In annual dual at Humboldt, Iowa State wrestling handles SDSU

No. 3 Iowa State wrestling handled No. 15 South Dakota State 29-7 on Jan. 25 in Cyclone coach Kevin Dresser’s hometown.

The Cyclones won eight of 10 bouts at Humboldt High School despite being down a pair of starters at 141 and 157 pounds. Iowa State got bonus-point wins at 133, 149 and 285 pounds.

The Cyclones opened with a nice win for Stevo Poulin at 125 pounds, who had a textbook standing-single takedown to defeat No. 21 Brady Roark in a 5-2 decision. Evan Frost followed with a dominant 20-4 technical fall vs. Iowa City high graduate and former two-time state champion Cale Seaton to give the Cyclones a 8-0 lead.

Southeast Polk graduate Carter Pearson filled in for Anthony Echemnedia at 141 pounds, but lost a 14-3 major decision to No. 23 Julian Tagg. Iowa State bounced back with Jacob Frost at 149 pounds, who wrestled a similar style to his twin brother with a late flurry of takedowns and substantial riding time to secure a 17-4 major decision over Colin Dupill. Before intermission, Iowa State had another backup get some time in Linn-Mar graduate Kane Naaktgeborn vs. No. 20 Cael Swenson. While he wrestled admirably in relief of Vinny Zerban, Naaktgeborn dropped a 3-0 decision after a third-period ride out from Swenson.

Leading 12-7 out of the break, Iowa State rolled the rest of the way. Connor Euton had three takedowns vs. No. 26 Marcus Espinoza-Owens at 165 on his way to an 11-4 decision. MJ Gaitan followed strong with a takedown and rideout in the third period vs. No. 18 Moses Espinoza-Owens to win 5-1. Isaac Dean trailed early vs. Brock Fettig at 184 after conceding a first-period takedown but went on to win 8-5 in sudden victory with a single-leg takedown.

In the marquee matchup of the dual between Iowa State’s No. 2 Rocky Elam vs. SDSU’s No. 6 Bennett Berge, Elam won soundly. His takedown in the first 10 seconds of the match was the difference, including his rideout for the rest of the first period to help get his 5-1 decision win. Yonger Bastida closed the dual with a 25-9 technical fall over No. 24 Luke Rasmussen. Bastida conceded the first takedown but recorded seven of his own after that plus a reversal.

The Cyclones have a big week ahead, with a road trip out to the Sooner State to face Oklahoma on Jan. 30 and Oklahoma State on Feb. 1.

Iowa State wrestling vs. South Dakota State results

• 125: Stevo Poulin (ISU) over Brady Roark (SDSU) (Dec 5-2)
• 133: Evan Frost (ISU) over Cale Seaton (SDSU) (TF 20-4 6:39)
• 141: Julian Tagg (SDSU) over Carter Pearson (ISU) (MD 14-3)
• 149: Jacob Frost (ISU) over Colin Dupill (SDSU) (MD 17-4)
• 157: Cael Swensen (SDSU) over Kane Naaktgeboren (ISU) (Dec 3-0)
• 165: Connor Euton (ISU) over Marcus Espinoza-Owens (SDSU) (Dec 11-4)
• 174: MJ Gaitan (ISU) over Moses Espinoza-Owens (SDSU) (Dec 5-1)
• 184: Isaac Dean (ISU) over Brock Fettig (SDSU) (SV-1 8-5)
• 197: Rocky Elam (ISU) over Bennett Berge (SDSU) (Dec 5-1)
• 285: Yonger Bastida (ISU) over Luke Rasmussen (SDSU) (TF 25-9 6:33)

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.