA Championships
Three Cyclones Finish Top-Seven At NCAA Championship
03.19.2016 | Wrestling
NEW YORK CITY, N.y. – The final day of the NCAA Championship was filled with excitement for the No. 17 Iowa State wrestling team (10-6, 2-2 Big 12.) No. 8 Earl Hall won his final match as a Cyclone in dominant fashion, sophomore Patrick Downey ended his season with a pin and junior Lelund Weatherspoon earned a top-6 finish.
Hall finished in seventh-place at 133-pounds, Weatherspoon took home sixth-place at 174-pounds and Downey solidified a fifth-place finish at 197-pounds. The three combined for many of the 35 team-points that lead to the Cyclones' 12th-place team-finish the 2016 NCAA Championship.
Session Five
No. 8 Earl Hall wrestled his final match in a Cardinal and Gold singlet on Saturday morning. In the seventh-place bout, he faced Utah Valley's Jade Rauser. Hall's Iowa State finale was over just as quickly as it started.
Hall jumped out to an early 10-0 lead behind a takedown and two four-point near-falls. Ruaser would climb to his feet, but Hall would bring him right back down. The Homestead Fla., native slammed Rauser to the mat for the final four points of the match, and his career. In the first period, Hall won by technical-fall, 16-1.
Hall closes out his three-year career at Iowa State as a two-time NCAA All-American, compiling a record of 81-40. The ISU 133-pound grappler won 33 matches in his final season as a Cyclone.
Unseeded Lelund Weatherspoon took sixth-place at the NCAA Championship. In the fifth-place match, he faced No. 12 Nathan Jackson of Indiana. Weatherspoon shot and scored first in the match to take a 2-0 lead. However, the Hoosier was dominant on top and went on to win the match by 5-2 decsion.
In the fifth-place match at 197-pounds, Patrick Downey was pitted against No. 6 Jared Haught of Virginia Tech for the second time in the tournament. This match produced an identical result as the first. In the second period, Downey hit the signature moved coined by his predecessor, Kyven Gadson.
Trailing 3-1 midway through the second stanza, Downey locked up a fall in 3:48 with “The Gadson.” The pin gave Downey his fourth victory over a top-11 opponent this week and a fifth-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Championship.
Both Weatherspoon and Downey dropped their consolation semifinal matches. Virginia Tech's No. 6 Zach Epperly got the better of Weatherspoon, winning by 13-5 major-decision. It took sudden-victory to find a winner between No. 4 Nathan Burak of Iowa and Downey, but it was Burak who came up with a takedown in the overtime period to win 3-1.
Iowa State Match-by-Match
133: Earl Hall (ISU) tech-fall. Jade Rauser (UVU), 16-1.
174: Zach Epperly (VT) maj. dec. Lelund Weatherspoon (ISU), 13-5.
Nathan Jackson (IU) dec. Lelund Weatherspoon (ISU), 5-2.
197: Nathan Burak (Iowa) dec. Patrick Downey (ISU), 3-1 (SV-1.)
Patrick Downey (ISU) fall. Jared Haught (VT), 3:48
Players Mentioned
Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 5)
Saturday, March 22
Jacob Frost Interview (NCAA Championships - 7th Place)
Saturday, March 22
Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 4)
Friday, March 21
Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 3)
Friday, March 21
