AMES — In light of Iowa State Gymnastics ending its season early, the annual Beauty and the Beast meet featured no beauty, just beast. No. 4 Iowa State dominated No. 18 West Virginia 32-7 on Friday inside Hilton Coliseum.
The Cyclones moved to 10-2 on the year and 6-1 in the Big 12. The Mountaineers dropped to 9-5 and 4-3 in Big 12 play. Individually, several Iowa State wrestlers earned important victories ahead of the postseason in March.
“So some really good, you know, individual performances tonight,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser said. “I really thought there’s some guys that went out there and they knew they were in big matches, and they responded and they competed well.”
Dominance at 125 pounds gets the dual started with a bang
Starting the dual at 125 pounds, Iowa State senior Stevo Poulin and West Virginia graduate student Jett Strickenberger kicked off the action.
Both wrestlers are two of the best at 125: Strickenberger, ranked No. 8, and Poulin, ranked No. 11, but the match itself wasn’t really a competition. Poulin handled Strickenberger, winning 14-4 by major decision, giving the Cyclones a boost early.
“Dresser says these are all practice matches, so just treating it as another practice match,” Poulin said.
Poulin and Strickenberger had faced each other before, but Strickenberger had been the one coming out on top; it wasn’t the same story on Friday night.
“A couple of those times I lost, I had also gotten an early takedown and let it slip, whether it was the third period or overtime,” Poulin said. “So just making sure to stay on the offense this time and seal the deal.”
Crucial victory at 157 pounds
The other key victory was at 157 pounds between Iowa State senior Vinny Zerban and West Virginia redshirt sophomore Ty Watters. Both wrestlers were ranked in the top 10 coming into the match: Watters ranked No. 6 and Zerban ranked No. 8.
Neither one was giving up an inch. Early in the third period, it was tied 1-1, but Zerban scored a big takedown towards the latter half of the third period to move ahead. At the whistle, Zerban emerged victorious, beating Watters 5-2 by decision.
“I think I can wrestle a lot better, but a wins a win and I’m very happy about that,” Zerban said.
Zerban gave Watters only his second loss of the season and proved he’s one of the best 157-pounders in the country.
The bout at 174 didn’t disappoint
The 174-pound match featured Iowa State junior MJ Gaitan and Mountaineer redshirt junior Brody Conley. This was an important match for Big 12 seeding in March, with No. 11 Gaitan facing No. 14 Conley.
It was a close bout, with Conley taking an early lead by way of his first-period takedown. Gaitan got back on track in the second period, earning an escape point and takedown to move ahead 4-3. Conley tied it up in the third, but Gaitan’s riding time advantage gave him the 5-4 decision victory.
Leading up to this match, Dresser had discussed focus being a key factor in whether Gaitan could come away with a win. Judging from his performance, Gaitan looked like one of the most dialed-in wrestlers on either team.
“MJ is a guy that, just to be quite frank, loses focus easy,” Dresser said. “But when you get him focused and you get him dialed in and you spend a lot of time with him and I think our coaching staff did a really great job of holding him accountable since we got back from Oklahoma.”
From top to bottom, the Cyclones scored many important victories for the looming postseason. Up next, No. 4 Iowa State hosts No. 15 UNI at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.
