AMES – Since the turn of the 21st century, the Cy-Hawk Rivalry has simmered with hostility, to heights maybe never seen before in the history of the rivalry. With the rise of Iowa State football under Matt Campbell, the rise and fall and promising rebirth of Iowa State basketball under Fred Hoiberg and now TJ Otzelberger. The rivalry has now joined the echelon of in-state rivalries where the hate and vitriol is real: Michigan-Michigan State, Oregon-Oregon State, Arizona-Arizona State. However, on the wrestling mat, the series is as lopsided as its ever been, with Iowa coming into Sunday looking for win #17 in a row over the Cyclones.
You wouldn’t have thought that with the hostile atmosphere that welcomed Iowa into Hilton Coliseum.
Granted, the fan split was probably 65-35, 60-40 Iowa State, the black and gold faithful flocked to Ames in droves for the renewal of the Cy-Hawk Rivalry. While Iowa did get win #17 in a row over Iowa State, by a score of 22-11 and kept their unblemished record, it didn’t do so without conflict and controversy. Perhaps the sign of hostility and confrontation came during the bout at 133 pounds between #3 Austin DeSanto of Iowa, and Iowa State’s Ramazan Attasauov. Attasauov was able to draw DeSanto out of bounds, and the two spilled into the scorers table, and pushing and shoving ensued. Both wrestlers were assessed technical violations, and DeSanto won the match 6-4.
The next sign of hostility didn’t pop up until the 197 match pitting #3 Jacob Warner of Iowa and Yonger Bastida of Iowa State. Bastida picked up, perhaps, the biggest win of his Cyclone career to date with a 4-3 upset of Warner. Bastida, who Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser stated after the game had only been in the United States for 54 weeks and is still learning English, spiked his headgear to the ground following his massive upset. The act cost Iowa State a team point, and surely did not sit well with Tom Brands’ Hawkeyes.
The culmination resulted in both teams clearing their respective benches with words exchanged, as well as some of the standard pushing and shoving following the 285-pound match. Iowa finally exited the fray back to their tunnel, while embracing the droves of Hawkeyes who had made the trip to Ames, while the cardinal and gold faithful showered the victorious Hawkeyes with boos. It was a refreshing close to another chapter in this recently-lopsided rivalry, that the disdain still burns bright between the Hawkeyes and the Cyclones.
We had some fireworks after the dual concluded. #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/o0354Bunx8
— Quinn Douglas (@Quinn_Douglas_) December 6, 2021
Tom Brands’ was very matter of fact on the post-dual scuffle: “We’re up 17-11 and the guy got stalled out of the dual. He got stalled out,” Brands said. “Of course there is heated emotions, of course.”
Outside of the tensions and hostilities, the win was a workman-like one for the top-ranked Hawkeyes. Jesse Ybarra suffered his first loss of the season to Kysen Terukina, as Spencer Lee continues to be shelved to preserve his knees from further damage with 2 torn ACL’s that he has been wrestling on. 141 #2 Jaydin Eierman and 165 #1 Alex Marinelli each picked up major decisions to help the Hawkeyes distances themselves from the Cyclones. A key result was Iowa’s Kaleb Young only managed to fall by decision to reigning 157-pound national champion David Carr, falling by a decision of 6-2.
A notable story was the return of Max Murin to the Iowa lineup, who saw his first action for the Hawkeyes as he faced off with Ian Parker of Iowa State. Murin, ranked 11th at 149 pounds, picked up a 3-2 decision over Parker, much to the delight of Tom Brands.
“Max Murin, awesome, awesome. We love Cobe Siebrecht, the reason we went with Murin is that he was ready to go and you saw what happened against Army with Siebrecht, and that is not a knock on Cobe Siebrecht.”
Iowa closed out the dual 2-2, with Nelson Brands picking up a sudden-death victory over Joel Devine at 174 pounds, while Myles Wilson fell to #12 Marcus Coleman at 184 pounds. Yonder Bastida pulled the upset of #3 Jacob Warner, while #7 Tony Cassioppi forced Sam Schuyler to disqualify himself from the match following 4 consecutive stall calls against Schuyler, as Iowa continued their 17 match winning streak, dating back to 2004.
All great rivalries have gone through their lopsided stretches, Ohio State had defeated in Michigan in football for 10 years running prior to last Saturday. The Lakers won 4 championships in a 15-year span before the Celtics climbed back to the top of the mountain in 2008, the Red Sox couldn’t get past the Yankees in the postseason before the 2004 ALCS. Iowa State will beat Iowa on the wrestling mat again someday, maybe someday sooner than we all think, and that disdain that was on display tonight, will be on display when that moment does occur, and it will remind us why this rivalry is as great as it is.