On a gloomy day in East Lansing, a wicked wind blew into town from Ames, Iowa. The No. 16 Cyclones of Iowa State University came to East Lansing to square off against the men of Sparta.

The match began at 133 pounds with No. 16 Javier Gasca of MSU squaring off against No. 12 Earl Hall. Gasca wrestled very hard and came out with a 5-3 victory over a ranked opponent. This victory left the Spartan faithful roaring after a last-second takedown. Gasca is a wrestler to keep an eye on for the grappling fan.

Garth Yenter went up against John Meeks (ISU) in the match at 141 pounds. Yenter started the match down, but rallied for the lead after a scramble takedown in the late seconds of the first period. The wrestlers started the second period in the neutral position and Yenter went to work. After scoring a takedown to put him up 5-2, Yenter was given another point after Meeks elected for the neutral position. The match became very tight at the end of the third, as Meeks took Yenter down twice in the last period. But, Yenter persevered and came out with the victory. MSU was up 6-0 at this point.

Nick Trimble sized up Gabe Moreno (ISU) at 149 pounds next. Trimble wrestled well, but Moreno triumphed by a margin of 9-5. Trimble had a nice reversal to get on the board when the match was 5-0, and also notched a couple of escapes. There was a fairly controversial takedown call in the third that had the Spartan coaching staff howling at the referee. Trimble was rallying after the reversal and the momentum shifted wholly after this call.

At 157, Spartan junior Roger Wildmo wrestled Luke Goettl (ISU). Goettl fought his way to a 7-3 victory, getting two takedowns and a reversal against Wildmo. Wildmo put himself on the board with multiple escapes, but was unable to take Goettl down. The match was tied up 6-6 before Ryan Watts stepped on the mat.

Watts wrestles for MSU in the 165-weight class. His opponent, No. 3 Michael Moreno (ISU) came ready for a brawl. Moreno drew first blood after a trip takedown in the first period. After that, not too much action occurred in the second, as Moreno was on top for almost all of the period. Moreno started the third on bottom and gained an escape point. Watts got a late takedown in the third, but was unable to rally back for a win. Moreno won 5-2 as the teams went into the intermission. MSU was down 9-6.

MSU’s Nick Proctor and his glorious mustache squared off against No. 6 Tanner Weatherman (ISU) in the 174 weight class after the intermission. Weatherman took Proctor down twice, notched a two-point near fall and got a point for an escape and riding time en route to his 8-0 victory. The score was then 13-6 ISU.

John Rizqallah came out at 187 against Lelund Weatherspoon of ISU. The match was back and forth in the first, but Weatherspoon proved to be too tenacious, as he got the victory by a score of 10-3. John was riding with the legs very hard when he was on top, and even caused Weatherspoon to stare at the ref as John draped off his body at one point. There was a bit of conversation after the match between the two also. ISU led by a score of 16-6 after this.

The Spartans won their third match at heavyweight, as Luke Jones came back to defeat Quean Smith by a score of 7-3. Jones trailed 2-1 with less than a minute and got a takedown to go up 3-2. Smith escaped quickly, and Luke was staring at OT. Jones got his second takedown of the period with 15 seconds left and added a two-point near fall to leave the day on a bright note.

In the last match of the dual, Kyle Larson of Iowa State defeated Mitch Rogaliner at 125 pounds by a score of 6-4. The final score of the match was 22-9 Iowa State over MSU.

Michigan State has next weekend off. They then travel to Northern Illinois on Dec. 5 and then to Iowa Dec. 6.

Nick Carver is the host of Pinned Down for Impact Sports

Photo: Hannah McEnroe/Impact Sports