This year’s Cy-Hawk Series lived up to every expectation, as the Iowa Hawkeyes snuck away with a 18-15 win of the Iowa State Cyclones. Wrestling fans were lucky enough to witness Spencer Lee back out on the mat for the Hawkeyes, and it doesn’t seem his knee surgeries are holding him back. Another surprise for the Hawkeyes was seeing Stanford transfer Real Woods make his first start in an Iowa singlet, and came up big beating Freshman Casey Swiderski in a super fun matchup at 141-pounds. Here’s a match breakdown for every bout in this year’s Cy-Hawk Series.
125 – Spencer Lee over Corey Cabanban, 16-5
He’s back. Carver-Hawkeye arena and Iowa fans were blessed to witness the return of 2x Hodge Trophy winner and 3x National Champion, Spencer Lee. You wouldn’t even think Lee missed a week, as he completely dominated and scored 12 points in the opening period. Most were expecting to see Kysen Terukina for Iowa State, but Lee’s return could have been the decision for the Cyclones deciding to send out Cabanban to start the dual. Surprisingly, Cabanban took down Lee with a blast-double and scored two points to end the second period, which had the Cyclone bench and former Iowa Hawkeye Brent Metcalf fired up. However, Lee continued to work and walked out with a 16-5 major decision in his return to the Iowa lineup.
133 – Ramazan Attasauov over Cullan Schriever, 3-1
After a scoreless first period, Iowa State’s Ramazan Attasauov blasted to his feet from the bottom position, and was the first wrestler to score in the bout. After a few opportunities to score again, Schriever was able to defend him off and go into the third period just down by a point. The second period looked similar to the first, but this time it was Schriever who got to his feet to tie the match. The third period consisted of both wrestlers trying to find one timely shot to score, and it was Attasauov who scored on the edge of the mat to take the 3-1 lead and finished the third period out on top to give the Cyclones the victory at 133-pounds.
141 – Real Woods over Casey Swiderski, 4-2
I don’t think many were expecting the return of both Spencer Lee and Real Woods, but it made for a really fun matchup at 141-pounds. In the first period, Woods was in really deep on a head-inside single, but Swiderski showed impressive hip balance to defend off a really good looking shot, and the first period ended scoreless. The second period consisted of a dominant ride on top from Real Woods, earning two full minutes of riding time going into the third period with his 1-0 lead. Woods extended his lead right away in the third, getting to his feet in just seconds. However, Swiderski snapped and spun behind Woods to score his first points, and was now only trailing by one point with a minute left to go. It was a chippy ending where Woods and Swiderski exchanged words after the final whistle, as Real Woods held on to win 4-2.
149 – Paniro Johnson over Max Murin, 3-1
In one of the biggest possible swing matches in this dual, Paniro Johnson swarmed Murin with attacks late in the sudden victory period, and found a way to score a massive takedown and win the Cyclone’s the match at 149-pounds. Max Murin got on the scoreboard first with an escape early into the second period, and both Murin and Johnson were relentlessly hand-fighting in order to find an opening for an attack in the second period, where Johnson came really close to scoring a takedown with just seconds remaining in the second. To start the third period, Murin had a tough ride until Johnson found a way to his feet with a minute remaining in the final period, and tied the match up at 1-1. This top 10 matchup headed into sudden victory after neither wrestler could score a takedown late in the third period, where it was another exciting period with both wrestlers coming close to score the match-winning takedown, and eventually Johnson finding his way.
157 – Cobe Siebrecht over Jason Kraisser, 9-2
In another important match, this time the Hawkeyes came on top with Cobe Siebrecht getting the 9-2 win over Jason Kraisser. Siebrecht jumped out to a 6-0 lead quickly in the first period, thanks to a feet-to-back trip for a takedown and bonus points that had the Iowa bench screaming at the ref to call the fall. After a tight scramble late into the second period that led to no score, Kraisser found a way to his feet twice to make the score 6-2 going into the final period. After a few series of attacks that didn’t score for either wrestler, Siebrecht found a way to score late and give the Hawkeyes a 9-2 decision at 157-pounds, making the dual meet 11-6 in favor of the Hawkeyes.
165 – David Carr over Patrick Kennedy, 10-4
David Carr’s offense was too much to handle for Freshman Patrick Kennedy, as Carr scored four takedowns in his 10-4 win for the Cyclones. Carr had the riding-time point locked up before the start of the third period, and prevented Kennedy from having any really good looks in hopes to keep the match close. The Cyclones got one back at 165-pounds, and closed Iowa’s lead to 11-9 going into 174-pounds.
174 – Nelson Brands over MJ Gaitan, 13-5
Nelson Brands got physical right away, picking up and tripping Gaitan to his back for a takedown, and two back points just seconds into the first period. After Gaitan got back to his feet to make it 4-1, Brands got another score. However, Gaitan responded with his own takedown as the first period ended making the score 7-4 for Brands. After the exciting first period, Brands continued to extend his lead to 9-5 with a nice takedown, and then got up and out to his feet to start the third. Brands poured it on in the second and third period, winning by major decision, 13-5.
184 – #5 Marcus Coleman over #8 Abe Assad, 3-2
Abe Assad was able to get deep into a head-outside single early, but Marcus Coleman’s slick defense prevented Assad from getting his first points on the board. After a scoreless first period, Coleman chose the bottom position and was to his feet in just five seconds to score first. Assad continued to have really good looks at scoring, as he was deep in a few single-legs, but Coleman’s defense and hand-fighting barely kept Assad off the scoreboard. Similarly, Assad was to his feet quickly to tie the match at 1-1, and was once again in a deep single-leg, but Coleman crunched Assad underneath to score the only takedown of the match, giving the Cyclone’s a crucial 3-2 win in this top 10 featured matchup.
197 – Yonger Bastida over Jacob Warner, 4-3
In the second consecutive top 10 matchup, Yonger Bastida beat Jacob Warner 4-3. Bastida scored first with a beautiful blast-double leg, and then seconds later scored on another blast-double right on the edge of the mat that warranted an Iowa challenge. Going into the second period, Jacob Warner thought he scored on the edge of the mat that would have closed Bastida’s lead to 4-3, but the official called them out. With Brands and the Iowa bench fired up and yelling, Warner had one last shot in the third period to keep the #2 ranking next to his name. Bastida was called for pulling the headgear late into the third period, which now made the score 4-3. Warner had Bastida’s leg up in the air for the last 10 seconds, but was unable to score on the edge of the mat. Bastida’s upset tied the dual at 15-15 with just one match remaining, as he blew a kiss to the Iowa bench.
285 – Tony Cassioppi over Sam Schuyler, 9-2
In the final match to decide the dual meet, Tony Cassioppi came in clutch for the Hawkeyes, beating Sam Schuyler by a score of 9-2. After dominating for the majority of the match, Schuyler had an opportunity to put Cassioppi on his back in a near-side cradle, which had Brands rolling on the floor next to the Iowa bench. However, the Hawkeyes barely walked away with a 18-15 win over Iowa State.
FINAL SCORE: Iowa over Iowa State, 18-15
