Iowa State 12th at NCAA Wrestling Championships After Day 1

After the first day of completion at the 85th NCAA Wrestling Championships, the No. 8 Iowa State wresting team (11-2, 2-1 Big 12) is in 12th place with 13 points. Five of the seven Cyclone qualifiers will wrestle to be All-Americans tomorrow night.

Championship Bracket

No. 6 Earl Hall built on a solid performance in the first session and picked up an 11-5 decision over Purdue’s Danny Sabatello, earning a spot in the 133-pound quarterfinals.

Hall scored early in the first off of a blast double that put Sabatello on the mat. The second period began with Hall on top. The All-American pulled a freestyle move out of the bag, rolling Sabatello and locking him up for a two-point near-fall. Hall stayed on his offense and closed out the match. He would tack on two more takedowns to secure the victory.

No. 3 Kyven Gadson also punched his ticket to the quarterfinals. He defeated Anthony Abro of Eastern Michigan by fall in 4:55.

Gadson was in complete control of this one. The two-time All-American held a 3-1 lead in the second period when he got Abro into a position that Gadson has thrived in this year. He went backside trip, or as some are calling it, “The Gadson” and brought Abro to the mat to secure the fall.

The second round win marked Gadson’s 12th career NCAA Championships victory, and the fifth that resulted in bonus-points.

Consolation Bracket

Freshman Dante Rodriguez added more bonus-points for the Cyclones on the backside. He pinned Tyler Small of Kent State in 5:56. Before grabbing the pin, Rodriguez was scoring big. He had four takedowns and two three-point near-falls, and a 14-3 advantage before locking Small’s shoulders to the mat.

After suffering an upset in the first round, No. 2 Michael Moreno came back big for the Cyclones. He was the third ISU grappler to pin his opponent during session two. After a series of turns that resulted in a 7-0 lead, Moreno finally secured the fall in 2:33 over Oregon State’s Seth Thomas.

The Urbandale native has now recorded 11 wins at the NCAA Championships.

Lelund Weatherspoon became the fifth Cyclone to advance to the weekend sessions with a gritty 3-1 win in the tiebreaker period over Thomas Sleigh of Bucknell. Weatherspoon was on the bottom with less than 10 seconds to go in the match, but he was able to reverse the position, and grab the two points needed for the victory.