Jacob Frost Advances to National Quarterfinals

PHILADELPHIA – Iowa State 141-pounder Jacob Frost advanced to the National Quarterfinals Thursday night inside the Wells Fargo Center. Frost, the No. 9 seed, took out 2023 National Champion and No. 8 seed Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado, 6-1, to complete a 2-0 day at the NCAA Championships.

Frost and Alirez entered the final 1:30 of the match deadlocked at 1-1 before the Cyclone registered the winning takedown with 0:54 remaining. Frost rode Alirez for the remainder of the match and secured a stall point and riding time point.

Philly weather forecast: FROSTY ☃️

Jacob Frost takes out 2023 National Champion Andrew Alirez, 6-1!!

🌪️🚨🌪️ pic.twitter.com/YKHUuDlVDK
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 20, 2025

Frost is the lone Cyclone remaining on the championship side of his bracket, but five other ISU wrestlers are still alive in the wrestlebacks. Evan Frost (133), Paniro Johnson (149), Cody Chittum (157), Aiden Riggins (165) and MJ Gaitan (174) will have to battle through the back side of their brackets. Iowa State is in 18th place in the team standings with 9.0 points.

Three Cyclones fell in their championship second-round matches. No. 11 Evan Frost fell to No. 6 Connor McGonagle, 5-0. Frost was unable to get to his offense in the match after conceding a takedown and being rode out in the first period.

No. 16 Cody Chittum fell to top-seeded Tyler Kasak, 8-3, in a hard-fought decision at 157 pounds while No. 23 MJ Gaitan fell to Navy's No. 7 Danny Wask, 12-4, at 174 pounds.

In the wrestlebacks, No. 30 Aiden Riggins defeated Pitt's Jared Keslar, 7-6, in a consolation prelim match to advance into the first consolation round. The Cyclone won his second match of the session with a decisive 9-3 decision over South Dakota State's No. 14 Drake Rhodes. Riggins had three takedowns in the win as he avenged his regular season loss to the Jackrabbit.

No. 4 Paniro Johnson extended his season another day with a tight victory over NC State's No. 20 Koy Buesgens on the consolation side, 1-1 TB-1 (RT). Johnson rode Buesgens for the first 0:30 tiebreaker period and did not surrender a takedown in the final 0:30 period after Buesgens chose neutral.

A hobbled Evan Bockman saw his tournament come to an end with a 12-5 loss to Princeton's Kole Mulhauser. Heavyweight Daniel Herrera was tied 1-1 late in the match against Indiana's No. 21 Jacob Bullock when the Hoosier struck with a takedown and near fall with under 10 seconds remaining, ending Herrera's season.

Up Next
Session 3 of the NCAA Championships begins at 11 a.m. (CT) on ESPNU. Quarterfinals and two consolation rounds 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: L-D, 5-0 vs. No. 6 Connor McGonagle (VT)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 12 Ethan Oakley (UNC)

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

149: No. 4 Paniro Johnson
First Round: L-D, 5-2 TB-1 vs. No. 29 Jack Gioffre (UVA)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-D, 1-1 TB-1 (RT) vs. No. 20 Koy Buesgens (NCST)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 19 Andrew Clark (RUT)

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)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 31 Noah Castillo (CHAT)

165: No. 30 Aiden Riggins
First Round: L-MD, 11-3 vs. No. 3 Mike Caliendo (IOWA)
Consis. Prelim.: W-D, 7-6 vs. No. 32 Jared Keslar (PITT)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-D, 9-3 vs. No. 14 Drake Rhodes (SDSU)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 13 Will Miller (APP)

174: No. 23 MJ Gaitan
First Round: W-MD, 13-2 vs. No. 10 Alex Cramer (CMU)
Second Round: L-MD, 12-4 vs. No. 7 Danny Wask (NAVY)
Consis. Rd. 2: vs. No. 8 Lenny Pinto (NEB)

184: No. 13 Evan Bockman - DNP
First Round: L-F, 6:49 vs. No. 20 Nick Fine (COL)
Consis. Rd. 1: L-D, 12-5 vs. No. 29 Kole Mulhauser (PRIN)

285: No. 28 Daniel Herrera - DNP
First Round: L-D, 6-0 vs. No. 5 Ben Kueter (IOWA)
Consis. Rd. 2: L-D, 7-1 vs. No. 21 Jacob Bullock (IND)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Evan Bockman

Cody Chittum

Evan Frost

Jacob Frost

MJ Gaitan

Daniel Herrera

Paniro Johnson

Aiden Riggins

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