Gaitan Places Eighth, Echemendia Sixth at NCAA Championships

Saturday, March 21

Cleveland, Ohio

10:00 AM

Iowa State

NCAA Championships (Session 5)

Photo by: Randi Yeager

Gaitan Places Eighth, Echemendia Sixth at NCAA Championships

03.21.2026 | Wrestling

Brackets Team Scores

CLEVELAND – Anthony Echemendia and MJ Gaitan settled their spots on the podium Saturday afternoon during Session 5 of the NCAA Championships. Echemendia finished in 6^th place while Gaitan placed eighth.

Anthony Echemendia medically withdrew from the tournament after suffering an arm injury during Friday night's blood round match. Echemendia finishes the NCAA Championships in sixth place to follow up his fifth place showing in 2024. The Cyclone, now a two-time All-American, concludes his 2025-26 season with a 23-5 record.

Gaitan squared off against Michigan's No. 9 Beau Mantanona in the 174-pound 7^th-place match. It was a wild match with several flurries of action, but the Wolverine caught Gaitan in the midst of a reversal for a fall as time expired in the first period. Gaitan closes the 2025-26 season with a 19-9 record.

Iowa State sits eighth in the team race with 52 points.

UP NEXT
No. 1 Yonger Bastida will wrestle for an NCAA title tonight at 5:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN against NC State's Isaac Trumble. Both heavyweights carry an undefeated record into the match.

The NCAA Finals match order is yet to be announced.

MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
No. 13 Stevo Poulin (125) – DNP (1.5 pts.)
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 (1 pt.)
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) – 6^th Place (13 pts.)
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 – W-Inj. Def. vs. No. 15 Elijah Griffin (RID), 4:10
Consis. QF – W-MD vs. No. 11 CJ Composto (PENN), 10-2
Consis. SF – L-MFF vs. No. 3 Brock Hardy (NEB)
5^th-Place Match – L-MFF vs.

No. 16 Jacob Frost (149) – DNP (4 pts.)
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 – L-D vs. No. 3 Cross Wasilewski (PENN), 9-5

No. 12 Vinny Zerban (157) – DNP (1.5 pts.)
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 (2.5 pts.)
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) – 8^th Place (7.5 Pts.)
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 – W-D vs. No. 18 Colin Kelly (ILL), 4-1
Consis. QF – L-MD vs. No. 15 Danny Wask (NAVY), 20-9
7^th-Place Match: LBF vs. No. 9 Beau Mantanona (MICH), 3:00

No. 13 Isaac Dean (184) – DNP (0 pts.)
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 (1 pt.)
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 – W-MD vs. No. 4 AJ Ferrari (NEB), 15-7
Finals – vs. No. 2 Isaac Trumble (NCST)