Highlights from a Wild Weekend

We’re still trying to recover after another fun weekend in the college wrestling world. The last three days were filled with marquee matchups - individually and as a team. There were plenty of upsets (individually and as a team), some long droughts broken, sensational freshmen, and lots of good action. Here’s a summary of some of the key moments from one of the best weekends of the 2025-26 season: Minnesota over Iowa: The Gophers defeated their rivals to the south for the first time since 2014. A major decision in a seemingly toss-up at 141 from Vance Vombaur and upsets from his next two teammates, Drew Roberts (149) and Charlie Millard (157), set the stage for the win. Max McEnelly’s sudden victory win over Gabe Arnold didn’t officially ice the match, but a 4-3 win by Gavin Nelson at 197 did. Virginia Tech’s second win over NC State: The Hokies went into hostile territory and grabbed a win over their bitter rivals. It was the second time that Tony Robie’s team beat the Wolfpack in the 2025-26 season. They also got a win at the National Duals Invitational. Eddie Ventresca gave the Hokies a boost in the opening match and continued his dominance (4-0) over the returning NCAA champion, Vince Robinson. Freshmen also chipped in as Aaron Seidel got a tech at 133 to stay unbeaten and Collin Gaj got a dominating top-five win at 149 lbs. Veteran Jaden Bullock won a toss-up at 184 and Sonny Sasso’s wild 11-10 win at 197, put the match out of reach before the heavyweights took the mat. Pittsburgh with a statement win: Sticking with the ACC, Pittsburgh posted its most impressive win of the season by downing #11 North Carolina, 22-9. Evan Tallmadge’s win at 133 lbs was the only significant upset for Keith Gavin’s team. The result of the dual featured the Panthers winning the toss-up matches. Oklahoma State wins 9 of 10 against UNI: On the brink of losing his first collegiate match, true freshman Ladarion Lockett shocked Big 12 champion Ryder Downey in a furious comeback. Lockett was down 4-1 late in the final period and took Downey down to his back for the win. Nick Fox notched the only win of the evening for Northern Iowa, and his opponent, Zach Ryder, appeared to be hurt in the process. Ryder did not wrestle on Sunday. Penn State stays perfect: In a battle between teams that finished #1 and #2 at the 2025 NCAA Championships, it was Penn State who got the win. Nebraska’s 12 team points represented the most that has been scored on Cael Sanderson’s team all year. Returning national champion Antrell Taylor handed Penn State super freshman, PJ Duke, his first collegiate loss in tiebreakers. Penn State’s top-ranked upperweights, Rocco Welsh and Josh Barr, were both able to earn major decision wins against returning All-Americans. Columbia’s two big wins: On Saturday, Columbia traveled to Ivy League foe Cornell for a conference dual, plus a non-conference match versus Arizona State. Donny Pritzlaff’s crew left Ithaca with two massive W’s. Their 22-21 win over Cornell was the program’s first since 1986!!! Sulayman Bah (125), Cesar Alvan (165), Joe Curtis (184), and Jack Wehmeyer (197) all went 2-0 for the Lions. Huge clash at 157 lbs: During the Arizona State/Columbia/Cornell tri, we saw a great matchup between two title contenders at 157 lbs. Two-time All-American Meyer Shapiro got his hand raised against #2 Kaleb Larkin in one of the best matches of the year. The win keeps Shapiro with an unblemished record this year and likely gives him a significant boost from his current #7 position in the rankings. The win was easily Shapiro’s best of the season. More Ivy League parity: Harvard got a one-point win over Ivy rivals Princeton on Saturday. It was the first home win for the Crimson at Princeton’s expense since 2008. Trailing 17-10 with three matches remaining, Harvard swept the final three weights (Matthew Walsh/184, Dylan Greenstein/197, and Hudson Skove/285) to get the win. Don’t sleep on Oregon State: A couple of weeks ago, Wyoming was one of the key stories of the weekend after they upset South Dakota State. Now the roles have been reversed and it was Oregon State who knocked off the Cowboys, 25-12. Oregon State got slight upsets at 149 and 157 lbs from Noah Tolentino and CJ Hamblin and held serve in the weights where they were favored. The Beavers now have a 6-1 record on the year. Lock Haven’s win sets the stage for next week: Lock Haven got a solid 27-14 win over George Mason to move to 10-3 on the year. It sets the stage for a huge conference dual with Rider on Friday night. Neither team has lost in-conference this year. Buckeyes Win - Michigan gets upsets: On Sunday afternoon, Ohio State beat Michigan to the tune of 26-16. Even in the ten-point loss, it was Michigan who posted two notable upsets. At 184 and 285 lbs. #9 Brock Mantanona got a 4-1 victory over #7 Dylan Fishback at 184 lbs. In the battle of the heavyweights, Taye Ghadiali got by Nick Feldman in sudden victory. The two met last year in the All-Star Classic and Ghadiali prevailed, while wrestling at Campbell. Ghadiali has quietly won five straight Big Ten duals after a loss at the CKLV. Early surge leads Oklahoma State over Iowa State: Third-ranked Iowa State suffered its second loss of the year when Oklahoma State won the first seven matches of their dual. Troy Spratley, Sergio Vega, Casey Swiderski, and Landon Robideau all picked up wins over returning AA’s. Vega defeated Anthony Echemendia and still has yet to give up a collegiate takedown. After a rough start, Swiderski seems to be rounding into shape. We didn’t get the much-anticipated Evan Frost/Jax Forrest matchup because of an illness on Frost’s part, so Forrest kept up his dominant way by teching Osmany Diversent Drexel gets 11th and 12th wins: Last week, Drexel crept into the dual rankings with a 10-3 record. They added to it with wins over Franklin & Marshall and Hofstra. The Dragons are now one win away from their highwater mark under head coach Matt Azevedo.

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Highlights from a Wild Weekend

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