Bastida Advances to Semifinals; Three Cyclones in Blood Round

Friday, March 20

Cleveland, Ohio

11:00 AM

Iowa State

NCAA Championships (Session 3)

Yonger Bastida - NCAA Championships 2026

Photo by: Randi Yeager

Bastida Advances to Semifinals; Three Cyclones in Blood Round

03.20.2026 | Wrestling

Brackets Team Scores Dresser Interview Bastida Interview

CLEVELAND – No. 1 Yonger Bastida punched his ticket to the national semifinals with a victory over Iowa's No. 8 Ben Kueter in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon inside Rocket Arena. With the win, Bastida earns the second All-America honor of his career.

Bastida is the 89^th Cyclone in program history to earn at least two All-America honors. It is the first time since the 2022 season Bastida has reached the podium at the NCAA Championships.

Two other Cyclones, Anthony Echemendia (141) and MJ Gaitan (174), were unsuccessful in their quarterfinal bouts. Echemendia and Gaitan will be joined by No. 16 Jacob Frost in tonight's Blood Round with All-America status on the line. Frost went 2-0 on during the afternoon with wins over No. 18 Eugene Harney (MORG) and No. 23 Max Petersen (NDSU) to keep his season alive.

Stevo Poulin (125), Garrett Grice (133), Vinny Zerban (157), Connor Euton (165) and Rocky Elam (197) were eliminated from the tournament during Session 3.

Iowa State is seventh in the team race with 30.5 points.

Bastida advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 4-2 decision over Kueter in the quarterfinals. Bastida registered a first-period takedown but was unable to finish any of his attacks later in the match. The Hawkeye was unable to get to his offense in the match as Bastida controlled much of the hand fighting.

In a 141-pound quarterfinal, No. 4 Anthony Echemendia dropped a tight 6-4 decision to Lehigh's undefeated No. 5 Luke Stanich. Echemendia struck first with a takedown in the opening period but Stanich would get one of his own in the third period to take a 5-4 lead. Stanich rode Echemendia for the final minute of the match to secure a riding time point.

MJ Gaitan couldn't get to his offense in an 11-3 loss to No. 3 Christopher Minto. The Cornhusker recorded three takedowns in the match, dropping Gaitan to tonight's Blood Round.

UP NEXT
Session 4 of the NCAA Championships will begin at 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN2. Semifinals and Blood Round matches will be wrestled.

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 – vs. No. 15 Elijah Griffin (RID)

No. 16 Jacob Frost (149)
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 – vs. No. 3 Cross Wasilewski (PENN)

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 – vs. Colin Kelly (ILL)

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 – vs. No. 4 AJ Ferrari (NEB)