Cyclone Fans,Happy Veterans Day! To all of you that have served our country we want to thank you for keeping us safe!
I apologize for not getting this out sooner but the season is officially among us and we are pretty much in a dead sprint from now until March. To recap the last few weeks, and put a positive spin on some average performances, we have a lot of positive takeaways to talk about. Overall, we are happy with the progress our team is making and we are showing signs of continual improvement. After all, it’s all practice until the NCAA Tournament!
Kaye Young NIACC Open
Our young Cyclones stepped up last week in what for many was, their first competition as Cyclones. We came away with 3 Champions: John Meeks, Cameron Thomson, and Jacyn Goebel.
John Meeks looked like his old self and continues to improve on a daily basis. Up a weight class from last year to 141lbs, John dominated through the tournament wrestling against lesser opponents. John is a worker and is eager to step foot on the mat each day. He will continue to make big gains this year taking time away from the starting lineup and redshirting.
Cameron Thomson gritted his way to a victory at 174lbs. Cameron is not the most athletic guy on the mat, but his tenacity and hand fighting skills have gotten him through a lot. As a redshirt last season, Cam was out for most of the year due to injury but has made steady gains throughout the summer and adds depth to our middle-upper weights.
Jacyn Goebel won the title at 197lbs as our only true freshman coming home with a Championship. Jacyn is an athlete who competes hard and out works most of the competition. Jacyn’s upside is huge and with his frame and our recent struggles at heavyweight, we would love to build him up for next season. We have already turned him over to Coach Bo as his newest weight room project.
Other performances that deserve credit go to two true freshman at the 157lb weight class; Colin Strickland and Blayne Briceno. Colin is one of the hardest workers on our team and simply broke his opponents on his way to a runner up finish. Blayne is another competitor who wrestles with pure heart and earned a 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] place finish at this weight. Both Colin and Blayne ended up getting outclassed by the same NIACC Wrestler but showed heart and a tenacity that can’t be taught. Give these guys a year in the room and we might just have something!
All-Star Match
On November 2[SUP]nd[/SUP], Michael Moreno and Coach Jackson traveled east to George Mason University where Michael would take on #1 ranked David Taylor. Michael ended up losing 13-2 but came away from the match with many positives. After a rough first period, Michael found himself on the mat where he was able to stabilize Taylor for the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] periods. One reason that we wanted this match was so Michael could feel Taylor one more time before March. Overall, the experience was worth it and Michael has a new confidence about himself. We are looking forward to our next opportunity to wrestle Taylor at the Southern Scuffle.
ISU vs. Drexel/Grand View
First off, we won both matches and are starting the season 2-0. This is a major improvement from the past two years. In both matches, we saw signs of greatness from particular athletes and we also saw where our weaknesses are. All in all, we are better off today than we were a year prior, and we continue to improve daily. To highlight a few positives from each dual:
At 157lbs, we have two solid competitors in Logan Molina and John Nicholson. Logan looked solid in winning his first match of the year. This was a match that Logan lost last year versus Drexel and it is nice to see his progression over the summer and ability to get paybacks. John Nicholson looked great in his first match as a Cyclone securing the fall. John is a grinder and wears his opponents down heavily. A veteran and competitor, a healthy John Nicholson will be a solid threat at any weight.
Michael Moreno returned to solid form after his All-Star Match Appearance. Mike’s confidence has totally changed the way he competes and he is competing like a champion.
Probably the highlight of the night came from Redshirt Freshman Lelund Weatherspoon. With the absence of Senior Boaz Beard, Weatherspoon make a strong statement that he is ready to compete, no matter the weight class. Lelund is a 174lber naturally had no problem bumping up. He is a natural athlete and as competed at a very high level in his first matches as in a Cyclone singlet.
I will also mention Kyven Gadson for coming away with two wins. It is not always pretty with Kyven but he manages to get the job done. Kyven needs to live a little closer to the weight class in order to feel more comfortable during matches. Kyven also lacks the discipline at times to challenge himself in the wrestling room. This is something we are going to be pushing on him in the next few weeks. I truly believe that once he finds that comfort with being uncomfortable, there will be no one in the country that can hang with him.
For the complete recap of the dual, please go to: http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=209302090
--
Our next competition will be this Friday, November 15[SUP]th[/SUP] as we enter another Dual against Midland University (5:30pm) and open our Big 12 competition against West Virginia University (7:30pm). Then on Saturday, we jump right into the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open. Wrestling will begin at 9am.
We are looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!
GO CYCLONES!
Troy
I apologize for not getting this out sooner but the season is officially among us and we are pretty much in a dead sprint from now until March. To recap the last few weeks, and put a positive spin on some average performances, we have a lot of positive takeaways to talk about. Overall, we are happy with the progress our team is making and we are showing signs of continual improvement. After all, it’s all practice until the NCAA Tournament!
Kaye Young NIACC Open
Our young Cyclones stepped up last week in what for many was, their first competition as Cyclones. We came away with 3 Champions: John Meeks, Cameron Thomson, and Jacyn Goebel.
John Meeks looked like his old self and continues to improve on a daily basis. Up a weight class from last year to 141lbs, John dominated through the tournament wrestling against lesser opponents. John is a worker and is eager to step foot on the mat each day. He will continue to make big gains this year taking time away from the starting lineup and redshirting.
Cameron Thomson gritted his way to a victory at 174lbs. Cameron is not the most athletic guy on the mat, but his tenacity and hand fighting skills have gotten him through a lot. As a redshirt last season, Cam was out for most of the year due to injury but has made steady gains throughout the summer and adds depth to our middle-upper weights.
Jacyn Goebel won the title at 197lbs as our only true freshman coming home with a Championship. Jacyn is an athlete who competes hard and out works most of the competition. Jacyn’s upside is huge and with his frame and our recent struggles at heavyweight, we would love to build him up for next season. We have already turned him over to Coach Bo as his newest weight room project.
Other performances that deserve credit go to two true freshman at the 157lb weight class; Colin Strickland and Blayne Briceno. Colin is one of the hardest workers on our team and simply broke his opponents on his way to a runner up finish. Blayne is another competitor who wrestles with pure heart and earned a 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] place finish at this weight. Both Colin and Blayne ended up getting outclassed by the same NIACC Wrestler but showed heart and a tenacity that can’t be taught. Give these guys a year in the room and we might just have something!
All-Star Match
On November 2[SUP]nd[/SUP], Michael Moreno and Coach Jackson traveled east to George Mason University where Michael would take on #1 ranked David Taylor. Michael ended up losing 13-2 but came away from the match with many positives. After a rough first period, Michael found himself on the mat where he was able to stabilize Taylor for the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] periods. One reason that we wanted this match was so Michael could feel Taylor one more time before March. Overall, the experience was worth it and Michael has a new confidence about himself. We are looking forward to our next opportunity to wrestle Taylor at the Southern Scuffle.
ISU vs. Drexel/Grand View
First off, we won both matches and are starting the season 2-0. This is a major improvement from the past two years. In both matches, we saw signs of greatness from particular athletes and we also saw where our weaknesses are. All in all, we are better off today than we were a year prior, and we continue to improve daily. To highlight a few positives from each dual:
At 157lbs, we have two solid competitors in Logan Molina and John Nicholson. Logan looked solid in winning his first match of the year. This was a match that Logan lost last year versus Drexel and it is nice to see his progression over the summer and ability to get paybacks. John Nicholson looked great in his first match as a Cyclone securing the fall. John is a grinder and wears his opponents down heavily. A veteran and competitor, a healthy John Nicholson will be a solid threat at any weight.
Michael Moreno returned to solid form after his All-Star Match Appearance. Mike’s confidence has totally changed the way he competes and he is competing like a champion.
Probably the highlight of the night came from Redshirt Freshman Lelund Weatherspoon. With the absence of Senior Boaz Beard, Weatherspoon make a strong statement that he is ready to compete, no matter the weight class. Lelund is a 174lber naturally had no problem bumping up. He is a natural athlete and as competed at a very high level in his first matches as in a Cyclone singlet.
I will also mention Kyven Gadson for coming away with two wins. It is not always pretty with Kyven but he manages to get the job done. Kyven needs to live a little closer to the weight class in order to feel more comfortable during matches. Kyven also lacks the discipline at times to challenge himself in the wrestling room. This is something we are going to be pushing on him in the next few weeks. I truly believe that once he finds that comfort with being uncomfortable, there will be no one in the country that can hang with him.
For the complete recap of the dual, please go to: http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=209302090
--
Our next competition will be this Friday, November 15[SUP]th[/SUP] as we enter another Dual against Midland University (5:30pm) and open our Big 12 competition against West Virginia University (7:30pm). Then on Saturday, we jump right into the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open. Wrestling will begin at 9am.
We are looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!
GO CYCLONES!
Troy
