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NCAA Championships: Weight-By-Weight First Round Breakdown
03.14.2024 | Wrestling
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State's nine qualifiers to the 2024 NCAA Championships received their seeds and brackets during Wednesday night's selection show. Let's dive into the Cyclones' First-Round matchups.
Yonger Bastida, ISU's highest seeded wrestler, is the No. 2 seed at 285 pounds following a dominant 24-0 season which included 16 bonus point victories. He has wins over five of the top-10 seeds and seven of the top-12 seeded wrestlers. In total, Bastida has 13 wins against 12 wrestlers in the heavyweight field.
David Carr is the No. 4 seed at 165 pounds while Anthony Echemendia was given the 141-pound No. 5 seed. Evan Frost (133) and Casey Swiderski (149) are both No. 8 seeds in their respective weight classes.
This marks the fourth time under head coach Kevin Dresser that nine Cyclones have qualified for the national tournament and ISU's sixth consecutive season with at least eight qualifiers. Iowa State is one of 12 teams nationally sending nine-plus wrestlers to the tournament.
Four Cyclones – Frost, Echemendia, Cody Chittum and MJ Gaitan - will make their NCAA Championships debut next week in Kansas City
Below is a weight-by-weight breakdown for all nine of Iowa State's First-Round matches.
125: No. 24 Kysen Terukina (13-8) vs. No. 9 Patrick McKee (15-6, MINN)
Kysen Terukina will open his third NCAA Championship appearance against four-time qualifier and two-time All-American Patrick McKee of Minnesota.
The pair have met once in their careers, at last season's NWCA All-Star Classic where McKee earned a fall in 3:48. It was Terukina's final bout of 2022-23 due to a season-ending shoulder injury sustained in the match.
To view common opponents between Terukina and McKee, click here.
133: No. 8 Evan Frost (18-4) vs. No. 25 Braden Basile (22-12, ARMY)
Redshirt freshman Evan Frost will make his NCAA Championship debut against a true freshman from Army, Braden Basile.
Both talented youngsters had solid placements in their respective conference tournaments – Frost was a Big 12 runner-up while Basile placed third in a loaded EIWA bracket as the No. 6 seed.
The wrestlers have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between Frost and Basile, click here.
141: No. 5 Anthony Echemendia (20-4) vs. No. 28 Jordan Hamdan (21-11, MSU)
Big 12 champion Anthony Echemendia, another Cyclone making his NCAA Championships debut, will start his tournament against Michigan State's Jordan Hamdan. Hamdan, an automatic qualifier out of the Big Ten Conference, has qualified for the championships once before in 2021 and is ranked No. 30 by InterMat.
The pair have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between Echemendia and Hamdan, click here.
149: No. 8 Casey Swiderski (20-3) vs. No. 25 Matthew Williams (26-8, ARMY)
Sophomore Casey Swiderski returns to the NCAA Championships for the second season in a row. After falling in the blood round last year, he'll begin the 2024 championships against Matthew Williams, a senior first-time qualifier from Army. Williams advanced to the semifinals before placing fourth at last weekend's EIWA Championships.
The pair have not met in their careers and have no common opponents. Williams has wrestled against a pair of current Cyclones in his career – a 17-5 major decision loss to Echemendia at last season's Soldier Salute and a 15-5 defeat to Paniro Johnson at the 2022 David Lehman Open.
Swiderski delivered one of the most thrilling comebacks of the tournament against No. 7 Vince Cornella at last year's NCAA Championships, earning a fall with less than 15 seconds remaining while trailing 7-3.
CASEY SWIDERSKI GETS THE FALL!!
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 17, 2023
Not done yet!! @CaseySwiderski pic.twitter.com/jfXz3vEzsI
157: No. 14 Cody Chittum (15-5) vs. No. 19 Tommy Askey (22-5, APP)
True freshman Cody Chittum, a Big 12 runner-up, will begin his tournament against App State's Tommy Askey, a two-time SoCon champion and two-time NCAA Qualifier. Similarly to Chittum, Askey can put points on the board in a hurry having finished with eight tech falls and 14 bonus-point wins in the regular season.
The pair have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between Chittum and Askey, click here.
A win for Chittum in the First Round could set up a Second-Round match against Cornell's No. 3 Meyer Shapiro - a bout between two true freshman that is sure to be a crowd favorite and full of fireworks.
165: No. 4 David Carr (22-2) vs. No. 29 Evan Maag (27-9, GMU)
David Carr, a three-time NCAA All-American, will begin his quest for a second national title against George Mason's Evan Maag. Maag, a redshirt freshman, is an automatic qualifier courtesy of his MAC title last weekend.
Carr and Maag have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between the pair, click here.
174: No. 15 MJ Gaitan (19-7) vs. No. 18 Benjamin Pasiuk (20-6, ARMY)
MJ Gaitan, making his NCAA Championships debut, will be the third Cyclone to open his tournament against an opponent from Army West Point. He'll take on Benjamin Pasiuk, a senior making his fourth appearance in the national tournament. Pasiuk is fresh off a runner-up finish at the EIWA Championships last weekend.
Never out of a match, Gaitan led the Cyclones with nine pins this season, a trend he hopes to continue at NCAAs.
The wrestlers have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between Gaitan and Pasiuk, click here.
Another fall for MJ Gaitan! 📌
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 10, 2024
His second of the day!@MJGaitan33
🌪🚨🌪 pic.twitter.com/XRR3yHGRza
184: No. 17 Will Feldkamp (12-9) vs. No. 16 Nate Dugan (23-7, PRIN)
Will Feldkamp, a returning All-American at 184 pounds, will make his third appearance at the NCAA Championships after an up-and-down regular season battling to stay healthy. He will kick off his final tournament against Princeton's Nate Dugan, the EIWA runner-up. Dugan, ranked No. 21 by InterMat, is making his first NCAA Championship appearance.
The wrestlers have not met in their careers. To view common opponents between Feldkamp and Dugan, click here.
285: No. 2 Yonger Bastida (24-0) vs. No. 31 Bennett Tabor (20-7, MINN)
Yonger Bastida has steadily climbed the heavyweight food chain throughout the 2023-24 season and has proven he has what it takes to wrestle on Saturday night. He'll open the NCAA Championships against Bennett Tabor, a first-time qualifier out of Minnesota.
Bastida and Tabor have wrestled once before in their careers when both were still at 197 pounds. Bastida won by tech fall, 18-3, in the third-place match at the 2021 Daktronics Open.
To view common opponents between Bastida and Tabor, click here.
OMG YONGER! pic.twitter.com/5lQvMuFwcB
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 11, 2024
NCAA Championships Schedule
March 21 – 11 a.m. – Session I – 1st Round – ESPNU
March 21 – 6 p.m. – Session II – 2nd Round – ESPN
March 22 – 11 a.m. – Session III – Quarterfinals – ESPNU
March 22 – 7 p.m. – Session IV – Semifinals – ESPN
March 23 – 10 a.m. – Session V – Medal Matches – ESPNU
March 23 – 6 p.m. – Session VI – Finals – ESPN
Players Mentioned
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Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 5)
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Saturday, March 22
Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 4)
Friday, March 21
Kevin Dresser Interview (NCAA Championships Session 3)
Friday, March 21
