AMES – Weekly honors continue to roll in for Marcus Coleman who was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week after a 2-1 performance at the Collegiate Duals in New Orleans, the league office announced Wednesday. Coleman was also named the NCAA Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday.
This marks the first Big 12 weekly award of Coleman’s career and Iowa State’s third of the season, the most of any team in the conference thus far.
Coleman responded to his first loss of the year by bumping up a weight class to 197 pounds to defeat a 2022 U23 World Silver Medalist and No. 23 Jacob Cardenas and backed that up with a win over two-time defending national champion and top-ranked Aaron Brooks from Penn State. It marked the highest-ranked win of Coleman’s career.
Coleman used a big six-point move to counter a shot from Brooks and put the Nittany Lion on his back in the second period. Coleman nearly got the fall, but no call was made as the Ames native took a 6-3 lead into the final period. Brooks got back into the match with a takedown in the third period, but Coleman managed a reversal and held on to win, 9-7.
Coleman’s victory over Cardenas was crucial in an 18-13 Iowa State victory over No. 12 Cornell in which three Cyclones bumped up a weight class, and all won, to advance to the blue pool championship dual.
Coleman competed for Ames High School.
No. 4 Iowa State is back in action Jan. 1-2 at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. The event will be streamed live on FloWrestling.
The Cyclones return home Jan. 7 against Wyoming and Jan. 8 against No. 3 Arizona State. Tickets are available, here.
(Photo of Coleman via cyclones.com)
