The Iowa State wrestling team, ranked ninth in the NWCA Coaches Poll, dominated its competition on Sunday.

Iowa State “A team” (varsity starters) defeated the Loras College DuHawks (Division III) starters 40-0 and the Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) Lopers (Division II) 38-4.

In Sunday’s “A” duals, freshman Yonger Bastida continued to show progression into a new style of wrestling, a new face appeared in one of the varsity duals and freshman Zach Redding and Cam Robinson shined once again.

Yonger Bastida continues to show growth

The highly-touted Cuba native, Yonger Bastida has had to make an adjustment in wrestling since he arrived at Iowa State.

He has had to transition from freestyle wrestling (main wrestling style internationally) to folkstyle wrestling (used in collegiate and high school wrestling).

Despite still learning folkstyle, Basitda’s talent showed on Sunday with two dominant victories.

In his second match of the day, Bastida scored a first-period pin, pinning UNK’s Joseph Reimers at the 2:47 mark of the first period.

His pinfall victory over Reimers was his second victory of the day, as he defeated Loras’ senior Brady Vogel. Bastida controlled the match, scoring eight takedowns en route to an 18-8 victory over Vogel.

“I think you see a guy (Bastida) who has a tremendous amount of athleticism,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser said.

For Bastida, this is his third victory of the season.

“I think you see a guy who is still trying to figure out the rules,” Dresser said. “I think you see a guy who is learning the difference between freestyle and folkstyle.”

Dresser said, “there’s some big upside there,” in regards to Bastida.

Kysen Terukina wins first career dual start

One Cyclone made their first career dual start on Sunday, freshman Kysen Terukina at 125 pounds.

Earlier in the week, he defeated last week’s starter, redshirt senior Ian Parker, who was a 2019 NCAA tournament qualifier, runner-up at 125 in the 2020 Big 12 tournament and a 2020 NCAA Second Team All-American.

Because of Terukina winning the wrestle-off, Mackall and Terukina each wrestled one “Team A” (varsity) and one “Team B” match on Sunday.

Terukina won his first match of the day by major decision (13-3) over Loras freshman Julian Vatierrez in the “B” dual, while Mackall pinned Loras freshman Aidan Evans in the second period in the “A” dual.

Mackall pinned UNK’s Jackson Nielsen in the first period in the 125 lb bout in the Iowa State-UNK “B” dual.

In the “A” dual Terukina faced a three-time NCAA Division II tournament qualifier and 2019 runner-up, UNK redshirt senior Josh Portillo.

Portillo held a 3-2 lead at the end of the second period.

Terukina scored a takedown but Portillo managed to get an escape to it at four with 30 seconds left.

In the final portion of the match, Terukina scored two points on a double leg takedown and went on to win 6-5 after an escape by Portillo.

Terukina was just one of three freshmen on Sunday, along with freshman Cam Robinson at 149 pounds, who had a victory because of a late period or overtime takedown.

“You put a true freshman out there and they figure out how to beat an upperclassman in the last period, I think that’s a testament to them (Terukina and Robinson) their shape and their conditioning,” Dresser said. “Generally, when you win big matches, it’s late and so it’s probably a sign that they’re very confident in their conditioning.”

Robinson and Terukina were not the only freshmen to win in the starting lineup on Sunday, as freshman Zach Redding won both his matches at 133 pounds.

Redding and Robinson impress again

Redding and Robinson both improved to 3-0 this season with a pair of victories on Sunday.

In the UNK dual, Redding and Robinson had to have a clutch third period to come away with a victory.

Redding found himself trailing to UNK redshirt senior Wesley Dawkins (a 2020 NWCA All-American), 4-3 at the end of the second period.

In the third period, Redding scored a takedown but Dawkins got an escape to tie it at five and force an overtime period.

Both wrestlers were scrambling for a while in the overtime period, but Redding eventually controlled both of Dawkins’s legs and scored the takedown to win the match 7-5.

Two matches later, Robinson wrestled UNK’s Sam Turner, who previously wrestled for Wyoming and was a two-time NCAA tournament qualifier.

At the beginning of the second period, Turner led 5-2, but Robinson dominated the second period, getting an escape, scoring off of a technical violation and scoring a takedown.

With 12 seconds left and the match tied at seven, Robinson scored a takedown on an ankle pick and won the match 9-7.

“I was just wrestling, his foot was there and I grabbed it,” Robinson said.

The late takedowns by Robinson and Terukina that led to victory did not go unnoticed by Iowa State redshirt senior heavyweight Gannon Gremmel.

Gremmel said, “It’s super gritty,” in regards to Robinson and Terukina getting late takedowns to win their matches.

Earlier in the day, in the Loras’ dual, Robinson dominated against Loras junior Zeke Smith, winning 16-5.

“He’s good and he’s getting more consistent,” Dresser said. “That’s good because the words consistent and freshman usually don’t go in the same sentence.”

While Robinson’s first victory of the day was won by a lot, Redding’s was not.

Against Loras’ junior Zach Licht, Redding held a slim 6-4 leading heading into the third period.

At the beginning of the third period, Licht chose to start in the bottom position.

For the entire third period, Licht could escape from underneath Redding and Redding won the match 7-4 after Redding was awarded a point for having more advantage time (more time spent on top of an opponent).

“It was special to see those guys win (Redding and Robinson),” Gremmel said. “They’re making senior moves, wrestling late in periods and gutting out wins against good opponents.”