No. 12 Iowa State had six podium finishers at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, which was a much-needed bounce back after a rough outing against Iowa.

Before the meet, it was announced that sophomore Connor Euton would miss the entire season due to a knee injury, and No. 6 ranked 165-pounder MJ Gaitan would fill in his place.

Strong session one

During session one, Iowa State had six wrestlers advance to the quarterfinals, including 133-pounder Evan Frost, 149-pounder Anthony Echemendia, 157-pounder Paniro Johnson, Gaitan, 184-pounder Evan Bockman and 197-pounder Christian Carroll.

125-pounder Adrian Meza saw his first loss of the season moved into the consolation side of the bracket along with 141-pounder Jacob Frost and heavyweight Daniel Herrera.

Iowa State took every opportunity to get bonus points, tallying three falls, two tech falls and three major decisions. 

The Cyclones saw themselves in third place with 31.5 points, only trailing Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

Evan Frost highlights session two

Evan Frost, Echemendia and Bockman all advanced to the semifinals of the tournament after session two. Iowa State tallied six more bonus points in session two to bring its total to 19. 

The Cyclones had 71.5 team points after session two and remained in third place behind Nebraska and Oklahoma State. 

Evan Frost had the match of session two. In his match with Arizona State’s No. 7 Julian Chlebove, Frost overcame a nine-point deficit and won by pinfall in the final seconds. 

Evan Frost secures runner-up in session three

Evan Frost had the highest podium finish out of all the Cyclones as he finished second in the 133-pound bracket. This was Frost’s second runner-up finish in as many years at the invitational.

Echemendia finished fourth and had a 4-2 record in the tournament. Jacob Frost finished fifth, Bockman finished sixth, Johnson finished seventh and Carroll finished eighth.

Iowa State’s next meet is against North Dakota State at 2 p.m. Sunday at Humboldt High School in Humboldt, Iowa.