What to Watch for at the 2026 Pac-12 Championships

Friday marks the start of the DI postseason with five of the eight conferences in action. The Pac-12 will take place in its entirety on Friday from the campus of Cal Poly. This tournament is very small (with only four teams); however, there are plenty of quality matches and storylines to follow. We’ve highlighted four below as you follow along with the tournament. 1. The clash at 197 lbs All eyes will be on the 197 lb final, which should feature #4 Stephen Little (Little Rock) taking on #5 Justin Rademacher (Oregon State). It’s the highest profile matchup in the conference and pits a pair of All-American contenders against one another. During the regular season, these two did not clash during their school’s dual meet. At that time, Rademacher teched Liam Daniels. Though both of these wrestlers are high All-American contenders, each comes into the postseason with an uncharacteristic loss late in the season. Rademacher was beaten by Arizona State’s Colton Hawks, while Little was upset by Binghamton’s Mikey Squires at the Patriot Last Chance Open. Little missed about a month of action in the second half of the season, so even though Rademacher has more mileage on his body this season, he might be healthier than Little. The two met twice during the 2023-24 season and Little dominated in both matches, one of which resulted in a major decision. That was during a true freshman campaign for Rademacher, so a lot has changed since those initial meetings. 2. The big man returning from injury The Pac-12 Championships should mark the return of three-time national qualifier Trevor Tinker at heavyweight for Cal Poly. Tinker hasn’t competed since suffering an injury at the Midlands. At the time, he was in the midst of a solid season with losses to a couple of top contenders (Bastida/Ghadiali) and a sudden victory upset at the hands of Nate Schon. As Tinker returns, it’s hard to know what to expect from him. If healthy, Tinker could be considered an outside All-American threat. With him being sidelined so long, it’s hard to know if he’ll be rusty or just not healthy. In order to go to Cleveland for the 2026 NCAA Championships, Tinker will need to be healthy enough to win two matches. He did not compete enough to earn an allocation, so there’s only one on the line for the conference. The top-seed at the weight is Little Rock’s Michael Gasper. He has never been ranked via InterMat; however, he’s been close and under serious consideration. Oregon State’s Khale McDonnell and CSU Bakersfield’s Mason Cover round out the weight class, as the #3 and #4 seeds, respectively. 3. The team race Funky things can happen in small tournaments; that being said, I think it’s safe to say that the team race will come down to Little Rock and Oregon State. Looking at the preseeds, Oregon State leads the way with five #1 seeds and Little Rock is second with four. Now, it's almost be considered a toss-up as Rademacher has the honors at 197 lbs, though Little has the past history and All-American accolades. If the race couldn’t get any closer, both teams have three #2 seeds. These two schools are only slated to meet twice during the opening round/semifinals. At 125 lbs, with top-seeded Maximo Renteria taking on Little Rock’s Tyson Roach, the #4 seed. At 184 lbs, it might be a little more even as #2 TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) and #3 Kodiak Cannedy (Little Rock) are paired together. This race will be close, but Little Rock will need to pull an upset or two - head-to-head with Oregon State or against one of the other two teams. 4. The 157 lb bracket The most uncertain, wide-open weight class in this tournament looks like 157 lbs. Jaivon Jones finished the regular season as the only Pac-12 wrestler to be found in InterMat’s rankings at the weight. Even so, #2 Jagger French (Cal Poly) and #3 CJ Hamblin (Oregon State) have each spent time in the rankings. Last year, the 157 lb weight class was quite good as well. In that bracket,Hamblin upset Chance Lamer (then of Cal Poly) in the semifinals, which put him in position to earn an at-large berth to nationals. Hamblin has big-match experience of the wrestlers in this bracket. Jones has the best resume this year. It includes a top-20 win over Minnesota’s Charlie Millard and a one-takedown victory over French.

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