The UNI wrestling team faced one of their toughest challenges yet when the Iowa State Cyclones wrestlers arrived in the McLeod Center on Friday, Feb. 11. The Cyclones were ranked No. 5 in the NCAA coaching rankings going into this matchup and were the highest ranked team in the Big 12 with a conference record of 7-0 and a total record of 13-1. The Panthers were coming in at No. 18 with a conference record of 6-2 and a total record of 7-5 making this a high profile meet for both teams. UNI had won their previous six duals including high-profile victories against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

The Panthers were off to a hot start to kick off the dual. 125-pounder Brody Teske defeated the Cyclones’ Kysen Terukina 6-3. Two very good takedowns by Teske helped catapult the Panthers to an early 3-0 lead. The momentum continued for UNI in the 133-pound matchup. UNI’s Kyle Biscoglia defeated ISU’s Ramazan Attasauov 8-2. Biscoglia controlled most of the match and led UNI to lead the dual early with a 6-0 start.

However, the momentum quickly shifted as the Cyclones started to pick up steam in the next three matchups. ISU’s Ian Parker defeated Cael Happel in an intense match at 141-pounds. Happel started off strong with a takedown apiece in both the first and second periods to give him a 4-2 lead going into the final period. The Cyclone battled back, however, and got a match-sealing takedown with back-points to win the match 9-5 and give the Cyclones their first win of the meet to make the score 6-3, still in favor of UNI. The Cyclones continued this streak as ISU’s Jarrett Degen defeated Colin Realbuto 6-2, and UNI’s Derek Holschlag fell to David Carr 11-4 making the dual 9-6 with ISU on top going into intermission. 

UNI was the first to capitalize off of the break as Austin Yant defeated Isaac Judge 5-0 in the 165-pound matchup to tie the dual up at 9-9 as the Panthers looked to get some more momentum started. Lance Runyon of UNI looked to capitalize on that momentum against Joel Devine and did just that as he got a 1-0 victory that elicited a crazy reaction from the McLeod Center as the Panthers had the crowd’s energy and the scoreboard on their side as they went up 12-9 against the Cyclones. 

UNI continued this streak as Parker Keckeisen defeated Marcus Coleman in a matchup of two top-ten 184-pounders. The match started in a feeling-out process for both men as there were no points scored in the first period. Keckeisen got the first escape and takedown to put him up 3-0 but an escape by Coleman made the match 3-1. In the third period, Coleman got an escape but was called for stalling, leading Keckeisen to get a takedown and back-points to get the 8-2 win over the Cyclone. This led UNI to go up 15-9 going into the final two matchups of the night. 

The Cyclones regained their energy as they went into these final two rounds especially in the match between 197-pounders as ISU’s Yonger Bastida defeated John Gunderson by Major Decision. Bastida continually took Gunderson down, leading to the Panther escaping, just to be taken down again for the majority of the third period. This led the Cyclones to only be trailing 13-15 going into the final heavyweight match between ISU’s Sam Schuyler and UNI’s Carter Isley. Both of the 285-pounders had an escape going into the last minute of the third period making it 1-1. The energy in the McLeod Center was silenced when Scuyler got a takedown in the last ten seconds of the entire dual to give the Cyclones a 16-15 victory over UNI. 

This tough loss suffered by the Panthers ended their current dual streak of six meets. The Panthers look to rebound again at home in the McLeod Center on Thursday, Feb. 17 against the Wisconsin Badgers.