AMES, Iowa — Paniro Johnson’s ever-present smile conveys his sky-high confidence.

It shows when he talks to the media. It shows when the 149-pound sophomore from Iowa State hits the mat. It’s a fixture on the Erie, Pa., native’s face for good reason — and he’s not shy while explaining why.

“I feel like I’m the best guy, you know,” said Johnson, one of several talented middleweight Cyclone wrestlers seeking to cement spots in the lineup.

But so does Casey Swiderski, who earned All-American honors last season at 149. And so does returning 141-pound All-American Anthony Echmendia, which makes head coach Kevin Dresser’s quest for finding a semi-permanent starting lineup an ongoing wrestle-off-based process.

“We’ve got a bunch of options at ’25 and ’49, obviously,” said Dresser, who guided Iowa State to a fourth-place finish at last March’s NCAA Championships — the program’s highest at nationals since 2010. “We’ve got options at ’41, we’ve got Swiderski and Echemendia. … And then at ’49, you’ve got the opportunity have Paniro at ’49. At ’57, you’ve got (Cody) Chittum at ’57. Gosh, I’m probably forgetting somebody, but there’s a lot of firepower in that conversation.”

Dresser lost Johnson’s firepower last season because of now-dropped charges he faced that stemmed from a now-fraught state investigation into sports gambling that led to a one-year suspension from the NCAA. College athletics’ governing body has shifted course, however, and restored Johnson’s remaining eligibility to a full three seasons. He still must sit out two events in 2024-25, but is otherwise good to go, which is — to put it mildly — a relief for the 2023 Big 12 champion.

So Johnson’s smile faded briefly, but it’s fully back now.

“It was very, very tough,” he said. “I got a little depressed and, for a little bit — and it’s something I never do, I was thinking about, like, ‘Why is this happening to me? It couldn’t be worse.’ You know? (But) things can always be worse.”

That newfound perspective could make Johnson even more dangerous on the mat.

“I was worried about not being able to wrestle for one season,” he said. “And I know people back home that are worried about where they’re gonna sleep and (are) they gonna wake up tomorrow? So the longer it went, the more I thought about the process, the more I was like, I’m just thankful. Everything happened for a reason and I had a lot of people behind me, helping me out, pushing me, telling me, ‘You’ve got it.’”

Dresser, in particular, kept his spirits up.

“He’s gonna stick with you to the last step,” said Johnson, who beat eight ranked opponents as a freshman. “Without Dresser, I would have been in a lot worse position than I am now, so I’m really thankful for him.”

A Better Bastida

Iowa State heavyweight Yonger Bastida cruised through the 2023-24 regular season with an unblemished record and won most of his matches in dominant fashion. But on Friday at the NCAA Championships, Bastida fell in the closing seconds of his quarterfinal match, then lost in the blood round to keep him off the podium. The experience humbled the 2022 All-American but also lit a fire for his final season.

“That’s in the past,” said Bastida, who suffered a broken finger before nationals last season but refused to lean on that as an excuse. “Now we’re moving forward. There’s another NCAA coming up in 2025, so we’ll see. We’ll see what we can do with it.”

Bastida said he learned a lot about himself last March — and is ready to apply those lessons to this season.

“You guys are gonna see a better Yonger,” Bastida said. “My mind’s already stronger (because) of everything I went through last year.”

Trophy Talk

Iowa State earned a team trophy at last season’s NCAA Championships for the first time since 2010, but had to wait a while to hoist the long-sought hardware. The Cyclones’ fourth-place trophy finally arrived in the mail. 

“I’m just glad the UPS man did find us,” said Dresser, who returns four wrestlers who’ve attained All-American status during their college careers. “But it was something we talked about. We talked about winning the Big 12s, and we talked about being a trophy team.”

The same goals are set for this season, even though two-time national champ David Carr has exhausted his eligibility. He’s still training with the team, though, which continues to boost his former teammates’ spirits and confidence.

“He’s still around, like when he was in college, but now he’s doing his thing in freestyle at the senior level,” Bastida said. “But he’s still around and he’s still pushing everybody in the room.”