Iowa State in a tight team race after day 1 of Big 12 Wrestling Championships

The Big 12 Wrestling Championships used to be Oklahoma State versus the Big 12 all-stars in the finals year in and year out.

It wasn't uncommon to have eight or more Cowboys in the finals.

The tide has changed.

This year it's a tight, four-team race between Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Wyoming after Saturday's action in Tulsa, Okla.

Oklahoma leads with 107 points. Wyoming has 97, Oklahoma State 96 and Iowa State 94.

Wyoming has the most finalists Sunday with four, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma all have three finalists.

'The Big 12 is getting tougher and more well-rounded,” Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. 'I think everybody can see that.”

Iowa State's three finalists are its three No. 1 seeds. At 141 pounds, Ian Parker is in a rematch of last year's final against Dom Demas. Parker won that match 4-2 in sudden victory. Parker and Demas also wrestled earlier this season, a match Parker won 4-3.

At 157, ISU's David Carr has looked dominant. He won his first match against Air Force's Parker Simington by fall in 46 seconds - the second-fastest pin in Iowa State history in the Big 12 Championships. Carr then beat South Dakota State's Cade DeVos 8-2.

In the finals, Carr will wrestle North Dakota State's Jared Franek, who Carr beat by major decision, 16-5, earlier this season.

At heavyweight, Gannon Gremmel is also in a rematch of last year's finals against Wyoming's Brian Andrews. Andrews won that match 3-2 last year.

While the teams are near even on the front side, in terms of finalists, they're also bunched up on the back side.

Oklahoma has six still wrestling in the consolations, Iowa State has five and Wyoming and Oklahoma State both have four.

'I told the guys on the back side of the bracket that what they did was huge,” Dresser said. 'Those five guys went 10-0 in the second session. That was important. We had a pretty good win percentage tonight - we won three out of four on the front and 10 out of 12 on the back. That's a good night session. We're going to need to duplicate that (Sunday) if we want to still be in this race.”

Northern Iowa is in sixth place with 68 points - one behind North Dakota State.

The Panthers have two in the finals: Brody Teske at 125 and Parker Keckeisen at 184.