PRIMER: No. 9 Iowa State Travels to Utah Valley for Big 12 Opener

AMES, Iowa - No. 9 Iowa State hits the road for the first time this season when the Cyclones travel to Utah Valley for their Big 12 opener. That dual is set for 8 p.m. (CT) and will be streamed on FloWrestling and YouTube.

THE MATCHUP: No. 9 Iowa State (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Utah Valley (0-0, 0-0 Big 12)
WHERE: UCCU Center (7,000) – Orem, Utah
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 – 8 p.m. (CT)

The Links
WATCH: FloWrestling & YouTube
PxP: Sam Allen; Analyst: Chasen Tolbert
LISTEN: No radio coverage of this match.
MATCH NOTES
LIVE STATS

PROBABLE MATCHUPS
No. 9 Iowa State (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Utah Valley (0-0, 0-0 Big 12)
125: Rin Sakamoto (0-0) -or- Dru Ayala (1-0) vs. Geronimo Rivera (3-2) -or- Roman Luttrell (3-3)
133: No. 14 Garrett Grice (1-0) vs. Layne Kleimann (4-1)
141: No. 2 Evan Frost (1-0) vs. Owen Proper (4-1) -or- Smokey McClure (2-2)
149: No. 9 Jacob Frost (1-0) vs. Jason Worthley (3-1) -or- Josh Fish (4-2)
157: No. 13 Paniro Johnson (1-0) vs. Ian Fritz (3-1)
165: No. 14 Connor Euton (0-1) vs. No. 24 Moses Espinoza-Owens (3-1) -or- Ryker Fullmer (5-1)
174: Tate Naaktgeboren (1-0) vs. No. 25 Marcus Espinoza-Owens (3-0) -or- Hudson Rogers (3-2)
184: Sawyer Bartelt (0-1) vs. No. 19 Caleb Uhlenhopp (3-0)
197: Brayden Thompson (0-1) vs. No. 23 Kael Bennie (3-1) -or- Chandler Thompson (3-2)
285: No. 15 Coby Merrill (1-0) vs. Will McCleary (3-2) -or- Elijah Schunke (3-2)
*InterMat Rankings (11/3/2026)

INSIDE THE SERIES
9th Meeting
Overall: 8-0
Home: 4-0
Road: 3-0
Neutral: 1-0
Metcalf vs. UVU: 0-0
Last Meeting: 1/12/2024 (ISU 44, UVU 3)

CYCLONES vs. WOLVERINES
Iowa State has won all eight of its prior meetings against Utah Valley. The Cyclones and Wolverines last met in 2024. ISU handled UVU, 44-3, in Ames in that dual. The Cyclones travel to Orem for the fourth time in program history. ISU is 3-0 on the road in the series.

Iowa State defeated Utah Valley, 31-9, the last time it wrestled at Utah Valley in 2023. Paniro Johnson is the lone Cyclone in this week's lineup from that 2023 dual. Johnson, who was ranked No. 7 at 149 pounds at the time, defeated Isaiah Delgado, 5-2.

Paniro Johnson vs. Utah Valley (2023) — Paniro Johnson wrestles against Isaiah Delgado at Utah Valley (2023).

SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY
Utah Valley is in its third season under head coach Adam Hall and opened its season with a team title at the Clarion Open last weekend. Five Wolverines qualified for the NCAA Championships last season, two of which are back on the roster for 2026-27.

NCAA Qualifiers, No. 19 Caleb Uhlenhopp (184) and No. 23 Kael Bennie (197), are the highest ranked Wolverines and present another quality opportunity for Cyclone upper weights Sawyer Bartelt and Brayden Thompson early in the season. With the addition of the Espinoza-Owens brothers, Moses (165) and Marcus (174), who transferred from South Dakota State this offseason, Utah Valley is ranked at four weight classes - 165, 174, 184 and 197 pounds.

Marcus Espinoza-Owens and Uhlenhopp both won Clarion Open titles last weekend. Espinoza-Owens was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week after he upset Ohio State's No. 4 Jaxon Smith, 4-2, in the finals.

MORE AT STAKE
Big 12 duals have added meaning to them after the league announced the addition of a regular season championship in wrestling, beginning this season. The title is in addition to the annual Big 12 Wrestling Championship, held this year in Tulsa, Okla. March 5-6.

The Big 12 regular season championship will be awarded to the team with the highest winning percentage in Conference dual meets, with no tiebreakers to allow for co-champions. Programs will face each of the other eight teams during the Conference schedule, with four home meets and four away meets.

Friday's matchup between Iowa State and Utah Valley is the first Big 12 dual on the calendar this season.

STARTING WITH A WIN
No. 9 Iowa State defeated Bucknell, 29-12, Sunday in Brent Metcalf's first dual as head coach. The Cyclones won 7-of-10 matches and tallied bonus points in four bouts.

The middle of ISU's lineup got the job done as Evan Frost (141) and Jacob Frost (149) both won by tech fall and Paniro Johnson (157) won via major decision. Tate Naaktgeboren (174) also put bonus points on the board after he won by injury default. Naaktgeboren, Coby Merrill (285), and Dru Ayala (125) all earned their first career dual match victories.

Metcalf is the seventh Cyclone head coach to win his dual debut.

OTHER KEY STORYLINES

Iowa State held a 22-3 takedown advantage over Bucknell in the season opener. Paniro Johnson and Evan Frost led the team with five takedowns apiece.
The Cyclones are ranked No. 9 in this week's NWCA Coaches Poll.
ISU's 2026-27 roster sits at 30 athletes, 12 of which are newcomers (7 true freshman, 4 transfers, 1 upperclassman walk-on). There are 10 athletes on the roster who have qualified for the NCAA Championships at least once in their career, including three that have achieved All-American status (Evan Frost, Jacob Frost, MJ Gaitan).
Heavyweight Coby Merrill won his Cyclone debut Sunday, 6-2, over Bucknell's Lucas Lawler. Merrill brought home a bronze medal from the U23 World Championships last month.
No. 2 Evan Frost, who had shoulder surgery this offseason, is up at 141 pounds this season after spending the bulk of his career at 133 pounds. He logged a tech fall in his first match of the season.
Jacob Frost is 1-0 on the season with one bonus-point win. He defeated Bucknell's Cade Wirnsberger, 21-3, in his first match of the season.
Returning All-American MJ Gaitan (174) missed the season opener due to injury and is considered "day to day" and "week to week" by head coach Brent Metcalf.
Tate Naaktgeboren got the starting nod at 174 pounds in Iowa State's season opener in replacement of the injured Gaitan. Naaktgeboren made the most of his opportunity and won via injury defeat against No. 17 Myles Takats. Naaktgeboren was leading, 4-1, over Takats when the match was stopped at the 6:42 mark.
Sawyer Bartelt made his return to the mat in the season opener against Bucknell after a lengthy rehab from multiple knee injuries. It was his first match since Jan. 26, 2025, marking 644 days between matches.
Garrett Grice is 1-0 on the season after beating Bucknell's Blue Stiffler, 8-2, on Sunday. The Cyclone had two takedowns in the match.

WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Head coach Brent Metcalf, Paniro Johnson and Evan Frost spoke with the media on Tuesday. Watch their interviews below.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dru Ayala

Sawyer Bartelt

Connor Euton

Evan Frost

Jacob Frost

MJ Gaitan

Garrett Grice

Paniro Johnson

Coby Merrill

Tate Naaktgeboren

Rin Sakamoto

Brayden Thompson

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics