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It’s a big week for Iowa State as the Cyclones are ready to wrap up their regular season with a mega dual against Big 12 foe #9. Kevin Dresser’s team has started the week with positive news on the recruiting trail with a verbal commitment from the #10 overall recruit in the Class of 2025, Christian Castillo (Valiant Prep, Arizona). Castillo is a 2022 U17 World silver medalist in freestyle. Not only that, but he also represented the United States in Greco-Roman at the same tournament that same weekend in Rome. Also in 2022, Castillo captured Pan-American gold medals in both styles at the 48 kg weight class. On the domestic front, Castillo has placed three times at the Super 32, winning the 106 lb weight class in 2022 and finishing fourth last fall at 120 lbs. He was also sixth in 2021. A few months before that, Castillo made the 16U national freestyle finals in Fargo. Because Valiant Prep is not allowed to compete in the Arizona postseason, Castillo doesn’t have any state champion-type credentials to his name. Castillo has missed significant time during the 2023-24 season so he doesn’t currently appear in MatScouts national rankings. In the post-Super 32 rankings, Castillo came in sixth in the 120 lb weight class. At the next level, Castillo projects at the always-coveted 125 lb weight class. Castillo is the second wrestler from the Class of 2025 to commit to the Cyclones. He’ll join fellow Arizona native Carlos Stanton (Sunnyside, AZ), who is currently ranked #133 amongst all juniors. For all of your up-to-date recruiting information, check InterMat’s College Commitment Page.

We had another solid weekend of ACC wrestling last week, setting up for a great final weekend and conference dual champion-deciding matchup. North Carolina used bonus points to knock off Virginia in a dual with a 5-5 split on matches. The Hokies exacted revenge in Pittsburgh, returning the favor from last season and knocking off the Panthers at home. In the final conference action of the weekend, the Wolfpack showed off their depth, resting most of their starters in a lopsided victory over the Blue Devils. NC State also started the weekend with a bang, dominating in their top-10 battle against Cornell. Virginia Tech 26 Pittsburgh 12 Though the dual was closer than the score may appear, the Hokies grabbed control early and never relinquished the lead. They opened the dual with a massive upset at 184 with TJ Stewart taking out #9 Reece Heller in sudden victory on a penalty point for an illegal head scissor. Colton Camacho gave Cooper Flynn a tough test but Flynn was able to secure a last-second takedown to take a 3-2 win. The biggest match of the dual featured the two remaining undefeated wrestlers in the conference at 141. It was a fun match. It was back-and-forth throughout and went to sudden victory; Matthews got in deep on a shot and Crook tried to scramble out - Matthews caught Crook mid-scramble and was able to secure the pin in sudden victory. Matthews earns the top seed for the ACC Championship with an unblemished record; he will still have a match remaining against Jack Gioffre but holds wins over Crook, McNeil, and Jack. The Panthers will be back home for the conference finale weekend, hosting Virginia while Virginia Tech will travel to Raleigh to face NC State for the ACC Dual Champion crown. 125 - Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech) dec Colton Camacho (Pittsburgh) 3-2 133 - Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) dec Vince Santaniello (Pittsburgh) 6-4 141 - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) fall Tom Crook (Virginia Tech) 7:18 149 - Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec Finn Solomon (Pittsburgh) 10-6 157 - Clayton Ulrey (Virginia Tech) maj Kelin Laffey (Pittsburgh) 10-2 165 - Holden Heller (Pittsburgh) dec Connor Brady (Virginia Tech) 11-5 174 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) tech Grant MacKay (Pittsburgh) 19-4 184 - TJ Stewart (Virginia Tech) dec Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) 2-1SV 197 - Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) dec Dakota Howard (Virginia Tech) 7-4 285 - Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech) tech Geoff Magin (Pittsburgh) 17-2 North Carolina 18 Virginia 16 We expected this to be a close dual and it lived up to expectations. Both programs had some starters out due to illness or injuries, but both teams flexed their depth with backups picking up wins for the team. Justin McCoy and Tyler Eischens had a great match at 174 with McCoy holding on to an early lead to get the decision win; this will likely establish the 2-seed for the ACC tournament. At the lighter weights, I was very impressed by the performances of Spencer Moore for the Tar Heels and Marlon Yarbrough for the Hoos; both have good momentum going into the tournament and Yarbrough will have a tough test this week at Pittsburgh against Vinnie Santaniello. I was also very impressed by the match that Max Shaw put together against a scrappy Krystian Kinsey. The Hoos will face Pittsburgh and the Tar Heels will host Duke to close out the regular season. 125 - Spencer Moore (North Carolina) tech Sammie Hayes (Virginia) 19-4 133 - Marlon Yarbrough (Virginia) tech Derek Guanajuato (North Carolina) 16-4 141 - Kyren Butler (Virginia) dec Jace Palmer (North Carolina) 8-5SV 149 - Jayden Scott (North Carolina) dec Michael Gioffre (Virginia) 4-1SV 157 - Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) dec Nick Sanko (Virginia) 8-5 165 - Nick Hamilton (Virginia) dec Isaias Estrada (North Carolina) 9-8 174 - Justin McCoy (Virginia) dec Tyler Eischens (North Carolina) 6-4 184 - Sabino Portella (North Carolina) dec Hudson Stewart (Virginia) 17-5 197 - Max Shaw (North Carolina) dec Krystian Kinsey (Virginia) 11-5 285 - Ryan Catka (Virginia) dec Cade Lautt (North Carolina) 4-2 NC State 24 Cornell 9 The Wolfpack came into this dual looking for a statement win…and boy did they get one, taking out #9 Cornell seven matches to three. Camacho looked strong in his return to the lineup, notching a 5-1 win over Brett Ungar to start the dual. Kai Orine looked like he wasn’t happy he didn’t get the chance to wrestle Vito Arujau, who sat out the dual, and blanked Ethan Qureshi in a second period tech fall. Ryan Jack rallied from an early deficit to get the decision win over Josh Saunders and Jackson Arrington picked up a dominant major decision over Ethan Fernandez. After winning the first four, the Wolfpack dropped the next three matches as they got to the strength of the Cornell lineup. Meyer Shapiro looked fantastic in his win over Ed Scott, followed by AJ Kovacs dropping a 9-4 decision to Julian Ramirez and Alex Faison losing 8-4 to Benny Baker. The Wolfpack took the final three bouts in impressive fashion. Dylan Fishback earned the upset win over Chris Foca; I was very impressed by the composure of Fishback and his ability to stay in the match. Trent Hidlay notched win #98 of his career over a very good Jacob Cardenas - he also beat Cardenas at the CKLV. The final bout was a gritty win by Owen Trephan over Lewis Fernandes to give the Wolfpack the 24-9 team win. In their Sunday dual in Durham, the Wolfpack rested several starters, with 6 regular starters out for the dual. They showcased the young talent they have at the lower weights, picking up wins at 125, 133, and 141 from backups. Jarred Papscy earned a Senior Day win for the Blue Devils at 149 and Connor Barket continued his strong season with a pin over Chase Horne at 285. 125 - Jakob Camacho (NC State) dec Brett Ungar (Cornell) 5-1 133 - Kai Orine (NC State) tech Ethan Qureshi (Cornell) 15-0 141 - Ryan Jack (NC State) dec Joshua Saunders (Cornell) 7-4 149 - Jackson Arrington (NC State) maj Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 12-2 157 - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) dec Ed Scott (NC State) 7-2 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec AJ Kovacs (NC State) 9-4 174 - Benny Baker (Cornell) dec Alex Faison (NC State) 8-4 184 - Dylan Fishback (NC State) dec Chris Foca (Cornell) 6-4 197 - Trent Hidlay (NC State) dec Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) 8-2 285 - Owen Trephan (NC State) dec Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 1-0 NC State 36 Duke 9 125 - Troy Hohman (NC State) tech Logan Agin (Duke) 16-0 133 - Vincent Robinson (NC State) maj Raymond Adams (Duke) 20-10 141 - Tyler Tracy (NC State) maj Christian Colman (Duke) 11-0 149 - Jarred Papscy (Duke) dec Koy Buesgens (NC State) 7-3 157 - Ed Scott (NC State) fall Logan Ferrero (Duke) 3:32 165 - Derek Fields (NC State) dec Gaetano Console (Duke) 11-4 174 - Alex Faison (NC State) tech David Hussey (Duke) 22-5 184 - Brock DelSignore (NC State) maj Conor Becker (Duke) 15-4 197 - Trent Hidlay (NC State) tech Kwasi Bonsu (Duke) 18-2 285 - Connor Barket (Duke) fall Chase Horne (NC State) 3:46

We're coming down the homestretch in the regular season. Only one more week of dual events before we turn our attention to the postseason and conference tournaments. With almost four months of data points at our disposal, there haven't been too many rankings shake-ups this week. As has often been the case, the most work needed to be done to the 125 lb rankings. It was a big week for veterans as Patrick McKee pinned Eric Barnett, Caleb Smith majored Braeden Davis and Jakob Camacho returned with a win over Brett Ungar. We had Jarrett Trombley ranked for NC State, while Camacho was going through a reset, but Camacho's probably the guys going forward after that win. So, let get to the rankings: Click Here

The penultimate weekend of the 2023-24 regular season is officially in the books. We only have a week left of duals before moving on to conference tournaments and the NCAA’s in Kansas City. So we’ll this will be the second to last recap on the top ten dual teams. The past week featured two matchups between top-ten teams, #1 Penn State and #4 Nebraska, along with #7 NC State and #8 Cornell. In both instances, the higher-ranked team prevailed; however, there’s still plenty to be learned about all four squads. Here’s the look back at the last week in the top-ten and what’s coming up next on the dual front…if anything. 1. Penn State On Sunday afternoon, Penn State held off #4 Nebraska to finish the 2023-24 campaign a perfect 8-0 in Big Ten competition. Two noteworthy performances came from Nittany Lion wrestlers who were facing familiar opponents. At 141 lbs, with his team in a 7-0 hole, #1 Beau Bartlett dispatched #7 Brock Hardy 9-6 after notching takedowns in each of the first two periods. Hardy defeated Bartlett in the 2023 Big Ten semifinals, one of Bartlett’s three losses during that season. Two matches later, it was a Big Ten finals and NCAA semifinal rematch between #1 Levi Haines and #7 Peyton Robb. This meeting was nothing like it’s predecessors. Haines tallied three takedowns in a 10-3 thumping. Despite losing their first two matches of the dual, Penn State won six of the finals eight to take the dual, 22-13. Top ranked Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, and Greg Kerkvliet all chipped in with bonus point wins. Next: Penn State wraps up their regular season schedule with a home dual against 2-11 Edinboro on Sunday. 2. Oklahoma State The second installment of the Bedlam series took place on Saturday night and it ended very similarly to the first version. Oklahoma State dominated to the tune of 34-9 in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena. Earlier this year, they went to enemy soil and beat Oklahoma, 28-9. This meeting saw the Cowboys win seven of ten bouts with a pair of fall and a triumvirate of techs. Troy Spratley (125) and Tagen Jamison (141) supplied the pins, while Daton Fix (133), Dustin Plott (184), and Luke Surber (197) were responsible for the tech falls. In the first round of this year’s Bedlam Duals, Oklahoma State did not have Fix or Surber at their disposal. Next: The Cowboys conclude the regular season with a non-conference dual against Iowa, at home. Oklahoma State is seeking to snap a three-match losing streak to the rivals from the Big Ten. The Cowboys last win against Iowa came in February of 2019, which was the memorable dual when Nick Piccininni pinned Spencer Lee. This year’s version of the dual could feature three meetings between top-ten ranked wrestlers. 3. Iowa Also on Sunday afternoon, Iowa concluded its Big Ten dual slate with a 34-7 win over Wisconsin. It was a much needed, one-sided win for the Hawkeyes, who were on a modest two-match losing streak heading into the dual. From an Iowa standpoint, the two most significant takeaways from the win came at 149 and 184 lbs. At 149, Caleb Rathjen continued to get it done against a quality foe in two-time national qualifier Joe Zargo. He prevailed with an 8-1 decision. 184 lb saw Gabe Arnold make the final appearance of his redshirt year. Arnold edged Midlands champion and #16 ranked Shane Liegel, 8-6. Every other Hawkeye that got their hands raised on Sunday did so with some sort of bonus points. Leading the way was NCAA runner-up, #2 Real Woods, who locked up a fall as he was about to win via tech. Next: As mentioned above, Iowa was a huge non-conference dual at Oklahoma State to end the dual season. A win by the Hawkeyes would avoid the team’s first three-loss season since 2017-18. 4. Nebraska Nebraska concluded their Big Ten schedule with a 22-13 loss to top-ranked Penn State. I’m sure Mark Manning and his staff aren’t in the mood for moral victories, but the Cornhuskers are the only team in 2023-24 to score more than ten points against the Nittany Lions. They also have to be encouraged by the 141 lb bout. Though Beau Bartlett won, there was a controversial “injury time” taken by Bartlett as Brock Hardy was close to finishing a takedown. Hardy made things interesting in the final stanza and gave the impression that he could defeat Bartlett should they meet in the postseason. The dual got kicked off by Caleb Smith stunning freshman star Braeden Davis at 125 lbs with an 11-3 major decision. 125 has been absolutely bonkers and unable to predict all year. Later this week, we may dive into some Big Ten seeding predictions. They may not necessarily matter at 125, as much as other weights, but beating Davis certainly helped on that front. Nebraska also got wins from Jacob Van Dee (133), Ridge Lovett (149), and Lenny Pinto (184). Van Dee continues to impress with a late-season surge, while Lovett survived and remained undefeated against a tough true freshman. Pinto held of three-time All-American Bernie Truax to take a six-match winning streak into the postseason. Next: Before the B1G Championships, Nebraska heads out west for a non-conference dual with Arizona State. The Sun Devils boast a pair of multi-time All-Americans in the middle of their lineup, which should make for intriguing matchups against Lovett and Peyton Robb. 5. Iowa State The Cyclones were off this week in preparation for their season finale against #9 Missouri. This dual could pit two pair of undefeated wrestlers up against each other at 165 and 285 lbs. Many fans had the 165 lb contest between national champions David Carr and Keegan O’Toole circled the day the schedules were released. Last year, Carr won the dual and Big 12 finals matchup; while O’Toole took the big one in the NCAA finals. 6. Ohio State Not only did Ohio State wrap up their Big Ten slate with a 38-7 win over Michigan State, but they also finished their regular season. The Buckeyes are done with duals and have turned their attention to the Big Ten Championships at the University of Maryland. Ohio State’s win over Michigan State including wins in eight of ten matches and bonus points in six of those contests. Nic Bouzakis (133), Ryder Rogotzke (184), and Nick Feldman (285) led the way with falls. Rogotzke’s pin of #15 Layne Malczewski featured him reaching back in a manner which you’d probably yell at your middle school son for doing; however, he’s perfected those types of situations and has made himself one of the most dangerous guys at 184 lbs. A tip of the hat is in order to Tom Ryan and the Buckeye staff. They’ve been hammered with injuries this year and haven’t blinked. Despite missing a chunk of projected starters, the Buckeyes have grabbed wins over top-ten teams like Cornell and Michigan. 7. NC State NC State went away from the ACC norm of Friday night conference duals at this time of year when they hosted Cornell in a much-anticipated non-conference clash. Former Wolfpack coach Donnie Vinson and NC State legend Nick Gwiazdowski returned on the bench for Cornell. A few Cornell stars that didn’t wrestle led this to be a rather lopsided 24-9 win for the Wolfpack. Even so, there were some good moments. The NC State staff has to be encouraged with a 5-1 win from Jakob Camacho over #13 Brett Ungar at 125 lbs. Camacho had some time off after a rough patch. in late-December/January, but looks like he’s the guy for Pat Popolizio’s team coming down the home stretch. At 184 lbs, freshman Dylan Fishback downed 2023 All-American Chris Foca in one of the best matches of the weekend, 6-4. That bout could go a long way towards NCAA seeding in a weight that is relatively wide-open after the top two. Next: It’s time for one of the best new rivalries in the sport, NC State versus Virginia Tech. This dual has frequently decided the ACC regular season title-winning team and typically comes down to the last match; regardless of records or rankings. NC State will play host this year and is looking to get one back after the Hokies took last season’s dual, 16-14. 8. Cornell Cornell took a trip down south to face off with a pair of teams that were conference champions in 2023, with NC State on Friday night and Appalachian State on Sunday. One of the highlights of the loss to NC State was Big Red super-freshman Meyer Shapiro cruising to a 7-2 win over dangerous All-American Ed Scott. Two matches later, Benny Baker notched an 8-4 victory over #28 Alex Faison. Baker could be tough out for the rest of the conference at the EIWA Championships. Cornell got back on the winning track with a 36-6 win over Appalachian State two days later. Once again, Shapiro was responsible for the biggest win of the dual when he teched the 2023 SoCon champion Tommy Askey. Next: Sunday marks the end of the dual season for Cornell as they’ll host a very underrated Binghamton squad in their EIWA finale. The back of Binghamton’s lineup is particularly strong and should make for some interesting matchups with Cornell. 9. Missouri After a week off, Missouri got back into competition as they traveled up north to face both Dakota schools. North Dakota State on Friday and South Dakota State on Sunday. The North Dakota State dual didn’t provide much in the way of surprising results. The Tigers pounced for a 32-6 win. Half of their starters came away with bonus point wins. Mizzou was pushed two days later by a very solid SDSU squad, but prevailed 21-19 due to some late-match heroics from heavyweight Zach Elam. A match after his younger brother, Rocky, was pinned - Zach took the mat with Mizzou trailing 19-15. Just winning wouldn’t simply cut it from a team standpoint. The elder Elam didn’t even give the SDSU faithful a glimpse of hope as he needed only :33 seconds to pin Luke Rasmussen and give his team the winning six points. Two other notable win for Mizzou against SDSU include Noah Surtin (125) and Brock Mauller (157). Surtin posted a 14-6 major decision against a ranked opponent (#15 Tanner Jordan), showing that he might be one of the few consistent 125 lber in an otherwise tumultuous weight class. Mauller grinded out a 4-1 win over #16 Cael Swensen. 157 lbs is so deep with talent that a loss by Mauller could have been devastating from a Big 12 and NCAA seeding standpoint. Next: Missouri is ending the season in a strong manner. They hit the road to Iowa for a pair of duals against top-20 teams with #17 Northern Iowa on Friday and #5 Iowa State on Sunday. 10. Michigan Friday saw Michigan conclude its Big Ten schedule with a 30-6 win at Indiana. The Wolverines took eight of ten matches and saw three of their wrestlers earn bonus points. Perhaps the highlight of the night was Indiana-native Joseph Walker filling in for #3 Shane Griffith at 174 lbs. Walker knocked off #21 Donnell Washington, 4-3. They’ll finish the year with a 5-3 mark in conference duals. All three losses came to teams currently ranked in the top-seven. Next: Sean Bormet’s team will finish the regular season by traveling to in-state foe Central Michigan for a dual on Sunday. CMU’s best grapplers are in the middle of their lineup, so we’ll probably get to witness a pair of good matchups for Austin Gomez and Will Lewan.