Photo: Jacqueline Cordova / Cyclone Fanatic
A 21-12 win over No. 20 Illinois at Hilton Coliseum gave the No. 3 Cyclones a perfect home record this season of 6-0 on Sunday.
The wrestling program partnered up with Iowa State Gymnastics to bring back the Beauty and the Beast series which garnered almost 9000 fans.
“The crowd was great today. A lot of energy and we appreciate the fans,” Dresser said.
Although Dresser joked the music was a bit too loud he said it was a good opportunity to mimic the atmosphere at an NCAA Championship.
“Can we get them to turn it down from a nine to a seven?” Dresser said. “In a way, it’s not a bad deal. It’s like the NCAA Tournament. At the NCAA tournament, it’s so loud that you’re basically lip-singing to them. If they can’t read your lips then they don’t know what the hell you’re saying and that’s basically what it was today.”
Iowa State has now won 29 of their last 31 matches overall with their only losses to No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Iowa.
Hilton’s explosive crowd witnessed Caleb Fuessley win his match in sudden victory to start things off, Casey Swiderski finally saw himself with his hand raised after 5-straight losses and a black flip from David Carr.
When reflecting on what led him to be able to elevate himself to a win against Illinois, Swiderski credited finding his confidence again.
“I went through it. I took a lot of losses there in the past and I’m losing by a couple of points so it’s really tough. My coaches told me “You have to just go and fire. you have your guns so fire the guns” so I just had to believe in myself and continue to believe in myself,” Swiderski said. “It felt good.”
In their final matches in Hilton Coliseum, Marcus Coleman and Sam Schuyler took care of business.
Coleman handled Dylan Connell by securing an 18-4 technical fall in 5:42 to bring the crowd to its feet.
“A lot of emotions today. Just warming up I felt blessed and blessed just to be able to wrestle in front of great crowds throughout the years,” Coleman said. “It felt great to go out on a tech fall.”
For Dresser, it’s been special to have Coleman around because Coleman has been with him since he took over the program.
“We started together. We saw a guy who was super talented but just all over the place. Young and all over the place. But now, he’s Mr. Consistency. He’s fun to watch and he puts up points. It’s fun to see the growth,” Dresser said.
Schuyler also had his hand raised for a final time at Hilton. He won his match 5-3 over Matt Wroblewski to close out the dual.
“It’s amazing how much his (Schuyler) growth has been. Last year every match was by one point and we saw some really good things but when things got tough he wasn’t so tough. Now again, we see a guy that is really solid and consistent,” Dresser said.
The Cyclones will prepare to hit the road for their final match of the year against Missouri Wednesday night.
That match is all that stands in the way of the Cyclones having a shot at another undefeated Big 12 season.
“We’ve got a short turnaround. We’re trying to continue our undefeated streak and we all know that we want to wrestle for a Big 12 Championship,” Dresser said.
No. 3 Iowa State 21, No. 20 Illinois 13
125: Caleb Fuessley (ISU) dec. Maximo Renteria (ILL), 6-4 SV1
133: Lucas Byrd (ILL) maj. dec. Zach Redding (ISU), 13-3
141: Casey Swiderski (ISU) dec. Danny Pucino (ILL), 10-7
149: Paniro Johnson (ISU) dec. Jake Harrier (ILL), 12-6
157: Mike Carr (ILL) dec. Jason Kraisser (ISU), 10-8
165: David Carr (ISU) maj. dec. Anthony Federico (ILL), 16-2
174: Edmond Ruth (ILL) dec. Julien Broderson (ISU), 3-2
184: Marcus Coleman (ISU) tech. fall Dylan Connell (ILL), 21-4 (5:42)
197: Zac Braunagel (ILL) dec. Yonger Bastida (ISU), 5-3
285: Sam Schuyler (ISU) dec. Matt Wroblewski (ILL), 5-3
