College wrestling season is among us and Iowa State is looking to win their second trophy of the Kevin Dresser era. After a wildly disappointing campaign last season, the Cyclones are ranked top 4 as both
a tournament team and a dual team. That is due in large part to having 7 All-Americans on the roster after a lot of roster flux in the offseason.
The log jam in the bottom half of the lineup came to a head in the offseason with a number of departures in the transfer portal. Kysen Terukina and Zach Redding will spend their final year in the ACC, at North Carolina and NC State, respectively. Cody Chittum ended up back in his home state at Chattanooga after originally committing to Ohio State.
Perhaps the most surprising exit was from Casey Swiderski, who ended up at Oklahoma State shortly after disparaging the program in “Stallwater” for its “Cowboy Politics” on the Cyclone radio broadcast of the Big 12 tournament. Christian Carroll, who left the team midway through last season, also stayed in conference and will be Wyoming’s heavyweight. His replacement at 197, Nate Schon, is now at Drexel. Last season’s 184, Evan Bockman, was the lone starter from last season to run out of eligibility.
The transfer portal was a two-way street for the Cyclones, as the Cardinal and Gold collective brought in a number of contributors. 4x All-American Rocky Elam (Mizzou) headlines the class. You may remember him from his wild battles with Bastida at 197. Elam spent last season sidelined with injuries and Dresser has said he will be on a “pitch count” and only wrestling in big time duals. NCAA qualifier Carson Floyd (App State) also transferred in at 197, but will medical redshirt this season.
A pair of 2025 All-Americans joined the Iowa State roster over the summer in Stevo Poulin (yes, he’s this kid) and Vinny Zerban. The two wrestled at Northern Colorado last season, but entered the portal when their head coach Troy Nickerson left for the job at Army. Poulin will look to end an era of underperformance for the Cyclones at 125. Zerban fills in the 157 slot vacated by Cody Chittum’s departure, allowing Paniro Johnson and Jacob Frost to battle it out at their ideal weight of 149. NCAA qualifier Isaac Dean transferred in from Rider and will be the starting 184. He’s traditionally not a bonus point guy, but he’s got high upside. Former top 30 recruit Caden Horwath (Michigan) adds to the depth at 125. JuCo National Champion Melton Powe (Pratt CC) will push MJ Gaitan for the 174 spot.
So with transfers slated in at 125, 157, 184, and 197, who will fill the remaining spots? Evan Frost will work his way back down to 133 after starting at 141. Garrett Grice will man the spot in the meantime, and I imagine take a couple duals throughout the year to let Frost manage his weight. Anthony Echemendia is back from injury at 141. He started his season with an All-Star Classic loss to 2x NCAA Champion Jesse Mendez. 2025 All-American Jacob Frost has moved up to 149 and will challenge 2x Big 12 Champion Paniro Johnson for that spot. Johnson won the wrestle-off with a sudden victory takedown. A rematch is the premier matchup of Saturday’s Cyclone Invite.
The other intriguing roster battle is at 165. Connor Euton won the starting job last season, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in the CyHawk dual. Aiden Riggins took over the spot and had a rough regular season, but turned a corner in the postseason and reached the final 16 at NCAAs. Euton won the October wrestle-off. MJ Gaitan seems to be the guy at 174 for a third year in a row. The junior regressed a bit in his sophomore season after initially dropping to 165. I’m optimistically chalking that up to the snip-snap of changing weights then changing back mid-season. And last but not least, Yonger Bastida anchors the lineup at heavyweight. The 2024 Big 12 Champion and 2022 All-American missed last season with an MCL injury. In his final campaign he’s got massive point scoring potential as a true NCAA Champion contender. Bastida looked like himself again in last weekend’s All-Star Classic. The Cuban used a pair of third period takedowns to defeat Michigan’s Taye Ghadiali 8-2.
The Cyclones officially kick off their season Saturday with a new event, the Cyclone Invite. It’s an interesting concept. Essentially Kevin Dresser has created a simulation tournament to add to the wrestle-off process. Wisconsin, Utah Valley, Cal Baptist, and SIU-Edwardsville will enter two guys at each weight. Dresser has said this will function as part two of the wrestle-off process, with part one being the wrestle-off matches at Ames High a couple weeks ago. If there’s a series split, there will be a third match immediately following the tournament. The winner of that will get the starting spot at least through the first semester.
Hilton’s first dual is against D2 power Nebraska-Kearney. Iowa State has a real shot at ending the CyHawk losing streak when #4 Iowa comes to town. The Cyclones then hit the road for a while – returning to the CKLV Invite in early December and facing off against #5 Ohio State and #7 Lehigh in Nashville’s Collegiate Duals before Christmas. The new year starts off with road trips to #11 Stanford, Arizona State and North Dakota State. The Harold Nichols Cyclone Open now occurs in mid-January and the Cyclones stick around to host Northern Colorado.
This season’s Humboldt dual will be a great matchup against #19 South Dakota State. At #16 Oklahoma and #6 Oklahoma State will be the last away duals of the season. A “Beauty and the Beast” dual against #22 West Virginia kicks off the final homestand. The regular season caps off with rivals #17 UNI and #18 Missouri rolling into Ames. The Big 12 tournament is once again in Tulsa and NCAAs take place in Cleveland.
Team
Last Season: 12-5, 27th at NCAAs, 4th at Big 12s
Tournament Preseason Rank (FloWrestling/InterMat): 4/3
Dual Preseason Rank (InterMat): 3
Ceiling: NCAA Runner-Up. Big 12 Champions. Breaking the CyHawk dual streak. Penn State is head and shoulders above everyone, but the race for 2nd will be thrilling. Last season Nebraska finally got over the hump. With 7 All-Americans and 4 Big 12 Champions in the lineup this could be the best Cyclone team since 1987.
Floor: Top 10. Iowa State has too many weapons to fall out of the top ten in the country this year.
125: Stevo Poulin (transfer from Northern Colorado)
Last Season: 24-6 – 8th at NCAAs
Preseason Rank (FloWrestling/InterMat): 7/7
Ceiling: National Champion. Big 12 Champion. 125 has been chaotic the past few years and is a field that cannibalizes itself. I view Poulin as a second tier title contender. He’s had elite wins in the past, its just a matter of what he can put together over three days in March.
Floor: National Qualifier. Poulin is a fifth year 125 who wrestled through a leg injury last season. Those factors, along with the depth of the weight, put him at risk of missing the podium altogether this season.
133: Evan Frost
Last Season: 22-6 – R12 at NCAAs
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 9/5
Ceiling: All-American. This weight features NCAA champions Lucas Byrd and Richie Figueroa as well as finalist Drake Ayala. Adding in Ryan Crookham returning from injury and blue chippers Ben Davino and Marcus Blaze makes 133 a high peak to climb.
Floor: Bloodround. Frost has been a spitting image of consistency, something other podium contenders can’t say.
141: Anthony Echemendia
Last Season: 6-3 – injured at CKLV
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 7/6
Ceiling: National Champion. Echemendia can go takedowns with anyone in the country, and if his mat game has caught up a little, he’s a legitimate title threat. Yes, 2x defending champion Jesse Mendez is here – but Mendez was far from perfect last season.
Floor: All-American. It feels like there’s a clear top 11 at this weight. Assuming Echemendia is at least the 2024 version of himself, he will return to the podium.
149: Jacob Frost or Paniro Johnson
Last Season: Frost – 28-9 @ 141, 7th at NCAAs; Johnson – 23-5, R16 at NCAAs, Big 12 Champion
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): Frost – 6/UR; Johnson – UR/5
Ceiling: Finalist. With NCAA Champion Caleb Henson redshirting, there’s not a guy with a finals appearance in this weight class.
Floor: All-American. 149 is not deep relative to the resumes of both these guys. There’s no way Johnson wins Big 12s, then misses the podium a third time, right? Right???
157: Vinny Zerban (transfer from Northern Colorado)
Last Season: 22-7 – 6th at NCAAs, Big 12 Champion
Preseason Rank: 6/5
Ceiling: All-American. Zerban peaked at the right time last season and had some great wins in his time at Northern Colorado. That being said, the top tier 157s are a step above him.
Floor: Round of 16. Zerban has been inconsistent throughout his career and there’s a good crop of podium contenders in this field.
165: Aiden Riggins or Connor Euton
Last Season: Riggins – 15-19, R16 at NCAAs; Euton – 1-2, Injured vs Iowa
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): Riggins – 20/17
Ceiling: All-American. I love the trajectory of these guys. I think they’re both on a Sam Schuyler/Frost brother path. Riggins turned a corner at Big 12s. Euton’s record is deceiving because of the competition. He had the starting spot before blowing out his knee against Michael Caliendo. The last four spots medals here are up for grabs.
Floor: NCAA Qualifier. On paper this is a weak spot in the lineup. It could be an eyesore if these guys plateau or regress.
174: MJ Gaitan
Last Season: 13-11 – NCAA Qualifier
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 14/12
Ceiling: Bloodround. Gaitan was about the only bright spot in Iowa State’s Big 12 performance last season. If he cleans up the sloppiness without eliminating his big move potential, he will tally some valuable team points for the Cyclones’ trophy hunt.
Floor: National Qualifier. Last season it seemed Gaitan was successfully gameplanned against time and again. It’s a style that is painful to watch when it’s not working.
184: Isaac Dean (transfer from Rider)
Last Season: 25-8, R16 at NCAAs, MAC Champion
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 8/10
Ceiling: All-American. This isn’t the deepest weight. Dean is the third transfer to jump into the 184 spot in three years for Dresser. He could be the first to make the podium.
Floor: National Qualifier. Dean’s ranking is largely buoyed by a win over Bennett Berge, which is great, but he also wrestled a lot of close matches against MAC opponents.
197: Rocky Elam (transfer from Mizzou)
Last Season: Did not compete – injured
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 2/2, FloWrestling Pound-For-Pound #16
Ceiling: National Champion. As a 6th-year senior Elam be on a match count to mitigate injury risk, but there’s only one step left for the 4x All-American to reach. He’s never lost to anyone in the field this year.
Floor: All-American. Without injury concerns, I’d set the floor at NCAA finalist, but the Cyclones have surely been bit by those in the past. That being said, a less than 100% Rocky Elam can place in Cleveland.
285: Yonger Bastida
Last Season: 2-0 – Medical Redshirt
Preseason Rank (Flo/IM): 3/1; FloWrestling Pound-For-Pound #20
Ceiling: National Champion. We’ve seen Bastida put together an undefeated regular season at this weight, including a win over last year’s champion Wyatt Hendrickson. The extremely polarizing and extremely talented AJ Ferrari, now with Nebraska, will be Bastida’s primary competition.
Floor: All-American. Even when clearly injured last season, Bastida handily beat current #5 Ben Kueter. Knock on wood… there’s no way a pinky injury derails another podium run.
