Iowa State wrestling: Kysen Terukina goes from the beaches of Hawaii to the mats of Hilton

AMES — Iowa State 125-pounder Kysen Terukina journeyed nearly 5,000 miles from his Ewa Beach, Hawaii, home just to be seen.

To get noticed.

To chart a possible path toward a college wrestling career.

“Anywhere,” said Terukina, who will wrestle in his first Cy-Hawk dual meet when his No. 13 Cyclones face top-ranked Iowa at 6 p.m. Sunday in Hilton Coliseum. “Anywhere you find a good tournament. You just go train hard for it and do your best.”

That simple formula — and Terukina’s obvious talent — opened the eyes of ISU head coach Kevin Dresser two years ago at a top-tier tournament in Virginia Beach.

Now Terukina (5-0, ranked No. 21 at 125 by InterMat) will be one of the Cyclones’ key grapplers against the Hawkeyes after a one-year COVID-19-based dual meet hiatus.

“I think Kysen’s had a great start,” Dresser said. “I think everybody that watches can see how talented he is. Just a young kid and for a kid that grew up in Hawaii — and let’s face it, there are probably not a lot of big stages in Hawaii like the stage he’s getting ready to wrestle on.”

Hence, his many pre-college travels to each coast on the mainland — and anywhere in between.

“Just to get exposure, wrestle better guys, (and) just try and get known,” said Terukina, who qualified for the NCAA championships as a freshman last season. “So yeah, that was a process in high school trying to get to here.”

Now he’ll ascend one of the biggest stages in the sport, but not against Iowa’s three-time national champion Spencer Lee, who is out indefinitely with severe ACL issues.

That doesn’t reduce the hype for Terukina or any other Cyclone trying to topple the Hawkeyes for the first time as a team since 2004.

“You know, it's gonna be an exciting time, an exciting dual meet,” said Terukina, who will likely face Iowa’s Jesse Ybarra (5-0) at 125. “I like to be calm before I wrestle, so it's definitely going to be a challenge to stay calm, but I'm confident, so that really helps.”

Terukina’s Cy-Hawk debut is just one of many intriguing storylines entering the dual:

* ISU three-time NCAA qualifier Ian Parker could make his season debut at 149 or 141. He’s been battling injuries, but early in the season told reporters he planned to move up to 149 and compete with four-time qualifier Jarrett Degen for the starting spot.

* David Carr, the Cyclones’ defending NCAA champion at 157, will take his No. 1 ranking into a match against Iowa’s eighth-ranked Kaleb Young. They met once last season, with Carr winning by a 6-1 decision.

“It’s just like a benchmark,” said Carr, who is 6-0 this season with four wins by technical fall. “You can see where you’re at as a team and I’m excited. There’s a lot of questions that will be answered in terms of some of our guys. I think we have a lot of talent on our team and you never get to see how talented they are, so Iowa’s that test.”

* Dresser, of course, won a national championship at Iowa in 1986. The Humboldt native was a two-time All-American as a Hawkeye and began his coaching career in Iowa City under Dan Gable.

“As an athlete you’re only engaged really for your warm-up period and your competition — your particular match and cool down,” Dresser said. “As a coach, you’re engaged the whole time. So it’s a little more stressful being the coach, but at the same time it’s fun. I know there’ll be a lot of excitement in (Hilton). We’re gonna relish the role of being the underdog and it is what it is right now. We’re gonna relish that.”

Especially Terukina, who has logged countless frequent flyer miles just to have a chance to wrestle at this level and build toward March.

“We know they're really good, so just being prepared to just wrestle your best,” Terukina. “We just want to compete hard just like any other dual meet and just trust in ourselves.”