2025 SoCon Championships Preview

Hey besties,

Welcome to the postseason - the Southern Conference will certainly spice things up this year with a two-day tournament and nine-man brackets. But first, let’s talk about allocations. Each of the ten weight classes has received one allocation for the NCAA Championships, with 133, 141, and 197 classes earning two bids at their weights, which almost always includes a round of true second-place matches at the conclusion of the championship round.

The team race will be fun to watch - The Citadel and Bellarmine are both contenders for top-three placements. Bellarmine has the #1 seed at 184 (Devan Hendricks) and heavyweight (Daulton Mayer). Speaking of heavyweight, Campbell’s Taye Ghadiali entered the transfer portal this week listed as ‘Do Not Contact,’ after ending his season due to injury in December. Pivoting back to the team race - App State and Campbell ended the regular season as co-champions, Campbell losing to The Citadel 11-24, only to turn around and defeat App State 21-15. In our pre-conference tournament rankings, App State has three ranked wrestlers, #7 Will Miller (165), #28 Luke Uliano (174), and #30 Carson Floyd (197). The same for Campbell, #24 Anthony Molton (125), #21 Shannon Hanna (141), and #21 Levi Hopkins (197). All six of these wrestlers are the #1 and #2 seeds in their weights as well. 

This season was full of twists and turns, which is why it wouldn’t color me surprised to see some upsets and rematches this weekend. 

While I can’t predict the future, I’d like to make some fun predictions for the weekend:

• Bellarmine will make history with their program’s first (and possibly second) national qualifiers at 184 (Devan Hendricks) and heavyweight (Daulton Mayer).
• The conference will end up with at least 4 at-large bids, likely at 165, 174, 197, and heavyweight. 
• 197 rematches will SURELY include Brophy/Floyd semis rematch, and possibly a Floyd/Hopkins final.

The SoCon usually gets the least amount of allocations, which means every match matters. This tournament is high stakes and the arena is essentially a pressure cooker. We laugh, we cry, we celebrate, we throw bricks, some of us may be thrown out…but at the end of the day, we’re all here for the sport we love.

Hopefully, I’ll see some of y’all in Asheville or Philly - as always, don’t be shy come say hi!!

xoxo