All Activity

Earlier this week, the University of Wyoming released its 2025-26 schedule. It’s one that is packed full of conference duals, big events, and a home dual against the four-time defending champions. As usual, Wyoming could have a sneaky-good team in 2025-26. They will be very stout at the back end of the lineup with stud transfer Christian Carroll anchoring the squad. Before him is a national qualifier and an All-American. The Cowboys also have two others who have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in the middle of the lineup. Typically, Mark Branch’s staff also has a surprise or two from existing wrestlers who developed and improved in the offseason. Frankly, Wyoming will need to be tough, as they have entered two of the most difficult regular-season events before taking on Penn State. We’ll start with the actual schedule itself. Rather than reposting it in order, we’ve broken it into three parts. The non-conference duals, conference duals, and special events. These are the schedules that we’ve already previewed: Cornell, Little Rock, and Oklahoma Non Conference November 1st: Western Wyoming (away) December 13th: Penn State (home) January 31st: Oregon State (home) Conference November 22nd: California Baptist (home) January 10th: Utah Valley (away January 18th: South Dakota State (home) January 24th: West Virginia (away) February 6th: Air Force (home) February 8th: North Dakota State (home) February 13th: Northern Colorado (away) February 15th: Oklahoma (home) Special Events November 15/16th: National Dual Invitational (Tulsa, Oklahoma) December 5/6th: Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Las Vegas, Nevada) December 21st: Reno Tournament of Champions (Reno, Nevada) January 3/4th: Soldier Salute (Coralville, Iowa) February 21st: Cowboy Shootout (home) Number of Top 20 teams from the 2025 NCAA Championships: #1 Penn State, #18(t) West Virginia Wyoming starts the year with an intrastate dual against an NJCAA school in Western Wyoming. After that, they jump in the deep end of the pool. The National Duals Invitational! Most of the top finishing teams from the 2025 NCAA Tournament have entered the tournament and Wyoming will certainly get multiple duals against high-quality opponents. It doesn’t get any easier in December as Wyoming will attend the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, which is what they typically do early in the month. CKLV has established itself as the best individual bracketed tournament in the regular season. That should be the case again in 2025 and they will get tested by some of the best in the B1G and ACC - among others. After Vegas, the national champion Penn State Nittany Lions fulfill the back half of their home-and-home dual series. This dual is scheduled to take place in Wyoming’s Arena-Auditorium rather than the SportsComplex that hosts the majority of their duals. The Arena-Auditorium has a seating capacity of just under 12k. I’d expect the Cowboys to have a huge crowd to watch them take on Penn State. Wyoming closes out 2025 with the Reno Tournament of Champions. This tournament can be a bit of a crapshoot these days. A handful of DI programs attend, but many just send redshirts or non-starters. Depending on the weight, there could be some good matchups. Just a few days into 2026, Wyoming will ring in the new year at the Soldier Salute in Iowa. The host, Iowa Hawkeyes, typically have their starters at the event and there are other quality teams in attendance. After the Salute, it’s basically all duals from there on out. And most conference duals. A visit from Oregon State represents the only non-conference dual of 2026. Without many DI programs in the western portion of the country, a dual against the Beavers makes sense. The scheduling in the second half isn’t particularly grueling in terms of travel or back-to-back Friday/Sunday duals against contending teams. Three of their four toughest duals in this period will take place at home (SDSU, NDSU, Oklahoma). Notable Potential Matchups for Wyoming’s Stars Gabe Willochell (149) November 22nd: Jesse Vasquez (California Baptist) December 13th: Shane Van Ness (Penn State) January 10th: David Evans (Utah Valley) January 18th: Alek Martin (South Dakota State) January 24th: Willie McDougald (West Virginia) February 15th: Jack Gioffre (Oklahoma) Eddie Neitenbach (184) December 13th: Rocco Welsh (Penn State) January 24th: Ian Bush (West Virginia) January 31st: TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) February 8th: Aidan Brenot (North Dakota State) February 15th: Brian Soldano (Oklahoma) Joey Novak (197) December 13th: Josh Barr (Penn State) January 18th: Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) January 31st: Justin Rademacher (Oregon State) February 6th: Brian Burburjia (Air Force) February 15th: DJ Parker (Oklahoma) Christian Carroll (285) December 13th: Cole Mirasola (Penn State) January 18th: Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) January 31st: Aden Attao (Oregon State) February 8th: Andrew Blackburn-Forst (North Dakota State) February 15th: Juan Mora (Oklahoma) As you look at the individual matchups, you have to remember that the Cowboy wrestlers will get a handful of matches against quality competition at the National Duals Invitational and the CKLV. If you get deep into the Soldier Salute, you’re probably facing an opponent or two from Iowa. I’d like to highlight the potential schedule for Wyoming’s returning All-American Joey Novak. When Penn State comes to town, they’ll feature NCAA runner-up Josh Barr. That could be the type of match we could see in the NCAA quarters/semis/finals. Another highlight for Novak is the Oregon State dual. He’ll get to face newly minted U20 world champion Justin Rademacher. The pair met as true freshmen in 2023-24 and Novak prevailed, 7-2. At 149 lbs, Gabe Willochell’s dual schedule is another that stands out. He doesn’t necessarily have All-Americans every time out, but he’s got wrestlers who will regularly test him.