NCAA Wrestling Championships Primer

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State and the rest of the wrestling community will descend upon Philadelphia this week for the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships held March 20-22 at the Wells Fargo Center. Eight Cyclones qualified for the big dance, making it the seventh-consecutive season under head coach Kevin Dresser that ISU has qualified eight or more.

What: 2025 NCAA Championships
Where: Philadelphia, Pa. // Wells Fargo Center
When: March 20-22
Live Stats: TrackWrestling
Watch: ESPNU (Sessions 1, 3, 5), ESPN (Sessions 2, 6) & ESPN2 (Session 4)
Listen: Varsity App & Cyclones.com
[Joe Sinclair, pxp; Nate Carr, analyst]
Championship Central: NCAA.com

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times central)
Thursday, March 20
Session 1: Pigtails & First Round - 11 a.m. (ESPNU)
Session 2: Second Round & Consolation First Round - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN)

Friday, March 21
Session 3: Quarterfinals & Consolation Second & Third Rounds - 11 a.m. (ESPNU)
Session 4: Semifinals & Consolation Fourth & Fifth Rounds - 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Saturday, March 22
Session 5: Consolation Semifinals & Placing Matches - 10 a.m. (ESPNU)
Session 6: Finals - 6 p.m. (ESPN)

IOWA STATE FIRST ROUND MATCHES
133: No. 11 Evan Frost (19-4) vs. No. 22 Tyler Wells (MINN, 11-8)
141: No. 9 Jacob Frost (30-7) vs. No. 24 Jason Miranda (STAN, 20-7)
149: No. 4 Paniro Johnson (25-4) vs. No. 29 Jack Gioffre (UVA, 9-6)
157: No. 16 Cody Chittum (18-6) vs. No. 17 DJ McGee (GMU, 21-5)
165: No. 30 Aiden Riggins (14-17) vs. No. 3 Mike Caliendo (IOWA, 20-2)
174: No. 23 MJ Gaitan (16-9) vs. No. 10 Alex Cramer (CMU, 26-6)
184: No. 13 Evan Bockman (14-7) vs. No. 20 Nick Fine (COL, 14-8)
285: No. 28 Daniel Herrera (26-13) vs. No. 5 Ben Kueter (IOWA, 18-6)

A more in-depth breakdown of Iowa State's First-Round matches can be found, here.

STORYLINES

Iowa State is one of 16 schools to qualify eight or more for the NCAA Championships. Six Cyclones automatically qualified via their placement at the Big 12 Championship while Evan Frost and Daniel Herrera received at-large berths.
Four Cyclones received a top-15 seed in their weight class. Paniro Johnson, ISU's highest seeded wrestler, is the No. 4 seed at 149 pounds on the heels of his second Big 12 title. Jacob Frost (No. 9 - 141 pounds), Evan Frost (No. 11 - 133 pounds) and Evan Bockman (No. 13 - 184 pounds) round out Cyclones in the top-15.
Johnson earned a top-five national seed for the second time in his career. The Cyclone went 1-2 at NCAAs as the No. 5 seed in 2023.
Two Cyclones "stole" automatic national qualifying bids at the Big 12 Championship. Aiden Riggins (165) placed fourth as the No. 8 seed while MJ Gaitan (174) finished third as the No. 7 seed.
After a quarterfinal loss at Big 12s, Gaitan won four-in-a-row on the back side to punch his ticket to the national tournament. After falling in the Blood Round at last year's NCAA Championships, Gaitan looks to finish on the podium this time around.
Three Cyclones - J. Frost, Riggins, Herrera - will make their NCAA debuts in Philadelphia this week.
Evan Frost (133) is the lone Cyclone in the lineup to have finished on the podium (6th, 2024) in their career. ISU lost four starters, including three past All-Americans, to season ending injuries: Casey Swiderski (141/149), Anthony Echemendia (141/149), Connor Euton (165) and Yonger Bastida (285).
Evan and Jacob Frost are one of five sets of brothers and two sets of twins in the 2025 Championship field. They are also the only two Louisiana natives in the tournament.
All seven of Jacob's losses this season have come against the top-eight seeds in the national tournament, six of which came against the top-five seeds.
- Jacob Frost Season Record Breakdown
  vs. top-eight seeds: 2-7
  vs. all other opponents: 27-0
The Cyclones have had multiple All-Americans in six consecutive seasons. The last time ISU had two-plus podium finishers seven times in a row came from 2004-2010 on the tail end of a 48-year streak (1963-2010).
Iowa State placed fourth at the 2024 NCAA Championships with four All-Americans and 68.5 points. It was Iowa State's best finish since 2010 and the 45th trophy finish in program history.

SPIRIT PACKAGE AND SOCIALS
NCAA Wrestling Social 2023 - Tulsa, Okla.

This year's spirit packages, available to those who purchased championship tickets through Iowa State, includes a t-shirt to wear each day of the tournament and admission wristbands for the ISU wrestling socials Friday and Saturday night.

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Address: 1201 Market St. Philadelphia, PA

Social I - Friday, March 21

Social Location - Liberty Ballroom at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
Social begins upon the conclusion of Session 4 Friday Night
Wristband Color: White

Social II - Saturday, March 22

Social Location - Liberty Ballroom at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
Social begins upon the conclusion of Session 6 Saturday Night
Wristband Color: Red

Socials will include a complimentary light snack, keg beer (while supplies last) and a cash bar. The Liberty Ballroom is located on the second level of the hotel. You must wear your provided wristband for access into the social.

Note: Admission to the socials for fans who did not purchase tickets through the ISU package is $20 per person per social.

Fans will wear their cardinal shirts Thursday, white shirts Friday and grey on Saturday.

2025 NCAA Wrestling T-Shirts

WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Head coach Kevin Dresser, MJ Gaitan and Daniel Herrera met with the media on Monday. Watch their interviews below.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Yonger Bastida

Evan Bockman

Cody Chittum

Anthony Echemendia

Connor Euton

Evan Frost

Jacob Frost

MJ Gaitan

Daniel Herrera

Paniro Johnson

Aiden Riggins

Casey Swiderski

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics