Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson makes Big 12 wrestling finals

Iowa State's Paniro Johnson battled his way to the finals at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships on Saturday from the BOK Center in Tulsa.
Johnson will square off with Northern Iowa’s Colin Realbuto Sunday for the title. He was the 2023 league champion and posted a 7-3 decision win in the semifinals vs. Teague Travis from Oklahoma State.
Six Cyclones have qualified for the 2025 NCAA Championships 👊
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 9, 2025
Session II Recap ⤵️
📰 https://t.co/MLqYJymSqh
🌪️🚨🌪️ pic.twitter.com/T66xOCyzE6
Aiden Riggins and MJ Gaitan qualified for the upcoming NCAA Championships thanks to 2-0 marks during the night sessions. In all, nine of the 10 Cyclone wrestlers are still alive, as Iowa State is fourth behind Oklahoma State, UNI and South Dakota State.
Johnson earned a 2-1 decision in the opening round and scored a sudden-victory in the quarterfinals before taking out Travis.
Evan Frost, Jacob Frost, Cody Chittum, Evan Bockman, Nate Schon and Daniel Herrera join Riggins and Gaitan in the consolations, which air live on ESPN+ beginning at noon CT.
Jacob Frost, Chittum, Riggins, Gaitan, Bockman and Herrera are in the consolation fourth rounds while Evan Frost and Schon compete in seventh-place matches.
IOWA STATE WRESTLERS MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS FROM BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
125: No. 8 Kysen Terukina - DNP
First Round: L-D, 4-1 vs. Tristan Daugherty (NDSU)
Consis. Rd. 1: Bye
Consis. Rd. 2: L-D, 10-3 vs. No. 7 Trever Anderson (UNI)
133: No. 1 Evan Frost
First Round: W-MD, 17-4 vs. Stockton O`Brien (WYO)
QF: L-MD, 20-6 vs. No. 8 Kade Moore (MIZ)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-MD, 14-3 vs. Julian Chlebove (ASU)
Consis. Rd. 3: L-D, 14-13 vs. No. 3 Julian Farber (UNI)
7th-Place Match: vs. No. 6 Cleveland Belton (OU)
141: No. 3 Jacob Frost
First Round: W-TF, 16-1 (5:21) vs. Daniel Miranda (ASU)
QF: W-D, 15-8 vs. No. 6 Josh Edmond (MIZ)
SF: L-MD vs. No. 2 Cael Happel (UNI)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 8 Julian Tagg (SDSU)
149: No. 2 Paniro Johnson
First Round: W-D, 2-1 vs. Avery Allen (SDSU)
QF: W-D, 6-5 SV-1 vs. No. 7 Logan Gioffre (MIZ)
SF: W-D, 7-3 vs. Teague Travis (OKST)
Finals: vs. No. 1 Colin Realbuto (UNI)
157: No. 1 Cody Chittum
First Round: vs. Bryce Shelton (AF)
QF: W-MD, 9-0 vs. Caleb Dowling (WVU)
SF: L-MD, 12-4 vs. No. 4 Cobe Siebrecht (SDSU)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 3 Ryder Downey (UNI)
165: No. 8 Aiden Riggins
First Round: Bye
QF: L-D, 2-0 vs. No. 1 Terrell Barraclough (UVU)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-D, 10-7 vs. Cooper Voorhees (WYO)
Consis. Rd. 3: W-MD, 11-3 vs. Clayton Ulrey (UNCO)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 6 Nicco Ruiz (ASU)
174: No. 7 MJ Gaitan
First Round: Bye
QF: L-TF, 15-0 (1:44) vs. No. 2 Keegan O`Toole (MIZ)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-D, 4-2 vs. Carter Schmidt (CBU)
Consis. Rd. 3: W-D, 15-9 vs. Aydin Rix-McElhinney (UNCO)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 5 Cade DeVos (SDSU)
184: No. 4 Evan Bockman
First Round: W-TF, 19-4 (6:33) vs. Gage Musser (AF)
QF: W-D, 4-1 SV-1 vs. No. 5 Deanthony Parker Jr. (OU)
SF: L-Inj. Def. (3:35) vs. No. 1 Parker Keckeisen (UNI)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 6 Eddie Neitenbach (WYO)
197: No. 6 Nate Schon
First Round: WBF (2:26) vs. Jacob Meissner (ASU)
QF: L-D, 14-8 vs. No. 3 Wyatt Voelker (UNI)
Consis. Rd. 3: L-D. 6-4 vs. Jesse Cassatt (MIZ)
7th-Place Match: vs. Kael Bennie (UVU)
285: No. 6 Daniel Herrera
First Round: WBF (4:36) vs. Andrew Blackburn-Forst (NDSU)
QF: WBF (5:37) vs. No. 3 Lance Runyon (UNI)
SF: L-D, 4-1 vs. No. 2 Cohlton Schultz (ASU)
Consis. Rd. 4: vs. No. 8 Sam Mitchell (WYO)

Dana Becker has been a sports writer in Iowa since 2000, writing for The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe-Gazette, Cedar Rapids Gazette and others. Dana resides in north-central Iowa.
Follow DanaBecker