Four Cyclones Advance to NCAA Second Round

PHILADELPHIA – Four Cyclones advanced into the Second Round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships Thursday afternoon inside the Wells Fargo Center.

Iowa State went 4-4 in First-Round action with Evan Frost (133), Jacob Frost (141), Cody Chittum (157) and MJ Gaitan (174) winning their first matches of the tournament. The Cyclones are 13^th in the team race with 6.5 points.

Gaitan, seeded No. 23 at 174 pounds, highlighted the session by taking out Central Michigan's No. 10 seed Alex Cramer by 13-2 major decision. Neither wrestler scored in the opening period but Gaitan turned Cramer for a quick two-point near fall to begin the second. The Cyclone would add three takedowns in the final 2:34 of match time to advance into the Second Round.

No. 11 Evan Frost started his tournament with a 2-0 decision over Minnesota's Tyler Wells. The match closely resembled their first-career meeting in the Blood Round at last year's NCAA Championships with neither wrestler getting a takedown. Frost rode Wells for the entire second period and earned an escape in the third period for the win.

At 141 pounds, No. 9 Jacob Frost looked very solid against Stanford's No. 24 Jason Miranda, registering a 16-1 tech fall in 6:29. Frost had four takedowns and a four-point near fall in the match.

No. 16 Chittum commanded his First-Round bout against George Mason's DJ McGee. After a scoreless first, Chittum tallied a takedown in each of the final two periods and ran up over a minute of riding time in an 8-1 decision.

Four Cyclones fell to the wrestlebacks and will battle to extend their season another day during Thursday night's Session 2.

No. 4 Paniro Johnson dropped a tight match, 5-2, to Virginia's Jack Gioffre in tiebreakers. Johnson generated most of the offense throughout the match but was unable to finish on any of his shot attempts. In the end, was Gioffre who registered the deciding takedown in tiebreakers.

At 165 pounds, No. 30 Aiden Riggins dropped an 11-3 major decision to his former teammate, Iowa's No. 3 Mike Caliendo. A hobbled No. 13 Evan Bockman was pinned by No. 20 Nick Fine (COL) in 6:49 at 184 pounds.

In the second Cy-Hawk matchup of the session, No. 28 Daniel Herrera fell to Iowa's No. 5 Ben Kueter, 6-0, in a heavyweight matchup.

Up Next
Session 2 of the NCAA Championships begins at 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. Second-round championship and first-round consolation matches will be wrestled.

Match-by-Match Results
133: No. 11 Evan Frost
First Round: W-D, 2-0 vs. No. 22 Tyler Wells (MINN)
Second Round: vs. No. 6 Connor McGonagle (VT)

141: No. 9 Jacob Frost
First Round: W-TF, 16-1 (6:29) vs. No. 24 Jason Miranda (STAN)
Second Round: vs. No. 9 Andrew Alirez (UNCO)

149: No. 4 Paniro Johnson
First Round: L-D, 5-2 TB-1 vs. No. 29 Jack Gioffre (UVA)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 20 Koy Buesgens (NCST)

157: No. 16 Cody Chittum
First Round: W-D, 8-1 vs. No. 17 DJ McGee (GMU)
Second Round: vs. No. 1 Tyler Kasak (PSU)

165: No. 30 Aiden Riggins
First Round: L-MD, 11-3 vs. No. 3 Mike Caliendo (IOWA)
Consis. Prelim.: vs. No. 32 Jared Keslar (PITT)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 14 Drake Rhodes (SDSU)

174: No. 23 MJ Gaitan
First Round: W-MD, 13-2 vs. No. 10 Alex Cramer (CMU)
Second Round: vs. No. 7 Danny Wask (NAVY)

184: No. 13 Evan Bockman
First Round: L-F, 6:49 vs. No. 20 Nick Fine (COL)
Consis. Rd. 1: vs. No. 29 Kole Mulhause (PRIN)

285: No. 28 Daniel Herrera
First Round: L-D, 6-0 vs. No. 5 Ben Kueter (IOWA)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 21 Jacob Bullock (IND)

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Players Mentioned

Evan Bockman

Cody Chittum

Evan Frost

Jacob Frost

MJ Gaitan

Daniel Herrera

Paniro Johnson

Aiden Riggins

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Iowa State University Athletics