After session one of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, four Cyclones remained in contention for a national title. After session two, only one remained.
Early session one success
Iowa State entered the first round with eight competitors but finished with only four. A class of sophomores, No. 11 Evan Frost, No. 9 Jacob Frost, No. 16 Cody Chittum and No. 23 MJ Gaitan advanced at their respective weights.
At 133, No. 11 Evan Frost won a 2-0 decision over Minnesota’s Tyler Wells. Both of Frost’s points came on escapes, the second coming in the third period.
No. 9 Jacob Frost found similar success at 141 against Stanford’s Jason Miranda, advancing by way of a 16-1 technical fall in 6:29. Frost scored four takedowns in the preliminary stages.
Like last year’s matchup between Evan Frost and Tyler Wells, neither recorded a single takedown.
“I thought Evan did a great job riding him out,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser said. “He did what he had to to win the match, and it wasn’t flashy, but he did his job.”
Chittum and Gaitan also made advancements. Chittum won an 8-1 decision over No. 17 DJ McGee of George Mason and Gaitan won a thrilling 13-2 major decision over No. 10 Alex Cramer of Central Michigan.
“I thought [Gaitan] did great,” Dresser said. We’ve set up some good matches out front, but on the flip side, we have to reboot and move forward.”
Four end up in the consolation bracket
Where the winning four found momentum, others did not. After round one, sophomores No. 4 Paniro Johnson and No. 30 Aiden Riggins accompanied freshman No. 28 Daniel Herrera and senior No. 13 Evan Bockman on the consolation end of the competition.
After winning his second Big 12 Championship, Johnson was trailing entering the third period against Virginia’s No. 29 Jack Gioffre. Similar to his performances in dual action this season, a low-scoring 5-2 decision.
“We’ve got to wrestle better,” Dresser said. “You can’t let a guy like that hang around, and when you do, that’s what happens. When you do that, it’s not good wrestling.”
After gaining traction late in the season, Riggins fell apart. Prior to the NCAA Championships, Riggins never lost by a major decision at 174. Against Iowa’s No. 3 Mike Caliendo, Riggins fell 11-3.
Fighting through injury, Bockman lost by fall to Colorado’s No. 20 Nick Fine. As the veteran heavyweight continues to battle injury, Bockman finds himself on the back side of the 184-pound bracket.
“There’s still a lot of wrestling to do,” Dresser said. “There’s no way we wrestle him in any scenario in a normal weekend, but he wasn’t going in and not wrestling.”
Herrera’s hopes of a national title were dashed at the end of session one following a 6-0 decision loss to Iowa’s No. 5 Ben Kueter.
Two eliminated, one advances
The concluding stages of session two saw five Cyclones in contention for the podium, Jacob Frost on the championship side, with Chittum, Riggins, Johnson and Gaitan all chasing place finishes.
Bockman and Herrera lost in the second round of the consolation bracket and won’t place in the tournament. Bockman lost a 12-5 decision to Colorado’s No. 20 Nick Fine, followed by Herrera losing a second decision 7-1 to Indiana’s No. 21 Jacob Bullock.
“Bockman was really just a shell of himself today,” Dresser said. “He’s one tough guy, and if we get 100 other guys as tough as him, we’d be in good shape.”
Johnson advanced in round one of the consolation bracket, winning a decision over North Carolina State’s No. 20 Koy Buesgens. Chittum and Riggins followed suit, earning advancements into the second round of competition.
Jacob Frost, the lone Iowa State competitor on the championship side of the bracket at 141, defeated Northern Colorado’s No. 9 Andrew Ailrez on a 6-1 decision.
“That was a big win for Jacob,” Dresser said. “We’re excited to see what he has moving forward, but for now we live to fight another day.”
Session three begins at 11 a.m., and session four begins at 6 p.m. to conclude the NCAA Championships. All sessions will stream live on ESPN+, but session three will air live on ESPN U and session four will be broadcast live on ESPN 2.
