Yonger Bastida saw an opening and sprang for a shot. It didn’t land in his first bout of the season a month and a half ago against Daniel Bucknavich of Cleveland State a month and a half ago. Instead, Bastida — a two-time NCAA qualifier and 2022 all-American for Iowa State — got taken down himself.

It’s an error in judgment and execution that sticks with the third-ranked heavyweight Cyclone wrestler, but he’s been stellar on the mat ever since. Bastida rolled past three straight ranked opponents earlier this month at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational to win an individual title while helping his team emerge as the champion at the stacked event.

“I went there with a lot of confidence and just during that tournament, getting that feel from different guys, you know, I just went there and did my job,” said Bastida, who has recorded 44 takedowns and allowed zero since that initial failed shot in the first dual meet of the season. “I do what I mean to. I train for it. At heavyweight, I feel like this is my actual weight because I have a lot more energy. I come into training just focusing on getting better, not cutting weight, so I’m feeling great.”

Bastida qualified for the NCAA Championships the past two seasons at 197 pounds and earned All-American honors in 2022. He happily bumped up to heavyweight this season after three-time NCAA qualifier Sam Schuyler concluded his collegiate career and is now a graduate assistant with Iowa State.

“He’s maintained his strength and his speed,” said Cyclone assistant coach Brent Metcalf, who won two national titles for Iowa and was awarded the coveted Dan Hodge Trophy in 2008. “The biggest test for us is to continue to go up against the top guys, like the very tip-top, especially when it comes to heavyweight, and see if you can execute on those guys.”

Bastida said he’s settled into wrestling at the 240-245 pound range, which allows him to preserve his trademark explosiveness while giving him more wiggle room when it comes to his diet. He’s still highly disciplined in that regard, but he’s no longer a “cutting buddy” with Iowa State’s four-time All-American and 2021 NCAA champion David Carr — and no offense to Carr, but that’s a good thing.

“I come in and train and focus on just getting better, not cutting weight,” Bastida said. “So I’m feeling great at heavyweight.”

But back to that 44-to-1 takedown ratio. It’s remarkable for a heavyweight to compile such gaudy statistics en route to a 9-0 record this season, yet it seems natural for Bastida to do so, given his blend of strength, speed, and freestyle-bred savviness.

“To go through the Cliff Keen and wrestle how he did and compete how he did, I kind of had to take a step back and go, ‘Whoa, I guess he does belong at heavyweight,” said Iowa State assistant Derek St. John, who won the 157-pound national title for Iowa in 2013. “If you can go through a tournament like that and put up those kinds of stats, that’s pretty impressive. I don’t care what weight.”

Bastida is unwilling to be merely “impressive.” That one takedown he allowed in the season-opening dual still sticks with him. He studies it. He’s intent on preventing another one from happening as the calendar turns toward March.

“I think about that a lot,” Bastida said. “I shouldn’t, you know? But that happens sometimes. I’m over that. I don’t want to get taken down, but it happens.”

From Cliff Keen Champs To The Collegiate Duals

The Cyclones won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational for the first time since 1996. Seven of their wrestlers reached the podium while winning 23 matches with bonus points attached and now they set their sights on the Collegiate Duals Monday in Nashville, Tenn.

“Going into this weekend we’ll have red-hot Pitt right out of the chute,” St. John said. “They just got done knocking off Ohio State and then we’ll have Little Rock, who I know will be ready to go to wrestle us. And then you have Cornell, which is a top team in the country, so, again, another good measuring stick before Christmas here.”

Carr Talk

David Carr lost his fourth match as a collegiate competitor during the Cliff Keen Invitational, falling, 4-3, to then-#7 Julian Ramirez of Cornell. He responded with a win by technical fall, as well as a 3-1 triumph over then-#3 Cam Amine of Michigan to close the event, and suffice it to say, no one in the Cyclones’ room is concerned about how Carr will finish out the season in quest of a second national crown.

“You’ve gotta realize how these people are gonna try to beat you,” Metcalf said of Carr, whose .962 winning percentage ranks fourth all-time among Iowa State’s list of 100-plus matchwinners. “You can’t stand around with them because they might. You’re just kind of flipping coins at the end, right? So he’s kind of embraced that a little bit and realizing, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be in that position. I don’t want to be in who wins the scramble in the end.’ You usually win it, David, but let’s not do that. So that’s something I’ve kind of seen renewed out of him. He doesn’t want that either. He gets that. He understands that.”