We’ve got the first set of rankings that reflect the first results of the 2026-27 season. The first rankings update is always interesting. Many teams did not compete on week one. For those that did, we’ve tried not to overreact to what we’ve seen.

125 lbs
The big result at this weight came from the Southeast Open where Louie Gill beat Nicolar Rivera. Rivera drops down to an opponent he beat last season (Kilkeary). Gill, along with JJ Peace, had a good weekend and moved up slightly. Carson Wagner and Oumar Tounkara both had tournament wins and move in the rankings - Wagner was in our first preseason rankings.

133 lbs
Oklahoma flipped Isaiah Powe and Tyler Wells, so the rankings reflect that. Coming from a non-DI school and at a completely different weight, there’s still plenty of debate regarding where Powe belongs. There’s a slight shakeup at the bottom as Colin Martin enters the rankings for the first time after two bonus point wins, one over a ranked opponent (Andrew Austin).

141 lbs
In the next rankings, we will remove Vince Cornella (and Bryce Hepner at 165) as we’re aware that neither is slated to compete until the second semester. Jayden Raney makes his ranking debut. He had a good win over teammate Tagen Jamison at the Cowboy Invitational. Of course, matches against teammates are not officially counted and wacky things can happen with teammates meeting, but it’s a good indication of the general area he starts in the rankings.
One of the big stories of the week was Nic Bouzakis losing three times (once to a teammate - which doesn’t count) during his debut at 141 lbs. He dropped significantly as none of those came against ranked opponents. We’ll have to see if this is a sign of things to come and, if so, react accordingly.

149 lbs
We’ve flipped Little Rock’s starters at 149/157 with Brock Herman going up and Kyrel Leavell going 149. We have also considered Eugene Harney for rankings purposes for Pitt rather than Kal Miller. Harney won in their intersquad match and went unbeaten at the Navy Classic, while Miller took two losses.

157 lbs
Along with Herman, we’ve also moved up App State’s Kaden Keiser.

165 lbs
In one of the matches between Oklahoma State teammates at the Cowboy Invitational, none may have been more interesting than Casey Swiderski over Dee Lockett. For now, we’ll go with Swiderski at this weight, but the situation bears monitoring throughout the season.
We’ve swapped out starters for Stanford as Grigor Cholakyan majored EJ Parco and beat Ty Whalen, before losing to Sean Seefeldt at the Princeton Open.
For now, we’re hanging with Noah Nininger as the Virginia Tech wrestler in the rankings; however, he lost to teammate Mac Church.
Nick Stampoulos makes his way back into the rankings after posting wins over the final three wrestlers in the top 33. Those three traded wins with each other, so we’re keeping them in the previous order.

174 lbs
Jaxon Smith lost in his Ohio State debut to Marcus Espinoza-Owens, who breaks into the rankings for the first time this year.
In other Oklahoma State teammate-related news, we’ll go with Alex Facundo after his head-to-head win over Lorenzo Norman. Again, these two could go back and forth.
A note regarding Kaleb Larkin. We understand that 165 is a more likely weight for Larkin at this point; however, with Nicco Ruiz returning at that weight, we’ll hold him at 174 lbs until the situation reveals itself.

184 lbs
Once again, with Oklahoma head-to-heads. Although Mikey White had an excellent head-to-head win over Bennett Berge, we’re going to stick with Berge for now and see if the freshman puts together a resume of those sorts of wins before flipping the two.
Lots of shenanigans in the middle part of the rankings. Ian Bush won the Southeast Open over Tomas Brooker, who beat Jaden Bullock. Rylan Rogers fell to a Stanford freshman (Slava Shahbazyan) who isn’t ranked. We’ll see in the coming weeks if Shahbazyan emerges as “the guy” over Abe Wojcikiewicz.

197 lbs
Stephen Little got the head-to-head win over Cody Merrill at the Cowboy Invitational, though it was via injury default. We are open to the possibility of counting an injury default as a head-to-head win for rankings purposes. In this instance, it’s still probably too close to make that assumption, so it gets thrown out.

285 lbs
Nothing too crazy here. Jimmy Mullen won the Southeast Open, and before that, Max Vanadia defeated Stephan Monchery. The rankings reflect that small upset.
 
For the full rankings: Click Here

The 2026-27 college season is officially underway. There were a couple of events on Saturday, but the season really got going on Sunday with a handful of tournaments and a smattering of duals. Plus, we had the morning appetizer of the World Championships and Team USA’s win Sunday morning.
This season will be different from its predecessors. With the NCAA’s five-for-five ruling, there will be no more redshirting or medical years. That means there isn’t the “will they, won’t they?” debut surrounding potential redshirts in November. The potential fight between teammates for a starting spot will be viewed a bit differently this year. Did the freshman who got the call in the first dual or won the open tournament get a leg up on his veteran counterpart? Are these dual starts or results indicative of how the coaching staff views the internal pecking order? Or maybe there’s an injury at play?
This season is already shaping up to be one of the most intriguing in some time and the eligibility changes should only help enhance the excitement.
With so much going on there’s bound to be a result or an upset you might have missed. With that in mind, let’s take a spin around the country to look at the first weekend of collegiate action.

Duals
Purdue had a 24-12 win over Kent State, which could be viewed as a decent result for both squads. Redshirt freshman Vincent Paino (Purdue) posted an 11-2 major decision over #33 Nick Molchak (Kent State). The Golden Flashes got wins at 125 (Adan Benavidez), 149 (Nate Roth), 157 (Reese Stephen), and 285 (Brentan Simmerman).
Michigan got off to a fast start with a 50-0 shutout of VMI. True freshman Henry Aslikyan (125) and Moses Mendoza (133) won via fall. Kellan Wolbert (141) and Niko Sahakian got major decisions. I’ve stated multiple times that Michigan could fly up the rankings if two or three of their freshmen are really good. The jury is still out on them, but it was a good start.
Wisconsin rolled to a 32-7 win over Bloomsburg, but the most notable result came at 165 lbs as Bloomsburg’s Morgan Schwarz majored national qualifier #21 Cody Goebel.
American swept the Chippewa Challenge, a dual meet series that featured the DI teams led by Central Michigan graduates. Freshman Reagan Milheim stood out with two falls, while AU’s first two wrestlers #29 JJ Peace (125) and Collin Martin, went 2-0. Martin picked up an impressive 15-3 major decision victory over #28 Andrew Austin (Central Michigan).
Sunday concluded with Iowa State getting a 29-12 win over Bucknell in Brent Metcalf’s debut as the Cyclones head coach. We’ll have to monitor the 184/197 lb situation for the Cyclones. Sawyer Bartelt and Brayden Thompson got the call at those weights, respectively. Both suffered losses against two of the Bison’s top wrestlers.

Southeast Open
Louie Gill won the 125 lb weight class with a major decision victory over #27 Travis Clawson (Chattanooga) and a 7-2 win over #11 Nicolar Rivera (Maryland).
One of the positional battles to monitor going forward is Virginia Tech at 165 lbs. Word out of Blacksburg was that Noah Nininger might be ahead in that race; however, incumbent Mac Church got the head-to-head win in the tournament finals.
There was a top 20 scuffle at 174 lbs in the finals as #18 Ryan Burton (Virginia Tech) defeated #20 Colin Kelly (Illinois). Burton redshirted in 2026-27 and won a U20 world bronze medal over the summer.
Lots of chaos and shenanigans at 184 lbs! West Virginia’s Ian Bush won the title with wins over Sergio DeSiante (Virginia Tech) and Tomas Brooker (Appalachian State). Brooker had an earlier win over returning ACC champion Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech). In an all-Hokie third-place match, Bullock got by DeSiante, 6-3.

Clarion Open
Ohio State finished with the top three wrestlers at 125 lbs. Vinny Kilkeary won the weight class with a 8-3 decision over Dom Munaretto. Munaretto’s fellow freshman Antonio Mills was third. This is probably a weight to watch going forward, as the two freshmen are both highly ranked coming into Columbus.
All-American Carter Nogle (Air Force) won the 141 lb bracket; however, that’s probably not the biggest story from this weight. #9 Nic Bouzakis’ (Ohio State) debut at this weight went pretty badly as he took sixth place, losing to unranked Brogan Fielding (Ohio State), Keagan Oler (Clarion), and Smokey McClure (Utah Valley). He’s moving up after spending the 2025-26 season at 125 lbs and is ideally a 133 lber.
Speaking of debuts at new weights, Jaxon Smith appeared for the first time in an Ohio State singlet and also at 174 lbs, a collegiate low for him. Marcus Espinoza-Owens (Utah Valley) used a third-period takedown to defeat the #4 ranked Smith in the finals.

Cowboy Invitational
Oklahoma State got to flex their muscles and show off their depth at multiple weight classes in a small, bracketed tournament. They also showed off their #1 overall recruiting class and a handful of first-year freshmen impressed.
In a top-10 matchup at 133 lbs, top-ranked Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) teched #9 TK Davis (Gardner-Webb).
It was a successful collegiate debut for Jayden Raney (Oklahoma State) at 141 lbs. He grabbed the title by edging Cowboy teammate Tagen Jamison, 6-5 in the finals.
At 165 lbs, two-time All-American Casey Swiderski’s (Oklahoma State) debut his new weight was a good one. He defeated teammate and returning starter Ladarion Lockett, 4-3.
Oklahoma State’s returning starter at 174 lbs, Alex Facundo, held serve and defeated Stanford transfer Lorenzo Norman, 7-5.
With such a star-studded Oklahoma State recruiting class, perhaps Mikey White got overlooked by wrestling fans. White made sure that wouldn't happen going forward as he beat All-American and new transfer Bennett Berge, 10-4.
There was a weird result at 197 lbs as #3 Stephen Little (Little Rock) captured the title with an injury default victory in tiebreakers over #2 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State). Merrill defeated Little in tiebreakers last year in the NCAA semifinals.
At heavyweight, Dreshaun Ross teched his way to the title, defeating #31 Bryson Buhk (SIU Edwardsville) in the finals.

Princeton Open
The 133 lb weight class has some depth at Stanford. Freshman Siraj Sidhu won the bracket with victories over #19 Jake Crapps (Army West Point) and Joe Uhorchuk (Army West Point). Uhorchuk was a huge recruit for Army and is expected to push Crapps for the starting role or perhaps move down to 125 lbs. In addition to Sidhu, Stanford also has returning All-American Tyler Knox at this weight.
Luke Stanich showed why he’s the top-ranked 141 lber in the land. He dispatched #8 Jack Consiglio (Stanford) by a tech fall in the championship bout.
Another fight for a starting spot to monitor should happen with Stanford at 165 lbs. EJ Parco is the returning starter; he moved up multiple weights to fill at 165 lbs and ended up making the NCAA bloodround. Parco was majored by teammate Grigor Cholakyan in the semifinals. Penn’s Sean Seefeldt ended up winning the weight.
Once again, Stanford’s depth was on display at 174 lbs as Collin Guffey took out #25 Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) in sudden victory. The Cardinal is also expected to have two-time AA Hunter Garvin at this weight.
More competition for Stanford at 184 lbs. Returning national qualifier, Abe Wojcikiewicz, ended up fifth at this weight. Teammate and freshman Slava Shahbazyan won the bracket, though the two did not meet. Shahbazyan did beat Round of 12 finisher Rylan Rogers (Lehigh) and Shay Addison (Rider); Addison got a win over Wojcikiewicz.

Navy Classic
The 149 pool stood out as it featured three wrestlers with NCAA experience. The highest-ranked of the group, #13 Kal Miller (Pittsburgh) suffered losses to the other two - #18 Lucas Kapusta (Lock Haven) and AJ Rallo (Bellarmine). Kapusta ended up losing to Miller’s teammate Eugene Harney, who also defeated Miller in their intersquad bout.
Last season started with Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) and Spencer Lanosga (Navy) meeting in a dual and then the next day at the Navy Classic. This year they clashed again, but Pitzer came out on top, 5-2. While Lanosga got the two early-season wins in 2025-26, Pitzer got revenge at NCAA’s and did so again on Sunday.

Here are the final medal round matches across all three styles for the 2026 Senior World Championships
 
Final Results
Men’s Freestyle
57 kg
Gold Medal Match: Spencer Lee (USA) over Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Chong-Song Han (North Korea) over Munkh Erdene Batkhuyag (Mongolia)  3-1
Bronze Medal Match: Abubakar Mutaliev (Russia) over Islam Bazarganov (Azerbaijan)  6-2
 
61 kg
Gold Medal Match: Ahmad Javan (Iran) over Zavur Uguev (Russia)  9-2
Bronze Medal Match: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Nikhil (India)  9-1
Bronze Medal Match: Kwang-Myong Kim (North Korea) over Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania)  3-3
 
65 kg
Gold Medal Match: Bo Bassett (USA) over Vazgen Tavayan (Armenia)  9-1
Bronze Medal Match: Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Shamil Mamedov (Bulgaria)  5-4
Bronze Medal Match: Abasgadzhi Magomedov (Russia) over Abdulamazhid Kudiev (Tajikistan)  3-2
 
70 kg
Gold Medal Match: Ibragim Ibragimov (Russia) over Ernazar Akmataliev (Kyrgyzstan)  5-2
Bronze Medal Match: Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) over Vasile Diacon (Moldova)  Fall 3:55
Bronze Medal Match: Zain Retherford (USA) over Lachlan McNeil (Canada)  4-0
 
74 kg
Gold Medal Match: Inalbek Sheriev (Russia) over Nurkozha Kaipanov (Kazakhstan)  10-4
Bronze Medal Match: Amir Mohammad Yazdani (Iran) over Tajmuraz Salkazanov (Slovakia)  5-4
Bronze Medal Match: Yoshinosuke Aoyagi (Japan) over Turan Bayramov (Azerbaijan)  11-0
 
79 kg
Gold Medal Match: Levi Haines (USA) over Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran)  4-3
Bronze Medal Match: Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau (Belarus) over Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (Azerbaijan)  3-0
Bronze Medal Match: Ismail Kaniev (Russia) over Suldkhuu Olonbayaryn (Mongolia)  6-0
 
86 kg
Gold Medal Match: Kyle Dake (USA) over Arsenii Dzhioev (Azerbaijan)  3-2
Bronze Medal Match: Vladimiri Gamkrelidze (Georgia) over Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Greece)  6-0
Bronze Medal Match: Malik Shavaev (Kyrgyzstan) over Ibragim Kadiev (Russia)  4-3
 
92 kg
Gold Medal Match: Amanula Gadzhimagomedov (Russia) over Trent Hidlay (USA)  3-2
Bronze Medal Match: Ali Tcokaev (Azerbaijan) over Amir Hossein Firouzpour (Iran)  6-0
Bronze Medal Match: Miriani Maisuradze (Georgia) over Samuel Scherrer (Switzerland)  6-3
 
97 kg
Gold Medal Match: Kyle Snyder (USA) over Arash Yoshida (Japan)  4-4
Bronze Medal Match: Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Russia) over Zbiginiew Baranowski (Poland)  5-0
Bronze Medal Match: Hassan Yazdani (Iran) over Akhmed Tazhudinov (Bahrain)  5-0
 
125 kg
Gold Medal Match: Amir Zare (Iran) over Abdulla Kurbanov (Russia)  11-0
Bronze Medal Match: Wyatt Hendrickson (USA) over Jaspooran Singh (India)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Giorgio Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Vladislav Baitsaev (Hungary)  Cautions

 
Women’s Freestyle
50 kg
Gold Medal Match: Yui Susaki (Japan) over Neelam Sirohi (India)  Fall 2:13
Bronze Medal Match: Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan) over Nataliia Varakina (Belarus)  6-1
Bronze Medal Match: Feng Ziqi (China) over Oksana Livach (Ukraine)  10-0
 
53 kg
Gold Medal Match: Moe Kiyooka (Japan) over Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador)  6-0
Bronze Medal Match: Andreea Ana (Romania) over Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler (USA)  6-3
Bronze Medal Match: Jonna Malmgren (Sweden) over Jin Zhang (China)  5-2
 
55 kg
Gold Medal Match: Everest Leydecker (USA) over Nataliia Klivchutska (Ukraine)  4-1
Bronze Medal Match: Ekaterina Verbina (Russia) over Tuba Demir (Turkiye)  11-0
Bronze Medal Match: Nagisa Harada (Japan) over Anastasia Blayvas (Germany)  Fall 4:10

 
57 kg
Gold Medal Match: Kexin Hong (China) over Sena Nagamoto (Japan)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Iryna Kurachkina (Belarus) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia)  12-11
Bronze Medal Match: Helen Maroulis (USA) over Nilufar Raimova (Kazakhstan)  5-2
 
59 kg
Gold Medal Match: Manisha Bhanwala (India) over Abby Nette (USA)  8-6
Bronze Medal Match: Mariia Vynnyk (Ukraine) over Svetlana Lipatova (Russia)  7-6
Bronze Medal Match: Bolortuya Khurelkhuu (Mongolia) over Altyn Shagayeva (Kazakhstan)  Fall 2:59
 
62 kg
Gold Medal Match: Adaugo Nwachukwu (USA) over Nonoka Ozaki (Japan)  12-11
Bronze Medal Match: Amina Tandelova (Russia) over Esther Kolawole (Nigeria)  7-3
Bronze Medal Match: Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria) over Johanna Lindborg (Sweden)  5-2
 
65 kg
Gold Medal Match: Alina Kasabieva (Russia) over Irina Ringaci (Moldova)  6-3
Bronze Medal Match: Nana Ikehata (Japan) over Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia)  9-0
Bronze Medal Match: Yongxin Feng (China) over Solomiia Vynnyk (Ukraine)  11-0
 
68 kg
Gold Medal Match: Jia Long (China) over Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan)  4-3
Bronze Medal Match: Kennedy Blades (USA)  over Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia)  Fall 5:10
Bronze Medal Match: Adela Hanzlickova (Czech Republic) over Manola Skobelska (Ukraine)  6-6
 
72 kg
Gold Medal Match: Zelu Li (China) over Wiktoria Choluj (Poland)  4-3
Bronze Medal Match: Tanu Sharma (India) over Precious Wieser  9-5
Bronze Medal Match: Mahiro Yoshitake (Japan) over Zhamila Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan)  6-4
 
76 kg
Gold Medal Match: Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) over Kajal Dhocak (India)  8-6
Bronze Medal Match: Dymond Guilford (USA) over Kadriye Aksoy (Turkiye)  7-2
Bronze Medal Match: Davaanasan Enkh Amar (Mongolia) over Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan)  4-1
 
Greco Roman
55 kg
Gold Medal Match: Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) over Payam Ahmadi (Iran)  3-1
Bronze Medal Match: Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia) over Davaabandi Munkh Erdene (Mongolia)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Iskhar Kurbayez (Kazakhstan) over Lalit Sehrawat (India)  9-0
 
60 kg
Gold Medal Match: Koto Gomi (Japan) over Ali Ahmadi Vafa (Iran)  Fall 4:12
Bronze Medal Match: Alisher Ganiev (Uzbekistan) over Abdolmohammad Papi (Germany)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Aidos Sultangali (Kazakhstan) over Liguo Cao (China)  5-1
 
63 kg
Gold Medal Match: Karen Aslanyan (Armenia) over Nihat Mammadali (Azerbaijan)  8-4
Bronze Medal Match: Sergey Emelin (Russia) over Aref Mohammadi (Qatar)  9-0
Bronze Medal Match: Ozobek Khalimboev (Uzbekistan) over Edmond Nazaryan (Bulgaria)  7-3
 
67 kg
Gold Medal Match: Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Aytjan Khalmakhanov (Uzbekistan) Fall
Bronze Medal Match: Bagdat Sabaz (Kazakhstan) over Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan)  8-5
Bronze Medal Match: Luis Orta (Cuba) over Slavik Galstyan (Armenia)  10-6
 
72 kg
Gold Medal Match: Seyed Sohrabi (Iran) over Krisztian Vancza (Hungary)  4-0
Bronze Medal Match: Iuri Lomadze (Georgia) over Parviz Nasibov (Ukraine)  7-4
Bronze Medal Match: Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) over Mingiian Goriaev (Russia)  10-0
 
77 kg
Gold Medal Match: Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) over Alexandrin Gutu (Moldova)  8-3
Bronze Medal Match: Ali Oskou (Iran) over Doniyorkhon Nakibov (Uzbekistan)  4-3
Bronze Medal Match: Shuai Mamedau (Belarus) over Stoyan Kubatov (Belarus)  Fall 4:32
 
82 kg
Gold Medal Match: Gholamreza Farrokhi (Iran) over Yuksel Saricicek (Turkiye)  7-1
Bronze Medal Match: Mihail Bradu (Moldova) over Gamzat Gadzhiev (Russia)  3-3
Bronze Medal Match: Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) over Halishan Bahejiang (China)  6-5
 
87 kg
Gold Medal Match: Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran)  4-0
Bronze Medal Match: Lasha Gobadze (Georgia) over Mukhammadkodir Rasulov (Uzbekistan)  5-1
Bronze Medal Match: Gevorg Tadevosyan (Armenia) over Yaroslav Filchakov (Ukraine)  4-1
 
97 kg
Gold Medal Match: Kiryl Maskevich (Belarus) over Artur Sargsian (Russia)  7-1
Bronze Medal Match: Kiril Milov (Bulgaria) over Markus Ragginger (Austria)  10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Alex Bjurberg Kessidis (Sweden)  3-0
 
130 kg
Gold Medal Match: Fardin Hedayati (Iran) over Darius Vitek (Hungary)  8-0
Bronze Medal Match: Pavel Hlinchuk (Belarus) over Rafael Tsitsuashvili (Uzbekistan)  3-1
Bronze Medal Match: Wenhao Jiang (China) over Matti Kuosmanen (Finland)  5-4