InterMat Staff

Get your fantasy lineups set for week one of the 2026-27 season. Tony and Todd go through the smart plays to get your season started on the right foot.

We're changing things up for this episode and perhaps the next few. This time the guys talk about some of the top teams in the country and some of the questions or themes for those schools heading into the 2026-27 season.

The queen of American women’s wrestling added to her already-incredible legacy earlier on Wednesday as Helen Maroulis earned her 12th world/Olympic medal at the 2026 Senior World Championships. Maroulis captured a bronze medal in the 57 kg weight class and was joined by teammate, Dymond Guilford, who captured a bronze medal at 76 kg. Maroulis started the day with a first-period fall over Pan-American rival Luisa Valverde Melendres of Ecuador in the second round of repechage bouts. Holding a 6-0 lead, Maroulis struck on a reattack that took Valverde Melendres directly to her back. After a few moments to readjust her positioning, Maroulis was able to hold Valverde Melendres on her back for the fall. In the bronze medal bout, Maroulis faced Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova, who came off the whistle with a burst of energy. Maroulis neutralized Raimova and pushed her out for a step-out and an early 1-0 lead. Also in the opening minute, Maroulis was able to counter an arm spin attempt from Raimova into a takedown and a 3-0 advantage. In the second period, Raimova was awarded a caution point and the two traded step out points, with Maroulis getting two and the Kazakh wrestler earning one. That put the final score 5-2 in Maroulis’ favor. With the 2026 bronze medal, Maroulis has nine medals from Senior World Championship events. This is her 12th world/Olympic medal in 16 tries. Maroulis has come away with hardware from each of the last seven World/Olympic events. Like Maroulis, Guilford needed to win a repechage bout just to compete for the bronze medal. Guilford’s repechage bout with Belarus’ Anastasiya Zimiankova started off tentatively as bout were encouraged to pick up the pace, but it was the Belarusian who was put on the activity clock. Shortly after the clock expired and Guilford was awarded a point, Zimiankova attempted a headlock, but missed, and Guilford spun for a two-point takedown. After locking up two points, Guilford grabbed a leg lace and turned Ziamiankova four times to end the match with an 11-0 tech fall. With the bronze medal on the line, and facing Turkiye’s Kadriye Aksoy, Guilford found herself in an early 1-0 hole. That pushed her to get her offense going and Guilford struck with a high-C and switched to a double leg, right to Aksoy’s back. While Aksoy was fighting to avoid the fall, she was cautioned for going out of bounds, bringing Guilford’s lead to 6-1. That’s all the American would need as she went on to claim a 7-2 victory. The win gives Guilford her first Senior World medal in her second appearance. Guilford also has a U23 world silver medal from 2022. There is at least one additional medal coming from the crop of women whose tournaments started on Wednesday, potentially more. At 62 kg, Adaugo Nwachukwu advanced to Thursday’s gold medal match, which clinched her first senior world medal. In order to make that world final, Nwachukwu had to get by 2021 world champion Bilyana Dudova of Bulgaria in the semifinals. With just under a minute remaining in the bout and Nwachukwu leading 1-1 on criteria, the two traded offensive attacks with Nwachukwu converting at the edge for a takedown. With time running out in the second period and Dudova pushing for a winning score, Nwachukwu was able to deftly avoid the boundary line and sidestepped a Dudova shot attempt for a takedown at the buzzer and a 5-2 victory. In tomorrow’s final, Nwachukwu will face two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Nonoka Ozaki of Japan. The women’s team also had two other team members advance to the semifinals, but both fell in that round. Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler at 53 kg and Precious Wieser at 72 kg. Each will drop down to a bronze medal match and needs a win on Thursday to claim their first senior world medal. At 68 kg. Kennedy Blades did not advance to the semifinals; however, she was still pulled back into repechage. She’ll need two wins to come away with a bronze medal. Tomorrow, the final two women’s weight classes will start their tournaments (55 and 59 kg), along with men’s freestyle at (65 and 97 kg). American results 53 kg Round of 16: Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler over Viktoriia Vaulina (Russia) 6-4 Quarterfinals: Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler over Roksana Zasina (Poland) 1-1 Semifinals: Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Cristelle Rodriguez Dobler 10-0 57 kg Repechage: Helen Maroulis over Luisa Valverde Melendres (Ecuador) 2:44 Bronze Medal Match: Helen Maroulis over Nilufar Raimova (Kazakhstan) 5-2 62 kg Round of 16: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Sevim Akbas (Turkiye) 10-0 Quarterfinals: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Sara Lindborg (Sweden) 11-1 Semifinals: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria) 5-2 68 kg Round of 16: Kennedy Blades over Laura Koehler (Germany) Fall 1:37 Quarterfinals: Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) over Kennedy Blades Fall 6:00 72 kg Round of 16: Precious Wieser over Buse Tosun (Tukiye) 9-4 Quarterfinals: Precious Wieser over Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan) 3-2 Semifinals: Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) over Precious Wieser Fall 5:38 76 kg Repechage: Dymond Guilford over Anastasiya Zimiankova (Belarus) 12-0 Bronze Medal Match: Dymond Guilford over Kadriye Aksoy (Turkiye) 7-2 Thursday’s Gold Medal Matchups 53 kg: Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Moe Kiyooka (Japan) 62 kg: Adaugo Nwachukwu (USA) vs. Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) 68 kg: Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Jia Long (China) 72 kg: Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) vs. Zelu Li (China) Final Results 50 kg Gold Medal Match: Yui Susaki (Japan) over Neelam Sirohi (India) Fall 2:13 Bronze Medal Match: Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan) over Nataliia Varakina (Belarus) 6-1 Bronze Medal Match: Feng Ziqi (China) over Oksana Livach (Ukraine) 10-0 57 kg Gold Medal Match: Kexin Hong (China) over Sena Nagamoto (Japan) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Iryna Kurachkina (Belarus) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) 12-11 Bronze Medal Match: Helen Maroulis (USA) over Nilufar Raimova (Kazakhstan) 5-2 65 kg Gold Medal Match: Alina Kasabieva (Russia) over Irina Ringaci (Moldova) 6-3 Bronze Medal Match: Nana Ikehata (Japan) over Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia) 9-0 Bronze Medal Match: Yongxin Feng (China) over Solomiia Vynnyk (Ukraine) 11-0 76 kg Gold Medal Match: Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) over Kajal Dhocak (India) 8-6 Bronze Medal Match: Dymond Guilford (USA) over Kadriye Aksoy (Turkiye) 7-2 Bronze Medal Match: Davaanasan Enkh Amar (Mongolia) over Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) 4-1

We're getting ready to start the first week of the 2026-27 season and have a semi-full schedule of DI duals this week. A total of 11 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). All times are Eastern. Saturday, October 31: Sacred Heart at Hofstra 2:00 PM FloWrestling Western Wyoming at Wyoming 4:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, November 1: Air Force, Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Clarion, Ohio State, Utah Valley at Clarion Open 9:00 AM FloWrestling Drexel, Edinboro, LIU, Mercyhurst at Mercyhurst Invitational 9:00 AM Army West Point, Binghamton, Brown, Franklin & Marshall, Lehigh, Penn, Princeton, Rider, Stanford at Princeton Open, hosted by Princeton 9:00 AM ESPN+ Appalachian State, Campbell, Chattanooga, Davidson, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Illinois, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia Tech, West Virginia at Southeast Open 9:00 AM FloWrestling Bellarmine, Cal Poly, Lock Haven, Morgan State, Navy, Pittsburgh, Virginia at Navy Classic 10:00 AM Gardner-Webb, Little Rock, Oklahoma State, SIU Edwardsville at Cowboy Invitational 11:00 AM Kent State at Purdue 1:00 PM BTN+ American vs. Central Michigan at CSU Bakersfield 2:00 PM American at CSU Bakersfield 4:00 PM FloWrestling Central Michigan at CSU Bakersfield 6:00 PM FloWrestling Michigan at VMI 2:00 PM Bloomsburg vs. Wisconsin at Kenosha, WI 3:00 PM WIWrestle Rokfin Mary at North Dakota State 3:00 PM FloWrestling Northeastern State at Oklahoma 3:00 PM ESPN+ Bucknell at Iowa State, 7:00 PM ESPN+

Brackets have been released for the men's freestyle portion of the 2026 Senior World Championships! The action will get underway tomorrow as 65, and 97 kg competitors start their tournaments. Friday will feature 61, 70, 86, and 125 kg action. The final group of men's competitors (57, 74, 79 and 92 kg) will hit the mat on Saturday. 57 kg 61 kg 65 kg 70 kg 74 kg 79 kg 86 kg 92 kg 97 kg 125 kg

Tuesday marked the first day of competition in women’s freestyle at the 2026 Senior World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. After the action concluded, a pair of American women are still alive in the medal hunt. Helen Maroulis (57 kg) and Dymond Guilford (72 kg) will compete in tomorrow’s repechage rounds in search of a bronze medal. Both women will need to win one match before wrestling for the bronze. Maroulis started her tournament with an 11-0 victory over Canada’s Mia Friesen, which pushed her into the quarterfinal round. In the quarters, Maroulis tangled with Sena Nagamoto, a silver medalist earlier this year at the Asian Championships, up at 59 kg. Just after the one minute mark, Nagamoto used a double leg to drive Maroulis towards the boundary. Initially, the sequence was ruled one-point for the American wrestler. Nagamoto’s corner challenged the call and the ruling was upheld, giving Maroulis a 2-0 lead. With about :30 remaining in the bout, Nagamoto got in on a single leg and was able to convert and take a 3-2 lead. After the restart, Maroulis frantically tried to generate some offense and briefly knocked Nagamoto off balance. Once the buzzer sounded, the American corner challenged the sequence, but it was confirmed correct and Nagamoto was awarded an additional point for a 4-2 win. In the semifinals, Nagamoto cruised to an 11-0 tech fall victory over Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova to advance to the gold medal match. With Nagamoto in the finals, Maroulis was pulled back into repechage. Guilford started her tournament with back-to-back techs which put her into the quarterfinals opposite Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva, a four-time U23 world medalist. Guilford held a 4-1 lead with under :10 remaining in the contest. Shortly after, Alpyeyeva found an opening as Guilford was caught with her feet too close to one another and the Ukrainian scored with a low double. Before Guilford could defend herself, Alpyeyeva was able to get two points from a quick turn. The American bench challenged the call, but it was confirmed and the final count was 6-4 in favor of Alpyeyeva. In the semifinals, Alpyeyeva downed her opponent from Turkiye to make the gold medal match and pull Guilford into repechage. Also in action for the American women were Morgan Turner (50 kg) and Kayla Miracle (65 kg). Turner posted a 5-0 victory in her first match before an unusual situation happened in the Round of 16. She was disqualified from her match with Russia’s Elizaveta Smirnova after an ugly eye poke situation that injured Smirnova. Since Smirnova was unable to compete in the quarterfinals, Turner was eliminated from medal contention. Miracle also won her opening match, but was beaten by an opponent from Japan in the Round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Moldova’s Irina Ringaci pinned the Japanese wrestler, ending Miracle’s tournament. During the last day of Greco-Roman competition, Otto Black won a 67 kg repechage match, but was beaten in the second round of repechage by Cuba’s Luis Orta, 7-4. American Results Women’s Freestyle 50 kg Round of 32: Morgan Turner over Greili Bencomse (Cuba) 5-0 Round of 16: Elizaveta Smirnova (Russia) over Morgan Turner Disq 57 kg Round of 16: Helen Maroulis over Mia Friesen (Canada) 11-0 Quarterfinals: Sena Nagamoto (Japan) over Helen Maroulis 4-2 65 kg Round of 32: Kayla Miracle over Ayse Erkan (Turkiye) Fall Round of 16: Nana Ikehata (Japan) over Kayla Miracle Fall 76 kg Round of 32: Dymond Guilford over Ozoda Zaripboeva (Uzbekistan) Fall Round of 16: Dymond Guilford over Damola Ojo (Nigeria) 12-2 Quarterfinals: Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) over Dymond Guilford 6-4 Greco-Roman 67 kg Repechage #1: Otto Black over Tsuchika Shimoyamada (Australia) 9-0 Repechage #2: Luis Orta (Cuba) over Otto Black 7-4 Tuesday’s Gold Medal Matches 50 kg: Yui Susaki (Japan) vs. Neelam Sirohi (India) 57 kg: Sena Nagamoto (Japan) vs. Kexin Hong (China) 65 kg: Alina Kasabieva (Russia) vs. Irina Ringaci (Moldova) 76 kg: Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) vs. Kajal Dhochak (India Final Results Greco Roman 63 kg Gold Medal Match: Karen Aslanyan (Armenia) over Nihat Mammadali (Azerbaijan) 8-4 Bronze Medal Match: Sergey Emelin (Russia) over Aref Mohammadi (Qatar) 9-0 Bronze Medal Match: Ozobek Khalimboev (Uzbekistan) over Edmond Nazaryan (Bulgaria) 7-3 67 kg Gold Medal Match: Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Aytjan Khalmakhanov (Uzbekistan) Fall Bronze Medal Match: Bagdat Sabaz (Kazakhstan) over Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan) 8-5 Bronze Medal Match: Luis Orta (Cuba) over Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) 10-6 87 kg Gold Medal Match: Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) 4-0 Bronze Medal Match: Lasha Gobadze (Georgia) over Mukhammadkodir Rasulov (Uzbekistan) 5-1 Bronze Medal Match: Gevorg Tadevosyan (Armenia) over Yaroslav Filchakov (Ukraine) 4-1

The NWCA and FloWrestling announced the lineup for the 2026 NWCA/All-Star Match, which will take place on Tuesday, November 24th, from Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University. As you might expect, with top-ranked Penn State hosting, there will be plenty of Nittany Lion wrestlers on the card. In addition, fourth-ranked Virginia Tech has bought into the event and sends their first five wrestlers in the lineup. There will also be a D2 vs. D3 matchup and a handful of women’s collegiate bouts. The women’s matchups will pit wrestlers from NCAA schools against NAIA teams. As of Tuesday morning, the card is as follows: 125 lbs - #6 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) vs. #8 Ezekiel Witt (North Dakota State) 133 lbs - #3 Aaron Seidel (Virginia Tech) vs. #9 TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) 141 lbs - #1 Luke Stanich (Lehigh) vs. #5 Bo Bassett (Virginia Tech) 149 lbs - #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. #4 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) 157 lbs - #6 Ty Watters (West Virginia) vs. #8 Collin Gaj (Virginia Tech) 165 lbs - #7 Paddy Gallagher (Oklahoma) vs. #8 Cam Catrabone (Michigan) 174 lbs - #5 Danny Wask (Navy) vs. #8 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) 184 lbs - #2 Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. #5 Brock Mantanona (Michigan) 197 lbs - #1 Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. #3 Stephen Little (Little Rock) 285 lbs - TBD DII vs. DIII 174 lbs - Otgonbayar Batsuuri (Nebraska-Kearney) vs. Tanner Gerber (Wisconsin-LaCrosse) Women’s Matches 105 lbs: Val Solorio (Iowa) vs. Zoey Haney (Indiana Tech) 124 lbs: Riley Rayome (North Central) vs. Rose Kaplan (Indiana Tech) 132 lbs - Cassia Zammit (West Liberty) vs. Janida Garcia (Life) 160 lbs - Stella Steigler (King) vs. Vida Boskovic (Southern Oregon)

The final group of three Greco-Roman weights got their tournaments underway on Monday. The American squad did not pick up a win; however, one of their wrestlers has been pulled back into repechage. At 67 kg, Otto Black dropped his only bout of the day, in the Round of 32 to Uzbekistan’s Aytjan Khalmakhanov, 12-1. Khalmakhanov’s 4-0 win over Slavik Galstyan in the semifinals brought Black back into medal contention. On Tuesday, Black will need to win three matches to come back to the States with some hardware. His trek to the medal round starts tomorrow morning with a matchup against Australia’s Tsuchika Shimoyamada. At 63 kg, Xavier Johnson was pulled from the bracket via injury and did not compete. The other wrestler competing for Team USA on the day was Beka Melelashvili at 87 kg. Melelashvili led heading into the final :45 seconds; however, his opponent, Ivan Huklek of Croatia, used a pair of underhooks to toss Melelashvili to his back for four points and then a fall. American Results 67 kg Round of 32: Aytjan Khalmakhanov (Uzbekistan) over Otto Black 12-1 87 kg Round of 32: Ivan Huklek (Croatia) over Beka Melelashvili Fall 5:31 Tuesday’s Gold Medal Matchups 63 kg: Nihat Mammadali (Azerbaijan) vs. Karen Aslanyan (Armenia) 67 kg: Aytjan Khalmakhanov (Uzbekistan) vs. Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) 87 kg: Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) vs. Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) Final Results 72 kg Gold Medal Match: Seyed Sohrabi (Iran) over Krisztian Vancza (Hungary) 4-0 Bronze Medal Match: Iuri Lomadze (Georgia) over Parviz Nasibov (Ukraine) 7-4 Bronze Medal Match: Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) over Mingiian Goriaev (Russia) 10-0 97 kg Gold Medal Match: Kiryl Maskevich (Belarus) over Artur Sargsian (Russia) 7-1 Bronze Medal Match: Kiril Milov (Bulgaria) over Markus Ragginger (Austria) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Alex Bjurberg Kessidis (Sweden) 3-0 130 kg Gold Medal Match: Fardin Hedayati (Iran) over Darius Vitek (Hungary) 8-0 Bronze Medal Match: Pavel Hlinchuk (Belarus) over Rafael Tsitsuashvili (Uzbekistan) 3-1 Bronze Medal Match: Wenhao Jiang (China) over Matti Kuosmanen (Finland) 5-4

New York Military Academy

Berryhill

Greens Farms Academy

Bettendorf

The Master's Academy

Shenendehowa