Photo Courtesy of Iowa State Athletics
The following is a press release from Iowa State Athletic Communications
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State wrestling received its fourth-place trophy from the 2024 NCAA Championships on Tuesday, but you might be asking yourself, “why did Iowa State receive a trophy in August for a tournament that was in March?”
It was a historic season, Iowa State’s best since 2010, but one that originally finished without an NCAA trophy in hand. Traditionally, the NCAA has always awarded the top four teams at the NCAA Championships a trophy, but following the 2023 season, the NCAA elected to do away with the fourth-place trophy, citing financial reasons.
In the first season after the decision was made, it was Iowa State who finished in fourth place and narrowly missed out on a trophy finish.
In July, the NCAA Competition Oversight Committee voted to reverse course and to reinstate the fourth-place trophy going forward, as well as retroactively award the Cyclones their trophy for 2024. It officially marks Iowa State’s 45th trophy finish in program history (eight national titles, 16 runner-up finishes, 13 third-place finishes, eight fourth-place finishes).
It was truly a banner year for Dresser’s Cyclones and the trophy represents another milestone in the mission of returning ISU wrestling to national prominence. Dresser inherited a program that scored one point and finished tied for 57th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Since then, Iowa State has finished T-45th, 16th, T-13th, 17th, 11th and 4th at the national tournament.
In 2024, David Carr cemented his legacy with his second national title while three other Cyclones – Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia and Casey Swiderski – also earned All-America honors. Iowa State won its first Big 12 Championship since 2009 and crowned two individual champions – Echemendia and Yonger Bastida.
