Iowa State wrestling ran into a stroke of bad luck at the wrong time.
Whether it was an illness and shoulder injury for Evan Frost late in the year, a knee injury for Rocky Elam in the final 30 seconds of the Big 12 finals, a concussion for Vinny Zerban at the Big 12 Championships, an arm injury for Anthony Echemendia in the round of 12 at NCAAs or a torn ACL for Isaac Dean in the postseason, the injuries came in waves for Iowa State — all at the worst possible time.
“Sometimes, the cookie just don’t crumble your way,” Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. “Obviously, we haven’t had some luck there. It’s something you always evaluate, but at the end of the day, you can’t put ’em in bubble wrap.”
A promising regular season gave Iowa State hopes for a team trophy at the NCAA Championships, but those ailments across the weights doomed the Cyclones to an eighth-place finish with just three NCAA All-Americans.
Even so, a season is judged from the beginning to the end, so let’s take a look back at the 2025-26 Cyclones.
Team MVP: Yonger Bastida
A runner-up finish wasn’t a storybook ending for Bastida, but Cyclone fans will remember the heavyweight fondly for his journey and as an entertaining competitor. He was the nation’s leader in technical falls this year, one of the most explosive wrestlers in the nation from neutral. Bastida ends the year with a 29-1 record and was Iowa State’s leading point-scorer at NCAAs. Over his career, he was a two-time NCAA All-American with a 57-3 record at heavyweight.
From Trinidad, Cuba, his story was inspiring as well, beginning to learn English and folkstyle wrestling in November of 2020 to becoming Iowa State’s leader in 2025-26.
High point: Defeating rival Iowa Hawkeyes
For the first time since Dec. 5, 2004, the Cyclones found a way to defeat their rival. Elam’s victory over Massoma Endene snapped a long drought for the program. Iowa had won the last 20 matchups, as well as 35 of the last 36, and 59 of the previous 63.
“It’s almost like a nightmare,” MJ Gaitan said after the win. “We can’t win it.”
That nightmare was over, and suddenly Iowa State had legitimate aspirations for a top-four finish at NCAAs. While that didn’t happen, the 20-14 victory gave Cyclone fans something they hadn’t had in two decades with the program.
Low point: NCAA Championships
The finish left Iowa State fans with a bitter taste headed into the offseason. Just three NCAA All-Americans and an eighth-place finish is far from what many hoped for.
Injuries played a role, but the Cyclones didn’t wrestle their best, either. Jacob Frost fell short of the All-American stand after making it there the previous year. Connor Euton was 1-2 at the tournament. Stevo Poulin, while wrestling well, had some bad luck having to face 2025 NCAA champion Vincent Robinson of North Carolina State in the round of 16.
There’s no getting around it, the NCAA Championships were a disappointment.
Could have used: The best of Evan Frost, Rocky Elam at NCAAs
The pile-up of ailments really began with Frost’s illness before the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State road trip. The illness as well as a shoulder injury proved to be too much as Garrett Grice swapped into the postseason lineup at the last minute. With that change, Iowa State lost what felt like a surefire NCAA All-American.
The most impactful loss, however, was Elam. His injury in the final moments of the Big 12 final saw him wrestle as a shell of himself at NCAAs. In that sequence, Iowa State lost a national-title contender at 197 pounds.
Injuries are the obvious answer here, but these two in particular severely damaged Iowa State’s hopes of a team trophy in Cleveland.
Looking ahead: Deep roster of talent returns
The good news for Iowa State? A lot of talent comes back.
Returning from this year’s starting group will be Evan Frost, Garrett Grice, Anthony Echemendia, Jacob Frost, Connor Euton and MJ Gaitan. Two-time Big 12 champion Paniro Johnson will return after a neck injury sidelined him early in the year. Young, intriguing talents such as Christian Castillo (125), Sawyer Bartelt (184), Daniel Herrera (285) and incoming freshman Coby Merrill (285) could make a splash next season. Also keep an eye on Reineri Ortega, a 2019 U23 World champion at 57 kilograms in the Cyclone RTC who is in a lawsuit with the NCAA over his eligibility.
Iowa State showed increased willingness to enter the transfer portal last season, too. If the Cyclones can make a few splashy additions around the core laid out above, the team will be in a good place.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 2025-26 season in review for Iowa State wrestling, MVP, high point, looking ahead
Reporting by Eli McKown, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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