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The DI postseason is upon us! It all gets underway on Thursday, as the Pac-12 kicks off the festivities with their Championship event. With eight different conference tournaments going on across four days, it can be difficult to find how and when to watch everything. InterMat is here to help. We have links to watch each conference tournament, plus we’ve also added start times for each round. If separate links for each round or mat are needed, then they’ve been included. All times listed are Eastern! Thursday - March 6th Pac-12 Championships: Corvallis, Oregon - FloWrestling 3:30 PM - Semifinals 9:00 PM - Finals Friday - March 7th EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - FloWrestling 10:00 AM - First Round 12:00 PM - Quarterfinals 4:00 PM - Consolations 6:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolations MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - First Round 2:00 PM - Quarterfinals/Consolations 5:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolations SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - Pig Tails and First Round 3:00 PM - Consolations 5:00 PM - Semifinals 7:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals Saturday - March 8th Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma 11:00 AM - 1st Round and Quarterfinals - ESPN+ 6:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolation Quarterfinals - ESPN+ Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois 11:00 AM - First Round/Quarterfinals/Consolations - Big Ten Network and BTN+ 6:00 PM - Consolations - BTN+ 8:00 PM - Semifinals - Big Ten Network EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - FloWrestling 10:00 AM - Consolations/7th Place Matches 12:00 PM - 1st/3rd/5th Place Match MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey - ESPN+ 11:30 AM - Consolation Quarterfinals 1:00 PM - Consolation Semifinals 3:00 PM - 1st/3rd/5th/7th Place Matches SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - Consolation Finals 2:30 PM - Finals 4:30 PM - True Second Place Matches Sunday - March 9th ACC Championships: Durham, North Carolina 10:00 AM - First Round - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 1:00 PM - Consolation Quarterfinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 2:00 PM - Semifinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 4:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 6:00 PM - Consolation Finals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 8:00 PM - Championships Finals - ACC Network and ACC NX Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1:00 PM - Consolation Quarterfinals - ESPN+ 9:00 PM - Championship Finals - ESPN+ Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois 1:00 PM - Consolation Semifinals/7th Place - B1G+ 5:30 PM - 1st/3rd/5th Place Matches - Big Ten Network and B1G+ Ivy League Championships: Princeton, New Jersey ESPN+ (Mat 1), ESPN+ (Mat 2) 10:00 AM - First Round 12:00 PM - Semifinals 2:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals 4:00 PM - 3rd/5th Place Matched 6:30 PM - Championships Finals

With the at-large's announced on Tuesday and brackets released Wednesday, the NCAA Championships are officially looming. And now, less than a week away. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our previews, here's a fun look at the NCAA Tournament and its competitors (individuals/teams). It's some of the facts, trends, numbers, and overall randomness that you never thought to look up about the participants of the 2025 NCAA Championships. State-related facts For the second straight year, Beau Bartlett is the only national qualifier from Arizona. California has always been a place for great lightweights - this year is no different. Six of the state’s 26 national qualifiers are at 125 lbs. Joey Cruz (Iowa), Richie Figueroa (Arizona State), Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma), Maximo Renteria (Oregon State), Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSU Bakersfield), and Koda Holeman (Cal Poly). The last time California hit the 26-qualifier mark was in 2008. This is the first time since 2019 that Connecticut failed to have a qualifier. Georgia has nine wrestlers in the 2025 tournament. A third of them are at the 184 lb bracket with Gavin Kane, Gabe Arnold, and Jaxon Smith. Six of Northern Iowa’s ten national qualifiers are homegrown from Iowa. That’s the most in-state qualifiers for any school. Iowa State’s Frost twins (Evan/Jacob) both qualified for the 2025 tournament. That is the first time that multiple Louisiana residents have qualified in the same year since 2013 when Ben Willeford/Cleveland State and David Bonin/Northern Iowa made the tournament. In 2021, it was believed that Jaydin Eierman was the first Missouri native to win a Big Ten title. Now, Luke Lilledahl has joined the list. New Jersey has 26 national qualifiers and six of them are at 149 lbs. Shane Van Ness (Penn State), Andrew Clark (Rutgers), Sammy Alvarez (Rider) and the Ivy League’s Ethan Fernandez (Cornell), Cross Wasilewski (Penn), and Ty Whalen (Princeton). Whalen and Fernandez meet in the first round. Although Pennsylvania has 41 total qualifiers - only one of them is at 125 lbs (Sheldon Seymour/Lehigh). One other weight has two qualifiers (165). All others have three or more. South Carolina has four qualifiers this year (Chandler Amaker/Thomas Snipes/Patrick Brophy/Owen Trephan). That is the most for the state since 2001 when Travis Drake (Appalachian State), Robby Bell (The Citadel), Mike Regner (The Citadel), and Adam Duncan (Chattanooga) all qualified. Also with a good year from down South is Tennessee. They have six Tennessee natives headed to Philly. That’s the most for the state since seven went to the 2009 tournament. That year two of them ended up on the podium (Jordan Leen/Nick Marable). One of the most remarkable facts of this entire tournament was brought to us by Ben Askren on Twitter (X). There are six of his ex-Askren Wrestling Academy wrestlers in the 165 lb bracket. Mitchell Mesenbrink, Braeden Scoles, Cody Goebel, Noah Mulvaney, and Joey Bianchi are the wrestlers. Having six total wrestlers from one state is a good number in some places. Having six all in the same bracket is pretty remarkable for any state - much less one club. Team Related Facts Cornell, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, and Penn State are sending all ten of their starters to Philly. Devan Hendricks won the 184 lb weight class in the SoCon becoming the first Bellarmine wrestler to qualify for the DI national tournament….in their first year of eligibility. A few days later, he was joined by AJ Rallo (141 lbs), who was added as an at-large berth. Brevin Cassella became only the third Binghamton wrestler to win an EIWA title - joining Louie DePrez (x3) and Tyler Deuel. Hunter Leake became the first California Baptist to qualify for the DI tournament on multiple occasions. Donny Pritzlaff’s Columbia team has sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament in his first year. Incredibly enough, because of Ivy League eligibility rules, there are a handful of former Columbia wrestlers also in the field. Nick Babin (125/Pittsburgh), Angelo Rini (133/Indiana), Kyle Mosher (165/Hofstra), Josh Ogunsanya (174/North Carolina), Lennox Wolak (174/Virginia Tech), Nolan Neves (285/North Carolina). Great job by Pritzlaff and crew reloading on the fly and hat’s off to former head coach Zach Tanelli’s staff for crushing it on the recruiting trail. Drexel had a trio of qualifiers after not having any in 2024. Edinboro has a pair of qualifiers after not having one in 2024 and only having one in 2022 and 2023. Iowa will be without a 141 lber at the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and only the second time since 2003. Iowa State continues to have one of the most geographically diverse lineups of national qualifiers. This year’s group includes qualifiers from Louisiana (x2), Alaska, Tennessee, California (x2), Pennsylvania, and Iowa. Of Michigan’s seven NCAA qualifiers, only Sergio Lemley returns from the 2024’s nine qualifiers. Northern Iowa will send all ten starters to Philly. It’s the first time that UNI has their entire lineup headed to nationals since 1986. Head coach Doug Schwab’s older brother, Mark, was an All-American at 118 lbs on that team. From what I can tell, Cross Wasilewski’s #9 seed is the best for a Penn freshman…..ever? The Citadel will send four wrestlers to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. They also had three SoCon champions, which was their most since that same year. The last time they finished second in the SoCon…you guessed it, 2014! Gylon Sims became the first freshman to win a SoCon title for The Citadel since Aaron Walker achieved the feat in 2014. Four teams have three freshmen headed to Philly. They are Cornell, Michigan State, Stanford, and Virginia Tech. The three freshmen account for Michigan State’s entire contingent. Recruiting Related Facts The MatScouts Big Board has been a very solid indicator of collegiate success. Most of the high finishers at the 2024 NCAA Championships were highly ranked coming out of high school. Looking at these brackets, the 125 lbs group is the one with the most wrestlers (13) who were unranked coming out of high school. Heavyweight is second with (12). Most other brackets were closer to 6 or 7. With Gable’s return, the 285 lb bracket has three wrestlers who were ranked #1 overall in their respective recruiting classes. Steveson (2018), Greg Kerkvliet (2019), and Nick Feldman (2022). No other weight has more than one. There are only nine true freshmen from the Class of 2024 who have qualified. Lilledahl, Cholakyan, Rozynski, John, Neitenbach, Bechtold, Hogan, Herrera, Monchery. Interestingly enough, 197 lbs and 285 lbs are the weights with the most freshmen (true and redshirt combined) with seven each. 285 lbs also leads the way with nine transfers - that’s the most of any bracket. (Neves, Kerkvliet, Heindselman, Nevills, Slavikouski, Hendrickson, Mitchell, Trephan, Hoffman) There are 11 wrestlers in this tournament from the high school Class of 2018. Brock Hardy, Colin Realbuto, Jacori Teemer, Danny Braunagel, Evan Bockman, Zac Braunagel, Michael Beard, Mickey O’Malley, Gable Steveson, Seth Nevills, and Gavin Hoffman. Seed Related Facts AJ Ferrari is the first CSU Bakersfield wrestler to receive a top-three seed since Stephan Neal was the top-seeded heavyweight in 1999. Lucas Byrd is the first Illinois wrestler to earn a #1 seed since Isaiah Martinez in 2018. Nasir Bailey’s #3 seed is the best ever for the Little Rock program. Josh Koderhandt’s #4 seed is the highest by a Navy wrestler since Ed Prendergast was the #3 seeded heavyweight in 2008. In addition to Koderhandt, Navy also has Danny Wask as the #7 seed. It’s the first time since 2009 that Navy has had multiple top-ten seeds (Joe Baker #8 and Bryce Saddoris #6). With Nebraska’s Brock Hardy earning the #1 seed, it gives the Huskers #1 seeds in back-to-back years after Ridge Lovett was a top seed in 2024. The last time Nebraska had back-to-back years with a #1 seed was in 2014 and 2015 with James Green (‘14) and Robert Kokesh (‘15). Brock Hardy is the first Utah native to earn the top seed at the NCAA Championships since 2002 when Ryan Lewis (Minnesota) and Cael Sanderson (Penn State) got the #1 seeds. Garrett Thompson is the first Ohio wrestler to earn a top-four seed since Jake Percival received that same seed in 2004. Penn State has four #1 seeds for the second consecutive year. Before 2024, they had never had four #1’s in the same season - under Cael Sanderson or before. Penn State has had at least one #1 seed every year since 2016. Since 2000, only 12 freshmen have earned the #1 seed at nationals. Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl is the latest at 125 lbs. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a pair of #1 seeds with Tyler Kasak and Carter Starocci. It has produced at least one #1 seed every year since 2016. Seeded #2, Matt Ramos is the first Purdue wrestler since Chris Fleeger (#1 in 2003) to receive a top-two seed. Caleb Henson is only the third Virginia Tech wrestler to earn the #1 seed at nationals and this is the first time the school has ever had a #1 seed in back-to-back years (Mekhi Lewis 174/2024). Gable Steveson is the third wrestler in the last 25 years to earn the #1 seed at the NCAA Championships on four occasions. Isaiah Martinez and Cael Sanderson are the others. Of course, Steveson has been able to compete in five postseasons. Bracketing Fun With first-round wins at 125 lbs, we could see former Virginia Tech teammates clash with #3 Eddie Ventresca and #19 Cooper Flynn (Minnesota). Ventresca is 5-0 career against Flynn, although they are typically close matches. Maybe there will be some NIL money on the line in the potential 157 lb Round of 16 match, which might be called the “Battle of the Paper Products.” Scott vs Downey. Ed vs. Ryder. Also in the 157 lb bracket is a potential Round of 16 meeting between the returning NCAA runner-up and third-place finisher in Jacori Teemer and Meyer Shapiro. There will be a first-round match at 165 lbs between Iowa’s Michael Caliendo and former Iowa teammate Aiden Riggins. In the Round of 16, the winner could face another former Hawkeye, Drake Rhodes. We’ve already mentioned all the former Askren Wrestling Academy products in the 165 lb bracket. Two could meet in the Round of 16 - Mitchell Mesenbrink and Noah Mulvaney. The first-round match at 174 lbs will feature a pair of Ohio neighbors doing battle. #9 Carson Kharchla of Powell/Olentangy Liberty against #24 Lennox Wolak of Columbus/Dublin Coffman. Speaking of the Kharchla/Wolak matchup, it is one of two at 174 lbs in the first round between past All-Americans. Dean Hamiti/Jackson Turley is the other. No other weight has one. At 184 lbs, there’s a first-round matchup between the only wrestler in the field from Rhode Island (Nick Fine) against one of two from Alaska (Evan Bockman). Kind of an unusual matchup to see at the NCAA Tournament. 197 lbs could have some of the best storylines of the tournament Brothers Mac and Luke Stout could meet in the second round. Both are favored in their first match. A couple days after St. Patrick’s Day, we have an O’Malley/Stout (Luke) first-round match. How about a rematch of the 2023 Soldier Salute finals between AJ Ferrari and Zach Glazier? That could happen in round two. Speaking of Ferrari, AJ against Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan in the semis? Former Wyoming All-American, Buchanan, could meet their current star Joey Novak in the second round. Conference Related Facts The 46 qualifiers from the ACC is a conference record. Since 2011, 14 different freshmen have captured Big Ten titles. Eight have wrestled for Penn State. They are David Taylor, Ed Ruth, Bo Nickal, Aaron Brooks, Levi Haines, Braeden Davis, Mitchell Mesenbrink, and now Luke Lilledahl. Gable Steveson became the 19th wrestler to win four Big Ten titles and only the second Minnesota wrestler to accomplish the feat. Verne Gagne was able to do so in 1944, 1947-49. Gardner-Webb had back-to-back conference champions at 133 and 141 lbs. It was the first time since moving to the SoCon that they have crowned more than one conference champ. The last time they had more than one was in 2011 when Ryan Medved, Alex Medved, Jon Velazquez, and Travis Porter all captured East Region titles. Hofstra had a pair of EIWA champions in Kyle Mosher (165) and Ross McFarland (184). This is the only time that Hofstra has had two champions since moving to the EIWA. The last time they had two conference champions was in 2013 with Steve Bonanno and Jamie Franco - now head coach of the Pride. Illinois’ fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships marked the first time since 2013 that the Illini was able to crack the top five. Lucas Byrd’s B1G title gives Illinois champions in back-to-back years (Edmond Ruth/2024) for the first time since the end of Isaiah Martinez’s run from 2015-18. Iowa also went without a Big Ten champion in back-to-back years for the first time since 2005-06. With Drake Ayala and Michael Caliendo making the Big Ten finals, they have had at least one finalist in every season since 1967. Maryland’s 54 points and an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships were both highs for the program since moving to the conference. Though they are in a new conference, Cornell extended their streak with multiple conference champions in every year since 2007 (excluding 2021 when the Ivy League didn’t wrestle). During their first year qualifying through the Ivy League, Cornell qualified all ten starters and had five conference champions. Hunter Garvin will go down as Stanford’s first ACC champion. He won the 165 lb weight class. Virginia Tech’s ACC Championship was the school’s first since 2018 and snapped a six-year winning streak by NC State. Virginia Tech also extended their streak of individual champions. They’ve had at least one per year since 2010. Rival NC State has had at least one champion every year since 2014. The one ACC champion (Matthew Singleton) for NC State is their lowest total since 2017. Ohio’s Garrett Thompson claimed a MAC title at 174 lbs. Last year, Peyten Kellar won the 157 lb weight class. That means the Bobcats have produced conference champions in consecutive years for the first time since 2014-15. At that point, now-assistant coach Cody Walters and Jeremy Johnson won in 2014. Walters would repeat in 2015. DJ McGee’s 157 lb MAC title gave George Mason three straight years with a conference champ. The last time that happened at George Mason was in 1997-99 (and that streak dates back to 1992). Anthony Noto became the first four-time MAC champion for Lock Haven and only the 10th wrestler to win four MAC titles. West Virginia had a pair of Big 12 champions in Jett Strickenberger and Peyton Hall. This was the first time that they had multiple champions since moving to the conference. Before that, their most recent time with multiple champions came in 2012 in the EWL with Mike Morales, Matt Ryan, and Brandon Williamson. Miscellaneous The school that benefitted the most from at-large berths was Stanford which had four. Army West Point and Missouri also had three. Five past All-Americans needed an at-large berth for the 2025 NCAA Championships. We’re in an era of great heavyweight wrestling. That can further be illustrated by the fact that there are eight age-group world medalists in the 33-man bracket. Gable Steveson, Greg Kerkvliet, Ben Kueter, Jimmy Mullen, Isaac Trumble, Wyatt Hendrickson, Cohlton Schultz, and Gavin Hoffman. Nick Feldman and Luke Luffman have also made age-group world teams.

Conference dual season is in full swing. It's crazy to think that there's only about a month left in the regular season. In January, we've settled into a regular schedule, primarily focused on dual competition. A total of 60 duals will be contested. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this week. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match (with links). To make this guide even easier to find, we've added a link on our homepage and the latest Live Streaming Guide will appear right under the header articles. All times Eastern Wednesday, January 22: Arizona State at Missouri 7:30 PM UFC Fight Pass: CFFC Match Day Friday, January 24: Air Force at Presbyterian 11:00 AM ESPN+ Drexel at Bucknell 6:00 PM ESPN+ Bellarmine at Campbell 6:00 PM FloWrestling Bloomsburg at Cleveland State 6:00 PM FloWrestling Nebraska at Michigan 6:00 PM Big Ten Network Penn at Columbia 7:00 PM ESPN+ The Citadel at Davidson 7:00 PM FloWrestling Virginia Tech at Duke 7:00 PM ACC Network Kent State at Lock Haven 7:00 PM PSAC Digital Network Illinois at Maryland 7:00 PM B1G+ Indiana at Michigan State 7:00 PM B1G+ Pittsburgh at NC State 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Rider at Princeton 7:00 PM ESPN+ Clarion at Cleveland State 7:00 PM FloWrestling Oklahoma at Iowa State 8:00 PM ESPN+ Oregon State at Little Rock 8:00 PM UFC Fight Pass: CFFC Match Day California Baptist at Northern Colorado 8:00 PM FloWrestling Oklahoma State at Northern Iowa 8:00 PM FloWrestling Penn State at Rutgers 8:00 PM Big Ten Network Minnesota at Wisconsin 8:00 PM ESPN+ Utah Valley at Wyoming 8:00 PM FloWrestling Saturday, January 25: Appalachian State at Appalachian Open 9:00 AM Cornell at Harvard 12:00 PM ESPN+ Chattanooga vs. VMI at Cleveland, TN 1:00 PM Northern Illinois at Ohio 1:00 PM ESPN+ Binghamton at Harvard 2:00 PM ESPN+ Ohio State at Iowa 2:00 PM Big Ten Network Cornell at Brown 5:30 PM ESPN+ Drexel at Rider 7:00 PM ESPN+ Binghamton at Brown 7:30 PM ESPN+ Sacred Heart at Franklin & Marshall 7:30 PM Centennial Conference TV Oklahoma at Northern Iowa 8:00 PM FloWrestling California Baptist at Wyoming 8:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, January 26: Clarion vs. Kent State at East Meadow, NY 11:00 AM Kent State vs. LIU at East Meadow, NY 1:00 PM Clarion vs. LIU at East Meadow, NY 3:00 PM CSU Bakersfield at American 12:00 PM ESPN+ Campbell vs. Central Michigan at American 12:00 PM ESPN+ Central Michigan at American 2:00 PM ESPN+ Campbell vs. CSU Bakersfield at American 2:00 PM ESPN+ Campbell at American 4:00 PM ESPN+ Central Michigan vs. CSU Bakersfield at American 4:00 PM ESPN+ Bloomsburg vs. Glenville State at Buffalo 11:00 AM Penn at Hofstra 12:00 PM Glenville State at Buffalo 1:00 PM ESPN+ Lock Haven at George Mason 1:00 PM ESPN+ Nebraska at Michigan State 1:00 PM B1G+ West Virginia at Missouri 1:00 PM UFC Fight Pass: CFFC Match Day Minnesota at Northwestern 1:00 PM B1G+ The Citadel at Presbyterian 1:00 PM Illinois at Rutgers 1:00 PM B1G+ Army West Point at Bucknell 2:00 PM ESPN+ Princeton at Columbia 2:00 PM ESPN+ Gardner-Webb at Davidson 2:00 PM FloWrestling Indiana at Michigan 2:00 PM ESPN+ Bloomsburg at Buffalo 3:00 PM FloWrestling Air Force at Davidson 4:00 PM FloWrestling Oklahoma State at Iowa State 5:00 PM ESPN Virginia at Stanford 6:00 PM ACC Network Extra

We started our All-Quarter Century feature by looking at a prominent Big Ten program, and today, we’re circling back to the B1G to look at another. Illinois. Illinois is a program that has seen a lot of star power come through Champaign in the last 25 years. Our first team contains six different NCAA champions - including one we saw in action just a few months ago. In the early part of the time observed, Illinois captured a Big Ten title and had a couple other near misses. With some momentum from 2025 and talented recruiting classes on the horizon, they could get back in the B1G title hunt sooner rather than later. While a lot of the first team was relatively easy to figure out there were overall some tough decisions and omissions. First and foremost, at 157/165. 157 has been a great weight for the Illini with three national finalists wrestling there since 2001. Throw in the fact that Isaiah Martinez wrestled at 157 and 165 there were some difficult choices to make. Martinez has to be on the first team. The decision came between Mike Poeta (157) and Matt Lackey (165). Martinez would go one weight and someone excellent would be bumped to the second team. Another decision came at 133 lbs. Big Ten champion and All-American Mark Jayne wasn’t on one of the top three teams. You could probably make an argument that he might be worthy of a second-team selection, as Zane Richards and BJ Futrell all had very strong careers, but a case could be made for Jayne. Wrestlers considered for the three teams had to compete from 2001 to 2025. For the wrestlers early in this timeframe, their entire collegiate body of work was considered. Only collegiate results were taken into consideration. Even if a wrestler was successful at multiple weights, they were only selected for one weight - typically, it was based on the strongest possible first team. After the three All-Century teams, there are some fun facts about Cornell’s results over the past 25 years. Here are the programs we’ve already covered Cornell Lehigh Minnesota Missouri NC State First Team 125 lbs - Jesse Delgado: Gilroy, California - 3x AA (1,1,7), 2x NCAA champion, 2x Big Ten champion 133 lbs - Lucas Byrd: Cincinnati, Ohio* - 3x AA (1,5,5), 2025 NCAA champion, 2025 Big Ten champion 141 lbs - Jimmy Kennedy: Ingleside, Illinois - 3x AA (5,5,4), 2008 Big Ten runner-up, NCAA #2 seed 149 lbs - Adam Tirapelle: Clovis, California - 3x AA (1,2,3), 2001 NCAA champion, 2000 Big Ten champion 157 lbs - Isaiah Martinez: Lemoore, California - 4x AA (2,2,1,1), 2x NCAA champion, 4x Big Ten champion 165 lbs - Matt Lackey: Moline, Illinois - 3x AA (1,2,3), 2003 NCAA champion, 2x Big Ten champion 174 lbs - Jordan Blanton: Richmond, Illinois - 3x AA (7,4,5), 2010 Big Ten 3rd place 184 lbs - Pete Friedl: Orland Park, Illinois - 3x AA (3,4,7), 2005 Big Ten champion, 2x Big Ten finalist 197 lbs - Pat Quirk: Hinsdale, Illinois - 2x AA (2,8), 2001 Big Ten champion 285 lbs - John Lockhart: Mahomet, Illinois - 3x AA (3,1,7), 2001 NCAA champion, 2001 Big Ten runner-up Second Team 125 lbs - Kyle Ott: Huber Heights, Ohio - 2x AA (2,2), 2x Big Ten runner-up, NCAA #3 seed 133 lbs - Zane Richards: Carbondale, Illinois - 2x AA (7,4), 2016 Big Ten runner-up, NCAA #3 seed 141 lbs - Dylan Duncan: Winfield, Illinois - 1x AA (5), 4x national qualifier, 2018 Big Ten 3rd place 149 lbs - Eric Terrezas: Wheaton, Illinois - 2x national qualifier 157 lbs - Mike Poeta: Highwood, Illinois - 3x AA (2,2,3), 2x Big Ten champion, 2x NCAA #2 seed 165 lbs - Conrad Polz: Orland Park, Illinois - 2x AA (5,8), 2013 Big Ten runner-up 174 lbs - John Dergo: Morris, Illinois - 1x AA (5), 2010 Big Ten champion, NCAA #2 seed 184 lbs - Brian Glynn: Orland Park, Illinois - 2x AA (3,6), 2005 Big Ten runner-up 197 lbs - Tyrone Byrd: Clinton, Illinois - 4x national qualifier, 2006 Big Ten runner-up 285 lbs - John Wise: Pittsfield, Illinois - 1x AA (7), 2009 Big Ten 3rd place Third Team 125 lbs - Gabe Flores: Madera, California - 3x national qualifier, NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2008 Big Ten 3rd place 133 lbs - BJ Futrell: Park Forest, Illinois - 2x AA (6,8), 2012 Big Ten 3rd place, NCAA #4 seed 141 lbs - Steven Rodriguez: Mount Kisco, New York - 1x AA (5), 3x national qualifier, 2016 Big Ten 3rd place 149 lbs - Kannon Webster*: Toulon, Illinois - 2025 national qualifier, NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2025 Big Ten runner-up 157 lbs - Alex Tirapelle: Clovis, California - 2x AA (4,2), 2x Big Ten champion, 2x NCAA #1 seed 165 lbs - Jackson Morse, Alto, Michigan: 1x AA (4) 174 lbs - Zac Brunson: Eugene, Oregon: 1x AA (6), NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2016 Big Ten runner-up 184 lbs - Emery Parker: Wadsworth, Illinois: 2x AA (5,3), 2019 Big Ten 3rd place 197 lbs - Mario Gonzalez: Aurora, Illinois: 3x NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2012 Big Ten champion 285 lbs - Luke Luffman: Urbana, Illinois: 4x national qualifier, NCAA Round of 12 finisher Fun Facts During this quarter-century, six Illinois wrestlers have combined to win eight NCAA titles Illinois wrestlers have made the national finals 17 times during this time span Coming into the 2000’s Illinois had never produced a two-time national champion - now they have two (Delgado, Martinez) Illinois has finished in the top ten at the NCAA Championships ten times since 2001. The 2001 team’s fifth-place finish is the highest and features the most team points (89). Illinois has put wrestlers on the NCAA podium 54 times since 2001, plus an NWCA First Team All-American in 2020 5 Illini wrestlers earned All-American honors in both 2004 and 2005 - the highest total during this span In 2018, Isaiah Martinez became the first Illinois wrestler to win the Big Ten four times and earn All-American honors four times Isaiah Martinez’s 2015 national title made him the first freshman to finish the season undefeated since Cael Sanderson in 1999 The 2005 Illinois team captured its only Big Ten team title during this quarter century They finished second in the Big Ten on three other occasions Despite winning the 2005 Big Ten title, the team’s high point total at that event came in 2001 (130.5 points) The 2001 team had a pair of NCAA champions (Ad. Tirapelle and Lockhart), one of only three times in team history they’ve had multiple champs and the only time in the period observed. 13 Illinois wrestlers have combined to win 20 Big Ten titles in the past 25 years Illini wrestlers have been seeded #1 at the NCAA Tournament 9 times in this quarter century, with Isaiah Martinez having four times himself Illinois has been led by three different head coaches this quarter century: Mark Johnson, Jim Heffernan, and Mike Poeta The top-five wrestlers on the school’s all-time wins list all wrestled in this era (Al. Tirapelle, Ad. Tirapelle, Friedl, Kennedy, Lockhart) Nine of the ten first-team members were at least three-time All-Americans Illinois has been able to ink the #1 overall recruit once during this quarter century (Poeta/2004) Since 2001, 11 California natives have won NCAA titles. Three of them (Ad. Tirapelle, Delgado, Martinez) wore the block I for Illinois.

The men’s freestyle portion of the 2025 16U and Junior National Championships from Fargo, North Dakota is in the books. You can check out Jason Bryant’s Fargo Guide to track the long history of success in the FargoDome and how it correlates to winning at the collegiate and Senior levels. So that means you shouldn’t be surprised to see the wrestlers who found the podium yesterday to be the same ones challenging for the top eight at the NCAA Championships. And with the way that high school wrestlers have trained and are getting better than in past generations - we won’t wait very long for them to contend. Below are the wrestlers who earned All-American honors and have committed to wrestle at the next level. They are listed by their future home, along with their placement and weight. If there is no “Class of” listed then that particular wrestler is from the Class of 2025. Air Force Fifth Place - Arment Waltenbaugh: 165 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 American Sixth Place - Reagan Milheim: 157 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 Arizona State Champion - Rylan Seacrist: 113 lbs (Ohio) - Class of 2026 Third Place - Gabe Delgado: 157 lbs (Nevada) Eighth Place - Israel Ibarra: 165 lbs (Arizona) Brown Sixth Place - Maximus Norman: 175 lbs (Tennessee) Cal Poly Fourth Place - Levi Bussey: 215 lbs (California) Cornell Runner-Up - Isaiah Cortez: 132 lbs (California) Sixth Place - Elijah Cortez: 138 lbs (California) Harvard Fifth Place: Robert Kucharczk: 190 lbs (Florida) Illinois Runner-Up - Nicholas Garcia: 126 lbs (Illinois) - Class of 2026 Runner-Up - Wyatt Medlin: 157 lbs (Illinois) - Class of 2026 Fourth Place - Jaxon Penovich: 190 lbs (Illinois) - Class of 2026 Seventh Place - Josh Hoffer: 215 lbs (Illinois) - Class of 2026 Iowa Third Place - Michael Mocco: 285 lbs (Florida) - Class of 2026 Iowa State Runner-Up - Coby Merrill: 285 lbs (California) - Class of 2026 Seventh Place: TJ Koester: 132 lbs (Iowa) Kent State Eighth Place: Silas Stits: 157 lbs (Indiana) Lehigh Fifth Place - Dean Bechtold: 285 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 Little Rock Third Place - Jake Miller: 144 lbs (Oklahoma) - Class of 2026 Sixth Place - Justyce Zuniga: 132 lbs (Washington) - Class of 2026 Michigan Champion - Moses Mendoza: 132 lbs (California) - Class of 2026 Fifth Place - Haakon Peterson: 144 lbs (Wisconsin) - Class of 2026 Minnesota Third Place - Tyler Dekraker: 138 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 Third Place - Michael White: 190 lbs (Indiana) - Class of 2026 Missouri Champion - Antonio Mills: 126 lbs (Georgia) - Class of 2026 Champion - David Gleason: 157 lbs (Missouri) Fifth Place - Cash Cooley: 215 lbs (Texas) - Class of 2026 NC State Third Place - Kai Calcutt: 215 lbs (Illinois) - Class of 2026 Eighth Place - Lander Bosh: 126 lbs (Utah) - Class of 2026 Nebraska Champion - Cade Ziola: 215 lbs (Nebraska) Sixth Place - Davis Parrow: 150 lbs (Minnesota) - Class of 2026 North Carolina Sixth Place - Jacob Levy: 285 lbs (Florida) Seventh Place - Lincoln Jipp: 175 lbs (Iowa) - Class of 2026 Northern Iowa Champion - Logan Paradice: 150 lbs (Georgia) Third Place - Waylon Cressell: 175 lbs (Indiana) - Class of 2026 Fifth Place - Maximus Brady: 138 lbs (Florida) Northwestern Sixth Place - Alex Smith: 215 lbs (Florida) Seventh Place - Travyn Boger: 285 (Utah) - Class of 2026 Oklahoma Fourth Place - Mikey Ruiz: 126 lbs (Texas) - Class of 2026 Runner-Up - Dallas Russell: 150 lbs (Georgia) - Class of 2026 Runner-Up - Mason Ontiveros: 175 lbs (California) - Class of 2026 Oklahoma State Champion - Jordyn Raney: 138 lbs (Kentucky) - Class of 2026 Champion - Rocklin Zinklin: 120 lbs (California) - Class of 2026 Champion - Dreshaun Ross: 285 lbs (Iowa) - Class of 2026 Runner-Up - Kellen Wolbert: 138 lbs (Wisconsin) - Class of 2026 Oregon State Fifth Place - Manny Saldate: 132 lbs (Nevada) Penn Fourth Place - Liam Carlin: 165 lbs (Connecticut) Penn State Fourth Place - Sam Herring: 138 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 Princeton Third Place - Matthew Martino: 150 lbs (Idaho) Fourth Place - Mark Effendian: 285 lbs (Pennsylvania) - Class of 2026 Purdue Seventh Place - Isaiah Schaefer: 138 lbs (Indiana) Rutgers Sixth Place - Alex Reyes: 190 lbs (New Jersey) - Class of 2026 South Dakota State Runner-Up - Jarrett Wasden: 190 lbs (Minnesota) Eighth Place - Conlan Carlson: 150 lbs (Minnesota) Eighth Place - Keenan Sheridan: 175 lbs (South Dakota) Eighth Place - Micah Hach: 285 lbs (South Dakota) Stanford Third Place - Jarrett Smith: 113 lbs (Michigan) - Class of 2026 Fourth Place - Zeno Moore: 157 lbs (Florida) - Class of 2026 Seventh Place - Siraj Sidhu: 126 lbs (California) - Class of 2026 Virginia Tech Fifth Place - Alex Rozas: 120 lbs (Louisiana) - Class of 2026 West Virginia Fourth Place - Mason Jakob: 120 lbs (Tennessee) - Class of 2026 Wisconsin Fourth Place - Eli Leonard: 175 lbs (Wisconsin) - Class of 2026 Wisconsin-Parkside Runner-Up - Sullivan Ramos: 165 lbs (Wisconsin) Wyoming Seventh Place - John Murphy: 190 lbs (Minnesota)

Thousands of high school wrestlers in Fargo this week will compete for stop signs and national championships. One already has his hardware from Fargo and is aiming even higher. In between rounds of men’s freestyle competition at the 16U and Junior National Championships was the delayed Final X wrestle-off between world champion Vito Arujau and rising high school senior Jax Forrest. Arujau’s status as a returning world medalist allowed him to delay their Final X series from June 14th to July 14th from Fargo, North Dakota. Forrest swept the two matches 4-3 in the first and 7-2 in the second. Back in 2022, Forrest was a U17 World silver medalist and earlier this year he won the Senior Pan-American Championships. With Forrest on the squad, the 2025 Senior World Team will feature seven first-time world team members. Forrest and PJ Duke will wrestle at the World Championships before ever stepping onto a collegiate mat. Match one saw Arujau strike first with a takedown off of a picture-esque sweep single. With under a minute remaining in the opening stanza, Arujau looked poised to add onto his lead; however, Forrest scrambled out of a Arujau attack and into a takedown of his own. Early in the second period, action took the pair over to the edge of the mat. Arujau nearly had a second takedown but settled for a step-out point to lead, 3-2. Despite some quality action, 3-2 is how the score would remain until the final seconds of the bout. With under :30 seconds remaining, fresh off of a reshot, Arujau got in on a low leg attack. Forrest slipped free of the attack and put pressure on Arujau near the edge. Once Arujau shifted his weight to stay in bounds, Forrest spun around and scored the winning takedown with :05 seconds left in the bout. He would hold on to win, 4-3. Forrest set the tone in the second match with an early takedown and immediately transitioned into a turn for a quick 4-0 lead. Arujau was able to get a late takedown but was never able to seriously threaten Forrest.

Last week, the coaching carousel continued to turn as two-time NCAA finalist Sammy Sasso was hired by Lehigh and two-time national champion Teyon Ware took over at Northern Colorado. With Ware moving on, Oklahoma will have an opening on their staff. That vacancy should garner plenty of interest with a relatively new coaching staff and a talented, young Sooners team. In addition to the Oklahoma opening, there are still plenty of good opportunities from an assistant standpoint. We also have one head coaching vacancy with Campbell’s job open. Now that we’ve gotten some movement, I think the coaching carousel will only pick up steam. Also, we’re less than a week away from action getting underway in Fargo. Fargo provides an excellent opportunity for networking, so some coaching deals could be struck in the FargoDome (or perhaps the Bison Turf). Coaching Changes Army West Point: Troy Nickerson (Head Coach) Binghamton: Brevin Cassella (Assistant Coach) Brown: Tyler Grayson (Assistant Coach) Kent State: Josh Moore (Head Coach) Lehigh: Sammy Sasso (Assistant Coach) Mercyhurst: Jimmy Overhiser (Head Coach) Missouri: Keegan O’Toole (Assistant Coach) NC State: Malik McDonald (Assistant Coach) North Dakota State: Willie Miklus (Assistant Coach) Northern Colorado: Teyon Ware (Head Coach) Oklahoma State: Kevin Ward (Assistant Coach) Penn: Matt Valenti (Head Coach) Princeton: Ryan Wolfe (Assistant Coach) Purdue: Matt Ramos (Assistant Coach) RTC/Club Lee Roper (Cowboy RTC) Open Appalachian State: Assistant Coach Bellarmine: Assistant Coach Campbell: Head Coach Drexel: Assistant Coach George Mason: Assistant Coach Kent State: Assistant Coach Little Rock: Assistant Coach Maryland: Assistant Coach Michigan State: Assistant Coach Northern Iowa: Assistant Coach Oklahoma: Assistant Coach Penn: Assistant Coach

The drama and bad headlines keep rolling in for PSU. On this week's show we dive into the Carter Starocci allegations, Beau Bartlett speaking out, Aaron Brooks failed drug test and how PSU is handling things to this point. We also discuss Gabe Arnold being dismissed from Iowa and Sammy Sasso being the newest addition to the Lehigh coaching staff. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - Weigh in 5:13 - Penn State's silence throughout the chaos 17:05 - Aaron Brooks fails drug test 35:40 - Carter Starocci allegations + Beau Bartlett speaks out 59:09 - Is PSU dominance at stake? 1:02:17 - Gabe Arnold dismissed from Iowa 1:10:00 - Sammy Sasso joins Lehigh staff

This evening, 2024 Olympic gold medalist Amit Elor announced that she will withdraw from this weekend’s Final X event due to health concerns. In her post on Instagram, Elor stated that she, “recently found out that I was anemic during the World Team Trials, which added up to be too much with my current injuries.” In addition to her gold medal from the Olympics, Elor won the previous two world titles at 72 kg. She was set to face Alex Glaude in Final X on Saturday in the 72 kg matchup. At this time, it appears that there will be no delayed wrestle off or a Final X matchup with Glaude and another competitor. The most logical choice would be Skylar Grote who lost one-point matches to be Glaude and Elor at the US Open and World Team Trials, respectively.

The finals of the 2025 Senior US Open featured some incredible performances and some semi-surprising results most notably at 86 kg where Zahid Valencia used his picturesque duck under to knock off four-time world champion Kyle Dake. Valencia was one of four champions (Jax Forrest, Joey McKenna, Valencia, Wyatt Hendrickson) for Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC on Saturday night. They also put Dean Hamiti Jr. in the finals at 79 kg, giving them a finalist in half of the ten weights. This tournament, and 2025 overall, represents a changing of the guard in US Men’s freestyle as we’ve seen plenty of notable retirements and weight changes in the wake of the 2024 Olympic Games. This new era of men’s freestyle wrestling could include a world team member, not named Dake or Burroughs, for the first time since 2010. Mitchell Mesenbrink has the best chance to be that guy as he turned in an impressive win over David Carr - his 2024 NCAA finals opponent. Winners from the Open automatically punched a ticket to Final X in Newark, New Jersey on June 14th. With returning world medalists at the same weight confirmed to compete at Final X, we know the matchups at the 57 and 61 kg weight classes. Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee will clash with 2025 true freshman All-American Luke Lilledahl at 57 kg. At the next weight class up, 2023 World Champion Vito Arujau will face high school phenom Jax Forrest, at 61 kg. The remaining eight champions have advanced to Final X and will await a challenge to emerge from the World Team Trials in mid-May. 2025 US Open Senior Men’s Freestyle Final Results 57 kg - Luke Lilledahl (NLWC/TMWC) over Liam Cronin (Nebraska RTC/TMWC) 10-0 61 kg - Jax Forrest (Cowboy RTC/TMWC) over Seth Gross (MATPAC WC) 19-8 65 kg - Joey McKenna (Cowboy RTC/TMWC) over Jesse Mendez (Ohio RTC/TMWC) 3-2 70 kg - Yianni Diakomihalis (Spartan Combat RTC/TMWC) over James Green (Nebraska RTC/TMWC) 8-2 74 kg - Mitchell Mesenbrink (NLWC/TMWC) over David Carr (Cyclone RTC/TMWC) 16-6 79 kg - Evan Wick (SoCal RTC/TMWC) over Dean Hamiti Jr. (Cowboy RTC/TMWC) 9-1 86 kg - Zahid Valencia (Cowboy RTC/TMWC) over Kyle Dake (NLWC/TMWC) 8-4 92 kg - Trent Hidlay (Wolfpack WC/TMWC) over Aeoden Sinclair (Tiger Style WC) 7-1 97 kg - Kyle Snyder (NLWC/TMWC) over Jay Aiello (Penn RTC/TMWC) 11-0 125 kg - Wyatt Hendrickson (Cowboy RTC/TMWC) over Demetrius Thomas (NYAC) 14-3

Friday’s DI Dual Results Air Force 41 Presbyterian 3 125 - Nicco Tocci (Air Force) dec Brayden Adams (Presbyterian) 4-2 133 - Gavin Caprella (Air Force) tech TJ Rodier (Presbyterian) 17-1 141 - Carter Nogle (Air Force) maj Ryan Luna (Presbyterian) 11-3 149 - Eli Holiday (Presbyterian) dec Alec Viduya (Air Force) 10-8 157 - Josh Palacio (Air Force) tech Joshua Roe (Presbyterian) 17-1 165 - Logan Fowler (Air Force) maj Jamisen Colongione (Presbyterian) 11-0 174 - Jack Ganos (Air Force) tech Caleb Roe (Presbyterian) 16-0 184 - Gage Musser (Air Force) maj Nathan Furman (Presbyterian) 11-1 197 - Brian Burburjia (Air Force) tech Toler Hornick (Presbyterian) 17-0 285 - Antonio Ramos (Air Force) fall Morven Saint Jean (Presbyterian) 6:46 Cleveland State 40 Bloomsburg 0 125 - Ben Aranda (Cleveland State) tech Major Lewis (Bloomsburg) 19-4 133 - Jacob Manley (Cleveland State) dec Kade Kluce (Bloomsburg) 10-3 141 - Landen Duncan (Cleveland State) FFT 149 - AJ Parish (Cleveland State) tech Nik Voros (Bloomsburg) 22-5 157 - Reese Stephen (Cleveland State) dec William Morrow (Bloomsburg) 4-1SV 165 - Tate Geiser (Cleveland State) dec Leo Hess (Bloomsburg) 9-4 174 - Gavin Ricketts (Cleveland State) dec Nick Foster (Bloomsburg) 4-1SV 184 - JR Reed (Cleveland State) dec Kolby Flank (Bloomsburg) 6-4 197 - Joey Lyons (Cleveland State) dec Mason Rebuck (Bloomsburg) 8-1 285 - Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) fall Tyler McCarthan (Bloomsburg) 2:45 Cleveland State 24 Clarion 10 125 - Travis Clawson (Clarion) maj Ben Aranda (Cleveland State) 16-4 133 - Nick Molchak (Cleveland State) fall Mason Prinkey (Clarion) 1:19 141 - Gianni Silvestri (Clarion) dec Landen Duncan (Cleveland State) 4-2 149 - Kyle Schickel (Clarion) maj Connor Saylor (Cleveland State) 11-2 157 - Reese Stephen (Cleveland State) dec Chandler Ho (Clarion) 4-1 165 - Tate Geiser (Cleveland State) dec Wesley Barnes (Clarion) 10-4 174 - Ronald Dimmerling (Cleveland State) dec John Worthing (Clarion) 9-8 184 - JR Reed (Cleveland State) dec Aiden Gacek (Clarion) 10-4 197 - Joey Lyons (Cleveland State) dec Ethan Wiant (Clarion) 7-4 285 - Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) dec Austin Chapman (Clarion) 1-0 Nebraska 38 Michigan 6 125 - Caleb Smith (Nebraska) fall Wilfred Tanefeu (Michigan) 3:58 133 - Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) tech Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) 18-2 141 - Brock Hardy (Nebraska) maj Sergio Lemley (Michigan) 13-4 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) tech Dylan Gilcher (Michigan) 17-2 157 - Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) fall Chase Saldate (Michigan) 5:33 165 - Christopher Minto (Nebraska) dec Beau Mantanona (Michigan) 7-2 174 - Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) maj Joseph Walker (Michigan) 23-11 184 - Silas Allred (Nebraska) tech Jaden Bullock (Michigan) 21-6 197 - Jacob Cadenas (Michigan) dec Camden McDanel (Nebraska) 5-2 285 - Josh Heindselman (Michigan) dec Harley Andrews (Nebraska) 9-6 Rider 23 Princeton 19 125 - Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) tech Noah Michaels (Rider) 19-3 133 - Drew Heethuis (Princeton) dec Will Betancourt (Rider) 5-0 141 - Eligh Rivera (Princeton) dec McKenzie Bell (Rider) 8-5SV 149 - Sammy Alvarez (Rider) dec Ty Whalen (Princeton) 7-3 157 - Colton Washleski (Rider) maj Jacob Mann (Princeton) 14-6 165 - Enrique Munguia (Rider) fall Zander Silva (Princeton) 5:41 174 - Michael Wilson (Rider) fall Xavier Giles (Princeton) 4:52 184 - Isaac Dean (Rider) maj Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) 12-4 197 - Luke Stout (Princeton) tech Brock Zurawski (Rider) 22-5 285 - Sebastian Garibaldi (Princeton) dec Collin French (Rider) 8-4 Campbell 29 Bellarmine 10 125 - Anthony Molton (Campbell) tech Damion Ryan (Bellarmine) 23-7 133 - Logan Heil (Campbell) dec Trayce Eckman (Bellarmine) 6-4 141 - AJ Rallo (Bellarmine) dec Shannon Hanna (Campbell) 9-5 149 - Wynton Denkins (Campbell) dec Zac Cowan (Bellarmine) 4-2 157 - Chris Earnest (Campbell) fall Jeb Prechtel (Bellarmine) 3:20 165 - Dom Baker (Campbell) dec Cole Nance (Bellarmine) 3-1 174 - Grant O’Dell (Bellarmine) dec Riley Augustine (Campbell) 4-1SV 184 - Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) maj Mike Slade (Campbell) 12-2 197 - Levi Hopkins (Campbell) dec Andrew Liber (Bellarmine) 4-1 285 - Landon Sargent (Campbell) fall Will Muckler (Bellarmine) 1:42 Northern Colorado 27 California Baptist 12 125 - Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) tech Mitch Neiner (California Baptist) 18-3 133 - Hunter Leake (California Baptist) tech Mikai Alirez (Northern Colorado) 16-0 141 - Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) fall Brady Hoshino (California Baptist) :31 149 - Paul Kelly (California Baptist) maj Adam Busiello (Northern Colorado) 9-0 157 - Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado) maj Darren Green (California Baptist) 14-2 165 - Clayton Ulrey (Northern Colorado) dec Daniel Manibog (California Baptist) 4-2 174 - Carter Schmidt (California Baptist) dec Ayden Rix-McElhinney (Northern Colorado) 8-6 184 - AJ Heeg (Northern Colorado) dec Nathan Haas (California Baptist) 9-8 197 - Andrew Donahue (Northern Colorado) dec Eli Sheeran (California Baptist) 7-3 285 - Jose Valdez (Northern Colorado) dec Tristan Kemp (California Baptist) 4-1SV Lock Haven 42 Kent State 6 125 - Tyeler Hagensen (Kent State) fall Sean Logue (Lock Haven) Fall 4:52 133 - Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) tech Adan Benavidez (Kent State) 19-4 141 - Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) FFT 149 - Lucas Kapusta (Lock Haven) dec Nate Roth (Kent State) 8-3 157 - Nick Stampoulos (Lock Haven) fall Dominic Paterra (Kent State) 2:42 165 - Caden Dobbins (Lock Haven) dec Carson Miller (Kent State) 6-1 174 - Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) fall Waylon Wehler (Kent State) 2:22 184 - Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) maj Trent Thomas (Kent State) 12-3 197 - Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) dec Blake Schaffer (Kent State) 7-3 285 - Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) fall Josh Boggan (Kent State) 4:54 The Citadel 44 Davidson 0 125 - Gylon Sims (The Citadel) InjDef Luke Passarelli (Davidson) 133 - George Rosas (The Citadel) tech Enis Ljikovic (Davidson) 15-0 141 - Thomas Termini (The Citadel) dec Marley Washington (Davidson) 4-1SV 149 - Carson DesRosier (The Citadel) tech Jackson Sichelstiel (Davidson) 19-2 157 - Tyler Badgett (The Citadel) tech Matthew McLaughlin (Davidson) 15-0 165 - Thomas Snipes (The Citadel) dec Bryce Griffin (Davidson) 9-5 174 - Benjamin Haubert (The Citadel) dec Marc Koch (Davidson) 4-1 184 - Micah DiCarlo (The Citadel) maj Josh Lange (Davidson) 17-5 197 - Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) FFT 285 - Adam Ortega (The Citadel) maj Daniel Elyash (Davidson) 11-1 Penn 24 Columbia 20 125 - Max Gallagher (Penn) maj Suleyman Bah (Columbia) 11-3 133 - Ryan Miller (Penn) tech Connor Smith (Columbia) 20-4 141 - CJ Composto (Penn) dec Kai Owen (Columbia) 8-4 149 - Cross Wasilewski (Penn) maj Richard Fedalen (Columbia) 11-2 157 - Jude Swisher (Penn) tech Dominic Rossetti (Columbia) 18-1 165 - Andrew Troczynski (Penn) dec Jaden Le (Columbia) 15-11 174 - Jack McGill (Columbia) maj Nick Incontrera (Penn) 14-3 184 - Nick Fine (Columbia) fall Max Hale (Penn) 2:22 197 - Joe Curtis (Columbia) fall Nathan Taylor (Penn) 5:54 285 - Vincent Mueller (Columbia) maj John Pardo (Penn) 15-3 Virginia Tech 32 Duke 15 125 - Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) FFT 133 - Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) tech Raymond Adams (Duke) 16-1 141 - Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) tech Christian Colman (Duke) 23-6 149 - Sean O’Donnell (Duke) fall Chris Bacchioni (Virginia Tech) 3:43 157 - Logan Ferrero (Duke) dec Luke Robie (Virginia Tech) 6-0 165 - Aidan Wallace (Duke) dec Mac Church (Virginia Tech) 4-1SV 174 - Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) fall Ryan Beirne (Duke) 2:34 184 - TJ Stewart (Virginia Tech) tech David Hussey (Duke) 19-4 197 - Kwasi Bonsu (Duke) dec Glean Gonzalez (Virginia Tech) 10-3 285 - Jim Mullen (Virginia Tech) tech Connor Barket (Duke) 20-5 Iowa State 25 Oklahoma 6 125 - Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma) dec Ethan Perryman (Iowa State) 5-2 133 - Evan Frost (Iowa State) maj Cleveland Belton (Oklahoma) 9-0 141 - Jacob Frost (Iowa State) dec Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma) 10-4 149 - Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) dec Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) 4-2 157 - Kane Naaktgeboren (Iowa State) dec Layton Schneider (Oklahoma) 8-3 165 - Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) dec Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) 7-3 174 - MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) dec Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) 7-2 184 - Evan Bockman (Iowa State) dec Eli Cordy (Oklahoma) 7-2 197 - Nate Schon (Iowa State) dec Bradley Hill (Oklahoma) 14-7 285 - Juan Mora (Oklahoma) dec Daniel Herrera (Iowa State) 4-2 Drexel 20 Bucknell 13 125 - Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) tech Chris Nucifora (Bucknell) 21-6 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec Kyle Waterman (Drexel) 7-5 141 - Jordan Soriano (Drexel) dec Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) 10-8 149 - Dom Findora (Drexel) dec Braden Bower (Bucknell) 7-4SV 157 - Luke Nichter (Drexel) dec Cade Wirnsberger (Bucknell) 9-3 165 - Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) maj Cody Walsh (Drexel) 12-3 174 - Myles Takats (Bucknell) dec Jasiah Queen (Drexel) 5-3 184 - Giuseppe Hoose (Drexel) dec Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) 6-5 197 - Mickey O’Malley (Drexel) dec Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell) 13-10 285 - Nolan Springer (Bucknell) maj Dom Petracci (Drexel) 15-2 Illinois 33 Maryland 7 125 - Caelan Riley (Illinois) dec Abram Cline (Maryland) 10-5 133 - Lucas Byrd (Illinois) dec Braxton Brown (Maryland) 7-3 141 - Danny Pucino (Illinois) dec Dario Lemus (Maryland) 8-5 149 - Kannon Webster (Illinois) fall Kal Miller (Maryland) 4:39 157 - Ethen Miller (Maryland) maj Jason Kraisser (Illinois) 15-6 165 - Braeden Scoles (Illinois) tech Alex Uryniak (Maryland) 20-3 174 - Danny Braunagel (Illinois) tech Branson John (Maryland) 22-7 184 - Jaxon Smith (Maryland) dec Edmond Ruth (Illinois) 4-3 197 - Zac Braunagel (Illinois) tech Chase Mielnik (Maryland) 20-4 285 - Luke Luffman (Illinois) dec Seth Nevills (Maryland) 4-2 Indiana 35 Michigan State 3 125 - Jacob Moran (Indiana) dec Caleb Weiand (Michigan State) 12-10 133 - Angelo Rini (Indiana) tech Andrew Hampton (Michigan State) 20-5 141 - Henry Porter (Indiana) dec Jaden Crumpler (Michigan State) 8-3 149 - Clayton Jones (Michigan State) dec Aiden Torres (Indiana) 9-6 157 - Ryan Garvick (Indiana) dec Braden Stauffenberg (Michigan State) 6-5 165 - Tyler Lillard (Indiana) fall Jay Nivison (Michigan State) 8:41 174 - Derek Gilcher (Indiana) dec Ceasar Garza (Michigan State) 5-4 184 - DJ Washington (Indiana) tech Lucas Daley (Michigan State) 19-3 197 - Gabe Sollars (Indiana) dec Remy Cotton (Michigan State) 11-6 285 - Jacob Bullock (Indiana) maj Max Vanadia (Michigan State) 14-4 NC State 22 Pittsburgh 13 125 - Vincent Robinson (NC State) dec Nick Babin (Pittsburgh) 6-2 133 - Kai Orine (NC State) tech Tyler Chappell (Pittsburgh) 17-0 141 - Anthony Santaniello (Pittsburgh) dec Tyler Tracy (NC State) 9-5 149 - Koy Buesgens (NC State) dec Finn Solomon (Pittsburgh) 4-1 157 - Ed Scott (NC State) dec Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh) 5-3 165 - Derek Fields (NC State) maj Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) 14-6 174 - Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) dec Matthew Singleton (NC State) 3-1TB 184 - Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) dec Dylan Fishback (NC State) 6-2 197 - Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) maj Christian Knop (NC State) 13-4 285 - Isaac Trumble (NC State) maj Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) 10-1 Minnesota 39 Wisconsin 3 125 - Cooper Flynn (Minnesota) dec Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) 7-3 133 - Zac Fugitt (Wisconsin) dec Blake Beissel (Minnesota) 8-4 141 - Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) tech Brock Bobzien (Wisconsin) 22-7 149 - Drew Roberts (Minnesota) tech Royce Nilo (Wisconsin) 17-2 157 - Tommy Askey (Minnesota) dec Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) 10-3 165 - Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) tech Cale Anderson (Wisconsin) 20-2 174 - Clayton Whiting (Minnesota) dec Lucas Condon (Wisconsin) 8-5SV 184 - Max McEnelly (Minnesota) tech Dylan Russo (Wisconsin) 22-6 197 - Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) tech Niccolo Colucci (Wisconsin) 15-0 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) tech Brooks Empey (Wisconsin) 21-5 Wyoming 25 Utah Valley 10 125 - Bridger Ricks (Utah Valley) dec Garrett Ricks (Wyoming) 4-3 133 - Kase Mauger (Utah Valley) dec David Saenz (Wyoming) 9-2 141 - Cole Brooks (Wyoming) dec Haiden Drury (Utah Valley) 7-2 149 - Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) maj Smokey McClure (Utah Valley) 12-3 157 - Jared Hill (Wyoming) dec Ryker Fullmer (Utah Valley) 8-6 165 - Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) tech Cooper Voorhees (Wyoming) 19-3 174 - Riley Davis (Wyoming) dec Mark Takara (Utah Valley) 7-3 184 - Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) dec Caleb Uhlenhopp (Utah Valley) 11-4 197 - Joey Novak (Wyoming) fall Kael Bennie (Utah Valley) 5:24 285 - Sam Mitchell (Wyoming) dec Jack Forbes (Utah Valley) 4-3 Penn State 35 Rutgers 3 125 - Dean Peterson (Rutgers) dec Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) 4-1 133 - Braeden Davis (Penn State) dec Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 2-1 141 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) 7-3 149 - Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) tech Alex Nini (Rutgers) 17-2 157 - Tyler Kasak (Penn State) dec Conner Harer (Rutgers) 4-0 165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech Tony White (Rutgers) 19-3 174 - Levi Haines (Penn State) dec Jackson Turley (Rutgers) 5-2 184 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) tech Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) 17-2 197 - Josh Barr (Penn State) tech John Poznanski (Rutgers) 22-6 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) dec Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) 2-0 Little Rock 29 Oregon State 14 125 - Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) dec Jayden Carson (Little Rock) 3-1 133 - Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) tech Damion Elliott (Oregon State) 21-4 141 - Nash Singleton (Oregon State) dec Brennan Van Hoecke (Little Rock) 4-1 149 - Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) dec Jordan Williams (Little Rock) 5-1 157 - Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) maj CJ Hamblin (Oregon State) 9-0 165 - Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) dec Steele Starren (Oregon State) 9-4 174 - Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) InjDef Sean Harman (Oregon State) 184 - Brock DelSignore (Little Rock) tech TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) 20-4 197 - Stephen Little (Little Rock) fall Vaun Halstead (Oregon State) 2:36 285 - Brett Mower (Oregon State) tech Branson Britten (Little Rock) 17-2 Oklahoma State 22 Northern Iowa 14 125 - Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) dec Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) 10-5 133 - Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) maj Cael Hughes (Oklahoma State) 13-4 141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) 4-1SV 149 - Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) dec Carter Young (Oklahoma State) 6-4 157 - Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) dec Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) 7-4SV 165 - Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) maj Jack Thomsen (Northern Iowa) 10-2 174 - Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) maj Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) 16-4 184 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) maj Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 15-4 197 - Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) dec Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) 4-3 285 - Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) tech Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) 19-4

Conference dual season is in full swing. The holiday dual season is behind us and we’re more into a regular schedule, primarily focused on dual competition. A total of 49 duals will be contested. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this week. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match (with links). To make this guide even easier to find, we've added a link on our homepage and the latest Live Streaming Guide will appear right under the header articles. All times Eastern Thursday, January 16: South Dakota State at California Baptist 9:00 PM FloWrestling Friday, January 17: Brown vs. Little Rock at Davidson 10:00 AM FloWrestling Morgan State at Davidson 10:00 AM FloWrestling Brown vs. Lock Haven at Davidson 12:00 PM FloWrestling Little Rock vs. Morgan State at Davidson 12:00 PM FloWrestling Little Rock at Davidson 2:30 PM FloWrestling Lock Haven vs. The Citadel at Davidson 2:30 PM FloWrestling Brown at Davidson 4:30 PM FloWrestling Morgan State vs. The Citadel at Davidson 4:30 PM FloWrestling Lock Haven vs. Morgan State at Davidson 6:00 PM FloWrestling Pittsburgh at Bucknell 6:00 PM ESPN+ Harvard at American 6:30 PM ESPN+ Northern Illinois at Central Michigan 7:00 PM Chippewas All-Access North Carolina at Duke 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Campbell at Gardner-Webb 7:00 PM ESPN+ Illinois at Iowa 7:00 PM Big Ten Network SIU Edwardsville at Kent State 7:00 PM Wisconsin at Maryland 7:00 PM B1G+ Indiana at Purdue 7:00 PM B1G+ NC State at Virginia 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Utah Valley at Missouri 7:30 PM ESPN+ Lehigh at Navy 7:30 PM Navy YouTube North Dakota State at Northern Colorado 8:00 PM FloWrestling Michigan at Northwestern 8:00 PM B1G+ West Virginia at Oklahoma 8:00 PM ESPN+ Northern Iowa at Arizona State 9:00 PM ESPN+ Penn State at Nebraska 9:00 PM Big Ten Network Saturday, January 18: Binghamton at Franklin & Marshall 12:00 PM Centennial Conference TV George Mason at Cleveland State 1:00 PM FloWrestling Harvard at Navy 5:00 PM Navy YouTube Binghamton at Drexel 6:00 PM FloWrestling Hofstra at Bloomsburg 7:00 PM FloWrestling South Dakota State at Air Force 9:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, January 19: Mercyhurst, VMI at Purple Raider Open 9:30 AM FloWrestling Iowa State at Cyclone Open 11:00 AM SIU Edwardsville at Clarion 12:00 PM FloWrestling Army West Point at American 1:00 PM ESPN+ Edinboro at Ohio 1:00 PM ESPN+ Purdue at Ohio State 1:00 PM B1G+ Wisconsin at Rutgers 1:00 PM B1G+ Cleveland State at Central Michigan 2:00 PM ESPN+ Campbell at Chattanooga 2:00 PM ESPN+ Princeton at Clarion 2:00 PM FloWrestling Michigan at Minnesota 2:00 PM B1G+ Johns Hopkins at Morgan State 2:00 PM Morgan State All-Access North Dakota State at Air Force 3:00 PM FloWrestling Virginia Tech at Appalachian State 3:00 PM FloWrestling Buffalo at Michigan State 3:00 PM B1G+ West Virginia at Oklahoma State 3:00 PM ESPN+ Wyoming at Oregon State 5:00 PM FloWrestling Arizona State at Stanford 6:00 PM ACC Network Extra

Over the weekend, as the Southern Scuffle occurred, I went back and forth with some of the guys in one of my wrestling-related chats. As tends to happen during wrestling season, the topic turned to the current landscape of the sport. 11 years ago, the Scuffle featured the eventual top-three teams at the NCAA Championships and had two of the eventual NCAA finals bouts - in their championship matches. Suffice it to say, that won’t be the case in 2025. The topic then moved to match counts, avoiding good matchups, and the college wrestling product, as a whole. As grievances were aired, solutions were also thrown around to improve the product. A national dual tournament, a ranking series tournament, and assigning point values for wins were among those mentioned. I think each of those potential ideas is valid, but I’m not sure any of them would actually be implemented. What I do think is a viable solution to limit “ducking” and strategic load management is to re-evaluate the number of wrestlers that we seed at the NCAA Championships. The 2019 NCAA Tournament was the first one in which the NCAA seeded all 33 wrestlers in each bracket. From 2014-19, the NCAA seeded the top 16 wrestlers in a bracket. Before 2014, the number was 12. How does this help the product in the regular season? Excellent question, I thought you’d never ask! With the NCAA seeding all 33 wrestlers, it encourages more of the gaming, ducking, and strategic resting that has been all too common in the sport at the collegiate level. Like every other sport, as time progresses we’ve been able to have more information and more ways to interpret data. In 2025, I think college wrestling coaches are as knowledgeable as they’ve ever been about the NCAA allocation process, at-large berths, and seeding. Coaches are aware that if your wrestler banks a couple of solid wins early in the season, they don’t have to risk it against better opponents and can maintain a particular ranking. Since the NCAA seeds all 33 wrestlers, this approach has been used for wrestlers all up and down the rankings. Instead of worrying about maintaining a #1 seed or avoiding the #1, they are also thinking about protecting a #20 ranking. If you only seed to 12 or 16, there would be less reason for a wrestler who is ranked #20 to protect that particular ranking. They are trying to break into that 12/16 threshold, not maintain what they have. And on the other half of the rankings, the wrestler who is right over that threshold isn’t safe. A huge upset from the #17 ranked wrestler could push him past that #16 wrestler. Do you want to just sit back and try to maintain that #12/#16 ranking, when it could lead to you going unseeded and drawing the #1 seed in the first round at NCAA’s? With fewer seeds, the seeds themselves become more of a valued commodity. In recent years, we’ve seen medically forfeiting out of a tournament become a frequent option. In response, the NCAA has hit those wrestlers hard in the seeding process. Last season, at the Big Ten Championships, Carter Starocci immediately injury defaulted in his first match and then forfeited. That sent him from being a sure-fire #1 seed to the #9. Not every wrestler is Starocci, so if you do something similar as the #7 ranked wrestler in the country, you may be looking at going into nationals without a seed! In addition to limiting the seeds, perhaps a match minimum to earn a seed. Maybe 15 matches? That’s three or four at the conference tournament, plus three per month over a four-month regular season. That seems reasonable. Maybe more? Now is the time for the usual disclaimer. We understand that college wrestling is more grueling than any other sport. The season is long and injuries are almost inevitable. No one wants injured wrestlers to go out and perform like it’s the old gladiator days. The reason for this article is because I (and many others who love this sport) are concerned about the future of college wrestling. And college athletics in general. As entire athletic departments face official and unofficial audits, do we really want to tell administrators that none of it matters until March? We want new faces to embrace the sport, but when they come to a dual, they may not see the stars advertised on the social media graphics all week. As with a lot of things around the world, COVID changed a lot in college wrestling. With the abridged 2021 season, coaches saw that their wrestlers would perform fine even if they didn’t get 30 matches before the postseason. Even when we were in a more normal 2021-22 season, it seemed like they chose to scale the number of competitions back for their wrestlers. This has continued and increased as the years have progressed. There has to be a happy medium of not running wrestlers into the ground and getting them to events so that the regular season isn't just a dress rehearsal for March. The NCAA Tournament is the best entertainment in sports (in my biased opinion). We don’t need to change that, but we can have other events that are “must-see” for the fanbase. For a long time, the Scuffle and Midlands were two of those events. Everyone knows the stories of the old Midlands with Olympians wrestling NCAA champions. As someone who monitors social media on a constant basis, I can tell when the fanbase is “all-in” on a particular event. It happens at the NCAA Championships, the World Championships, and the Olympics. The Scuffle used to be that event because it was on dates (January 1st and 2nd) when virtually nothing else was going on (in the wrestling world) and it had top, top teams. The Midlands was similar too. You could hang out on Twitter and everyone you followed was talking about the same matches. That didn’t happen this year (or maybe the past few years) as the fanbase wasn’t as locked into those events. A normal Friday with a handful of duals is great, but attention is spread amongst maybe 10 different matches. These were events that had everyone. Of course, this isn’t to disparage anyone competing at those two tournaments. Heck, Stanford and Army West Point, actually went and took virtually all of their normal starters. It’s not their fault that others chose not to go or bring more wrestlers. I don’t know whether cutting down on seeded wrestlers at NCAA’s is the answer to putting more juice into college wrestling. Honestly, it will also take a mentality shift, as well. At the same time, it’s a very easy fix that would bring positive reverberations to the wrestling community and the action on the mat. Maybe it isn’t the answer, but we need to look for answers. College sports are evolving before our own eyes and at a breakneck pace. I don’t want our sport to be left out in the cold. If I’ve learned anything from the last three years of conference alignment, it is that you have to be proactive. Those that aren’t get left in the dust and are scrambling for lifelines.

We’re almost two months into the college season and there have been plenty of standout performances throughout the season. Each week, conference wrestlers of the week get announced and are honored. Here is the list of wrestlers of the week, per conference - along with the Big Ten who also identifies a Freshman of the Week. ACC Wrestler of the Week 12/24: Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) 12/17: Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) 12/10: Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) 11/26: Connor Barket (Duke) 11/19: Isaac Trumble (NC State) 11/12: Vince Robinson (NC State) 11/6: Spencer Moore (North Carolina) Big 12 Wrestler of the Week 12/18: Eli Griffin (California Baptist) 12/12: Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) 12/4: Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) 11/27: Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma) 11/20: Colton Hawks (Missouri) 11/13: Christian Carroll (Iowa State) 11/6: Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) Big Ten Wrestler of the Week 12/19: Beau Bartlett (Penn State) 12/9: Matt Ramos (Purdue)/Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 12/2: Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 11/27: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) 11/21: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) 11/14: Matt Ramos (Purdue) 11/7: Joseph Walker (Michigan) Big Ten Freshman of the Week 12/19: Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) 12/9: Josh Barr (Penn State) 12/2: Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 11/27: Brock Mantanona (Michigan) 11/21: Charlie Millard (Minnesota) 11/14: Kannon Webster (Illinois)/Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 11/7: Ben Davino (Ohio State) EIWA Wrestler of the Week 12/24: Kyle Mosher (Hofstra) 12/17: Anthony D’Alesio (Long Island) 12/10: Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 11/26: Danny Wask (Navy) 11/19: Myles Takats (Bucknell) 11/12: Will Ebert (Binghamton) 11/5: Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) Ivy League Wrestler of the Week 12/24: Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) 12/10: Simon Ruiz (Cornell) 12/3: Justin Mayes (Cornell) 11/26: Jude Swisher (Penn) 11/19: Nick Fine (Columbia) 11/12: Nick Incontrera (Penn) 11/5: Cesar Alvan (Columbia) MAC Wrestler of the Week East Division 12/24: Scott Johnson (Clarion) 12/17: None 12/10: Logan Messer (George Mason)/Lucas Kapusta (Lock Haven) 11/26: Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) 11/19: Isaac Dean (Rider) 11/12: Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) 11/5: Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) West Division 12/24: Jordan Greer (Ohio) 12/17: Billy Meiszner (Kent State) 12/10: Garrett Thompson (Ohio) 11/26: Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan)/Billy Meiszner (Kent State) 11/19: Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) 11/12: Peyten Kellar (Ohio) 11/5: Drew Davis (SIU Edwardsville) Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week 12/24: AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) 12/17: Guillermo Escobedo (CSU Bakersfield) 12/10: Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) 11/26: Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) 11/19: Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) 11/12: Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) 11/5: Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) SoCon Wrestler of the Week 12/25: Shannon Hanna (Campbell) 12/18: TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) 12/11: Chad Bellis (Appalachian State) 11/27: Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) 11/20: Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) 11/13: Braxton Lewis (VMI) 11/6: Patrick Jordon (VMI)

As you might expect, there were plenty of changes after a week that included a ton of duals. There are currently no wrestlers in the rankings who have not competed during the 2024-25 season. Missouri’s Rocky Elam was removed from the 197 lb ranking - which led to Mizzou taking a big tumble in the team tournament rankings. As always, once he returns he’ll be inserted in a fair position. You probably noticed that Yonger Bastida wrestled in one of Iowa State’s three duals at the Collegiate Duals. We still have Daniel Herrera in the rankings for the Cyclones as Bastida’s long-term status is still unclear. Speaking of the Cyclones, we expect Anthony Echemendia to drop to 141 and Paniro Johnson to 149. Once they actually get down and compete, they’ll be ranked at those weights. I had a question a few weeks ago about Richie Figueroa vs. Troy Spratley for the #2 spot at 125 lbs. Figueroa has only competed in three matches - but has the 2024 national title. Spratley finally jumps over Figueroa after his win over Eddie Ventresca. With that win, Spratley has 2024-25 wins over the wrestlers ranked in the #4-#7 slots. Oh yeah, by the way, Keegan O’Toole won the super match with Levi Haines and solidified his standing as #1 at 174 lbs. Penn State had Braeden Davis and Josh Barr move into the top-five at their respective weights. The Nittany Lions have top-five wrestlers at nine of ten weights. For the full rankings: Click Here

The Sheridan Invitational is set for Friday, December 20th beginning at 10AM. All action can be seen on FloWrestling. The list of teams includes Brown, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, Indiana, Lehigh, Rutgers, and Virginia. Below is a quick breakdown of each weight 125: The highest ranked wrestler here is Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour. Sitting at #15 nationally, we may see him square off with Indiana’s Jacob Moran. Moran (#22 in the rankings) has one loss on the season to Caleb Smith of Nebraska. Smith’s current ranking is #5, and Moran’s loss was by a single point. If these two end up wrestling, it will be a great opportunity for either wrestler to gain momentum into the new year. Indiana’s Blaine Frazier and F&M’s Jack Parker will be looking for quality wins as well. Below are the remaining entries. Jared Brunner (Brown) Charlie Colantonio (Franklin & Marshall) Blaine Frazier (Indiana) James Garcia (Franklin & Marshall) Vincent Gioffre (Franklin & Marshall) Ejiro Montoya (Franklin & Marshall) Jacob Moran (Indiana) Jackson Parker (Franklin & Marshall) Anthony Rossi (Virginia) Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) Ethan Smith (Lehigh) Logan Wadle (Lehigh) 133: We will see top-ranked Ryan Crookham take the mat again. He’s 2-0 on the year thus far. Also expected to wrestle is Indiana’s 27th ranked Angelo Rini. He’s a grad transfer from Columbia. Gable Porter of Virginia is in the rankings also. He currently claims the 33rd spot with a 4-1 record. Mason Leiphart from F&M will be a tough out for anyone with his stingy defense and great top wrestling. A new face at this weight is Brown’s Michael Joyce. His teammate, Hunter Adrian, has been an EIWA place winner in the past. He was an NCAA qualifier for the Bears last season at 125lbs. It appears Brown has some options at this weight class. Expect to see guys like Hildebrandt of Drexel, Kyle Montaperto, and Logan Frazier of Indiana to be in the mix to win some matches. Hunter Adrian (Brown) Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) Logan Frazier (Indiana) John Hildebrandt (Drexel) Michael Joyce (Brown) Mason Leiphart (Franklin & Marshall) Kyle Montaperto (Virginia) Gable Porter (Virginia) Angelo Rini (Indiana) Chandler Sewell (Drexel) 141: This weight class does not have the ranked wrestlers as the previous one discussed. Of all entries, only one is a previous NCAA qualifier – Dylan Cedeno of Virginia. He qualified back in 2022. He spent last season at 157lbs, now back down to the 141lb weight class. Indiana’s Henry Porter appears to be a favorite. Carter Bailey of Lehigh and Pat Phillips (unattached) of F&M will be in the hunt to win matches as well. Joe Fangaro of Rutgers is always in the mix too. Keep an eye on Kresho of F&M. He has been in a lot of close quality matches. Carter Bailey (Lehigh) Malachi Bordovsky (Drexel) Kyren Butler (Virginia) Joey Buttler (Indiana) Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) Brandt Fajerman (Franklin & Marshall) Joe Fongaro( Rutgers) Joey Iamunno (Brown) Bryce Kresho (Franklin & Marshall) Austin McBurney (Brown) Aidan O'Shea (Franklin & Marshall) Lucas Peters (Indiana) Pat Phillips (Franklin & Marshall) Deon Pleasant (Drexel) Henry Porter (Indiana) 149: This may as well be a Lehigh wrestle-off with three of the regulars entered, plus Malyke Hines making the move up to 149lbs – which may or may not be permanent. This multi-season battle will continue with Hines in the mix. Another vital position battle at this weight coming from Brown. Between McMonagle and Mojena, Brown will have a decision to make for the remainder of the season. Michael Cetta of Rutgers was at NCAAs last season and may be a favorite on paper. He, along with Hines and Griffin of Lehigh, are NCAA qualifiers. Expect some fireworks here. Michael Cetta (Rutgers) Kyle Deisley (Franklin & Marshall) Jonathan Fuller (Drexel) Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh) Josh Hillard (Franklin & Marshall) Malyke Hines (Lehigh) Sam McMonagle (Brown) Ethan Mojena (Brown) Drew Munch (Lehigh) Jack Myers (Virginia) Matt Repos (Lehigh) Brandon Sauter (Franklin & Marshall) Aidan Torres (Indiana) Seth Weaver (Franklin & Marshall) 157: Virginia’s Michael Gioffre will look to expand on his 4-1 record on the year. Lehigh’s Logan Rozynski is a true freshman looking to make a name for himself after a close loss to PSU’s fourth-ranked Kasak. On paper, these two will most likely be the top two here. Lehigh’s Gonzalez and Skellenger will remain in contention as well. Chris Arciuolo (Franklin & Marshall) Luke Bender (Franklin & Marshall) Aboubakare Diaby (Drexel) Michael Gioffre (Virginia) Griffin Gonzalez (Lehigh) Jayden Iznaga (Drexel) Jake Neill (Franklin & Marshall) Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) Nick Sanko (Virginia) Jadon Skellenger (Lehigh) Billy Templeton (Franklin & Marshall) 165: Indiana’s Tyler Lillard was ranked in the top 15 to begin the year. It appears he and Lehigh’s Brignola will be the top two contenders at this weight – both are the lone NCAA qualifiers in previous years. Brignola has looked great this year during his redshirt campaign. Gayer of Rutgers has seen some good results this year. Harrison Trahan of Brown will look to improve upon his season last year as the starter. Lehigh’s Lawrence and Federici will be on the hunt for some quality wins as well. Mason Alley (Indiana) Max Brignola (Lehigh-unattached) Dom D'Agostino (Drexel) Michael Duggan (Franklin & Marshall) Dominic Federici (Lehigh) Luke Gayer (Rutgers) Thayne Lawrence (Lehigh) Tyler Lillard (Indiana) Makoa Niebel (Franklin & Marshall) Josh Palmucci (Franklin & Marshall) Owen Quinn (Lehigh) Tyler Shea (Franklin & Marshall) Mason Stefanelli (Virginia) Harrison Trahan (Brown) 174: It appears Rylan Rogers of Lehigh is the man to beat, although Contino of Virginia may disagree. We have seen F&M’s Bash and Brown’s Clearie have some nice wins over the years, so expect them to challenge the top two guys. This is a weight class with zero NCAA appearances from the entries. This will make for some fun wrestling. Nick Alvarez (Franklin & Marshall) Noah Bash (Franklin & Marshall) Drew Clearie (Brown) Rocco Contino (Virginia) Michael Fuccilli (Franklin & Marshall) Liam Gil-Swiger (Lehigh) Michael Murphy (Virginia) Conner O’Donnell (Brown) Rylan Rogers (Lehigh) Nick South (Indiana) Dominic Wheatley (Franklin & Marshall) 184: Brian Soldano of Rutgers has been in the rankings this season. He’s also the lone wrestler listed to compete at NCAAs in the past. Lehigh’s Caden Rogers was a highly touted recruit. He’s looking for some consistency while trying to stay healthy. Other than these two, the remainder of the entrants are looking for some matches to help excel them into the starting lineup for their respective teams. Both of Brown’s participants may be vying for the starting role in preparation for the upcoming dual meet part of the schedule. Jake Allred (Franklin & Marshall) Griffin Gammell (Virginia) Jack Lesher (Virginia) Nick Olivieri (Brown) Justin Phillips (Virginia) Andrew Reall (Brown) George Rhodes (Drexel) Caden Rogers (Lehigh) Brian Soldano (Rutgers) Leo Varga (Franklin & Marshall) Ethan Wilson (Drexel) 197: Here is another weight class with no NCAA appearances. Sollars of Indiana has wrestled well this year. He should be one of the top guys here. JT Davis of Lehigh has looked good when he makes an appearance. PJ Casale was a high school prospect who committed to Lehigh and is now at Rutgers. It will be great to see how he stacks up against this field. Virginia may have some answers after this event as both Shulaw and Weatherspoon have both wrestled in duals. Brown has not had a dual this season, but with two entrants here, it may help clarify who will have the edge for this weight class moving forward. PJ Casale (Rutgers) JT Davis (Lehigh) Justin Griffith (Drexel) Alex Hamrick (Brown) Caleb Marzolino (Indiana) RJ Moore (Franklin & Marshall) Hadyn Packer (Rutgers) Dan Rella Jr (Drexel) Thomas Sandoval (Brown) Max Shulaw (Virginia) Gabe Sollars (Indiana) Ethan Weatherspoon (Virginia) 285: Jacob Bullock of Indiana comes into the event ranked 23rd in the nation. He’s the heavy favorite here. Drexel and F&M each have three wrestlers competing. It will be interesting to see who emerges to challenge Bullock. *Lehigh’s second-semester transfer in Owen Trephan is still potentially on track to compete. If he competes, he may be the favorite with a #9 ranking in the country. Lehigh is in the process of getting him eligible to compete. Jacob Bullock (Indiana) Braden Ewing (Brown) Brody Kline (Franklin & Marshall) Quincy Long (Franklin & Marshall) Nick Pavlechko (Indiana) Dominic Petracci (Drexel) Jake Rickett (Franklin & Marshall) Cooper Rudolph (Virginia) Tanner Updegraff (Drexel) Shane Whitney (Drexel)

We have made it through the first month of the season, plus the CKLV last week. With such a grueling tournament last week, combined with most schools preparing for (or taking) exams, this upcoming weekend will be rather light from a competition standpoint. A total of only 18 duals will be contested and no open tournaments. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this week. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match (with links). To make this guide even easier to find, we've added a link on our homepage and the latest Live Streaming Guide will appear right under the header articles. All times Eastern Thursday, December 12: Appalachian State at VMI 7:00 PM Friday, December 13: Army West Point at Morgan State 6:00 PM Morgan State All-Access Rutgers at Clarion 7:00 PM FloWrestling Ohio State at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Oklahoma State at Oklahoma 8:00 PM ESPN+ Saturday, December 14: Buffalo at Kent State 12:00 PM BoxCast Gardner-Webb vs. Rutgers at Kent State 12:00 PM Buffalo vs. Gardner-Webb at Kent State 2:00 PM Rutgers at Kent State 2:00 PM BoxCast California Baptist at Clarion 3:00 PM FloWrestling Gardner-Webb at Kent State 4:00 PM BoxCast Nebraska-Kearney at Northern Iowa, 8:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, December 15: Binghamton at LIU 12:00 PM Wyoming at Penn State 1:00 PM B1G+ Michigan State at CSU Bakersfield 2:00 PM CSUB YouTube American at Davidson 2:00 PM FloWrestling Iowa State vs. North Dakota State at Humboldt, IA, 3:00 PM FloWrestling California Baptist vs. West Virginia at New Cumberland, WV, 4:00 PM WVU Wrestling Facebook

In the past when it came to wrestling, sportsbooks would typically only offer lines and odds on the Olympics and maybe sometimes the NCAA Team Championship. Recently though, more and more sportsbooks are starting to offer lines for in season duals, but because of gambling restrictions per state, making lines on individual matches or even on college sports at all are prohibited. Well, in that same vein, a new Fantasy Wrestling venture of mine in the quest to make the sport a little more exciting and enjoyable has been created: WrestlingCents.com. It’s a new fantasy game, mimicking the looks and feel of a sportsbook, but without the risk. Essentially, after signing up for your free account, you are given 300 WrestleCents (WC). You can use these WrestleCents to make picks on available games ranging from duals, individual matches, tournaments, and specials. If you win, great! The WrestlingCents in your wallet will grow. If you lose and go below 100 WC? No problem. Refresh your wallet and get a new 300 WC added after a quick 33 second wait. You never have to deposit any money, you will never run out of FUNds. We have big plans on growing this and making the user experience even better for years to come, but being that this is the first year there will most certainly be issues. Please bear with us and let us know of any problems that may arise. Some other important info to know before playing: The minimum to play any game is 50 WC The maximum to win in any game is 3,000 WC There are no parlays, except for the premade Specials In an individual Match game, you can play the Spread or Win By Pin/Inj/DQ, Moneyline, and over/under (in most games). A win by Pin/Inj/DQ will cause any pick in the spread and over/under of that same game to lose Once a game is played, even if only one pick is made in it, you will not be able to go back and play it again unless it is later changed (ex. Line moves from -4.5 to -5.5, then a user can make a pick on that game again). So if you want to make multiple picks in a game (a spread, moneyline, and over/under), please make them all at the same time. If a matchup does not happen, the game will be voided as Did Not Wrestle (DNW) and any WC placed will be refunded At the end of the season, all accounts will be reset to 300 WC for the next season Games are added almost daily during the season and will lock at the time the competition begins. Here's an example of some games ready to play NOW! But hurry, some lock in a few hours! INDIVIDUAL MATCHES: DUALS: TOURNAMENTS: SPECIALS:

Campbell Competes in Dual at the Daddy The Camels started the season with a bang, competing against Wyoming in the Dual at the Daddy in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Camels lost 28-12 but put up a fight against the Cowboys. Team points were scored at 149, 174, and 285 - Eugene Harney (149, CAMP), served up an upset against #15 Gabe Willochell (WYO), Harney’s first collegiate dual AND win. Dom Baker put some bonus points on the board with a major decision victory over Brett McIntosh, and top-10-ranked Taye Ghadiali ended the evening on a high note with a technical fall against Kevin Zimmer. Anthony Molton (125) wrestled a barnburner against #2 Jore Volk, ultimately losing 2-0. Throwdown on Yorktown This event was the first time college wrestling was hosted on the flight deck of the historic USS Yorktown, hosted in Charleston, SC by The Citadel. The event also raised over $1,300 for the SC Wrestling Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the competition was cut short due to weather/climate conditions. The Citadel was bested by UVA 24-11, but not before posting three wins at 149, 184, and 197 pounds. Patrick Brophy (197) has appeared in the rankings the past couple of weeks, blazing ahead with a 4-1 match record after week two of wrestling. Gardner-Webb also threw down on the Yorktown, clinching victories at 141 and 157 pounds, but ultimately was defeated by the Black Knights 35-6. Todd Carter (141) has made an appearance in the rankings in the past couple of weeks as well, currently sitting at #29, up from #33 after week one. Journeymen WrangleMania Campbell beats Cal Baptist 24-17 The Camels picked up a hefty win over Cal Baptist, securing wins at seven out of ten weights. Anthony Molton (125) and Taye Ghadiali (285) started and ended the dual with falls, putting up bonus points for the Camels. VMI beats Sacred Heart 24-19 VMI came back strong after a loss from Franklin & Marshall, beating Sacred Heart. Five victories from the Keydets included four falls - again, racking up those bonus point victories. Braxton Lewis and Patrick Jordon both secured falls in this dual against Sacred Heart AND against F&M. Which leads me to my next point of business… VMI Holds Back-to-Back SoCon Wrestlers of the Week VMI has started off strong this season, competing at the Journeymen WrangleMania and at the Collegiate Classic - and has crowned two SoCon Wrestlers of the Week. Patrick Jordon (149) and #33 Braxton Lewis (184). Jordon earned the remarks after winning first place in the Freshman/Sophomore division at the Southeast Open. His teammate, Lewis (184), earned the honor for week two after securing wins against opponents from Franklin & Marshall and Sacred Heart (WrangleMania Duals), and upset two-time national qualifier Cael Valencia (Arizona State) by 12-0 major decision (Journeymen Collegiate Classic). Ghadiali to Wrestle in All-Star Classic Campbell’s own All-American Taye Ghadiali will compete at the 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic. Currently ranked at #9, Ghadiali will wrestle against #3 Nick Feldman from Ohio State. I can’t wait to watch this on Saturday night - I’m a big numbers/stats girlie, and I love using WrestleStat’s comparison tool on their site (this is not a sponsored post LOL). But, per the site, it looks like it’ll be a barnburner of a match. Historically, the two are 1-1 - where Ghadiali’s victory was via injury default, and Feldman’s was a 10-4 decision. This is such a super cool opportunity for the SoCon to be showcased, and for the student-athletes - don’t miss out on this awesome event! SoCon Tournament Returns to Asheville One of the bigger questions I’ve been waiting to have answered is this right here: where in the world is the Southern Conference Wrestling Championship? (If you watched Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego please leave a comment and tell me you understood the joke). The Southern Conference announced they will be returning to Asheville for 2025 and 2026 championship dates, at the Kimmel Arena (UNC Asheville). Another change? It will be a two-day event - held on the 7th and 8th of March. So go ahead and enter that PTO (or as I like to call it, prepare the others) so you can enjoy a nice long weekend in the mountains. Eyes have been on Western North Carolina recently, following Hurricane Helene and the devastation she left behind. While Asheville is still in recovery mode, I’m sure they’ll greatly benefit from the tourism this upcoming March. SoCon Wrestlers in the rankings: (16) 125 #29 Anthony Molton (Campbell) 133 #23 Dom Zaccone (Campbell) #31 Blake Boarman (UTC) 141 #23 Isaiah Powe (UTC) #29 Todd Carter (GWU) #31 Shannon Hanna (Campbell) 157 #27 Noah Castillo (UTC) 165 #8 Will Miller (App St) 174 #26 Dom Baker (Campbell) #31 Sergio DeSiante (UTC) 184 #28 Billy Janzer (The Citadel) #33 Braxton Lewis (VMI) 197 #18 Levi Hopkins (Campbell) #31 Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) #32 Connor Strong (UTC) 285 #9 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell)

The MSU Open is always a great time. Anyone available and nearby should start every season by checking out this awesome event. Michigan State wrestling always does an awesome job with hosting and putting on this event, and you can watch some excellent wrestling from the freshman/sophomore division, through the excellent competition in the Open division. A great perk of my position is that I get to interview some of the coaches and athletes while attending. Early on, I had the chance to meet with Dylan Ragusin and talk about how his experience from last season and the summer will lead to additional success this season While floating around and watching the matches, I also had a chance to grab Northwestern’s Trevor Chumbley to talk through what he can expect from him and his squad this season, as well as what the fans can expect from Evanston Illinois as they host the B1G Championships. Shortly thereafter, I had the pleasure of watching Johnny Lovett get some work done on his way to the finals of the deep and talented 157-pound finals, where he ended up dropping a close match to All-American Peyten Kellar of Ohio. Here is Johnny after his quarterfinal victory: Michigan sent a solid contingent of competitors to this tournament, including Chase Saldate who placed 3rd at 157. Some of their other wrestlers had recently competed at the Clarion Open the previous weekend. Here, I connect with Joseph Walker, 174, who is fresh off of winning that tournament. Here he talks about his journey and patience as he prepared year after year for the chance to be a full time starter: Additionally, I grabbed Jack Medley - Director of Operations for Michigan wrestling, to talk about the team this season and what to expect from their squad; Being a B1G correspondent for InterMat, I wanted to try to grab as many competitors as I could reasonably get interviews from. Balancing the interview portion with not bothering the athletes as they battle with some of the best in the country is tough, but I knew I wanted to grab Derek Gilcher, the Hoosier who is battling to get himself in the lineup this season. Here he talks about coming back from injury and his approach to this season; What’s better than interviewing one Gilcher? Interviewing two of them. Here I talk with Dylan Gilcher about his recent experience at the Clarion Open, and his approach headed into his first season with the Wolverines; I wasn’t about to leave East Lansing without grabbing Ben Bennett, who was coaching in his first competition as the Head Coach of the Chippewas. Here he talks about what we can expect from this Central Michigan team as they look to defend their title as MAC Champions, as well as how Johnny Lovett is looking to stay aggressive this season; I genuinely love this tournament, and though I didn’t get to speak with everyone I had hoped to, I got some great insight from athletes and coaches as the 2024/2025 season gets underway. I hope you enjoyed these interviews, and I hope to grab some more as the year continues to unfold.

Hi besties, long time no see. Leaves are falling, the wind is a little chillier, and wrestling mats have been rolled out. It’s time to talk about our SoCon season. The Camels added TJ Dudley to their coaching staff this summer. Dudley, a three-time All-American at 184 lbs (Nebraska), comes to the Creek following three seasons of coaching at Brown University. Speaking of Nebraska, the Camels will host the #3 Cornhuskers on November 15, on the infield at the historic Jim Perry Stadium. Intermission will feature a star-studded exhibition presented by CLAW Wrestling between Jordan Oliver and Bryce Andonian. The match that will surely bring the heat on that chilly Friday in November. Also, it’s looking like a 125lb rematch of (former) SoCon rivals #25 Anthony Molton and #4 Caleb Smith (NEB). But before I get ahead of myself with the schedule, Campbell, continuing to wow fans with fun venues to experience wrestling - from aircraft hangars to battling at barns, the Camels know how to make wrestling fun. Dual at the Daddy will take place on the spookiest night of the year - Halloween. At Frontier Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Camels and the (#25 Wyoming) Cowboys are set to face off for a special dual. So special, it required a waiver from the NCAA to begin the season on October 31. The scary-good matchup of the evening will be at 197 lbs - #17 Joey Novak (WYO) vs #20 Levi Hopkins. Hopkins, the returning Southern Conference Champion, would be defending his 2-0 streak against Novak. Jake Patacsil is another addition to the Campbell Wrestling staff. Patacsil boasts a rich coaching resume - having held assistant coaching positions at NAIA and NCAA DI and DII programs, Coach Patacsil was also the head coach for the inaugural season of Mount Olive’s wrestling program (2018). An All-American at 149 for Purdue, Patacsil is likely working with the middleweights. Campbell is slated to host five duals this season and will be on the road for WrangleMania, the Knockout Collegiate Classic, the Southern Scuffle, the Chippewa Challenge, and a SoCon Showdown in Boone against rival App State. For those who aren’t aware, the Chippewa Challenge (one of my favorite college wrestling dual series), is in honor of Coach Tom Borrelli, who coached the head coaches of the other schools competing, while at Central Michigan. Scotti Sentes (Campbell), Luke Smith (CSU Bakersfield), and Jason Borelli (American, also Tom’s son), wrestled for Coach Borelli. A reunion with some competition is always a recipe for a good time. We’ve talked about the new faces on the team, now it’s time to welcome back the seasoned starters. Starting at heavyweight: #7 Taye Ghadiali. Coming off of a 35-6 campaign in 2024, Ghadiali was named SoCon Wrestler of the Year, Southern Conference Champion, and achieved All-American status. #20 Levi Hopkins, the Alaskan Assassin, is the returning 197 lb Southern Conference Champion for the Camels. A notable opponent for Hopkins this season comes from CSU-Bakersfield, #1 AJ Ferrari. A world team member representing the Bahamas, Shannon Hanna (#28), returns to the mat after wrestling unattached last season. At 133, Dom Zaccone (#20), returns after a third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships and a second place finish at the Southern Conference Championships. In 2024, Dom Baker qualified for nationals for the first time but will move up in weight to 174 lbs. Last, but certainly not least, #25 Anthony Molton (125), returns after an undefeated SoCon dual season, though he finished third at the Southern Conference Championships. The Camels are vying for a chance at the SoCon Championship after last year’s second-place tournament finish, and another dual-team title. They’ll start the conference season on January 17 in Boiling Springs against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs.

The season hasn't even started yet, but we're making picks as to who we see winning each weight class at the 2024-25 NCAA Championships.

“I am committed to continuing our winning tradition both academically and athletically. I look forward to the work ahead with a focus on providing a championship caliber experience for our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the entire Campbell family. The future is bright for Campbell Athletics.” Those are the words for Campbell University’s Director of Athletics Hannah Bazemore shortly after being named the school’s athletic director in November 2022. Those words rang hollow just a day after the school’s wrestling team learned that they would have a significant amount of funding cut from them. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, the wrestling program will only be given three scholarships which is a sharp decrease from the nine they had been working with. In what seems to be an unusual move, wrestlers who wish to keep their scholarships would not be allowed to compete. InterMat reached out to AD Bazemore for comment on this story and/or more information about this situation and has yet to receive a response as of Tuesday morning. Men’s and women’s soccer, golf, tennis, and volleyball are also said to be impacted. This change comes on the heels of the school’s move from the Big South Conference to the Coastal Athletic Association (formerly the Colonial Athletic Association). The move put Campbell in a conference that stretches from Charleston, South Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts. It was likely supposed to boost the school’s profile in football and basketball but generally has added more in travel expenses for everyone else - a common thread in conference realignment. Another “big-picture” change that’s in play here is the announcement that college athletics must share revenue with their athletes. Campbell has reportedly "opted in" to participate in revenue sharing in the future. Administrators can stomach sharing revenue with football and basketball teams, but everyone else, not so much. That plays a part in this decision. The main theme here is that the school and the athletic department have grossly mismanaged their budget and overspent and athletes who had nothing to do with their incompetence are left holding the bag. In today’s NIL world, holding the bag is actually a good thing - in this context, it isn’t. In my seventeen years of covering collegiate wrestling, I’ve seen too many colleges drop wrestling. I could look up the number, but it would be just another painful stomach punch during a rough couple of days. Usually, when a program is dropped or the funding is severely cut, you have to step back and look at the wrestling program as a whole. There tend to be multiple factors that contribute to the death. Lack of competitiveness on the mat, lack of attendance or fan interaction/interest, an out-of-touch coaching staff, and a team that doesn’t get the job done in the classroom or on campus are all hallmarks of a program that gets dropped by the administration. With Campbell, none of those factors apply. Though they just missed out on the InterMat preseason team rankings, Campbell finished the 2023-24 season ranked #22 in the nation in duals. Since 2021-22, the team has combined to go 41-7 and 21-2 in SoCon matches. Last season ended with heavyweight Taye Ghadiali becoming the second All-American in school history. In the 2022-23 season, Campbell notched wins over two Big Ten teams. A year prior, they downed an ACC opponent and pulled an upset over #16 Lehigh. Campbell’s staff also got in done on the recruiting trail inking the #24 overall recruiting class in the country with six of the top-250 prospects in the country. The Campbell coaching staff and support staff have done an excellent job in making the team relevant for reasons outside of wins and losses. Their social media presence is excellent and always on the cutting edge - typically, displaying more humor than most team accounts. Campbell has also developed a partnership with UFC FightPass who has streamed a handful of their duals. The Campbell/UFC FightPass partnership hasn’t been limited to “just showing” matches, but the team has worked in conjunction with opponents to provide unique atmospheres to promote these duals. In 2022-23, Campbell wrestled Michigan and North Carolina in the “Battle at Bragg.” The teams squared off in a hangar at Pope Army Airfield on the base formerly known as Fort Bragg (now Liberty). Last year, Campbell and Army West Point had a similar dual. A few weeks later, Campbell defeated Wyoming in the “Battle in the Barn” The dual took place in a specially renovated barn at an altitude of 8,000 feet on Deerwood Ranch in Wyoming. This season, they are set to take on #3 Nebraska on the school’s baseball field. The bottom line is Campbell’s wrestling program has repeatedly thought out of the box to make their matches more than just another wrestling match, they’re trying to create events and build or increase their fanbase. Campbell has also taken care of business in the classroom. Over the last four years, they have been mentioned each time in the NWCA’s Team Scholar Athlete Awards - with the highest ranking coming in 2022 when their team GPA was fifth in the country at 3.484. The 2021 team was 15th, 2023 was 14th and the team was 28th last year. Campbell and Campbell’s staff have checked all of the appropriate boxes when it comes to doing their part in running a successful program, so why does this happen? As with most things in college athletics, the answer lies in money. Unless your team is generating massive amounts of money or you’re one of the select few blue-blood wrestling programs, this could happen to you. The wrestling team has already had to reportedly raise over six figures per year to make their operating budget and that was with nine scholarships. The sad reality is that there’s an unofficial playbook for administrators in these seemingly dire financial situations. It’s either eliminating programs without warning or floating the idea that programs will be dropped or funding will be severely cut - leading to donors stepping up and saving the program and endowing it for the future, thus easing financial burdens off of them. Of course, if the donors do not get to a level that is acceptable to the school, they can just eliminate the team and it’s another line item off the balance sheet. We’re thankful that AD Bazemore did not use option one. It irritates me that we’ll have to work with the second option again (see Stanford), but I’d rather the wrestling community have the option to save a program than not. Going forward, this may be a more common occurrence. Now, I’m here talking about worst-case scenarios. I know Campbell head coach Scotti Sentes a little bit. With nine scholarships or three, he’s still going to put his all into making Campbell a viable program and doing right by his student-athletes. But make no mistake, he’ll have his work cut out for him. There will likely be a handful of current wrestlers in the transfer portal and some talented recruits decommit. As of now, InterMat has seen six verbals for Campbell from the Class of 2025. InterMat reached out for a comment from the parent of a current Campbell starter who replied, “I’m at a loss honestly. I have no idea what my child should do. I don’t know how he protects himself. He has trusted the process, trusted the people in charge, and planned his college career in line with what made the most sense for him to be the best version of himself both on the mat and classroom. I know life lessons can be really rough… just hoping this doesn’t actually pan out to be one.” You also have to feel for current Campbell stars Anthony Molton and Shannon Hanna. Both were team members on the Old Dominion team that was dropped after the 2019-20 season. After leaving Old Dominion, Molton transferred to Fresno State, who dropped their team after the 2021 season. A brief look at Molton's resume by the uninformed eye might lead one to think he’s an example of what’s wrong with college athletics with two transfers - three schools in three years. Technically, they’d be right, but for the opposite reason. Molton is an example of being collateral damage for the failures of college administrators, over and over again. After a couple of minutes on Campbell University’s homepage, I stumbled across the school’s mission statement. There’s the statement itself, but after there are 12 points the University says it will do to fulfill the mission. I’d implore AD Bazemore and anyone involved with the decision-making process to re-read points #3 and #7. #3: influences development of moral courage, social sensitivity, and ethical responsibility. #7 encourages students to think critically and creatively. Are you holding yourself to the same standards that you’re holding these young men and women to? Think creatively and show moral courage, social sensitivity, and ethical responsibility. Back to our quote from AD Bazemore: “I am committed to continuing our winning tradition both academically and athletically. I look forward to the work ahead with a focus on providing a championship caliber experience for our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the entire Campbell family. The future is bright for Campbell Athletics.” Make sure the future is indeed bright for Campbell athletics. Not just holding out hope that a magical football run or Final Four berth in basketball will save you. The wrestling team is one that has delivered the championship caliber experience for Campbell. Do your best to support them rather than gut the program. To donate and support Campbell wrestling please follow this link . Make sure wrestling scholarships are noted in your donation. Make your voice heard by the Campbell administration. While we are all emotional about this situation, please be respectful of AD Bazemore or any administrators to contact. Personal attacks only make the program look worse and likely decrease their desire to help.

We’re now going down south to the SoCon to check out one of the perennial conference favorites Campbell. The Camels are led by Scotti Sentes who is heading into his fifth seed as head coach. Campbell returns a squad that features four 2024 national qualifiers and another coming off of an Olympic redshirt. In 2023-24, Campbell went 14-3 in dual competition and finished ranked 22nd in the nation in dual rankings. Some of the Camels notable dual wins include Army West Point, MAC champion Central Michigan, and rivals Appalachian State. While the SoCon tournament was not what Campbell hoped for, they did reach an impressive benchmark at nationals. Looking ahead to 2024-25, Campbell will likely feature an experienced lineup with the potential to challenge the seven national qualifiers that the 2021 team produced. Additionally, could Campbell place multiple wrestlers on the podium or have a multiple-time AA? I guess we’ll have to stick around for the upcoming season to find out. 125: Anthony Molton The Camels spark plug is back at 125 lbs and looking to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career. Molton was 21-5 last season and spent a significant amount of time in the national rankings, but a semifinal loss at the SoCon Championships coupled with a few other upsets at other conference tournaments was deemed too much for him to receive an at-large berth. A factor that may have hampered Molton in his NCAA bid was his lack of elite wins. Molton teched then-undefeated Jack Maida (American) for his first loss of the year; however, Maida struggled after that point and didn’t qualify himself. He also had at least one other dual where a ranked wrestler was not sent out to face him. Back in 2022-23, Molton made fans take notice when he knocked off the eventual NCAA runner-up, Matt Ramos (Purdue) - his old high school teammate. The two met once last season and Ramos prevailed both times. Two of his other five losses in 2023-24 came to eventual All-American Jore Volk (Wyoming). Molton clearly has the goods to make it to Philadelphia and make an impact at the national tournament, he just needs a couple of signature wins and to end the season on a better note. In each of the last two years, Molton has fallen in the SoCon semis. Since coming to Campbell after Fresno State dropped their program, Molton has amassed a very respectable 42-18 record. 133: Dom Zaccone photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com In 2024-25, Dom Zaccone will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a fourth time and capture an elusive SoCon title. In each of the last two seasons, Zaccone has fallen in the conference finals. Last year, 133 lbs was the deepest weight class in the SoCon with three automatic qualifiers and a couple of other fringe qualifiers. Despite this, Zaccone went 6-1 in conference duals with bonus points in five of those wins. His lone loss came to Ethan Oakley (Appalachian State), an opponent who he had defeated earlier in the season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Once at nationals, Zaccone was granted the #22 seed and went 1-2 - the same record he compiled at the 2023 tournament. In the opening round, Zaccone pulled a slight upset by defeating #11 Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) via a 4-1 decision. He’d lose his next bout to the eventual champion, Vito Arujau (Cornell), and then was eliminated by Virginia Tech’s Sam Latona. During the regular season, Zaccone really made his mark with a fourth-place finish at the CKLV. In addition to his win over Oakley, Zaccone defeated two more national qualifiers (Farber and Chlebove) and an impressive true freshman (Tyler Knox). With Oakley moving on to North Carolina, Zaccone will start the year as an odds-on favorite to finally get his SoCon title. 141: Shannon Hanna Two-time national qualifier Shannon Hanna took off the 2023-24 season using an Olympic redshirt in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games for Barbados. Ultimately, Hanna did not make it to Paris but gained invaluable experience in the process. He earned bronze medals at both the U23 and Senior levels, while competing at the Pan-American Championships. Turning our attention back to the collegiate scene, Hanna will be gunning for his third SoCon title in 2024-25. He’s also seeking the chance to make an even bigger impression at the national tournament. Hanna has gone 0-2 in both of his previous trips. Even though Hanna’s focus was on freestyle last season, he did enter three open tournaments and went 9-4 along the way. His most impressive win during the year of open competition was during his title-winning performance at the Patriot Open, where he edged impressive Penn grayshirt Cross Wasilewski by a point. Hanna will jump back into a 141 lb weight class in the SoCon that was won by Chattanooga true freshman Isaiah Powe. He’ll probably need to win the weight class and post a couple of notable victories to get a better NCAA seed than in the past (#22/#27). That would probably position him better for a deep NCAA run. 149: Wynton Denkins The first three weights for Campbell feature veterans who are trying to fine-tune their games and get to a different level of national competition - but, at 149, they could have a young face that is still trying to establish himself in Wynton Denkins. Denkins is a sophomore who stepped in at 141 lbs last year with Hanna out of the lineup. All-in-all, Denkins acquitted himself well and showed flashes of the talent that made him a top-150 recruit in the high school Class of 2023. Denkins finished his first year in Buies Creek with a 15-9 record. During the dual season, Denkins wrestled close matches with the eventual national qualifiers, Powe and Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb). At SoCon’s, Denkins was on the wrong end of a 15-12 shootout against Powe in the semifinals. For the 2024-25 campaign, Denkins is expected to move up to the 149 lb weight class. This is a bracket that sent two qualifiers to Kansas City; however, only one (Jeffrey Boyd - The Citadel) returns. That means 149 could be wide open in the conference and perhaps Denkins is someone who seizes control of the opportunity. 157: Chris Earnest Speaking of second-year sophomore starters, Campbell has another in Chris Earnest. Like Denkins, Earnest was a top-150 recruit from the state of Ohio who found his way into the Camels starting lineup as a true freshman. Earnest’s collegiate career started on a high note with an upset over ranked national qualifier, Nate Lukez (Army West Point), during his debut. From there, Earnest seemed to have a season like many freshmen do - a few losses he’d probably like to have back, but some really good moments, as well. Earnest went 2-2 in a 157 lb CKLV bracket that probably featured the toughest in-season field of any single weight class in a decade. The top-six finishers were all All-American’s at least once in their careers and two 2024 AA’s field to find the medal stand. A pair of losses to Davidson’s Tanner Peake probably derailed Earnest’s NCAA qualification hopes more than any others. Earnest fell to Peak in dual competition and in the semifinals of the SoCon Championships. With a full year in the Campbell room and valuable in-match experience under his belt, I’d expect Earnest to take that next step in 2024-25 and make a serious push for a spot in Philadelphia. Like his teammate Zaccone, one of Earnest’s biggest in-conference hurdles, Tommy Askey, has transferred leaving 157 lbs relatively open in the upcoming season. 165: Dom Baker/Riley Augustine/Kendrick Hodge In just one offseason, Dom Baker went from a true freshman with a record under .500 to someone who earned an automatic qualifying slot for the conference and used it for his first trip to nationals. Baker started his sophomore year slowly with a 1-2 showing at the CKLV Invitational; however, he turned around his fortunes by promptly winning his next six duals. Included in that streak was an opponent who defeated him in Vegas (Stoney Buell - Purdue) and another who went on to earn All-American honors (Hunter Garvin - Stanford). In his first national tournament appearance, Baker went 1-2 with a victory via fall over #23 Derek Fields (NC State). Both wrestlers who defeated him went on to collect All-American honors. Since Baker was immediately inserted into the Campbell lineup, in 2022-23, he has a redshirt to take. It appears as if the tandem of Riley Augustine and Kendrick Hodge will get a chance to establish one of themselves as the starter with the intention of redshirting Baker. If neither does so, Baker can be pulled. Augustine is a senior who has seen plenty of dual action at 174 lbs for Campbell but has never been the postseason entry. Last year, Augustine was 7-5 overall and 3-3 in dual competition. Hodge is a true freshman who was Campbell’s highest-ranked signee in the Class of 2024, coming in at #89 overall. The Florida native was a two-time NHSCA finalist, who capped off his high school career with a Senior National title. 174: Brant Cracraft Sentes’ team will try to replace one of their stalwarts at this weight class in Austin Murphy, who was a two-time SoCon champion and a Round of 12 finisher in 2021. While Campbell has plenty of options at 174 lbs, some of which are from their Class of 2024, veteran Brant Cracraft may have an early edge on the rest of the field. Cracraft is moving up from 165 lbs where he went 3-7 last season. He saw action in three duals last season and was winless in those. Campbell also has veteran Cole Rees and true freshmen Mike Kinzel and Kaleb Wright who could see action at 174 lbs. Rees was 6-15 in 2022-23, but did not see any action last season. 184: Conor Maslanek Another weight where Campbell will be replacing a long-time starter is 184 lbs with Caleb Hopkins who has exhausted his eligibility. In steps veteran Conor Maslanek who is in his fourth year with the program and is a redshirt junior. Maslanek wrestled at 197 lbs during his first two years with the team, but moved down to 184 for the 2023-24 campaign. With Hopkins in the fold, Maslanek didn’t get many opportunities to take the mat in dual competition; however, he was 1-2 when called upon. Maslanek was 11-7 overall. Certainly, the highlight of his 2023-24 season was a win over Navy’s David Key, who went on to earn All-American honors in Kansas City. A win like that should instill confidence in Maslanek and Campbell fans who are looking for a steady replacement for Hopkins. 197: Levi Hopkins photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com The back end of the Campbell lineup has been a strength, of late, and should continue to be one again in 2024-25 with 197 lber Levi Hopkins being one of the reasons for optimism. Hopkins has won SoCon titles in each of the last two years at this weight and even earned a #13 seed at nationals last year. Hopkins got off to a decent start last season, but really turned it on winning 15 of his last 16 regular season matches. During that span, Hopkins tallied eight of his 13 falls. Hopkins really was head and shoulders above the rest of the SoCon, as he notched first-period pins in each of his three matches at the conference tournament. This year, Hopkins will be looking to make more of an impact at the NCAA meet. In Kansas City, Hopkins suffered a slight upset in the opponent round, with a tiebreaker loss to Evan Bockman (then of Utah Valley). He was eliminated in his next match. As is often the case with upperweights, 197 cleared out a bit after last year. That should lead to a good preseason ranking for Hopkins as he tries to prove he’s much closer to the national podium than a 0-2 finish at nationals. In the offseason, Coach Sentes brought in former national runner-up and three-time All-American, TJ Dudley as an assistant coach. Hopkins will likely benefit from a new high-caliber coach around his weight. 285: Taye Ghadiali photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com The first NCAA All-American under Sentes (as head coach) and only the second one in program history was Taye Ghadiali who finished eighth in Kansas City. Ghadiali is a remarkable development story for the Campbell staff as he was a little-known recruit who fought to a 15-11 record after two seasons, then continued to blossom into a national force and an All-American. Ghadiali finished the 2023-24 campaign with a sparkling 36-6 record and claimed his third consecutive SoCon crown along the way. At the national tournament, Ghadiali suffered a loss in the Round of 16 but battled back through the consolations with three straight wins to clinch All-American honors. Two of those victories came against top-ten seeds who were conference champions. The bloodround win was in sudden victory over the fifth-seed, EIWA champion Nathan Taylor (Lehigh). While Ghadiali was far from an unknown commodity heading into the 2023-24 season, he showed the wrestling world what he was capable of in Vegas with a third-place finish at a loaded weight class. Coincidentally, he earned wins over a pair of wrestlers he’d later beat at NCAA’s (Cory Day - Binghamton and Owen Trephan - NC State). Looking ahead to 2024-25, I’d expect more of the same from Ghadiali - lots of wins and lots of bonus points in the process. Ghadiali amassed bonus points in over 70% of his matches last year and racked up 12 falls. We’ll see if Ghadiali can become the first two-time NCAA All-American in program history. Previous “Never Too Early Lineup Looks:” Air Force Indiana Iowa State Lock Haven North Carolina Northern Iowa Oregon State West Virginia

After the first day of the Olympic Wrestling, four journalists saw all three of their picks reach the finals with nine others going 2-for-3. Well, that success was fun while it lasted as Day 2 started off in the least conceivable way: Japan’s Yui Susaki (50kg), the reigning World Champion suffered her first international defeat of her entire career as Vinesh (IND) stung her at the buzzer to win 2-2. Susaki was selected by eighteen of the twenty-one prognosticators in TheMat.com’s annual International Journalist Pick Contest. Two journalists selected Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) who reached tomorrow’s finals. But Susaki wasn’t the only overwhelming pick that went down. Akzhol Makhmudeov (KGZ), the reigning world champion in Greco at 77kg lost to Kazakhstan's Demeu Zhadrayev in Round 2 erasing the pick of eleven. Only five journalists have a finalist alive at 77, and all five took Japan’s Nao Kusaka who will face Zhadrayev. Selections in Greco at 97 saw much better results for the journalists. Artur Aleksanyan (ARM) and Mohammad Saravi (IRI) will meet in tomorrow’s finals with the two combining for seventeen of the twenty-one picks: Aleksanyan with thirteen and Saravi with four. In the semi’s, Aleksanyan beat Gabriel Rosillo (CUB) in a rematch of last year’s World finals won by Rosillo. Despite being the defending World Champ, Rosillo only garnered two pre-tournament picks here.