The tournament was nearing the teardown stage in December when Iowa State’s Tanner Weatherman stepped on the mat to wrestle Northern Iowa’s Cooper Moore for seventh place at 165 pounds in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
It was a bout that meant virtually nothing in the team race, and yet it seemed like it meant everything to wrestlers from both schools who crowded around the mat to watch.
Cyclones on one side. Panthers on another.
A snapshot moment in a boiling rivalry.
“We saw them in Vegas some and they got up for the matches,” Northern Iowa coach Doug Schwab said.