Iowa State’s Daniel Herrera grabbed breakfast at McDonald’s. He ate lunch at Carl’s Junior. Come dinner time? He’d hit the In-N-Out window in Indio, Calif., a city nestled within the Coachella Valley.

The then-high school junior tipped the scales at a less-than-lean 295 pounds — but once he came to Ames High School to prepare for his nascent Iowa State wrestling career, his fast food fanaticism faded, and he eventually began to make healthier choices.

“My diet was probably the worst diet,” said Herrera, who’s 8-3 for the Cyclones at heavyweight this season while senior and 2022 All-American Yonger Bastida’s struggled with injuries. “When I got up to 295, my regular meal at In-N-Out was (a couple burgers), cheese fries, and a soda. So I toned that down a lot.”

Herrera’s lost 45-50 pounds since joining Iowa State’s program, replacing flab with muscle, and swapping out fast food for more conscientious meals that nourish him with protein, some healthier fats, and far more vitamins and minerals.

“I feel way better than I’ve ever been in any of my years competing,” said Herrera, whose team may see Bastida return to the lineup at Saturday’s Collegiate Duals in Nashville. “This is the lightest I’ve been since the middle of (the) COVID(-19 pandemic). So I just feel a lot more looser, a lot more faster, but also I feel stronger than I did.”

Herrera’s relative success at a young age has helped the Cyclones navigate through a barrage of injuries up and down the lineup. And it’s possible he won’t compete at the Collegiate Duals because the fourth-ranked Bastida may be healthy enough to return to the mat.

“He’s going with us this weekend,” said Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser, whose team notched its best finish (fourth) at last season’s NCAA Championships since 2010. “He’s going, so right now, he’s had a good week of training — and everything I say Tuesday, we leave Friday, so in this craziness right now, anything could possibly change. But he’s gonna get a good scrap in (Wednesday) and if everything goes like it’s gone in the last week and a half, he’s gonna go.”

That doesn’t overshadow Herrera’s performance as a true freshman at heavyweight so far this season. He — along with several other previously unproven Cyclone wrestlers — have helped plug gaping holes in the lineup early this season, and his development serves as a bright spot for a banged-up team that maintains high hopes as the countdown to March continues.

“He got his first feel of Yonger last year and obviously he scrapped with him a lot into the fall right up until Yonger got injured,” Dresser said. “But, you know, he’s taken some beatings. He’s taken beatings. Major beatings. Lots of beatings. But I do see signs of him fighting and competing and staying in there.”

Herrera’s batpism by fire should pay dividends down the road — and he still remembers his first bodylock with Bastida in practice, which provided him with an instructive, if not entirely pleasant memory to draw from. 

“A lot of my style is kind of off of Yonger because usually he bodylocks me like that,” Herrera said. “So I felt it, and I’m like, ‘Man, it must not feel good for anyone else when I do it,’ so I kind of started taking that a little bit. And I guess my mentality? Just go out there and compete, regardless. Compete from whistle to whistle.”

 The “Ors” Have It

The Cyclones have seven “ors” sitting between the potential #1 and #2 guys at the Collegiate duals, which speaks not only to their litany of injuries, but also the deep competition within the wrestling room.

Dresser said sixth-ranked 133-pounder Evan Frost should be back after battling an illness but plenty of lineup spots remain up for grabs at this fairly early point in the season. 

“He just kind of got a little bit of a flu bug last week,” Dresser said. “Who else (have) we got? (125-pound veteran Kysen) Terukina’s gonna weigh in there and go, so I think we’re gonna be a little healthier this week. Hopefully that’s the theme as we get into the (rest of the season). The last guy that we can get into the fold is (149-pounder) Anthony (Echemendia), and right now they’re saying late January with him, so not sure where everybody’s gonna shake out completely, weight-wise, but most importantly, we’ve gotta get healthy.”

Chittum's “Balanced” Cheat Code

Iowa State 157-pounder, Cody Chittum, once considered a prime candidate for a redshirt, competed in the Cyclones’ 27-12 dual win over North Dakota State and won by fall. That makes obtaining that redshirt unlikely for the former #1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the class of 2022, unless it’s of the medical variety. But as of now, he’s primed to compete — and as intense as ever, even as he’s learned to be more patient over the course of seven minutes.

“I think that’s what I had to find the balance of,” said Chittum, who’s 4-1 this season and is battling 12th-ranked Paniro Johnson for a spot in the lineup. “I would be up over one way, over one way, over another way. Now it’s like there is a balance in my life, but my balance is way different than it was before.”