Bastida Through to Finals; Echemendia and Gaitan All-Americans

Friday, March 20

Cleveland, Ohio

7:00 PM

Iowa State

NCAA Championships (Session 4)

Bastida Through to Finals; Echemendia and Gaitan All-Americans

03.20.2026 | Wrestling

Brackets Team Scores Bastida Press Conference Dresser Interview

CLEVELAND – Iowa State heavyweight Yonger Bastida advanced to the NCAA Finals with a dominant victory over Nebraska's No. 4 AJ Ferrari Friday night inside a packed Rocket Arena. Bastida is Iowa State's finalist since David Carr in 2024 and the first Cyclone heavyweight finalist since 2010 (David Zabriskie).

Bastida started fast against Ferrari with an explosive takedown in the opening 11 seconds. Later in the first period, the Cyclone would take Ferrari feet to back for a big seven-point move. Both wrestlers would score takedowns in the third period with Bastida getting the last laugh to win by major decision, 15-7.

Also on Friday night, Anthony Echemendia and MJ Gaitan both prevailed in the Blood Round to achieve All-America status.

Echemendia captures his second career All-America honor and marks the third-straight year ISU has had an All-American at 141 pounds. Gaitan earned his first All-America finish after losing in the Blood Round in 2024, also to an opponent from Illinois. Gaitan is the first Iowa State 174-pound All-American at the NCAA Championships since Lelund Weatherspoon (2016).

Iowa State will finish with at least three All-Americans for the second time in the last three seasons.

Echemendia won via injury default in his blood round match over Rider's No. 15 Elijah Griffin in the second period. The first period featured a lengthy delay due to concussion protocol before the match was stopped after another scare in the second period.

It was a tight match between No. 11 Gaitan and Illinois' No. 18 Colin Kelly with a spot on the podium on the line. Neither wrestler could muster a takedown until Gaitan broke through with 0:29 remaining in the third period with the winning takedown.

Echemendia would win again Friday night against Penn's No. 11 CJ Composto, 10-2, to advance into the consolation semifinals. Gaitan dropped his next match and will wrestle for seventh place Saturday.

No. 16 seed Jacob Frost saw his tournament run come to an end in the Blood Round with a down-to-the-wire defeat to Penn's No. 3 No. 3 Cross Wasilewski. Frost held a 5-4 lead late in the match but Wasilewski secured a takedown with less than 0:30 remaining to take the lead and would add two more near fall at the buzzer.

Frost ends his season with a 20-9 record.

UP NEXT
Session 5 of the NCAA Championships begins Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) on ESPNU. The NCAA Finals begin at 5:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.

MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
No. 13 Stevo Poulin (125) – DNP
First Round – W-D vs. No. 20 Diego Sotelo (MICH), 10-6
Second Round – L-D vs. No. 4 Sheldon Seymour (LEH), 5-4
Consis. Rd. 2 – W-D vs. No. 19 Kysen Terukina (UNC), 7-2
R16 – L-MD vs. No. 12 Vincent Robinson (NCST), 11-3

No. 28 Garrett Grice (133) - DNP
First Round – L-MD vs. No. 5 Kyler Larkin (ASU), 13-0
Consis. Rd. 1 – W-D vs. No. 21 Sean Spidle (NW), 5-3
Consis. Rd. 2 – W-D vs. No. 11 Tyler Ferrara (CORN), 8-6
R16 – L-MD vs. No. 13 Jacob Van Dee (NEB), 12-1

No. 4 Anthony Echemendia (141)
First Round – W-D vs. No. 29 Jordan Titus (WVU), 5-1
Second Round – W-MD vs. No. 13 Wyatt Henson (LH), 14-4
QF – L-D vs. No. 5 Luke Stanich (LEH), 6-4
R12 – W-Inj. Def. vs. No. 15 Elijah Griffin (RID), 4:10
Consis. QF – W-MD vs. No. 11 CJ Composto (PENN), 10-2
Consis. SF – vs. No. 3 Brock Hardy (NEB)

No. 16 Jacob Frost (149) - DNP
First Round – WBF vs. No. 17 Lucas Kapusta (LH), 3:48
Second Round – LBF vs. No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (PSU), 2:23
Consis. Rd. 2 – W-D vs. No. 18 Eugene Harney (MORG), 4-2
R16 – W-D vs. No. 23 Max Petersen (NDSU), 10-6
R12 – L-D vs. No. 3 Cross Wasilewski (PENN), 9-5

No. 12 Vinny Zerban (157) - DNP
First Round – L-D vs. No. 21 Charlie Millard (MINN), 12-6
Consis. Rd. 1 – W-MD vs. No. 28 Gavin Drexler (NDSU), 11-0
Consis. Rd. 2 – L-D vs. No. 6 Jude Swisher (PENN), 6-3

No. 15 Connor Euton (165) - DNP
First Round – W-TF vs. No. 18 Gunner Filipowicz (ARMY), 17-2 (6:09)
Second Round – L-MD vs. No. 2 Joey Blaze (PUR), 10-1
Consis. Rd. 2 – L-D vs. No. 32 Cody Walsh (DREX), 14-11

No. 11 MJ Gaitan (174)
First Round – WBF vs. No. 22 Brody Baumann (PUR), 2:41
Second Round – W-D vs. No. 6 Matty Singleton (NCST), 6-3
QF – L-MD vs. No. 3 Christopher Minto (NEB), 11-3
R12 – W-D vs. No. 18 Colin Kelly (ILL), 4-1
Consis. QF – L-MD vs. No. 15 Danny Wask (NAVY), 20-9
7^th-Place Match: vs. No. 9 Beau Mantanona (MICH)

No. 13 Isaac Dean (184) - DNP
First Round – L-D vs. No. 20 Brian Soldano (OKLA), 4-1
Consis. Rd. 1 – L-D vs. No. 29 Nick Fox (UNI), 4-1

No. 2 Rocky Elam (197) - DNP
First Round – W-D vs. No. 31 Kael Bennie (UVU), 9-3
Second Round – L-MD vs. No. 15 Remy Cotton (RUT), 12-4
Consis. Rd. 2 – L-D vs. No. 16 Branson John (MD), 11-4

No. 1 Yonger Bastida (285)
First Round – W-TF vs. No. 32 Emmanuel Ulrich (AU), 22-5 (3:20)
Second Round – W-TF vs. No. 16 Jimmy Mullen (VT), 20-4 (6:21)
QF – W-D vs. No. 8 Ben Kueter (IOWA), 4-2
SF – W-MD vs. No. 4 AJ Ferrari (NEB), 15-7
Finals – vs. No. 2 Isaac Trumble (NCST)