Iowa State wrestling notebook ahead of Cyclones’ season opener vs. No. 20 Stanford

AMES – Sixth-ranked Iowa State wrestling is set to begin the 2024-25 wrestling season with a dual meet against No. 20 Stanford.

Friday’s dual meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT from Hilton Coliseum and will be available on ESPN+.

“We got our hands full this first Friday night, I can tell you on paper, this is the toughest team we ever started out with,” head coach Kevin Dresser said. “I’m in my seventh or eighth year of home openers, and this is the toughest team we’ve got. … They have potentially six out of 10 weights ranked in the top 20, so it’s a lot for us to jump into right now, especially considering we got a really young squad and we’re going to be without a couple of All-Americans.”

The Cyclones are nursing several injuries, and it will have an opportunity to flex its depth early in the season. The Cyclones have penned three true freshmen in their starting lineup for Friday: Adrian Meza (125), Kane Naaktgeboren (157) and Daniel Herrera (HWT). Redshirt freshman Christian Carroll, InterMat’s No. 32-ranked 197-pounder, will also get to start.

“These freshmen that we got, man, I’m telling you, they’re dangerous,” senior Anthony Echemendia said. “They’re hungry, and they’re not going to take a step back for anybody. These guys wanted to be at Iowa State for a reason, because this program is doing great things, and I’m very happy with the freshmen that we have now. They’re going to carry the culture very well.”

There’s plenty of youth in the lineup overall. Eight of the 11 projected starting Cyclones are sophomores or younger, including 133-pounder Evan Frost, who was a NCAA All-American last season.

Additionally, six of 11 projected starters are new to the roster, including Meza, Naaktgeboren, Herrera, Iowa transfer Aiden Riggins (174), Utah Valley transfer Evan Bockman (184) and Oklahoma State transfer Christian Carroll (197).

It’ll be an opportunity for fans to become acquainted with the newcomers.

“We obviously had some wrestle-offs, and we have a few other wrestle-offs coming up here and we got some guys (coming back from injury) that we’re going to get back in the mix here, so they’re going to have to wrestle their way back into this, but it wasn’t a perfect puzzle,” Dresser said of the starting lineup selection process. “The coaching staff, we had hours and hours of meetings of hypotheticals, and sometimes an injury will force your hand a little bit.”

Iowa State wrestling roster and injury updates

Standout heavyweight Yonger Bastida is still recovering from a minor knee sprain that was announced to have him sidelined for 2-3 weeks, forcing him to withdraw from the NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 16.

Casey Swiderski, a NCAA All-American last season at 149 pounds, is working on his weight cut.

“We’ve progressed him down slow,” Dresser said. “It’s no secret that he wanted to make the drop to 141.”

Cody Chittum sustained a concussion, and the Cyclones are “leaning towards a redshirt” for the sophomore.

“He’s had a couple in the year, so we got him evaluated,” Dresser said of Chittum. “The evaluation was good, but they’re going to want to sit him for about 4-5 more weeks.”

Kysen Terukina, Paniro Johnson and M.J. Gaitan are working on their return to the mat after minor injuries.

Iowa State’s starting lineup will be one to watch as the season progresses and as more of those wrestlers make their return and finalize their weight changes.

“We’ve got our 141, 149, and 157 – everything can change in a month, but right now, it’s going to be Anthony (Echemendia) at 149, Paniro (Johnson) at 157. Cody will redshirt, and then next year, we’ll look into redshirting Casey, but right now, it’s looking like we’ve got 141, 149 and 157 figured out.”

With Gaitan out, sophomore Connor Euton is the starter at 165 on Friday, but it’ll be a close race between those two moving forward.

“I’m excited to see what he can do, he’s got M.J. and him competing for the same spot, so we’re going to have to turn around and have a wrestle-off here sooner than later,” Dresser said. “Right now, he’s one of our hardest-working guys, and he’s excited to get out there and show all that hard work.”

Cyclones’ probable lineup for dual meet with Stanford

• 125: Adrian Meza, Fr., 0-0 career record, or Garrett Grice, So., 16-5 career
• 133: Evan Frost, So., 37-12 career
• 141: Zach Redding, Sr., 43-24 career
• 149: Anthony Echemendia, Sr., 30-7 career
• 157: Kane Naaktgeboren, Fr., 0-0 career
• 165: Connor Euton, So., 20-4 career
• 174: Aiden Riggins, R-So., 17-15 career
• 184: Evan Bockman, Sr., 58-33 career
• 197: Christian Carroll, R-Fr., 2-2 career
• HWT: Daniel Herrera, Fr., 0-0 career

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.