Evan and Jacob Frost punch their ticket to the ‘Blood Round’

PHILADELPHIA — The NCAA Championships are brutal. And yet, two Cyclones are still standing, together — just as they started.

Evan and Jacob Frost are heading to the Blood Round. That’s where All American status is earned or lost, and they’ve both wrestled their way into that do-or-die moment.

Evan Frost went 2-0 on the day, knocking off the No. 12 and No. 3 seeds in back-to-back matches. The most notable came with a late takedown in the final 13 seconds of his matchup against No. 3 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock). A clutch moment that sent him into tonight’s Round of 12. Add that win to the list of losses avenged. Last year Bailey beat Frost by technical fall during the Collegiate Duals. Head coach Kevin Dresser called it growth.

“The Frost brothers made good adjustments,” Dresser said. “He (Evan) didn’t get close to getting turned this tim. It’s been 15 months since that one, and Evan finally got it back.”

Jacob, meanwhile, dropped his quarterfinal match to top-seeded Brock Hardy and was sent to the wrestlebacks. But he’s still alive. He’ll wrestle for a shot at All American honors, just like his brother.

“It’s very fitting,” Dresser said. “Probably wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m excited.”

As for the rest of the squad…

Paniro Johnson, Cody Chittum, and MJ Gaitan ended their tournaments in today’s session. Tough losses all around, decided by inches and one or two positions.

“There’s some tough lessons you learn here. For all of us, you know?” said Dresser. “You get to this point, and you’re close, and you’re now the to 12 and 16 (seed)…What can you do to push over the hump? Some of it’s wrestling related. At the end of the day there’s one takedown that decides a lot of these matches. And so the guys that get them win the matches, and the guys that don’t don’t.

“You get to this point, and you’re close, there’s one takedown that decides a lot of these matches. And the guys that get them, win the matches.”

Aiden Riggins deserves his flowers, too. He fought his way into the Round of 16 as the No. 30 seed before getting caught in a pin by No. 5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell). It was a strong showing from a young guy who just kept getting better every round.

Tonight is all about the Frost twins. Blood Round. Bright lights. Everything on the line.

Iowa State sits tied for 22^nd place in the team standings with Pittsburgh with 12.5 points.

Match-by-Match Results
133: No. 11 Evan Frost 
First Round: W-D, 2-0 vs. No. 22 Tyler Wells (MINN)
Second Round: L-D, 5-0 vs. No. 6 Connor McGonagle (VT)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-D, 8-4 vs. No. 12 Ethan Oakley (UNC)
Round of 16: W-D, 5-3 vs. No. 3 Nasir Bailey (LR)
Round of 12: vs. No. 8 Braeden Davis (PSU)

141: No. 9 Jacob Frost 
First Round: W-TF, 16-1 (6:29) vs. No. 24 Jason Miranda (STAN)
Second Round: W-D, 6-1 vs. No. 9 Andrew Alirez (UNCO)
QF: LBF, 4:13 vs. No. 1 Brock Hardy (NEB)
Round of 12: vs. No. 14 Sergio Lemley (MICH)

149: No. 4 Paniro Johnson – Round of 16 (1.0 Pts.)
First Round: L-D, 5-2 TB-1 vs. No. 29 Jack Gioffre (UVA)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-D, 1-1 TB-1 (RT) vs. No. 20 Koy Buesgens (NCST)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-D, 4-3 vs. No. 19 Andrew Clark (RUT)
Round of 16: L-D, 2-0 vs. No. 11 Sammy Alvarez (RID)

157: No. 16 Cody Chittum – Round of 16 (1.5 Pts.)
First Round: W-D, 8-1 vs. No. 17 DJ McGee (GMU)
Second Round: L-D, 8-3 vs. No. 1 Tyler Kasak (PSU)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-D, 5-3 vs. No. 31 Noah Castillo (CHAT)
Round of 16: L-D, 4-3 vs. No. 9 Tommy Askey (MINN)

165: No. 30 Aiden Riggins – Round of 16 (2.5 Pts.)
First Round: L-MD, 11-3 vs. No. 3 Mike Caliendo (IOWA)
Consis. Prelim.: W-D, 7-6 vs. No. 32 Jared Keslar (PITT)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-D, 9-3 vs. No. 14 Drake Rhodes (SDSU)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-MD, 9-1 vs. No. 13 Will Miller (APP)
Round of 16: L-F, 1:53 vs. No. 5 Julian Ramirez (CORN)

174: No. 23 MJ Gaitan – Round of 24 (2.0 Pts.)
First Round: W-MD, 13-2 vs. No. 10 Alex Cramer (CMU)
Second Round: L-MD, 12-4 vs. No. 7 Danny Wask (NAVY)
Consis. Rd. 2: L-TF, 18-1 (1:53) vs. No. 8 Lenny Pinto (NEB)

184: No. 13 Evan Bockman – Round of 32 (0 Pts.)
First Round: L-F, 6:49 vs. No. 20 Nick Fine (COL)
Consis. Rd. 1: L-D, 12-5 vs. No. 29 Kole Mulhauser (PRIN)

285: No. 28 Daniel Herrera – Round of 32 (0 Pts.)
First Round: L-D, 6-0 vs. No. 5 Ben Kueter (IOWA)
Consis. Rd. 2: L-D, 7-1 vs. No. 21 Jacob Bullock (IND)