Iowa

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

Published

1 year ago

November 6, 2024

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.

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Matt Campbell almost left Iowa State twice before landing at Penn State. Why PSU made sense

Published

2 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Matt Campbell almost left Iowa State twice before landing at Penn State. Why PSU made sense

Not long after Matt Campbell settled in as Iowa State’s football coach, the victories began to accumulate.

Campbell’s 2016 ISU team, his first one, won three games.

His next four teams won a total of 32, including the Cyclones’ 9-3 finish in 2020.

Prior to Campbell’s arrival at Iowa State, winning in Ames was difficult.

It was hard not to notice.

Campbell, who became Penn State’s coach after a 10-year run at Iowa State, said recently he almost left Ames twice before finally saying yes to Pat Kraft and the Nittany Lions.

Almost.

“I would say there were probably two really close opportunities that I probably kind of accepted,” Campbell said last Monday.

“And then I said, ‘You know what, I can’t do it’. I slept on it, and I walked away from it, during our 10 years (at Iowa State).”

“In fairness to those organizations, I’m not going to talk about it.”

New Penn State coach Matt Campbell is introduced

Campbell wasn’t sure then.

But he said it was different when Penn State approached him about becoming the permanent replacement for James Franklin.

Two major reasons why are Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi and Kraft, the Lions’ athletic director.

“From Neeli’s standpoint, she’s a wow, and the wow factor of character, integrity, what she was looking for,” Campbell said.

“After getting off that phone call, I was like, this is the type of people you want to associate with.”

“I would say from Pat’s standpoint, (he is) this uber-competitive, want to be a partner, want to be an asset to you in this changing world of college football,” Campbell continued.

“Like, you can’t do it by yourself anymore. You have to be aligned. … Those two things, they were unwavering for me, and they were things that said, you know what, this is really special.”

A huge factor for Campbell was his family – wife Erica, daughters Katie and Izzy and sons Rudy and Rocco.

“Now, the regionality of bringing my family back home,” said Campbell, who is from Massillon, Ohio.

“I mean, being 12 hours away and for my kids to never see their grandparents and never see their cousins, and to have my father and my mother and Erica’s family be able to come and be a part of this experience with us again.

“I can’t lie and tell you that didn’t have a big impact. I think it certainly did, as well.”

Campbell also knew he reached his ceiling at Iowa State, going 72-55 in 10 seasons. The highlight of his run was the Cyclones’ 11-3 finish in 2024.

“Knowing what we’ve done (at ISU), I mean, the last three years at Iowa State have been the greatest three-year run in the history of the school,” Campbell said.

“I don’t know what else we could have done there, and I’m really proud of what we did there.”

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Iowa State Patrol responds to over 200 calls for service during weekend winter storm

Published

14 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Iowa State Patrol responds to over 200 calls for service during weekend winter storm

Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa State Patrol said it responded to 206 calls for service after another weekend winter storm Saturday.

From 5:30 am to 5:30 pm, ISP said it covered 88 crashes, with 74 resulting in property damage.

Officials said one person died and 13 others were injured.

The patrol had 118 motorist assists.

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How much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

How much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, for a large swath of the state, from northwest Iowa to much of central Iowa and southeast Iowa.

Drivers should expect slippery conditions.

Snow fell through the morning with accumulations of 2 to 3 inches across most of Iowa, according to the National Weather Service. The light, fluffy snow will taper off in the afternoon.

The weather service advises that snow-covered roads will make travel slick and more difficult and to use caution.

The counties affected include Pocahontas, Sac, Calhoun, Webster, Hamilton, Crawford, Carroll, Greene, Boone, Story, Marshall, Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Warren, Marion, Mahaska, Monroe, Wapello and Davis.

Where did snow fall the most in Iowa?

Southern Iowa felt the brunt of the snow Saturday morning, with some areas experiencing nearly five inches of accumulation. Here are the highest totals so far in Iowa:

Milton: 4.5 inches
Parnell: 4.5 inches
Norwalk: 3.8 inches
Badger: 3.5 inches
Bloomfield: 3.3 inches
Carroll: 3.2 inches
Buffalo: 3.2 inches
North English: 3 inches
Winterset: 2.6 inches

How much snow has fallen in Des Moines?

The Des Moines International Airport reported 1.2 inches of snow as of 6 a.m. Saturday. Norwalk, just south of Des Moines, reported 3.8 inches of snow by 10:30 a.m. Clive reported 2.7 inches of snow at 10 a.m.

How much snow did Iowa City get?

North Liberty, just north of Iowa City, reported three inches of snow as of 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Tiffin, which is to the northwest of Iowa City, reported 2.7 inches of snow at 10 a.m.

Roads across the state are covered in snow

The Iowa DOT reported that, as of 11 a.m., many of central Iowa’s highways and interstates were completely covered with snow. The organization said travel on I-80 from central Iowa to the Illinois border is not advised.

“Visibility and road conditions are deteriorating rapidly, causing multiple crashes and closing lanes,” the DOT said in a social media post around 11 a.m.

More snow followed by frigid temps

A cold weather advisory is in effect for much of northern, central and southeastern Iowa into Sunday morning. In the Des Moines area, wind chill values could drop to as low as -15. Wind chills across the state are expected between -20 and -30 starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.

(This article has been updated to include new information.)

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