2026 NCAA Championships Session One - Running Blog

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s the best day of the year!! 2026 NCAA Division 1 Nationals are live from Rocket Arena here in Cleveland, OH.

We are 1 minute out!! The National Anthem singer blew the roof off of Rocket Arena. We start with the 32 vs 33 seed pigtail matches. The winner of those matches will wrestle the 1 seeds and get blended into the round. Front side matches only this afternoon. Let’s FREAKING GO!

Pins are worth 2 team points, Tech Falls 1.5, Majors 1. 1 for advancement on the frontside, 0.5 advancement on the backside.

Will do my absolute best to keep you updated on all 8 mats, will focus primarily on upsets and closely seeded matchups. We are off and running!! Morgan State scores the 1st TD of the tournament, quick reversal. Hernandez TD for App State, Carter Schmidt TD for OU. These young men have NCAA Qualifier on their resumes for eternity. TD and swipes for Charles of Morgan State, legend Kenny Monday in his corner, 1st national qualifier for Morgan State since 1996. Schmidt opening 7-0 lead at 133. 125 Mauger riding hard. McBurney Brown 5-3 lead at 149, believe his father was recently the coach at Mass Perry.

Mauger 1:11 RT, chooses neutral 3rd period. A dub here helps Mizzou. Uhlenhopp UVU with a nice scramble and reversal. McBurney reversal and the Ohio crowd cheers. Mauger gets late TD for the win. Keegan O’Toole is fired up. Carter Schmidt 11-3 major for OU. McBurney gets the win. Morgan State Charles gets the win. UVU Uhlenhoff with the win.

Strickenberger vs Witt the 16 vs 17 matchup at 125. Witt beat him 2x at the B12s. Poulin vs Sotelo saucy round 1 matchup. Strickenberger in on a shot and gets it draws 1st blood. Spratley early 3-0 lead. Possible finals rematch with VRob tonight. Binni almost a TD at end of period but doesn’t get it. Dean Peterson 3-0 end of 1 vs Lauridsen. 

Defending Champ VRob takes the match for Hendrickson OU. Strick in on a shot and Witt hooks up high flyer hold and they stalemate. Stevo with blood time. 4-2 Strick with 1:59 to go. Witt TD Strick E1 and we are tied at 5. Now Strick headhunts and scores 7 and looking for the fall. Sotelo has Poulin on his back. Strick wins. Seymour takes the mat. Renteria holds off Smith 8-7. Spratley wins.

Provo vs Flynn, Provo scores early. Dean Peterson wins vs Lauridsen. Poulin comes back to get swipes of his own. Wild match on mat 8. 6-6 with 4 NF coming for Poulin. He wins 10-6. Roark vs Volk mat 5. Bouzakis on 2. Lilledahl has to wait for rest time for pigtail winner. Seymour match scoreless after 1. Volk gets TD, Seymour gets R2, Bouzakis up 4-3 after giving up TD, about get a R2 I think, nope stalemate. VRob up 4-0. Moran vs Terukina.

Klinsky the Willie Saylor upset special pick up 5-0 vs Motyka. Roark and Volk scrambling. Seymour WBF 3 team points for Lehigh. Bouzakis in a close one 6-4, gets hit for stalling. VRob vs Sparkplug TONIGHT. Returning AA Zan Fugitt is up. Bouzakis holds on. Gotta be brutal for him right off the scale. Ventresca takes the mat for VT. McGowan with the lead over Rivera. We are rolling into 133. If the seeds hold tomorrow morning should be amazing. TD and Backs for Serrano Northern Colorado. Moran over Terukina. Volk gets his revenge over Roark. 

Jacob Van Dee up on mat 5. Serrano leading 9-1 went feet to back. Fugitt riding hard in 2nd period, match scoreless. Spencer Moore wins with TD in OT. Fugitt 1:43 RT. McGowan back points. Larkin vs Grice on mat 8. Fugitt 1-1 has 1:24 RT 3rd period. Mougalian with the 1st TD. Van Dee up 3-0 vs Farber. WBF for McGowan Princeton. Seidel the Freshman sensation takes the mat. TK Davis with a near TD at the buzzer vs Fugitt for the W. Official Review. Davis wins the challenge and the match. But now Wisconsin will challenge the official self review and we go to the eye in the sky. Defending champ Byrd up on mat 4. Wisconsin loses the challenge and Fugitt will have to return to AA status on the backside. Serrano wins 17-14, late field goal lol. Seidel with the TF, Ventresca with the win.

Byrd vs Shawver part 9? Farber up 5-4 with 20 to go needs to ride for the W. Van Dee is not gonna get up and Farber wins. Blaze on the mat for PSU. 2 returning AAs lose round 1. Welcome to the thunderdome. Lopez SIUE vs the Drake for Iowa. Byrd with the 1st TD. Larkin advances 8-0. Both Van Dee and Fugitt are returning AAs now on the backside. Ayala gets TD end of 1st period. Braxton Brown the 23 seed up early on 10 seed Leete of American. Blaze in bonus point territory. Byrd 5-4 with RT going into 3rd period. Shawver cuts him loose. 

Shawver gets TD, 7-7 but Byrd has RT. Blaze with the win. Manville vs Stanich mat 2. Byrd gets late TD and will hang on. Braxton Brown up 4-2. Ayala in major territory. Braxton Brown upsets #10 Leete. Ayala major. Stanich early TD. Ferrara gonna beat Redding 6-2. Tyler Knox advances for Stanford. Ben Davino on the mat. 

Vombaur vs Crook. 2nd TD for Stanich. Echemendia vs Titus. Henson vs Tagg, Wyatt up 6-2. Davino up 12-1 1:17 into period 1 smh. Beast. Wells vs Simcox. Challenge Oliveri vs Singleton. AntEch up 3-1 after 1. Hardy up 8-0. Nebraska lost 125 and 133. Vombaur with the major. Stanich wins by Tech. Cornella vs Gable Porter. Hardy WBTF. Consiglio vs Chappell.

Nasir vs Basile. Wells beats Simcox. Davino WBTF. Sergio Vega vs DeKraker. Echemendia gets the dub. Lightning Luke up, pigtail winners getting blended in. Down goes #9 seed Oliveri to Singleton. Braeden Davis up. Sergio Vega R2. LL scoreless after 1. LL TD goes up 4-0 on Mauger. Vega in a wild scramble with Dekraker and comes out on top to go up 5-0. Consiglio gets swipes at the buzzer to win. Vega gets the dub. Nasir Bailey with the major. 

Swiderski vs Gioffre. Braeden Davis riding hard. SVN up. CJ Composto wins 2-0. Elijah Griffin wins for Rider. Gabe Willochel vs Carter Young the OSU transfer. Lilledahl wins and advances. So far top 8 seeds have all advanced. Jax gets the fall! Carter Young up 7-0 early. Frost vs Kapusta. Collin Gaj up for VT. Swiderski up 6-2. Braeden Davis advances. Frost wins by Fall! SVN WBTF. Those guys vs each other tonight. McNeil vs Rivera. 

Jesse Mendez attempt to become a 3x champ without a RS starts with a fall. Valencia vs Peterson. Swiderski gets the Win. The surprising 3 seed Wasilewski now up. Carter Young advances 16-12 in a wild one. Caleb Tyus up vs Andre Gonzales. Ryder Block, a trendy pick, vs Harney. McNeil up 5-3 in a good one. David Evans advances for UVU. 

Upsets updates: 

125 18 over 15 and 17 over 16

133 17 over 16, 20 over 13, 19 over 14, 23 over 10

141 17 over 16, 21 over 12, 24 over 9

149 20 over 13

Stiles wins. McNeil wins. Wasilewski wins. Apologies running through the brackets. Jaxon Joy the cradlin sensation is up on 7. Ryder Block up 7-2 late. Chance Lamer advances. Zerban vs Millard up. Tyus wins 5-1 on the strength of a TD and RT. Jaxon Joy with TF. Very chalky tournament so far. PJ Duke takes the mat. Cardenas is up. Ty Watters is up. Cannon winning 6-4 plus RT 40 to go.

Cannon ices it. Watters gets the W. Raike & Harrington 1-1 OT. Robideau gets his hand raised. Duke WBF. These freshmen are so freaking good!! Harrington wins it in OT. Mesenbrink is up. Larkin is up. Zerban and Millard are 5-5 1:30 to go, Millard 1:16 RT. Zerban had a terrible concussion at B12s, terrible situation. Larkin with a nice counter and leads 3-1, Millard wins 12-6. Mesenbrink up 16-4. Larkin up 7-1. Ethen Miller is up. Catrabone scoreless after 1. Luke Mechler wins on RT. Daniel Cardenas advances. Kannon Webster is up. Mesenbrink 21-5 TF. Sparks vs Whalen. Larkin wins by major. The defending champ Trelly Taylor on 3. Ethen Miller advances. Jude Swisher advances. Kannon Webster up 3-0, Trelly up 3-1, now 6-1. Andrew Sparks up 5-0 early. Nicco Ruiz the B12 Champ is up. Hard to track everything but so far PSU is undefeated, OSU is undefeated, 

 tOSU is undefeated, Iowa is undefeated (no 157). Antrell up 12-4 in control. Shapiro advances. Lockett on mat 2. Bianchi is up. Gallagher is up 6-2. Andrew Sparks wins by major, Caliendo takes the mat vs Snipes Citadel. Trelly 19-4 TF. Gallagher opening it up on Scoles now 12-4. Caliendo makes quick work of Snipes. Hepner wins with a victory over his high school teammate. Levi Haines on mat 7. Downey vs Olguin. Max Brignola is up. Nicco Ruiz wins by major. Kannon Webster wins 7-2. Levi gets the fall. Cesar Alvan vs Brock Woodcock. Kharchla is up. LJ Araujo is up. Lockett up 8-2 & RT 1:13 to go. Parco TD Araujo reversal. Lockett advances. Bianchi and Church in OT. Noah Mulvaney beats #14 Barbosa. Kharchla is up 6-1. Bianchi in on a shot in OT. Heading to the rideout tiebreakers. Parco & Araujo 3-3 beginning of the 3rd. Church is out in 6 seconds. Brignola and Lillard to OT. challenges all over the place, Church vs Bianchi and Parco looked like he had the winning TD vs Araujo which would add to an already non stellar round for Nebraska. Bianchi all heart, gets an E1 and TD3 at the buzzer to win. They waived off the winning TD for Lillard vs #7 Brignola. At 165 the 8 seed almost lost, the 7 seed almost lost and is in OT and the #6 seed needs to win a review to avoid an L.

Parco WINS in the biggest upset so far. Brignola and Lillard go to the rideouts. Brignola wins on RT in a weird controversial match. Minto to mat 3. Kennedy on mat 5. Joey Blaze on mat 1 wins 5-0 TD3 E1 RT. Alex Facundo beat Desiante. Euton gets the win. Cam Steed on mat 1. Minto up 6-1. Carter Schubert vs Pinto in  a match where Schubert is the higher seed but best version of Pinto is scary. Kennedy now up 3-1 and working on RT. Steed up 3-0 early. Messer vs Espinoza-Owens to OT and Messer gets the TD quick. D Lamer wins for Oregon State and Minto gets Nebraska back on the board with a TF. Rocco Welsh takes the mat. Simon Ruiz vs Cael Valencia. Cam Steed up 6-1.

MJ Gaitan on the mat, Wask vs Colin Kelly, Welsh up 6-1. Ruiz strikes 1st vs Valencia. Colin Carrigan has taken Singleton the 6 seed to OT. MJ Gaitan came out of the scramble and ended up in a modified piledriver and gets the fall. Cam Steed wins 16-1. Schubert beats Pinto in a 5-4 match. Welsh up 12-3 and climbing. Tons of bonus for Penn State early in the chase to break their own team scoring record. Max McEnelly is on the mat. Singleton and Carrigan in the rideouts which would be a crazy upset. Singleton rides for the 1st 30. Rocco gets a TF. James Conway from F&M on the mat. BeauMant won at 174 and now Brock is up at 184. Simon Ruiz with a big win for Cornell.

Singleton guts it out and advances. Now we have Isaac Dean vs Soldano. Mad Max with a quick TF for Minnesota. Wask wins 7-3, Myles Takats gets a last second slide by to win at the buzzer. Sinclair is on the mat. Allred is on the mat. Chris Moore IL major decision dub. Soldano & Dean are exactly where you’d expect 1-1 with 1:30 to go. Mantanona advances. Fishback up 6-2 vs Brooker. Nick Fox and Conway tied 1-1 in the 3rd. Soldano gets the win vs Dean late. Conway gets the go ahead TD. McGill vs Bullock on the mat. Sinclair on his way to a TF. Consider it done unless a post differently. Conway holds on for the win. Allred survives with a 3-1 gritty win.

Angelo Ferrari makes his NCAA debut. Rylan Rogers gets the Dub for Lehigh. SCW vs Ryder who has a massive shoulder brace on. Fishback up 8-6 with 22 to go. He holds on for dear life for the W. Bullock vs McGill 5-5 OT. Josh Barr up on 5. He is my bet to score the most team points this year. Eddie N up for Wyoming. DJ Parker vs Evan Bates on mat 6. Bullock and McGill to the rideouts. Ferrari up 4-0. Ryder E1 early 2nd period to go up 1-0. Bullock wins 6-5 in rideouts. Joey Novak to mat 3. Barr up 11-2 after 1. Ferrari up 8-0. Ryder vs SCW 1-1 in the 3rd. 

Caleb Compos gets a win for American. Rune Lawrence vs Luke Geog. Ferrari wins his debut 10-0 for Iowa. Angelo Posada gives up the 1st TD and comes back to get the fall. Barr wins by TF. SCW and Ryder in OT. Ryder gets the TD and wins 4-1. Joey Novak gets the cradle and the fall for Wyoming. Hawks vs Sasso mat 8. The Bates Parker match was insane. Parker was up 1-0 on 2 stalls. Bates had RT. Bates gets hit for a 3rd stall and loses another point. Dom Bradley says let him go and Bates gets the TD at the buzzer to win. Hawks and Sasso in a 6-6 barnburner. Gabe Arnold vs JRad. McDanel 1-1 but down RT. Hawks up 9-8 with 50 to go. Wild. Hawks is gonna do it!!! 1st top 4 seed to fall. Cam McDanel gets the dub. Geog and Rune Lawrence in OT. Mac Stout wins. Geog in on a HI C, Lawrence is climbing and gets the TD for the upset.

Gabe Arnold in a 1-1 match, color me surprised. The top half of the 197 bracket has exploded. The 285s are on the mat, Bastida is up, Keuter is up, Feldman is up, Mullen is up, and Panda is up for OSU at 197. Stoner up 4-1 on Feldman going into the 3rd. Bastida starts off with a TF. Rocky Elam with an opening Dub. Feldman down to 40 seconds. Feldman gets the TD with 9 to go!!! Gonna win 5-4. Arnold in the rideouts, gets out in 4 seconds. Feldman saved his season, wow. Keuter wins. Ferrari is up. Rademacher wins on 1 second of RT. Mullen almost gets pinned after a big lead but gets it done. Ghadiali is up. Remy Cotton wins. Juan Mora up 4-2. Dawson leads Tinker. Ferrari leads Rasmussen, Taylor is tied. Mirasola up 9-3, Hopke tied with Schon, Lanosga tied with Pitzer, Taye gets a TF, Mora gets the upset. Now Szuba is up. 

AJ gets a TF. Pitzer Lanosga to the rideouts. Devin Dawson wins for NIU. Penn State goes 10-0 Mirasola win. Taylor and Catka in OT. Colbert up early on Carroll. Catka upsets #6 Taylor. Szuba wins by TF, Trumble wins by fall. 2 matches left, Colbert wins. See you guys tonight

Upsets updates: 

125 17 over 16, 18 over 15

133 17 over 16, 20 over 13, 19 over 14, 23 over 10

141 17 over 16, 21 over 12, 24 over 9

149 20 over 13

157 17 over 16, 21 over 12, 20 over 13

165 19 over 14, 27 over 6

174 20 over 13, 19 over 14

184 22 over 11

197 17 over 16, 25 over 8, 29 over 4, 21 over 12, 19 over 14

285 21 over 12, 27 over 6