MJ Gaitan celebrates after his 8-5 sudden victory win at 174 pounds during Iowa State’s 28-6 dual victory over Northern Iowa on Sunday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. Photo by Jacqueline Cordova.
AMES — Panther hunting season looked pretty good in Hilton Coliseum on Sunday night.
No. 4 Iowa State closed out a packed weekend in Ames by handling No. 15 Northern Iowa, 28-6. The Cyclones never really let the Panthers feel comfortable.
It wasn’t dramatic. It was physical. It was competitive. It was exactly what an in-state rivalry should look like.
It started with opportunity.
With Evan Frost still out at 133, Garrett Grice got the call against No. 22 Julian Farber. He hadn’t wrestled in a dual since early November. He got the text earlier in the week to be ready.
Sunday night, he was.
Grice scrapped his way to a 5-4 decision, turning a Panther attack into points of his own and flashing the scrambling ability that makes him difficult to wrestle. It wasn’t clean. It didn’t need to be.
“I just wanted to believe in myself,” Grice said. “Once he got to my leg, I felt like those scrambles were going to favor me.”
Kevin Dresser liked what he saw.
“He got a chance to fill in and win a big match for us,” Dresser said. “Garrett’s hard to wrestle. He’s funky. He’s competitive.”
That word kept coming up Sunday night. Funky.
At 174 pounds, it was on full display.
No. 13 MJ Gaitan, bleached blonde hair and all, delivered one of the best matches of the night in an 8-5 sudden victory win over No. 12 Jared Simma. Gaitan gave up the first takedown. He rolled through scrambles. He put himself in positions that had the UNI bench convinced they had him.
Schwab even said post-dual they felt like they had him “dead to rights” at times.
That’s MJ.
There have probably been plenty of coaches inside Hilton who have felt that way before. Gaitan has made a career out of living in those moments.
“Sometimes it looks crazy or like I’m not in control, but most of the time I am.” said Gaitan.
Dresser smiled when asked about it.
“I think that’s MJ,” Dresser said. “There has probably been at least a dozen coaches that have come through Hilton Coliseum that thought they had him dead to rights, and I think that’s a good way to put it. A lot of times I thought he was dead to rights too. But it worked out for him. I thought the UNI guy (Simma) competed really hard. He’s tough. It was a fun match to watch.”
That’s what this dual felt like.
“That’s what Iowa State and UNI should be,” Schwab said. “A tooth-and-nail scrap. Guys almost having to crawl off the mat.”
That line lingered.
Because while Iowa State controlled the scoreboard, the edge and the emotion were real. Dresser reminded his team all week that UNI “took it to us” last year. It was okay to take it personal.
They answered.
“We kind of had that chip on our shoulder,” said Gaitan. “I remember being in front of their home crowd and feeling like we were the villains, and they squashed us. Remembering that in the back of my head, it felt good (to win).”
The Cyclones finished with a decisive takedown advantage and looked like the deeper, more physical team.
“I thought we had really good effort,” Dresser said. “Up and down the lineup, I liked a lot more than I didn’t like.”
One dual remains before the postseason: No. 18 Missouri.
Schwab said his team needed to wrestle harder, longer and smarter to come out on top Sunday night.
That’s not just a UNI lesson.
If the Cyclones want March to feel the way they think it can, they’ll need to wrestle the kind of match where you’re almost crawling off the mat — and still asking for more.
Panther hunting season is over.
The Tigers are next.
View the post-dual press conference featuring Dresser, Grice and Gaitan here.
MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
No. 4 Iowa State 28, No. 15 UNI 6
125: No. 11 Stevo Poulin (ISU) dec. No. 31 Trever Anderson (UNI), 4-1
133: Garrett Grice (ISU) dec. No. 22 Julian Farber (UNI), 5-4
141: No. 3 Anthony Echemendia (ISU) maj. dec. Max Brady (UNI), 19-10
149: No. 11 Jacob Frost (ISU) dec. No. 32 Caleb Rathjen (UNI), 8-2
157: No. 8 Vinny Zerban (ISU) maj. dec. Cael Rahnavardi (UNI), 15-5
165: No. 6 Ryder Downey (UNI) dec. No. 15 Connor Euton (ISU), 8-5 SV-1
174: No. 13 MJ Gaitan (ISU) dec. No. 12 Jared Simma (UNI), 8-5 SV-1
184: Izzy Moreno (UNI) dec. Manny Rojas (ISU), 12-5
197: No. 2 Rocky Elam (ISU) dec. Carson Babcock (UNI), 8-1
285: No. 1 Yonger Bastida (ISU) TF Grant Stromberg (UNI), 21-6
