College Wrestling Weekend Roundup (11/3/25)

And just like that, the college season is underway! There were a handful of dual events over the weekend, along with some high-quality open tournaments. Oh yeah, and the NWCA/All-Star Classic on Saturday night (we’ll get to that later). There was so much going on it might have been difficult for you to catch everything. That’s why we have a whirlwind of a roundup from all of the weekend’s action. Starting with duals and moving into the tournaments. Dual Thoughts The big dual stunner of the weekend was Utah Valley knocking off #11 Stanford. Sure, Stanford had two wrestlers at the All-Star Classic and another two notable starters absent, but the Wolverines didn’t control that. Most expected the 149 lb bout to be the most competitive of the dual and it didn’t disappoint. While trailing in the third, Utah Valley’s David Evans locked up a headlock and put redshirt freshman Aden Valencia on his back and ended up with a 13-9 victory. This dual was a matchup between a veteran Utah Valley team and a young, yet talented Stanford squad. The Wolverines veterans were the ones who provided the spark. In addition to Evans, experienced teammates like Bridger Ricks (125 lbs), Haiden Drury (141 lbs), Caleb Uhlenhopp (184 lbs), and Jack Forbes (285 lbs) picked up wins. One note from Stanford - they started their highest-ranked recruit (#13) from the Class of 2025, Angelo Posada, at 197 lbs. We’ll monitor whether that’s giving a freshman a taste of DI wrestling or if he’s going to be the starter going forward. Purdue posted a hard-fought 19-13 victory over Cal Poly, which was one of two duals during a California swing. The 149 lb bout featured a battle between ex-Ohio State teammates Gavin Brown and Andre Gonzales. Purdue’s Brown got the 4-1 win in sudden victory. From a Purdue standpoint, Stoney Buell (157) and Joey Blaze (165) made successful debuts at new weight classes. Cal Poly’s best win came at 184 lbs, where #29 Ceasar Garza defeated #23 James Rowley 10-7. The 141 lb match was perhaps the most anticipated of this dual. In that matchup, returning All-American #4 Zeth Romney held off #18 Greyson Clark by a point in tiebreakers. #27 Wisconsin was dominant over a North Dakota State team that looked in the preseason like it might be worthy of a national ranking. This dual saw Wisconsin wrestlers earn wins over both of their Bison opponents ranked in the top ten. Luke Mechler downed All-American #9 Gavin Drexler in sudden victory at 157 lbs. At 184 lbs, Cale Anderson defeated returning NCAA bloodround finisher #8 Aidan Brenot, 13-9. This dual also marked the return of Braxton Amos - and also his heavyweight debut. Amos got pushed for a while but ultimately pinned Andrew Blackburn-Forst in the third period. Pittsburgh and Navy usually wrestle each other in November and this year they clashed on the opening weekend. We’ll mention the heavyweights later, but the marquee matchup here came at 174 lbs. All-American Danny Wask (Navy) and Round of 12 finisher Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) met for the fourth time in college. This time, Wask got a 6-5 win and pulled his career record against Augustine to an even, 2-2. Navy/Pitt also featured the debut of a pair of top 50 true freshmen. Navy’s Caedyn Ricciardi got the win at 141 lbs and Vince Bouzakis followed for Pitt at 157. Obviously, if Riccardi is good enough, he’ll be the guy for Navy since they can’t utilize redshirts. Bouzakis seems like he may get the nod since 2025 national qualifier Dylan Evans was at 165. In the first DI dual of the year, Duke came back to beat Sacred Heart 19-18. Sacred Heart jumped out to a 15-0 lead with wins in the first four bouts. 125 lber Riley Rowan of Duke got a 2-0 victory with the dual on the line, in the final match of the contest. Southeast Open We had a big league final at 125 lbs with All-American Jore Volk and Big 12 champion Jett Strickenberger. Unfortunately, Strickenberger appeared to injure his knee and had to default out. One of the breakout performances of the weekend belongs to Virginia Tech’s Dillon Campbell at 133 lbs. I’ve heard a lot about true freshman Aaron Seidel at this weight class. Campbell said “Not so fast,” with and 11-0 major decision over a tough Troy Hohman (NC State) in the semis and an identical score over #9 Braxton Brown (Maryland). I can already tell that 149 lbs is going to be the wacky weight class this year. Koy Buesgens (NC State) will help contribute to that chaos as he downed #7 Willie McDougald 7-4 in the finals. There was a pretty decent upset in the 165 lbs finals as The Citadel’s Thomas Snipes knocked off #9 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota), 2-1. Snipes was initially awarded a late takedown, which would have made the margin even greater. That was waved off. West Virginia’s Brody Conley went Gopher hunting. He beat Minnesota wrestlers in the quarters, semis, and finals to win the 174 lb weight class. In the finals, Conley beat Ethan Riddle, a match after Riddle beat Virginia Tech’s #20 Sergio Desiante. Conley also downed #21 Clayton Whiting. Maryland sophomore Branson John returned up two weights from where he made the national tournament at 174 lbs. He looked better than ever with a title at 197 lbs. John put up double digits on a pair of ranked wrestlers (#17 Gavin Nelson/Minnesota and #33 Rune Lawrence/West Virginia). Lawrence made the finals after downing the top seed, Sonny Sasso, 7-6. We finally got to see Koy Hopke (Minnesota) compete in college and it was worth the wait. The former U17 world champion, Hopke, downed three national qualifiers to win the heavyweight bracket. Hopke majored #33 Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State) and #14 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech), before beating his teammate Bennett Tabor in sudden victory. Princeton Open Lehigh’s Matty Lopes, who is presumably redshirting, won the 133 lb weight class. He posted wins over multi-time NCAA qualifiers Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) and Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) on his way to a title. It was a nice Rider debut for 141 lber Eli Griffin. He downed national qualifiers Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) and Braden Basile (Army West Point) to get his season started on the right foot. True freshman Joseph Antonio earned a title for Army West Point at 157 lbs. Though he didn’t face either of them, his weight class featured national qualifier Conner Harer (Rutgers) and U17 Greco world champion Joel Adams (Oregon State). We were very anxious to see Matthew Olguin return for Oregon State at 174 lbs. When healthy, he’s been an All-American contender. Olguin made it to the finals, but was shut out by new teammate Daschle Lamer. Lamer came over from Cal Poly in the offseason. Navy Classic There was a bit of a shocker at the 133 lb weight class as American’s Raymond Lopez pinned returning All-American Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) in the semifinals. In the finals, Lopez squared off with his teammate Max Leete. Unfortunately, Leete had to default out of that bout. There was a lot going on at the 149 lb weight class. George Mason national qualifier, Kaden Cassidy, captured the title. He had wins over blue-chip recruit Nikade Zinkin (Nebraska), #17 Kade Brown (Pittsburgh), and downed Eugene Harney (Morgan State) in the finals. Harney got to the championship match after defeating his former Campbell teammate Wynton Denkins (Virginia), the top seed, in the quarterfinals. Freshman LJ Araujo got a handful of quality wins as he captured the 165 lb title. In the quarterfinals, he edged top-seeded Evan Maag (George Mason), 6-5. During the next two rounds, he scored wins over Pittsburgh teammates Jared Keslar and Dylan Evans. It was a clash of All-Americans in the finals at 174 lbs. Christopher Minto posted three takedowns in the second and third periods to notch an 11-3 major decision over the host school’s Danny Wask. Minto was an All-American at 165 lbs and was in his first tournament at 174. One of the weekend’s best performances came in the 197 lb finals as Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) dominated fellow All-American Camden McDanel (Nebraska). Stout totaled six takedowns in his 20-4 dismantling of McDanel. Proving his dual win on Saturday was no fluke, Navy’s Spencer Lanosga defeated 2025 ACC champion Dayton Pitzer in the finals. Sunday’s win came via a 6-4 decision. Clarion Open The high schoolers proved to be the biggest story from the Clarion Open. High school senior Bo Bassett and junior Melvin Miller captured Clarion Open titles at 149 and 157 lbs, respectively. Bassett’s title (and knight helmet) came as the result of an 11-1 major decision over #9 Jaxon Joy (Cornell). Bassett also teched a pair of past national qualifiers before the finals. Miller scored an 8-5 victory over 2025 Big Ten runner-up and current #8 ranked Brandon Cannon of Ohio State. Both, Bassett and Miller, are committed to Virginia Tech. To make the finals, Joy cradled and pinned returning All-American Ethan Stiles (Ohio State). We also got some clarity regarding Ohio State’s 125 lb situation. Brendan McCrone/Nic Bouzakis/Vinny Kilkeary all competed in this bracket. Kilkeary lost in the quarters to Cornell national qualifier Marcello Milani. McCrone beat Milani 1-0 in the semis. In the finals, McCrone downed Bouzakis 5-4 on the strength of a first-period takedown. With this being Bouzakis’ first collegiate competition at 125 lbs, I’d imagine he gets another couple of cracks at trying to establish himself as “the guy” at 125 lbs. Until then, look for McCrone to get the lion’s share of the dual opportunities at 125. Similar to 125 lbs, they have a trio of talented big men at 197 lbs. The returning starter is Seth Shumate, who was upset by Air Force freshman Karson Tompkins in the opening round. A couple of matches later, Luke Geog majored Tompkins in the semifinals. It was another all-Buckeye final as Geog prevailed over Ryder Rogotzke, 10-4. This weight has a bit more clarity to it as Rogotzke has a redshirt year available. Bellarmine had a good showing with a title at 174 lbs from Grant O’Dell. They also had a pair of finalists in AJ Rallo (141 lbs) and Daulton Mayer (285 lbs).

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College Wrestling Weekend Roundup (11/3/25)

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