The Iowa State Cyclones continued their momentum after beating Iowa last weekend by dominating the Cliff Keen Invitational with four individual champions and one runner up. The Cyclones ended the tournament 84.5 points ahead of the second-place Wolverines who also had a solid weekend with top-three finishers at 157, 174 and 184 pounds, while Stanford rounded out the top three teams, headlined by third-place finishes from Nico Provo at 125 pounds, Jack Consiglio at 141 pounds and Daniel Cardenas at 157 pounds.
Cliff Keen always produces big storylines and new insights, even beyond the team scores though, and this year was no exception. Here are the biggest takeaways from this year's tournament:
1. Evan Frost, Echemendia, Elam and Bastida continue to look like national title threats
Iowa State's Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia, Rocky Elam and Yonger Bastida came into the season near the top of their weight classes in the rankings, having previously earned All-American honors. Their success is not a surprise.
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But their consistent success, and their ability to win top-five ranked matches this year in the season with confidence and poise, is what reinforces their potential to win a title.
Elam has maybe been the biggest star for the Cyclones this season after clinching the Cy-Hawk dual with 8-2 win over No. 4 Massoma Endene to end Iowa's winning streak in the rivalry. He continued his winning ways over the weekend too, beating No. 22 Ben Vanadia of Purdue 15-4, topping Eli Sheeran of Cal Baptist 17-3 and then outscoring U20 World Champ No. 8 Justin Rademacher of Oregon State 4-3 to advance to the finals where he stopped All-American No. 6 Joey Novak of Wyoming 7-3.
Four champs 💪
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR)
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This is vintage Rocky Elam, a wrestler who can beat anyone and be dependable in delivering consistent ranked wins. After an injury sidelined him during his final season at Missouri, Elam looks back to full form with the Cyclones and has an argument to be the No. 1-ranked athlete in the country at 197 pounds given the fact that Penn State's returning NCAA runner-up Josh Barr has not wrestled yet this year.
Elam's teammate and fellow upperweight Yonger Bastida is already the No. 1-ranked athlete at his weight (285 pounds), and he defended that ranking over the weekend with his wins over Trevor Tinker of California Baptist, David Szuba of Arizona State, Brendan Gilchrist of Sacred Heart, Brody Kline of Franklin & Marshall and Christian Carroll of Wyoming.
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The finals win over Carroll is notable not because of the result of that particular dual but because of Carroll's improvement and Bastida's ability to ward off the best version of Carroll that Cowboy fans have seen thus far. A top recruit, Carroll has bounced around from Oklahoma State to Iowa State to Wyoming, but he's finding his groove now and recorded a win over All-American Taye Ghadiali earlier in the tournament.
Bastida, though, proved that he's still at a different level.
Evan Frost and Anthony Echemendia, Iowa State's 133 and 141 pounders, only had to face a combined three ranked wrestlers on the way to their Cliff Keen titles, but a win is a win, and both athletes are now undefeated heading into mid-December. Echemendia holds a 75% bonus rate too after teching Charles Curtis of Northern Illinois 19-2, majoring Jack Consiglio of Stanford 12-2 and teching Santino Sanchez of CSU Bakersfield 20-5 during his Cliff Keen run in addition to his decision wins over Eli Griffin of Rider 6-2 and Hayden Drury of Utah Valley 10-3. Frost, meanwhile, maintains a 50% bonus rate and added dominant wins over Gunner Andrick of West Virginia 11-2 and a pin against Anthony Lucio of Cal Poly to his resume over the weekend.
Both Frost and Echemendia have returning champs at their weight class, with Illinois' Lucas Byrd holding down the top spot at 133 and Jesse Mendez — who beat Echemendia in the All-Star Classic 7-3 — sitting at No. 1 at 141 pounds. Frost, though, already proved his could compete with an NCAA finalist in his weight class after topping Iowa's Drake Ayala 11-5, and while he won't have a shot against Byrd until NCAAs, he looks to be building and prepping himself for a shot at a title just one year after falling short of the podium in the Blood Round.
Echemendia, meanwhile, could see Mendez next as the Cylcones take on the Buckeyes in the first bout of the Collegiate Duals in Nashville on Dec. 21.
2. Oklahoma's Carter Schubert broke through to claim the title in statement performance
Iowa State may continue to be the biggest team to make headlines this fall, but, individually, Oklahoma's Carter Schubert put himself on the map when he roared to his first Cliff Keen Invitational win at 174 pounds. The sophomore Sooner took down Tanner Lofthouse of Utah Valley 6-0, Dylan Gilcher of Michigan 11-2, Graham Gambrall of Oregon State 4-1 in sudden victory, Cash Stewart of Cal Poly 4-1, Moses Espinoza-Owens of South Dakota State 2-1 and Navy All-American No. 7 Danny Wask 5-4 to claim top honors at the weight in Vegas. These wins move him to 8-3 on the year, but the Wask win in particular should be enough to push Schubert into the Top 33.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏 👑
— Oklahoma Wrestling (@OU_Wrestling)
Carter Schubert caps a 4-0 tournament atop the 174-pound bracket, defeating top-seeded Danny Wask (NAVY) 5-4 to claim first place at the Cliff Keen Invitational! x
This is Schubert's first year as a starter for the Sooners after sitting behind John Wiley last season at 157 pounds, but he's making the most of his opportunity two weight classes up for Oklahoma.
As a team, the Sooners sit at No. 19 in the country after being blown out by Penn State 45-0 but picking up wins against a scrappy Bucknell team 18-12 and topping Indiana 22-13. They'll have No. 13 Rutgers next where Schubert will likely see No. 9 Lenny Pinto, a veteran Blood Round wrestler who will come ready to scrap with the Cliff Keen champ.
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Outside of Pinto, Schubert could also see No. 23 Aidan Wallace of Duke, No. 16 Alex Facundo of Oklahoma State, No. 19 Brody Conley of Air Force, No. 8 MJ Gaitan of Iowa State, No. 11 Jared Simma of Northern Iowa, No. 12 Cam Steed of Missouri and No. 30 Riley Davis of Wyoming this season. The road doesn't get easier for the young Sooner, but if he can string together a few more wins over NCAA qualifier-caliber athletes, he could put himself in position to earn a ticket to Cleveland. The Cliff Keen win certainly helps his case.
3. All-American contenders emerge out of the Cliff Keen brackets at 125, 149 and 184 pounds
Early season upsets always happen at Cliff Keen. It's part of why athletes go to Vegas, challenge themselves against top-ranked foes and put their resumes on the line. They want to be tested now in order to make adjustments for March.
No weight class has come to be defined by upsets and chaos over the last few years quite like 125 pounds — this year's Cliff Keen Invitational further supported that thesis.
West Virginia's No. 13 Jett Strickenberger kicked off his successful championship performance at the weight by topping All-American Stevo Poulin 7-4 in sudden victory before rolling through Sefton Douglass of Wyoming, Conrad Hendrickson of Oklahoma and Logan Brzozowki of Harvard to earn a trip to the finals where he would stop Oregon State's No. 15 Maximo Renteria 8-6. Strickenberger now moves to 9-2 on the year and puts himself back in the All-American conversation. Former Campbell coach and current Wrestlers in Business Network executive director Scott Sentes said it best when he described Strickenberger as a "wild man."
What can I say? Absolute wild man.
— Scott Sentes (@TheCoachSentes)
There's nothing predictable at 125 pounds in general, and there's nothing predictable about Strickenberger as an individual. Expect him to rise in the rankings with the title, particularly given the win over Poulin.
Cliff Keen results at 149 and 184 pounds also made waves with Cornell's Jaxon Joy claiming the title at 149 pounds over NCAA qualifier Elijah Rivera and James Conway of Franklin & Marshall earning gold at 184 pounds following his win over Brock Mantanona of Michigan.
The 149 pound weight, in particular, was full of talent, including All-Americans Jacob Frost, Lachlan McNeil, Aden Valencia and Kaleb Larkin. Joy outplaced them all. He started his run by beating No. 11 David Evans of Utah Valley 8-2 before teching Larkin 15-0 in the first period and then topping Collin Gaj of Virginia Tech 5-1 and pinning Rivera in the finals. Joy's only loss this season came against high schooler Bo Bassett at the Clarion Open, but that result won't count against his NCAA total, meaning he'll also enter mid-December with an undefeated record and likely an increase in confidence. Cornell has a history of developing champions at 149 pounds. Joy's improvements potentially put him on the path to the podium as well if he can keep this momentum rolling.
Congratulations to Jaxon Joy on earning Outstanding Wrestler honors at the CKLV!
— Cornell Wrestling (@BigRedWrestling)
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Joy was Cornell's only Cliff Keen champion, and James Conway holds a similar honor as the lone tournament winner for Franklin & Marshall. Conway, a 2024 NCAA qualifier, came into the tournament ranked No. 12, but he should expect to move into the top ten after his finals win over No. 7 Mantanona 5-0, his pins against David Alonso of California Baptist and Hunter Perez of Sacred Heart and his additional victories against No. 18 Aaron Ayzerov of Columbia 12-9 (SV) and No. 10 Isaac Dean of Iowa State 9-5. These ranked wins give Conway's resume a nice boost heading into the second half of the season where, outside of Midlands, he'll see no ranked opponents at his weight, as of now, given Franklin & Marshall's schedule.
All-Americans Ty Watters and Joey Blaze rounded out the Cliff Keen Invitational winners, with Watters winning by medical forfeit over fellow All-American Vinny Zerban of Iowa State and Blaze beating talented sophomore Nicco Ruiz of Arizona State 4-2.
Watters holds the top spot at 157 pounds, followed by Oklahoma State freshman Landon Robideau, Zerban and Stanford's Daniel Cardenas, who finished third at Cliff Keen. Last year's returning champ Antrell Taylor sits at No. 6, one spot behind Big Ten finalist Brandon Cannon of Ohio State. Penn State's expected starter U20 world champion PJ Duke will also be a name to watch down at No. 15, though he has not faced enough top-ranked competition in his college career to rise up just yet.
Blaze, despite being an NCAA finalist last year, is ranked No. 4 at his weight class after moving up from 157 to 165 pounds in the offseason. He, like Watters did not have to compete against any All-Americans in their weight at Cliff Keen, (given that Zerban forfeited to Watters), but, again, a winter tournament title can only improve confidence and excitement heading into the grind of the second half of the season.
