Iowa State dominates CKLV Invitational with four champions

For the second straight weekend, Iowa State was the talk of the college wrestling world.

Last week, it was a 20-14 win over #3 Iowa in the annual Cy-Hawk dual, snapping a 20-dual losing streak.

This weekend, it was a dominant performance at the 2025 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Iowa State ran away with the team title, as eight of its 10 wrestlers reached the semifinals, with five advancing into the finals. It was the Cyclones’ second CKLV title over the last three years.

Iowa State almost doubled second-place Michigan, 183.5 points to 99 points. Stanford was third (97.5) and West Virginia fourth (97).

Of those five finalists for the Cyclones, four claimed an individual title.

Top seed Anthony Echmendia cruised to the title at 141 pounds, outscoring his five foes 67-14.

At the upper weights, both Rocky Elam (197 pounds) and Yonger Bastida (heavyweight) also went from top seed to champion. Elam had back-to-back bonus point wins before closing with top-10 wins over #6 Justin Rademacher of Oregon State (4-3) and #8 Joey Novak of Wyoming (7-3). Bastida had four straight bonuses before a 5-3 win in the final over Wyoming’s Christian Carroll.

At 133 pounds, Evan Frost claimed top honors after a forfeit in the finals. As the top seed in his bracket, he did not concede a takedown in his four bouts. Vinny Zerban reached the finals at 157 pounds, but did not wrestle in his final bout.

One of the most talked about performances of the tournament was Franklin & Marshall’s James Conway’s run to the 184-pound title. He entered as the three seed and is ranked #11 nationally, but he was relatively unknown to most of the country before this weekend. He took out two top-10 foes in the semifinal and the final, besting #10 Isaac Dean of Iowa State, 9-5, before a 5-0 decision over #7 Brock Mantanona of Michigan in the final, 5-0

West Virginia, Arizona State, and Wyoming were the other three schools with multiple finalists, all with a pair.

West Virginia brought home a pair of champions. Jett Stickland won top honors at 125 pounds. In the semifinals, he scored a win over top-seeded #10 Stevo Poulin of Big 12 foe Iowa State, 7-4. In the final, a third-period reversal led to the ride time point in an 8-6 win over Maximo Renteria of Oregon State.

The nation’s #1 wrestler at 157 pounds, Ty Watters of West Virginia, cruised to the title. He went 4-0 in his first four bouts, outscoring his foes 36-4. He received a forfeit in the final for the top spot.

Returning NCAA finalist (last year at 157 pounds), Joey Blaze defended the top seed and won the 165-pound title. In his five bouts, he did not concede a takedown and outscored his foes 47-10.

Cornell claimed the 149-pound title with freshman Jaxon Joy. Starting as the fourth seed, Joy made waves in the semifinals with a first-period, 15-0, tech fall over the top-seed and #2 ranked Kaleb Larkin. Joy recorded a takedown 29 seconds in, then recorded three four-point near falls with cradles. In the final, he notched a first-period fall against Princeton’s Eligh Rivera.

Starting as the seventh seed, Oklahoma’s Carter Schubert made his way to the top of the podium at 174 pounds. He breezed through his first four bouts, only giving up a combined 3 points, all on escapes. In the final, he took out All-American #7 Danny Wask of Navy, 5-4.

Final results and complete brackets of the Cliff Keen Invitational are available on FloWrestling.com.