PRIMER: No. 6 Iowa State Hosts No. 20 Stanford in Season Opener

Friday, November 8

Ames, Iowa

7:00 PM

Iowa State

Stanford

Buy Tickets

Hilton Coliseum (Wrestling vs. Iowa, 2023)

PRIMER: No. 6 Iowa State Hosts No. 20 Stanford in Season Opener

11.06.2024 | Wrestling

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AMES, Iowa - No. 6 Iowa State, fresh off a Big 12 title and an NCAA team trophy, enters its eighth season under two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year Kevin Dresser. The Cyclones open their 2024-25 campaign at home against No. 20 Stanford Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Who: No. 6 Iowa State (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No. 20 Stanford (2-0, 0-0 ACC)
Where: Ames, Iowa // Hilton Coliseum (14,267)
When: Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 // 7 p.m.
PURCHASE TICKETS

The Links
WATCH: ESPN+
PxP: Tom Kroeschell; Analyst: Kyven Gadson
LISTEN: Varsity App // Cyclones.com
PxP: Joe Sinclair; PxP: Ryan Rohlk; Analyst: Nate Carr
LIVE STATS
IOWA STATE MATCH NOTES

PROJECTED MATCHUPS
No. 6 Iowa State (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No. 20 Stanford (2-0, 0-0 ACC)
125: Adrian Meza (0-0) or Garrett Grice (0-0) vs. #10 Nico Provo (0-0)
133: #5 Evan Frost (0-0) vs. #20 Tyler Knox (2-0)
141: Zach Redding (0-0) vs. Jack Consiglio (1-1) or Aden Valencia (0-0)
149: #6 Anthony Echemendia (0-0) vs. #10 Jaden Abas (2-0) or EJ Parco (0-0)
157: Kane Naaktgeboren (0-0) vs. Grigor Cholakyan (2-0)
165: Connor Euton (0-0) vs. #8 Hunter Garvin (1-1) or Zach Hanson (3-1)
174: Aiden Riggins (0-0) vs. #21 Lorenzo Norman (2-0)
184: #19 Evan Bockman (0-0) vs. Tye Monteiro (3-1) or Luke Duthie (2-0)
197: Christian Carroll (0-0) vs. #13 Nick Stemmet (1-1)
285: Daniel Herrera (0-0) vs. Jackson Mankowski (1-1)
*FloWrestling Indiv. Rankings (11/5/2024)
**NWCA Team Dual Rankings (11/5/2024)

MATCH PROMOTIONS - GOLD RULES!
- Wear your favorite GOLD colored apparel!
- Free gold rally towels for the first 200 fans
- GREEK NIGHT: ISU Athletics will donate $250 each to the philanthropic efforts of the fraternity and sorority with the highest percentage of members in attendance

WRS Gold Rules

INSIDE THE SERIES
Second Meeting
Overall: 1-0
Home: 1-0
Road: 0-0
Neutral: 0-0
Dresser vs. STAN: 0-0
Last Meeting: 1/21/2005 (ISU 23, STAN 18)

Iowa State and Stanford face off for just the second time in the programs' history. The Cyclones and Cardinal first met Jan. 21, 2005 when Iowa State defeated Stanford, 23-18, inside Hilton Coliseum.

Stanford led the No. 3 Cyclones, 18-16, after eight bouts, but ISU got a major decision from two-time All-American Kurt Backes (pictured below) at 197 pounds and a decision from heavyweight Scott Coleman to close out the dual.

Kurt Backes vs. Stanford (2005)

RETURNING PRODUCTION
Iowa State must adjust to life without two-time national champ and five-time All-American David Carr in the lineup, but the 2024-25 Cyclone roster has the potential to be better than last year.

ISU returns seven wrestlers, including three All-Americans, from its Big 12 and NCAA Championships lineup last season. Overall, Iowa State returns 76 percent of its dual meet victories from last season's roster and 42.5 of its 68.5 points from the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Four current Cyclones have earned All-America status at some point in their career - Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia, Casey Swiderski and Yonger Bastida.

GOING FOR BONUS
Kevin Dresser preaches a high-paced, entertaining style of wrestling which allowed the Cyclones to take advantage of the NCAA's new three-point takedown rule last season.

Last season, nearly half of ISU's wins in duals came with bonus points. The Cyclones tallied 72 bonus-point wins (15 WBF, 29 TF, 28 MD) in 150 dual matches in 2023-24. In total, nearly 45 percent of ISU's matches (dual & tournament) last season resulted in a bonus-point win (125-of-285).

Evan Frost vs. Iowa (2023)

YOUNG GUNS AND NEW FACES
Iowa State added nine freshmen and four transfers to its roster during the offseason, giving it the No. 11 recruiting class nationally by FloWrestling.

Eight of the 11 Cyclones in Friday's projected lineup are sophomores or younger, including three true freshmen (Adrian Meza, Kane Naaktgeboren, Daniel Herrera). All three were top-100 overall recruits in the 2024 recruiting class - Meza (Flo's No. 54), Herrera (Flo's No. 63) and Naaktgeboren (MatScouts' No. 90).

Additionally, six of the 11 are new to the roster this season.

Iowa State's projected 174, 184 and 197 pounders are all new additions to the roster this season via the transfer portal. Christian Carroll (197, Oklahoma State), Evan Bockman (184, Utah Valley), Aiden Riggins (174, Iowa) are all expected to be in the Cyclone lineup.

KEY STORYLINES

On Thursday, Iowa State and head coach Kevin dresser agreed to a four-year contract extension through June 2029. To read more, CLICK HERE.
ISU finished in fourth place at the 2024 NCAA Championships with 68.5 team points, it's best finish and point total since 2010. It was the 45th NCAA team trophy finish in program history.
Iowa State won its first Big 12 title, and its 18th conference championship in program history, in 2024 behind individual title performances from Echemendia and Bastida. With one less placewinner than Oklahoma State, the Cyclones still managed to outpace the Cowboys thanks to 28 bonus points compared to 13 from OSU.
Bonus points were the common theme for Iowa State's success last season. Nearly 45 percent of dual/tournament matches wrestled by Cyclones in 2023-24 resulted in a bonus-point win (125-of-285).
Cyclone 133-pounder Evan Frost has been selected to wrestle in the NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 16. He is matched up against Little Rock's Nasir Bailey, who placed fourth at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Iowa State is 18-2 on its home mat since the 2021-22 season.
The Cyclones have gone 35 consecutive polls ranked inside the NWCA top 10.

WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Kevin Dresser, Anthony Echemendia and Evan Frost met with the media on Tuesday. Watch their interviews below.