The following is a press release courtesy of Iowa State athletics communications.
AMES, Iowa – The 125-pound bout ended the annual Cardinal-Gold Intrasquad Scrimmage with a bang Friday evening at the Lied Recreation Center. Sophomore Earl Hall pinned redshirt freshman Kyle Larson after pulling off a rare, explosive move called the cement mixer.
The pin came at the 1:48 mark in the opening period and was the only first-period pin of the night. Hall, a Homestead, Fla. native, is entering his first season of collegiate wrestling after electing to train at the Olympic Training Center for a year right out of high school.
Senior Boaz Beard also won by fall tonight as well, as he was able to run over an arm bar and pin redshirt freshman Cameron Thomson 4:03 into their match at 184 pounds.
At 174, redshirt sophomore Tanner Weatherman picked up a 6-2 win over talented redshirt freshman Lelund Weatherspoon, racking up 1:19 seconds of riding time in the match. Returning starters Luke Goettl and Logan Molina earned impressive victories tonight. Goettl scored a 9-3 win over Luke Swalla and Molina a 13-4 major decision over Ben Swalla.
All-Americans Michael Moreno and Kyven Gadson each notched decisive victories tonight as well. Gadson defeated freshman Dane Pestano 9-5 at 197 pounds and Moreno won by major decision 12-4 over Carson Powell at 165 pounds. Moreno was dominant from the top position as he had nearly three minutes of ride time in the match.
“Michael Moreno is going to continue to be Michael Moreno, but what I really was impressed with tonight was our true freshmen,” head coach Kevin Jackson said. “They weren’t intimidated at all by our upperclassmen and All-Americans.”
Jackson was pleased with what he saw tonight, but emphasized three areas where he’d like to see improvement.
“We need to get better at riding,” Jackson said. “We need to be able to get out from the bottom and our hand fighting needs to improve.”
Four former Cyclones were honorary coaches for the annual kickoff scrimmage: Nate Gallick, Dwight Hinson, Nick Britton and Zach Thompson. Iowa State, who is preseason ranked No. 8 by InterMat, opens the season on Nov. 7with a double dual at Hilton Coliseum with Drexel and Grand View.
Match-By-Match Results
125: Earl Hall fall Kyle Larson, 1:48
133: Dakota Bauer dec. RJ Hallman, 9-8
141: John Meeks dec. Bubba Hernandez, 6-5
149: Luke Goettl dec. Luke Swalla, 9-3 (1:18 RT)
157: Logan Molina maj. dec. Ben Swalla, 13-4 (2:26 RT)
165: Michael Moreno maj. dec. Carson Powell, 12-4 (2:50 RT)
174: Tanner Weatherman dec. Lelund Weatherspoon, 6-2 (1:19 RT)
184: Boaz Beard fall Cameron Thomson, 4:03
197: Kyven Gadson dec. Dane Pestano, 9-5
285: Ben Perna dec. Quean Smith, 5-4
