Who: #19 Iowa State vs. Penn
Date: Sunday January 11th, 2015
Time: 2:00 PM – Central
Location: Ames, Iowa
Online: Cyclones.tv (Premium – $9.95/month)
Twitter: @IAWrestle
Rankings from InterMat
#19 Iowa State Cyclones 4-1
125- Kyle Larson
133- #7 Earl Hall
141- Dante Rodriguez or John Meeks
149- #16 Gabe Moreno
157- Luke Goettl or Danny Woiwor
165- #5 Mike Moreno or Logan Molina
174- #9 Tanner Weatherman
184- #17 Lelund Weatherspoon
197- #3 Kyven Gadson
285- Quean Smith
Penn Quakers 1-2*
125- Jeremy Schwartz
133- Caleb Richardson
141- Jeff Canfora
149- #12 CJ Cobb
157- May Bethea
165- Quinton Hiles
174- Joe Heyob
184- #5 Lorenzo Thomas
197- Carson Stack
285- Patrik Garren
*This was the lineup used in their most recent dual vs Lehigh
The Iowa State Cyclones will open the 2015 year with their first home dual of the season against the University of Penn Quakers on Sunday at 2:00 PM. .
The Cyclones are coming off of a 11th place finish at the Southern Scuffle, crowing Earl Hall as the 133 champion.
Hopefully the Cyclones can return full strength as they were without Dante Rodriguez (141), Mike Moreno (165), and Lelund Weatherspoon (184) at the Scuffle, and they lost senior Kyven Gadson (197) when he medically defaulted out of the tournament.
The strength of the Penn lineup would be #5 ranked Lorenzo Thomas at 184, who is one of the best in the nation at his weight. If Weatherspoon returns to action it will be a tall task to ask him to slay one of the giants in what would be his first match in over a month.
One of the best matches of the night will come at 149 where #16 ranked Gabe Moreno will look to take out #12 CJ Cobb in what should be one of the dual’s feature bouts. Moreno just missed out on making the medal round at the Scuffle, and there would be no better match to rebound with then a solid win over a top 12 opponent.
Kyle Larson (125) is coming off a fantastic Scuffle where he reached the round of 12, but coming in unseeded he wrestled “above seed” so to speak. This would be a good dual for Larson to continue his great start to the new year, especially with All-American Joey Dance next on the schedule.
The Cyclones will most likely favored in a majority of their matchups – especially if All-Americans Mike Moreno and Gadson take the mat and should be able to bring home a victory in their home opener. If Moreno still needs some more time to get ready for the rest of the season look for Logan Molina (165) to get the start for the Cyclones. Molina got roughed up at the Scuffle going 0-2, but the junior has five wins on the year.
It will be interesting to see whether head coach Kevin Jackson decides to start sophomore John Meeks or if he will roll with freshman Dante Rodriguez. Meeks opened the year as the Cyclone’s starter and a 1-3 record which prompted Jackson to pull the redshirt on Rodriguez. Meeks then strung together four wins at the UNI Open (and another win by MFF to bring the total to five) and also went 1-2 at the Scuffle. This will be one of the more interesting weights to see where the two wrestlers are at in the coach’s opinion.
7th place finisher at the Scuffle Tanner Weatherman (174) could be a big factor in the lineup on Sunday if the regular Cyclone starters are still held out of the lineup. Weatherman was expected to be in the hunt for an All-American honor this season and after finishing below seed at the Scuffle it would be refreshing to see him come out and win, and in the process put an extra team point (or two, or three) on the board.