InterMat Staff

Forest Lake

Sam Houston

Mid-Prairie

Kodiak

Green River

Beaumont

North Dakota State made a significant addition to its coaching staff today as they announced the hiring of four-time All-American Willie Miklus as an assistant coach. Miklus comes to Fargo after spending the previous five seasons coaching at Michigan State. He got his start coaching as a graduate assistant at Iowa State. While at Michigan State, the Spartans sent 25 wrestlers to the NCAA tournament. Of those 25, nine came between the 184-285 lb weight class, which worked closely with Miklus. As a competitor, Miklus started his collegiate career at Missouri and earned All-American honors three times for the Tigers. Twice at 184 lbs and once at 197 lbs. As a junior, Miklus won a title at the MAC Championships. Miklus transferred to Iowa State to spend his final year of eligibility in his home state. With the Cyclones, Miklus made the Big 12 finals before taking sixth in the nation at 197. Miklus will join a North Dakota State program that is headed into its second year under the direction of head coach Obe Blanc. NDSU finished ninth at the Big 12 Championships and sent four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. At nationals, two Bison wrestlers advanced to the NCAA Round of 12. Gavin Drexler pushed through to earn a spot on the podium and he was eighth in the 149 lb weight class. Freshman Aiden Brenot came up a match shy at 184 lbs. He’ll get a chance to work with Miklus in the 2025-26 season. Both he and Drexler return.

Ruskin

Free State

Citrus Hill

Mepham via Lehigh

South Gwinnett

Monte Vista

Niskayuna via Upper Iowa

Blackman

East Robertson

Bixby

Liberty

West Creek

East Kentwood

Round Rock via UW-Oshkosh

Birmingham

Mountain View via Life U

InterMat's Class of 2025 Recruiting Rankings are way overdue - but also will be released very soon. Before they are posted, take a look back at some recent recruiting history. Team recruiting rankings from 2021-2024. Surpisingly enough, only six schools (Iowa, NC State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech) have made the rankings in all of the past four years. Penn made it once as an honorable mention and then was ranked the other three seasons. It's hard to consistently bring in ranked recruiting classes every single year. Will any/all of these appear in the 2025 version?

The NC State Wolfpack welcomed back a familiar face today as they announced that Malik McDonald was returning to Raleigh to join the coaching staff. McDonald is an NC State alum who just finished his fourth year on the Kent State coaching staff. While at NC State, McDonald was a two-time NCAA qualifier competing at 197 lbs. As a senior, McDonald captured an ACC title and was seeded 13th at the 2019 NCAA Championships. The previous season, he was a member of the NC State team that tied for fourth place in the nation and brought home a team trophy from Cleveland. On the freestyle scene, McDonald finished fourth at the U23 World Team Trials in 2018. McDonald will join former teammate and Wolfpack alum Kevin Jack on the NC State staff. Each wrestled under Pat Popolizio. There was an opening on the NC State staff as former All-American Tommy Gantt stepped down to pursue a career in MMA. Before coming to Kent State, McDonald also served on the coaching staff at Clarion and Long Island. During his first year at Kent State, McDonald worked with 184 lber Colin McCracken who was a MAC finalist. McDonald is a North Carolina native having graduated from South View High School in Hope Mills.