KANSAS CITY, Mo. – David Carr punched his ticket to the 165-pound national finals Friday night inside the T-Mobile Center while two other Cyclones – Evan Frost and Casey Swiderski – secured their spots on the podium.

In a match for the ages, Carr bested O’Toole for the third time in a historic five-part rivalry. O’Toole controlled the mat in the opening period, but Carr struck first in the second with a smooth duck-under for a takedown. O’Toole answered back and look a late lead on a takedown with 53 seconds left in the match, but Carr hung tough and secured the winning takedown with 10 seconds remaining.

Carr is now a three-time finalist and prevented O’Toole from winning his third consecutive national title.

Iowa State has four All-Americans for the first time since 2009 – Anthony Echemendia, Frost, Carr and Swiderski. The Cyclones are in a tie for fourth place with 59.5 points, along with Arizona State. Penn State leads the way with 148.0, followed by Michigan (64.5) and Iowa (60.0).

Frost earned his spot on the podium with a gritty 2-1 victory over Minnesota’s Tyler Wells. After a scoreless first, the Cyclone got out quickly from underneath in the second period. In the third, Frost put on a tough ride, wracking up over 1:30 of riding time, and held off a furious rally from Wells to get on the podium.

At 149 pounds, Swiderski gutted out a 2-1 victory in tiebreakers against Ohio State’s No. 14 Dylan D`Emilio. Swiderski was in on a shot multiple times in regulation but couldn’t get past the Buckeye’s stingy defense. In tiebreakers, Swiderski earned a quick escape and held D`Emilio scoreless.

Swiderski would fall later in the session to West Virginia’s Ty Watters and will wrestle for seventh place Saturday morning.

Echemendia took top-seeded Jesse Mendez of Ohio State to the brink in the 141-pound semifinals but came up just short. Echemendia was close to a takedown as the clock hit zeros in the third but didn’t have enough time to finish as he fell, 6-4, to the Buckeye.

MJ Gaitan fell just short in his blood round bout against No. 3 Edmond Ruth, 8-6.

Up Next
Medal rounds will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. on ESPNU while finals begin at 6 p.m. on ESPN.