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Iowa State University Athletics
Iowa State Wrestling 2016-17 Season Recap
04.24.2017 | Men's Wrestling
AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State wrestling team (1-12, 1-6 Big 12) closed out the season with a 57th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. During the regular season, the Cyclones posted one dual win and a pair of 12th-place finishes at the Midlands Championships and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
NCAA Championships
Iowa State qualified three wrestlers for the National Championships, held in St. Louis, Mo. this season. Redshirt seniors Earl Hall and Lelund Weatherspoon, as well as redshirt sophomore Marcus Harrington, represented the Cardinal and Gold at the Scottrade Center.
Hall was seeded No. 13 at 133 pounds, Weatherspoon No. 14 at 174 pounds and Harrington was unseeded at 197 pounds.
Weatherspoon began the tournament with a 3-1 decision over Stanford's Peter Galli. He suffered losses in the next two matches and was eliminated from the tournament.
It was also a short stay for Hall and Harrington, each of them bowing out of their brackets with 0-2 records.
Big 12 Championship
The Cyclones started their 2017 postseason with a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship. This year, the tournament was held in Tulsa, Okla. at the Bok Center. It will also be held there in 2018.
Coming into the conference championship, Harrington was seeded No. 8 at 197 pounds. He would wrestle as the way to the fifth-place match, defeating No. 9 Luke Paine (WYO), No. 10 Jamarcus Grant (UNC) and No. 4 Anthony McLaughlin (AF).
In the fifth-place bout, an automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championship was on the line. In a 14-11 barnburner, Harrington came out on top over seventh-seeded Cordell Eaton of North Dakota State. This marked the 10th time in the las 11 years that Iowa State qualified their 197-pounder for the NCAA Championship.
Seven other Cyclones joined Harrington on the podium in Tulsa. Redshirt senior Lelund Weatherspoon finished fourth at 174 pounds, redshirt seniors Kyle Larson, Carson Powell and Quean Smith took fifth. Redshirt senior John Meeks and redshirt freshman Colston DiBlasi finished in sixth place at their respective weights.
Academic All-Big 12
Three Iowa State wrestlers earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors for their work in the classroom. Redshirt seniors Gabe Moreno and Carson Powell, as well as redshirt freshman Colston DiBlasi all earned the conference's top academic honor.
For Moreno, it's the fourth time that the Urbandale, Iowa, native has earned a spot on the list. DiBlasi and Powell were first time honorees.
National Tournaments
ISU competed at two of the toughest regular season national tournaments. They took to the mat at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Midlands Championships. Iowa State posted 12th place finishes at both tournaments.
In Evanston, Ill., the Cyclones placed three wrestlers in the top eight. Wrestling attached was Earl Hall (fourth) and Lelund Weatherspoon (second). Unattached, Kanen Storr scrapped to a fifth-place finish.
In finishing fifth, Storr became the third Cyclone true freshman to finish on the podium since 1982. Tanner Weatherman (fifth, 2011) and Jon Reader (seventh, 2006) are the other two ISU grapplers to accomplish this mark.
Weatherspoon also paced the Cyclones at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. There, the four-time NCAA qualifier finished fourth at 174 pounds. A trio of Cyclones finished in eighth place at their respective weights. Markus Simmons, Chase Straw and Quean Smith all garnered podium honors.
Redshirt Report
Iowa State boasted one of the top 2016 recruiting classes in the nation. Many of them proved to be up to the task during their redshirt seasons.
Kanen Storr was named the top redshirting freshman in the country by TheOpenMat.com. While wrestling unattached, he scrapped to a 25-5 mark, with his only losses coming to NCAA-qualifiers, three of which finished as All Americans. His season was punctuated with a runner-up finish at the prestigious Dave Schultz Memorial International. He was the top American finisher.
Joining Storr as one of the top freshmen on the team was Ian Parker. He finished the season with a 17-8 record, while finishing in the top four at all four tournaments that he competed at. He also wrestled at the Dave Schultz Memorial International, finishing one spot behind Storr in third place.
Other top freshman performers this season included Daniel Vega (14-7) and Zemua Baptista (16-10). Samuel Colbray and Gannon Gremmel will also be names to look for in the coming seasons when they return from injuries.
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