We entered the extended weekend with great expectations for both basketball teams and wrestling. We exit with the end of another year for the major sports at Iowa State. For me it represents the transition from months where I'm spending most of my time in Ames following Iowa State sports, flipping to most of my time in Cedar Rapids.
That transition happened a little quicker than hoped for this year as a possible stopping point for another trip to Kansas City for regionals escaped our grasp. What's left in Ames are some trips to watch softball if weather permits and the spring season for football and Gridiron Club events. So far this school year I have spend 116 nights in Ames since August 1st enjoying football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, wrestling and gymnastics events. It was a pretty good year.
Football had a disappointing season, but in retrospect we had a lot of big shoes to fill in a tough league. We should have better results this fall when it all starts again. A few spring & summer events will stoke the fire and get me ready for September.
Volleyball finished 4th in the league and made it to the second round in the NCAA tournament. The highlight of the year was handing National Champion Texas their only loss of the season.
Few had high expectations for men's basketball, but the team earned the 5th seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals after beating top ten Baylor handily for the third time this season. It was a season of highs and lows with big wins over the top league teams, but disappointing losses to some of the teams at the bottom of a very tough Big 12 conference. The lows resurfaced in the NCAA tournament where the 6th seeded Cyclones couldn't advance. It doesn't take away what coach Otzelberger is building at Iowa State. The future looks bright with top rated recruiting classes coming in.
Women's basketball had a good season. Preseason expectations had them winning the conference, but the loss of Stephanie Soares was hard to adjust to. That loss came on the heels of Beatriz Jordão medical retirement, leaving us thin at the post. The team still finished third in the conference and beat Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas on consecutive days to win the Big 12 tournament for the first time in a couple decades. But the season finished on a sour note as the fifth seeded Cyclones were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Wrestling continued to build and was in contention for a conference championship, but lost to Missouri in a battle for the conference crown. The injuries at 125 had us wrestling our 3rd and 4th guys for much of the season at a spot where we hoped to have an All-American competing. Our only other dual losses were to the top two ranked teams in #1 Penn State and #2 Iowa. We won four of the ten bouts against Penn State and split with five bouts each against Iowa. It shows continued progress for the wrestling team. ISU ended the year with two All-Americans, but had many contributors at nationals. The Cyclones finished missed out on a top ten finish when David Carr was upset in the finals. It was a disappointing finish for our best wrestler in his only loss of the year to a guy he had recently beaten twice. But it doesn't take away what is being built for the future.
Gymnastics seemed to have the worst year since I've been following the team. We didn't seem to have the depth to put up top scores by all 6 competitors in the rotation. I believe we only had one meet where we put up a 196.000 or better score, which is my personal measure of a good team performance. To do that requires all scores to be 9.800 or better on average. I don't know what the outlook is for the future as I'm not that plugged in to the sport, but we do lose Maddie Diab who is one of our all time greats. She posted a perfect 10.000 in the floor exercise in 2022 and was chasing that mark every time she performed.
I know look forward to good weather and hopefully can make it over to Ames to take in some softball games. It is an enjoyable way to soak up the sun. I'm not sure expectations are very high this year in a rugged Big 12, but it will be fun seeing what we have.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention tennis. I would love to attend some tennis matches, but that will have to wait until the new facility is available and we can host events in Ames. I will follow our top ten ranked team via the stats feed however.
So that's pretty much a wrap for this school year. I feel like we went cold turkey from sports overload to nothing in one quick weekend.
That transition happened a little quicker than hoped for this year as a possible stopping point for another trip to Kansas City for regionals escaped our grasp. What's left in Ames are some trips to watch softball if weather permits and the spring season for football and Gridiron Club events. So far this school year I have spend 116 nights in Ames since August 1st enjoying football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, wrestling and gymnastics events. It was a pretty good year.
Football had a disappointing season, but in retrospect we had a lot of big shoes to fill in a tough league. We should have better results this fall when it all starts again. A few spring & summer events will stoke the fire and get me ready for September.
Volleyball finished 4th in the league and made it to the second round in the NCAA tournament. The highlight of the year was handing National Champion Texas their only loss of the season.
Few had high expectations for men's basketball, but the team earned the 5th seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals after beating top ten Baylor handily for the third time this season. It was a season of highs and lows with big wins over the top league teams, but disappointing losses to some of the teams at the bottom of a very tough Big 12 conference. The lows resurfaced in the NCAA tournament where the 6th seeded Cyclones couldn't advance. It doesn't take away what coach Otzelberger is building at Iowa State. The future looks bright with top rated recruiting classes coming in.
Women's basketball had a good season. Preseason expectations had them winning the conference, but the loss of Stephanie Soares was hard to adjust to. That loss came on the heels of Beatriz Jordão medical retirement, leaving us thin at the post. The team still finished third in the conference and beat Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas on consecutive days to win the Big 12 tournament for the first time in a couple decades. But the season finished on a sour note as the fifth seeded Cyclones were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Wrestling continued to build and was in contention for a conference championship, but lost to Missouri in a battle for the conference crown. The injuries at 125 had us wrestling our 3rd and 4th guys for much of the season at a spot where we hoped to have an All-American competing. Our only other dual losses were to the top two ranked teams in #1 Penn State and #2 Iowa. We won four of the ten bouts against Penn State and split with five bouts each against Iowa. It shows continued progress for the wrestling team. ISU ended the year with two All-Americans, but had many contributors at nationals. The Cyclones finished missed out on a top ten finish when David Carr was upset in the finals. It was a disappointing finish for our best wrestler in his only loss of the year to a guy he had recently beaten twice. But it doesn't take away what is being built for the future.
Gymnastics seemed to have the worst year since I've been following the team. We didn't seem to have the depth to put up top scores by all 6 competitors in the rotation. I believe we only had one meet where we put up a 196.000 or better score, which is my personal measure of a good team performance. To do that requires all scores to be 9.800 or better on average. I don't know what the outlook is for the future as I'm not that plugged in to the sport, but we do lose Maddie Diab who is one of our all time greats. She posted a perfect 10.000 in the floor exercise in 2022 and was chasing that mark every time she performed.
I know look forward to good weather and hopefully can make it over to Ames to take in some softball games. It is an enjoyable way to soak up the sun. I'm not sure expectations are very high this year in a rugged Big 12, but it will be fun seeing what we have.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention tennis. I would love to attend some tennis matches, but that will have to wait until the new facility is available and we can host events in Ames. I will follow our top ten ranked team via the stats feed however.
So that's pretty much a wrap for this school year. I feel like we went cold turkey from sports overload to nothing in one quick weekend.
