Iowa State’s 285-pound wrestler Yonger Bastida poses during the university’s wrestling media day at Lied Recreation Athletic Center on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — “The past is the past.”
That’s the motto Iowa State’s standout senior heavyweight Yonger Bastida adopted for his final season — and for good reason.
The talented Cuban transplant powered through an undefeated regular season in 2023-24 en route to a Big 12 championship. Bastida expected to win an NCAA title to cap off a perfect season, but instead, he suffered a last-second loss in the quarterfinals and a subsequent defeat in the blood round that kept him off the podium.
“I feel like I learned a lot about myself,” said Bastida, who achieved All-American status in 2022. “How to come back — and now I’m ready. My mind’s already stronger than last year; everything I went through last year. So that’s what is new: I’m mentally prepared.”
Bastida’s one of four current Cyclones who have earned All-American honors. Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia, and Casey Swiderski ascended the podium at nationals last season, while former star David Carr won his second NCAA crown as ISU notched its best finish at nationals (fourth) since 2010. Swiderski competed at 141 pounds last season to allow the Cuba-born Echemendia to shine at 149, but those two — along with several other Cyclones — could be on a collision course this season. ISU’s second round of wrestle-offs is slated for 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, with more coming after the No. 10 Cyclone football team’s 2:30 p.m. game that day against Texas Tech. And head coach Kevin Dresser expects the competition at several weight classes to remain stern well past the Nov. 8 season opener against Stanford.
“We’ve got some options this year, so we’re gonna play a lot of cards,” Dresser said. “Especially this first month, we’re gonna play a lot of cards and see what the best team is.”
Bastida took stock of the hand he was dealt at last year’s NCAAs and eventually emerged reinvigorated. Humbled but undeterred. Disappointed but not downtrodden.
“He fell on his face on Friday at the NCAA Tournament and I’m sure he licked his wounds for a while,” Dresser said. “But when we got back together as a team (in late May) he has been outstanding. We’ve thrown a lot of challenges at him, so I know he’s hungry right now.”
Bastida’s also enjoying having another Cuban on the team in freshman Osmany Diversent, a two-time Junior Pan-American Games champion.
“I’m here for him and he’s here for me, too,” Bastida said. “For example, what happened to me last year, I told him (about it), and he said, ‘You know, this is wrestling.’”
Bastida’s teammate, Paniro Johnson, is simply happy to be wrestling this season. The talented 149-pounder from Erie, Pa., was suspended last season by the NCAA after being charged in the state’s now-embattled probe into sports gambling, but that suspension’s been reduced. Johnson now retains three full seasons of eligibility but must sit out two matches this season.
“I feel like Casey feels like he’s the best in the room, Anthony feels like he’s the best in the room (157-pounder (Cody) Chittum feels like he’s the best in the room, I feel like I’m the best in the room,” Johnson said of a deep and decorated group of ISU middleweights. “That fight makes it competitive and it’s got us all growing really, really fast.”
The same goes for Bastida, who clung to one motto from his past. His foes must “survive” a bout with him because of his unrelenting attacks.
“You guys are gonna see a better Yonger,” he said.
