Iowa State Will Host No. 13 Gophers on Senior Day

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State wrestling team (1-11, 1-5 Big 12) will close out the regular season with a home contest against No. 13 Minnesota (6-5, 5-4 Big 10.) The dual is set to start at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Prior to the matchup between the Cyclones and the Gophers, Iowa State will honor the 11 seniors that have contributed to the program during their time wrestling for the Cardinal and Gold.

vs. No. 13 Minnesota
Where: Ames, Iowa – Hilton Coliseum
When: Sunday, Feb. 19 – 2:00 p.m.
Broadcast/Live Stream: Cyclones.TV will carry a broadcast and online stream the dual. Tom Kroeschell and Ed Banach will be on the call.
Live Stats: Live stats will be provided by trackwrestling.com
Live Updates: Follow @CycloneWR on twitter for live scoring, match-by-match results and exclusive content.

Scouting Minnesota
Minnesota enters the matchup pegged as the No. 13 team in the country in the USA Today Coaches' Poll. In their last time out, they suffered a narrow loss to Ohio State, 24-20.

Minnesota has been strong on the road this season. In duals away from Minneapolis, the Gophers are 4-0. They have downed Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana and Purdue on their home mats.

The Gophers bring in a solid group of ranked wrestlers, including three tanked in the top-10 at their respective weights. No. 2 Brett Pfarr (197) leads Minnesota, while No. 7 Ethan Lizak (125) and No. 8 Jake Short (157) also hold top-10 rankings.

At 141, Tommy Thorn is ranked 11th nationally, Mitch McKee is No. 17 at 133 pounds and No. 18 Nick Wanzek (165) rounds out the ranked Gophers.

ISU v. UM History
- All time, Iowa State leads the series between the two squads, 44-18-2.
- The Cyclones will be looking to notch their first win against the Gophers since 2010. Minnesota has won four straight in the series.
- Last season, ISU and UM competed in the NWCA National Duals. Minnesota won the contest, 30-10.
- Iowa State v. Minnesota is one of the oldest series in all of wrestling, dating back to Feb. 27, 1920. ISU won the inaugural match up, 43-0.

Cyclone Headlines
- Iowa State is set to host No. 13 Minnesota in its home finale. Iowa State seniors Earl Hall, Kyle Larson, Chris Lopez, John Meeks, Gabe Moreno, Trevor Paulson, Carson Powell, Joe Scanlan, Quean Smith, Drake Swarm and Lelund Weatherspoon will be recognized before the dual.
- Kevin Jackson announced last week that after eight seasons as the Cyclones' head coach, he will be stepping down at the end of 2016-17.
- Earl Hall defeated Cory Stainbrook by 2-1 decision to earn his 100th career victory as a Cyclone. Hall joins 36 other Iowa State greats who have eclipsed the century mark as an ISU wrestler.
- In their last time out, the Cyclones dropped a pair of contests to No. 24 Pitt (22-15) and West Virginia (22-20).
- Against the Mountaineers, Colston DiBlasi picked up another win by fall. He's now locked up 15 falls on the year and leads the team in that category.
- Kanen Storr and Ian Parker competed in the prestigious Dave Schultz Memorial International on Feb. 2. The two freshmen shined on one of the world's biggest stages. Storr took second, while Parker took fourth. The Michigan duo each knocked off NCAA finalist Josh Kindig, and were the United States' top two finishers at 61kg.
- Storr went 3-0 en route to the finals, picking up a pin over Joey Lazor to spring board his run. In the finals, he took on 2015 Junior World Champion, Dimita Ivanov. Storr led the Bulgarian with under five seconds remaining, but surrendered a takedown in the waning seconds to drop the championship match on criteria.
- The Cyclones earned a 12th-place finish (54.5 points) at the 2016 Midlands Championships. ISU finished with three wrestlers on the podium in Earl Hall (fourth), Kanen Storr (fifth) and Lelund Weatherspoon (second).
- Storr became just the third Cyclone since 1982 to finish on the podium as a true freshman. In 2011, Tanner Weatherman finished fifth and in 2011 Jon Reader took seventh place.
- In the 174-pound semifinals, Weatherspoon was able to avenge a loss he suffered to Alex Meyer in the Cy-Hawk Dual on Dec. 10. The 2015 All-Americans wrestled to a 9-7 decision with Weatherspoon coming out on top and earning a spot in the championship bout.
- ISU took 12th place as a team in Las Vegas with 49 team points behind top-8 finishes from Markus Simmons (eighth), Chase Straw (eighth), Lelund Weatherspoon (fourth) and Quean Smith (eighth).
- Three Cyclones are ranked in this week's national polls. Earl Hall (10, 13, 10), Lelund Weatherspoon (10, 8, 10) and Patrick Downey (10, 11, 10) all begin the weekend slotted in the top-20 in FloWrestling, TheOpenMat and Intermat rankings.
- Kanen Storr has put up five top-five finishes in tournaments and has compiled a 25-5 record with 14 bonus-point decisions. Ian Parker has garnered four top-four finishes and has pieced together a 17-8 mark this year.
- Hall (7), Weatherspoon (6) and Downey (5) are all coming off of All-America finishes in 2015-16. The Cyclones are one of just eight squads in the country to return three or more 2016 All-Americans.

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Players Mentioned

Colston DiBlasi

Earl Hall

Kyle Larson

John Meeks

Gabe Moreno

Ian Parker

Trevor Paulson

Carson Powell

Joe Scanlan

Markus Simmons

Quean Smith

Kanen Storr

Chase Straw

Drake Swarm

Tanner Weatherman

Lelund Weatherspoon

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Iowa State University Athletics