PHILADELPHIA — Four Cyclones had their hands raised in the first round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships and will advance to the second round.
Iowa State is currently 13th in the team race with 6.5 points. tied with NC State.
Let’s break down the good and the bad from Session I.
The Good
Most of the guys you expect to wrestle well, did. A season full of injuries means the guys who are healthy enough to compete need to meet expectations. These four did.
The Frost brothers looked like the twins we were used to seeing in the regular season, starting the day off with back-to-back wins. Evan Frost (133) had a slow match, but he put in an impressive full second-period ride in a blood-round rematch against Minnesota’s Tyler Wells. Jacob Frost (141) had a dominant performance against No. 24 Jason Miranda (Stanford), notching a 16-1 major decision win. Cody Chittum (157) looked solid. MJ Gaitan (174) had the highlight moment of the day with an upset win over No. 10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan), where he brought his funky moves and secured bonus points for the team.
The Bad
Four Cyclones fell to the wrestlebacks and will have to battle to stay alive in the tournament.
Evan Bockman (184) lost by pin with 12 seconds left in his match, but he’s also wrestling with a knee injury that Dresser said would typically keep a guy out. But with this being Bockman’s final run at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, an exception was made. Bockman is tough. Dresser has described him as the toughest in the room. It sucks that this injury could completely plague his final days as a collegiate wrestler.
Aiden Riggins (165) and Daniel Herrera (285) were outmatched in their Cy-Hawk rematches. Nothing surprising there.
Paniro Johnson lost a heartbreaker in overtime against No. 29 Jack Gioffre (Virginia). Johnson put up a tough fight and was close to scoring a takedown until a coach’s challenge reversed the call. But Johnson couldn’t finish to save his match. This one will sting, and now he has to decide how to come back from this. Will he fight stronger? Can he claw his way back up and wrestle back for third? Or will this loss completely derail his tournament?
We’ll find out.
Session II of the NCAA Championships begins at 6 p.m. and can be watched on ESPN. You can also tune in on the Varsity App to listen to Nate Carr and Joe Sinclair if you would like some Cyclone flair mixed in.
Match-by-Match Results
133: No. 11 Evan Frost
First Round: W-D, 2-0 vs. No. 22 Tyler Wells (MINN)
Second Round: vs. No. 6 Connor McGonagle (VT)
141: No. 9 Jacob Frost
First Round: W-TF, 16-1 (6:29) vs. No. 24 Jason Miranda (STAN)
Second Round: vs. No. 9 Andrew Alirez (UNCO)
149: No. 4 Paniro Johnson
First Round: L-D, 5-2 TB-1 vs. No. 29 Jack Gioffre (UVA)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 20 Koy Buesgens (NCST)
157: No. 16 Cody Chittum
First Round: W-D, 8-1 vs. No. 17 DJ McGee (GMU)
Second Round: vs. No. 1 Tyler Kasak (PSU)
165: No. 30 Aiden Riggins
First Round: L-MD, 11-3 vs. No. 3 Mike Caliendo (IOWA)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 14 Drake Rhodes (SDSU)
174: No. 23 MJ Gaitan
First Round: W-MD, 13-2 vs. No. 10 Alex Cramer (CMU)
Second Round: vs. No. 7 Danny Wask (NAVY)
184: No. 13 Evan Bockman
First Round: L-F, 6:49 vs. No. 20 Nick Fine (COL)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 29 Kole Mulhause (PRIN)
285: No. 28 Daniel Herrera
First Round: L-D, 6-0 vs. No. 5 Ben Kueter (IOWA)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 21 Jacob Bullock (IND)
