On Monday's Daily Clone, Jake Brend recaps a perfect week in Iowa State Athletics from the "big four" programs. Wrestling ends a 21 year drought, Audi Crooks breaks her own school record, men's basketball is back in the top 10 and Matt Campbell reflects on the 8-4 regular season. Plus, Brent Blum's impact on Iowa State Athletics.

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Even in a "down" year, the Cliff Keen still has some great competition at almost every weight:

125 lbs - 14 Ranked​

#4 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech

#9 Stevo Poulin, Iowa State

#11 Jett Strickenberger, West Virginia

#13 Blake West, Northern Illinois

#14 Maximo Renteria, Oregon State

#15 Tyler Klinsky, Rider

#16 Brady Roark, SD State

#21 Marc-Anthony McGowan, Princeton

#23 Diego Sotelo, Michigan

#25 Bridger Ricks, Utah Valley

#26 Koda Holeman, Cal Poly

#27 Conrad Hendriksen, Oklahoma

#28 Dedrick Navarro, Northwestern

#30 Marcello Milani, Cornell

133 lbs - 10 Ranked​

#5 Tyler Knox, Stanford

#6 Evan Frost, Iowa State

#11 Dillon Campbell, Virginia Tech

#20 Sean Spidle, Northwestern

#21 Derrick Cardinal, SD State

#23 Tyler Ferrara, Cornell

#26 Kyler Larkin, Arizona State

#27 Markel Baker, Northern Illinois

#28 Blake Boarman, Purdue

#30 Gabe Whisenhunt, Oregon State

141 lbs - 13 Ranked​

#6 Zeth Romney, Cal Poly

#7 Anthony Echemendia, Iowa State

#11 Dylan Ragusin, Michigan

#13 Julian Tagg, SD State

#17 Tom Crook, Virginia Tech

#20 Caedyn Ricciardi, Navy

#22 Elijah Griffin, Rider

#24 Greyson Clark, Purdue

#26 Haiden Drury, Utah Valley

#27 Lorenzo Frezza, Columbia

#29 Tyler Wells, Oklahoma

#30 Nash Singleton, Oregon State

#32 Pierson Manville, Arizona State

149 lbs - 14 Ranked​

#2 Kaleb Larkin, Arizona State

#3 Lachlan McNeil, Michigan

#4 Paniro Johnson, Iowa State

#5 Jack Gioffre, Oklahoma

#9 Jaxon Joy, Cornell

#12 David Evans, Utah Valley

#13 Aden Valencia, Stanford

#22 Eligh Rivera, Princeton

#24 Alek Martin, SD State

#26 Noah Nininger, Virginia Tech

#28 Willie McDougald, West Virginia

#30 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming

#31 Kaden Keiser, App State

#33 Paul Kelly, California Baptist

157 lbs - 12 Ranked​

#1 Ty Watters, West Virginia

#3 Daniel Cardenas, Stanford

#6 Vincent Zerban, Iowa State

#11 Rafael Hipolito, Oklahoma

#13 Stoney Buell, Purdue

#14 Cael Swensen, SD State

#19 Jimmy Harrington, Harvard

#21 Jared Hill, Wyoming

#22 Cam Catrabone, Michigan

#23 Chance McLane , Arizona State

#32 Jagger French, Cal Poly

#33 Drayden Morton, California Baptist

165 lbs - 11 Ranked​

#4 Joey Blaze, Purdue

#5 Hunter Garvin, Stanford

#15 Ryan Burton, Virginia Tech

#16 Nicco Ruiz, Arizona State

#18 Dylan Gilcher, Michigan

#19 Drake Rhodes, SD State

#20 Peyten Kellar, Oklahoma

#22 Ty Whalen, Princeton

#24 Matthew Olguin, Oregon State

#26 Connor Euton, Iowa State

#31 Cesar Alvan, Columbia

174 lbs - 14 Ranked​

#3 Simon Ruiz, Cornell

#7 Danny Wask, Navy

#11 Beau Mantanona, Michigan

#12 Garrett Thompson, Ohio

#14 MJ Gaitan, Iowa State

#16 Lorenzo Norman, Stanford

#20 Brody Conley, West Virginia

#23 Brody Baumann, Purdue

#24 Carter Schubert, Oklahoma

#25 Moses Espinoza-Owens, SD State

#27 Daschle Lamer, Oregon State

#29 Riley Davis, Wyoming

#30 Sergio Desiante, Virginia Tech

#32 Nick Fine, Columbia

184 lbs - 15 Ranked​

#7 Brock Mantanona, Michigan

#10 Isaac Dean, Iowa State

#11 James Conway, Franklin & Marshall

#12 Brian Soldano, Oklahoma

#13 Eddie Neitenbach, Wyoming

#15 Aaron Ayzerov, Columbia

#16 Jared McGill, Edinboro

#18 Ian Bush , West Virginia

#19 Kole Mulhauser, Princeton

#21 Sal Perrine, Ohio

#23 Jaden Bullock, Virginia Tech

#26 Christian Hansen, Cornell

#28 Ceasar Garza, Cal Poly

#31 TJ McDonnell, Oregon State

#33 Caleb Uhlenhopp, Utah Valley

197 lbs - 14 Ranked​

#2 Rocky Elam, Iowa State

#6 Justin Rademacher, Oregon State

#7 Bennett Berge, SD State

#8 Joey Novak, Wyoming

#14 Deanthony Parker, Oklahoma

#18 Sonny Sasso, Virginia Tech

#19 Payton Thomas, Navy

#21 Rune Lawrence, West Virginia

#22 Brock Zurawski, Rider

#26 Jack Wehmeyer, Columbia

#28 Colton Hawks, Arizona State

#29 Karson Tompkins, Air Force

#30 Ben Vanadia, Purdue

#32 Hayden Walters, Michigan

285 lbs - 10 Ranked​

#1 Yonger Bastida, Iowa State

#5 Taye Ghadiali, Michigan

#11 Spencer Lanosga, Navy

#15 Jimmy Mullen, Virginia Tech

#21 Luke Rasmussen, SD State

#23 Trevor Tinker, Cal Poly

#24 Juan Mora, Oklahoma

#26 Christian Carroll, Wyoming

#30 Devon Dawson, Northern Illinois

#31 Hayden Filipovich, Purdue


Great opportunity for Jacob Frost to show he is deserving of the spot assuming most of the ranked guys wrestle. Larkin, McNeil, Gioffre, Joy, Evans, and Valencia are all tough.

After more than three years of leading the NIL initiative for Iowa State Athletics, Executive Director Brent Blum is stepping away from WeWill.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/12/brent-blum-stepping-down-as-wewill-executive-director/

According to KXnO

Iowa State #10 in AP and #9 in Coaches.

#1 vs #9/#10 when ISU visits Purdue on Saturday!

Last week included a football win in Stillwater, a 3-0 week for MBB in Vegas, an Audi Crooks school record and a 21 year drought erased.

That's a lot of winning as Andrew Harrington writes in this week's Monday Musings.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/12/monday-musings-tired-of-winning-yet/

Has anyone seen a stocking hat with wrestling Cy on it?

I’ve search the internet and can’t find one.

Kid #1 is a student at Mayo in Scottsdale and we had Thanksgiving there. Sure does seem like it'd be a nice place to live! Love Colorado but it's expensive and sick of winter! Do you love it?

I've been thinking about the ACC tiebreaker situation with Duke making the title game and how terrible that could be for the ACC if they win (could be left out of playoff for another G5 team bad).

Could the Big 12 avoid a situation like this if there is a tie in the standings the best team rated in Massey composite gets the spot? Especially with conferences the size they are and not everyone playing each other. To me this feels like the most fair way to do it and you would end up with the better team in more often then not. Miami vs Duke and BYU vs Utah. https://masseyratings.com/ranks

Could still value head to head as the first tie breaker but after that default to Massey. Curious what everyone thinks.

We come in at #7. Odd that it has us with one Quad 1, one Quad 2, two Quad 3 and three Quad 4 wins, but I think that most of those in 2 & 3 should move up

B

Just a reminder for anyone that forgot, he’s baaaaaack.

Going on about 10 years of this guy and my youngest is 4, so I have a few years to go. I feel like I’ve upped my game over the years.

Hi everyone! Just sharing a clip I posted on twitter I thought you might enjoy.

MJ Gaitan talked about being doubted ahead of today's dual...well, I never doubted him. So I made sure to clip that quick.

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Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss Iowa State’s big victory over Iowa on the mat Sunday. What it could mean big picture for Kevin Dresser’s program. Audi Crooks goes off for 47 & Williams makes a big statement. Plus, Iowa State football concluded its regular season with an 8-4 record. What the offseason might look like, bowl game speculation, guess the point spreads, and more, all courtesy of Mechdyne.

Enjoy!

It’s been a fantastic couple years as a Cyclone fan. The wrestling results today are just the icing on the cake, in my opinion. But it does peak my curiosity. Over the last two years what are the most memorable moments or your favorite moments of Cyclone Athletics?

The final drive of the mid Florida game is the first one that comes to mind for me

The 20+ year wait is over. Iowa State wins the Cy-Hawk Dual.Some big reasons why? MJ Gaitan's trip to Casey's and Rocky Elam's request at Thanksgiving. Jake Brend has the full report from No. 6 Iowa State's 20-14 win over No. 3 Iowa.

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First off, it’s a Cyclone state great early season barometer and sets up a big month of December starting with the Cliff Keen next week.

125: B. Stevo wrestled well, just came out on the wrong side of a scramble. I feel like every time Stevo and Dean wrestle, it’ll be a 1 exchange match. 125 will be wide open all year, just need to see Stevo keep progressing.

133: A+. Anytime you beat a 2 time NCAA finalist, you get an A rating. To do it on his first time down to weight this year and get stronger as the match went on is extremely encouraging. After the first slide by, it was all Frosty. Big month of December for Evan coming up, excited to see how he competes against Davino and others.

141: A+. Ech wrestled extremely well and completely dominated Nasir. Should’ve been a tech or a stall out, but loved how Ech looked. Nice investment there Iowa, glad we have our guy.

149: C. Block is a good wrestler, but there’s no excuse for Paniro losing that match. I think Jacob Frost wins that match and is more active than Paniro. We’ll see how Vegas goes, but there’s a chance Jacob puts his stamp on the spot next weekend at the Cliff Keen.

157: A. Solid match from Vinny. Funky, better conditioned, and the better wrestler of the two. Love that he got the major. I think Vinny has a chance to be a high AA this year and will always be fun to watch.

165: C. No shame in losing to Caliendo, but Euton looked slow today. Hopefully his ankle isn’t too bad as he’s still our best option at 165, and I think he can still be a top 12 guy. Caliendo is just on another level.

174: A+. What a match by MJ!! That’s a match I will remember for the rest of my life. Kennedy had nothing for MJs funk, and it was an elite brick throw by Dresser to give MJ some time to gather himself (although, I do think Kennedy locked his hands). MJ cemented himself today as an AA threat, and he can beat anyone at the weight outside of Haines. Great start to the year for MJ.

184: B. Elite level defense from Dean against Ferrari. Ferrari is tough to score on, but would’ve liked to have seen some single or shot attempt from Dean. If Isaac can develop a go to shot, he’s going to be a tough out in March. He’s got the athleticism, just need to keep grinding and get a go-to shot.

197: A. Rocky showed there are levels to this. Dominated the #4 ranked wrestler in Endene and really could’ve majored him if he wanted to. But Rocky wanted to get the W first and he made sure he did. Rocky is going to be a contender at 197 this year if he can stay healthy.

Hwt: A. Another dominating effort from Yonger. If the ref called stalling in this match like he did later in the dual, Kueter would’ve been stalled out. Should’ve been a major, but Yonger can learn from that and make sure he’s getting end of period ride outs. Love having him as our anchor most duals, but loved that he was the starter today.

Overall: A+++. Feels so damn good getting the W over Iowa for the first time in over 20 years. Let’s not wait that long again. Excited to see how the boys wrestle in Vegas next weekend. Go Clones!

Did he hurt his knee again?
Great dual.

Kevin Dresser and his squad beat No. 3 Iowa, 20-14 to win the Cy-Hawk Dual for the first time since 2004.

Watch everything Kevin Dresser, Rocky Elam, MJ Gaitan and Evan Frost said following the big win.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/11/...ser-and-his-wrestlers-said-after-cy-hawk-win/

Re-live the 2025 Iowa vs Iowa State dual through Iowa's perspective!

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This is one hell of a past seven days for all-around Cyclone athletics:

• Cyclone MBB go 3-0 in Players Era Tournament and likely sniffing the top ten; team remains undefeated
• Cyclone WBB win Coconut Hoops tourney and Crooks continues to amaze; team remains undefeated
• Cyclone FB while not a great looking game, gets to 8-4 which is a huge accomplishment for this program
• Cyclone Wrestlers get that massive monkey off their back, beating Iowa for the first time in forever. Love this!
• Cyclone VB are headed to the NCAA tournament

Good stuff! Go Clones!

Agitating...pops up 5 seconds on...and can't click it off

This one was exciting to follow. Two offensive juggernauts going at each other. Another single game scoring record set by Crooks.