Cowboys wrestling ready for duo of Big 12 duals 

* University of Wyoming Athletics media relations release

LARAMIE -- Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling will be back at home this week for alumni weekend and a duo of Big 12 matchups beginning with hosting No. 10 Iowa State inside the Arena-Auditorium on Friday night. The Pokes will then follow that up by welcoming North Dakota State into the UniWyo Sports Complex for a Sunday afternoon dual.  

“I’m excited to see some of our former wrestlers this weekend and I hope our guys are ready to perform for them and show them some exciting wrestling,” UW head wrestling coach Mark Branch said. “Both of these teams have very strong line-ups and we will need to pull off some upsets at home.” 

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The No. 19 Ranked Pokes will kick off the weekend with a Dual in the Dome against the No. 10 Ranked Cyclones on Friday night at 7 p.m. MT. For the second dual in a row a Cowboy will square off against a top ranked opponent as No. 11 Jacob Wright will face defending National Champion No. 1 ranked David Carr in one of the premier matches of the night.

The 197-pound weight class will feature a can’t-miss matchup as well as No. 3 ranked Stephen Buchanan will take the mat against Iowa State’s No. 12 ranked Yonger Bastida.  

The last time Wyoming and Iowa State met was during the 2017-18 where the Cowboys picked up a 24-14 win on the road against the Cyclones. This season Iowa State is off to a 4-1 start in duals. The Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling alumni will also be honored during Friday night’s dual along with a social being held before the start of dual.  

On Sunday, the Pokes will return to the UniWyo Sports complex and close out the weekend with a dual against the North Dakota State Bison. It will be another tough test for the Cowboys as the Bison lineup features seven ranked wrestlers including No. 7 ranked Jared Franek at 157 pounds.  

A total of four ranked matchups are projected for Sunday’s dual as both teams will be looking to pick up a big win over a conference opponent. 

The last meeting between Wyoming and NDSU was during the 2019-20 season in Fargo, North Dakota. The Pokes got the best of the Bison that day, picking up a 34-6 victory behind bonus point wins form Hayden Hastings, Tate Samuelson and Brian Andrews.  

Last time out a group of eight Cowboys traveled to Brookings, S.D. to compete in a series of individual matches against opponents form South Dakota State and Northern Iowa. Wright made the most of the one match had on the day picking up an 11-4 win over Cayd Lara (UNI). Jaron Jensen also had a solid outing picking up two wins on the day improving his record to 14-5 on the season.  

Both of the duals will be streamed on FloWrestling and live results will be available on TrackWrestling.