InterMat Staff

St. Plus X

Delsea

Milton

Waukesha West

SPIRE Academy

Holmen

Holmen

San Marcos via Umpqua CC

WF West

Earlier this week, we wrote about how the US men’s freestyle team was in a bit of a transition period with some longtime stalwarts being out of the world team qualification process. While that is true, there is plenty of experience on both the men’s and women’s freestyle teams. Today, we’re looking at Final X experience. This will be the fifth year where Final X has been the method to determine the world team in men’s and women’s freestyle. Both the men’s and women’s team each have two wrestlers who have been qualified to wrestle in Final X each time it was available. We’ll start with them and work our way down with Final X experience for wrestlers competing in the 2025 version of the event. Five-Time Final X Qualifiers Kyle Dake (86 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (4-0) Kyle Snyder (97 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (4-0) Jacarra Winchester (59 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (4-0) Kayla Miracle (62 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (3-1) Four-Time Final X Qualifiers Yianni Diakomihalis (70 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (1-2) Zahid Valencia (86 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (1-2) Helen Maroulis (57 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (3-0) Three-Time Final X Qualifiers Vito Arujau (61 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (1-1) Hayden Zillmer (97 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (1-1) Amit Elor (72 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (2-0) Two-Time Final X Qualifiers Joey McKenna (65 kg men’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Audrey Jimenez (50 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Felicity Taylor (53 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Abby Nette (59 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (1-0) Adaugo Nwachukwo (62 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Macey Kilty (65 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (1-0) Kennedy Blades (68 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Alex Glaude (72 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (0-1) Dymond Guilford (76 kg women’s freestyle) - Record (1-0) First Time Final X Qualifiers Spencer Lee (57 kg men’s freestyle) Luke Lilledahl (57 kg men’s freestyle) Jax Forrest (61 kg men’s freestyle) Real Woods (65 kg men’s freestyle) PJ Duke (70 kg men’s freestyle) Mitchell Mesenbrink (74 kg men’s freestyle) David Carr (74 kg men’s freestyle) Evan Wick (79 kg men’s freestyle) Levi Haines (79 kg men’s freestyle) Trent Hidlay (92 kg men’s freestyle) Josh Barr (92 kg men’s freestyle) Wyatt Hendrickson (125 kg men’s freestyle) Trent Hillger (125 kg men’s freestyle) Erin Golston (50 kg women’s freestyle) Brianna Gonzalez (53 kg women’s freestyle) Cristelle Rodriguez (55 kg women’s freestyle) Everest Leydecker (55 kg women’s freestyle) Amanda Martinez (57 kg women’s freestyle) Aine Drury (65 kg women’s freestyle) Brooklyn Hays (68 kg women’s freestyle) Kylie Welker (76 kg women’s freestyle)

VESTAL, N.Y. - Following a stellar five-year career with the Binghamton wrestling team, Brevin Cassella is returning to the program as an assistant coach, Head Wrestling Coach Kyle Borshoff announced Thursday. "Brevin is one of the best Binghamton wrestlers in our Division I era," Borshoff said. "He has acted as a leader on the team for years, and I am excited to add him to our staff. Brevin has a great wrestling IQ and is positionally very strong. I look forward to seeing the impact he makes on the team as a coach." Cassella stands as one of the most accomplished wrestlers in program history. While competing for the Bearcats from 2020-25, the Clinton, Mass., native won 102 matches during his collegiate career, including 47 in dual competition. He also recorded 16 major decisions, 12 technical falls, eight pins and posted 178 team points for Binghamton in duals. Cassella spent his first four seasons wrestling at 165 lbs., before moving up to 174 lbs., for his final year in 2024-25. "I would say it's a real full circle moment," Cassella said. "From the second I set foot on campus, Binghamton has always felt like home. Now I get to give back to the place and the team that has given me so much. I'm very excited, grateful and can't wait to get to work with this group of guys." In each of his final four seasons, Cassella qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, winning a combined five matches at the national tournament. The furthest he reached in the tournament was in both 2024 and 2025, when he made it to the third round in the consolation bracket. His final appearance at nationals came off the heels of Cassella winning the 2025 EIWA championship, the fifth in program history. Cassella won all three of his matches, including a thrilling 4-1 decision in the second tiebreaker against No. 1 seed Danny Wask of Navy in the finals. That final victory was Cassella's 100th of his career. For his performance throughout the tournament, Cassella became the first Binghamton wrestler to receive the Coaches' Trophy for being voted as the outstanding wrestler of the EIWA Championships. Cassella ultimately reached the podium at the EIWAs in each of his five seasons, improving his finish at the tournament each year (eighth in 2021, fifth in 2022, fourth in 2023, third in 2024 and first in 2025). Cassella also found success in the classroom. Earlier in May, he received the EIWA's Academic Achievement Award. In order to qualify for the honor, Cassella maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 while competing in nationals. Last week, he graduated from Binghamton with a bachelor's degree in human development. Cassella will continue to help lead a program that is coming off another strong season. In 2024-25, the Bearcats went 10-9 overall in dual competition, including a 5-3 mark against EIWA opponents. It is the first season where Binghamton won at least 10 duals since 2018-19. After going 9-4 in 2023-24, the Bearcats have won at least nine duals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2017-18 and 2018-19. Those seasons, Binghamton went 12-5 and 10-3 respectively.

We’re a ways away from the deadline to enter the transfer portal (May 2nd), but there are still wrestlers who are in the portal who are making decisions regarding their next step. Since our last update, there weren’t any earth-shattering moves; however, a few teams quietly got better. Most notably, Central Michigan. The Chippewas have picked up Gianni Maldonado who spent the last year at the Air Force Academy’s Prep School. Just a year ago, Maldonado was deemed a top 150 recruit (#146) coming out of high school in Florida. He put together a 4-2 record at 157 and 165 lbs while competing for the prep school in 2024-25. CMU also picked up Seth Larson who went 1-7 at 157 lbs for Campbell. All of Larson’s action came in dual meets as a true freshman in 2024-25. The addition of Maldonado gives CMU some depth in the middle weights, so the Central Michigan could redshirt Larson during the upcoming season. Northern Colorado is a school that has used the portal well, of late. The Bears latest addition is Murphy Menke, a Colorado native, who started for most of the year at Oregon State. Menke began the year at 165 lbs, but moved up and was the postseason entry for Oregon State at 174 lbs. He made the Pac-12 finals and lost to Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) who was later deemed ineligible. Remember, there are still avenues for a wrestler to enter the transfer portal at this time. Any additional entries will be tied to a coaching change or perhaps from a graduate student. The first list of wrestlers we’ve listed have already publicly committed to a new transfer destination. That new school is listed first, along with their projected weight, followed by their former school. Below them are notable wrestlers that have gone into the transfer portal. It is not a comprehensive list. Transfers Appalachian State: Joe Fongaro (149) - Rutgers Arizona State: Gavin Bauder (133) - Clackamas CC Arizona State: David Szuba (285) - Rider Arizona State: Leo Tukhlynovych (174) - Rochester CTC Arizona State: Ane’e Vigil (125) - Clackamas CC Army West Point: Jake Crapps (133) - Missouri Bloomsburg: Eric Alderfer (157) - Lock Haven Buffalo: Connor Jacobs (184) - Clarion Buffalo: Kelin Laffey (165) - Pittsburgh Buffalo: Gianni Silvestri (141) - Clarion Cal Poly: Caesar Garza (174) - Michigan State Cal Poly: Luke Gayer (165) - Rutgers Cal Poly: Andre Gonzales (141) - Ohio State Campbell: Ethan Ducca (184) - Wyoming Central Michigan: Seth Larson (157) - Campbell Central Michigan: Gianni Maldonado (165) - Air Force Prep Chattanooga: Cooper Flynn (125) - Minnesota Chattanooga: Hunter Mason (141) - Virginia Tech Chattanooga: Billy Meiszner (149) - Kent State Chattanooga: Carter Neves (285) - Ohio State Clarion: Brandon Bauer (141) - Little Rock Clarion: Peyton Costa (133) - Cleveland State Clarion: Connor Eck (157) - Lock Haven Clarion: Ky Szewczyk (133) - Ohio Davidson: Anwar Alli (165) - Virginia Drexel: Nate Schon (285) - Iowa State Edinboro: Brycen Arbogast (133) - West Virginia Edinboro: Tate Geiser (165/174) - Cleveland State Illinois: Ryan Boersma (285) - Triton College Illinois: Michael Gioffre (157) - Virginia Illinois: Cade Lautt (197) - North Carolina Illinois: Spencer Moore (125) - North Carolina Indiana: Orlando Cruz (174) - Purdue Iowa: Sammy Alvarez (149) - Rider Iowa: Nasir Bailey (133/141) - Little Rock Iowa: Massoma Endene (197) - Wartburg Iowa: Dean Peterson (125) - Rutgers Iowa: Jordan Williams (149) - Little Rock Iowa State: Isaac Dean (184) - Rider Iowa State: Rocky Elam (197) - Missouri Iowa State: Malton Powe (165) - Pratt CC Little Rock: Brock Herman (157) - Ohio State Little Rock: Draegen Orine (133) - NC State Lock Haven: Sam Gatreau (165) - Maryland Maryland: Chase Horne (285) - NC State Michigan: Taye Ghadiali (285) - Campbell Michigan: Lachlan McNeil (149) - North Carolina Michigan: Diego Sotelo (125) - Harvard Minnesota: Jore Volk (125) - Wyoming Missouri: Maxx Mayfield (165) - Northwestern Morgan State: Anthony Ferrari (157) - Long Island NC State: Zach Redding (133/141) - Iowa State Nebraska: Chance Lamer (149) - Cal Poly North Carolina: AJ Ferrari (197/285) - CSU Bakersfield North Carolina: Bryce Hepner (157/165) - Ohio State North Carolina: Kysen Terukina (125) - Iowa State Northern Colorado: Murphy Menke (174) - Oregon State Northern Illinois: Ali Adel (184) - Harper College Northern Iowa: Caleb Rathjen (149) - Iowa Ohio State: Cody Chittum (157) - Iowa State Ohio State: Dylan Fishback (184) - NC State Ohio State: Ethan Stiles (149) - Oregon State Oklahoma: Tyson Charmoli (133) - Wyoming Oklahoma: Jack Gioffre (149) - Virginia Oklahoma: Peyton Kellar (157) - Ohio Oklahoma: Brian Soldano (184) - Rutgers Oklahoma: Tyler Wells (133) - Minnesota Oklahoma State: Alex Facundo (165) - Penn State Oklahoma State: Richie Figueroa (125/133) - Arizona State Oklahoma State: Zack Ryder (184) - Penn State Oklahoma State: Gary Steen (133) - Penn State Oklahoma State: Casey Swiderski (149) - Iowa State Oregon State: Joel Adams (149) - Michigan/CKWC Penn State: Rocco Welsh (184) - Ohio State Purdue: Blake Boarman (133) - Chattanooga Purdue: Gavin Brown (149) - Ohio State Rider: Brendon Abdon (165) - Little Rock Rider: Eli Griffin (141) - California Baptist Rider: Dylan Layton (149) - Cleveland State Rider: Hogan Swenski (285) - Ohio State Rutgers: Hunter Catka (285) - Virginia Tech Rutgers: Remy Cotton (197) - Michigan State Rutgers: Lenny Pinto (174) - Nebraska Sacred Heart: Anthony Clem (133) - West Virginia Sacred Heart: Joey Clem (133) - West Virginia Sacred Heart: John Hildebrandt (133) - Drexel SIU Edwardsville: Kevin Zimmer (285) - Wyoming Utah Valley: David Evans (149) - Penn State Virginia: Colton Washleski (157) - Rider Virginia Tech: Sergio DeSiante (174) - Chattanooga Virginia Tech: Ethen Miller (157) - Maryland West Virginia: Louie Gill (125) - NC State West Virginia: Willie McDougald (149) - Oklahoma Wyoming: Christian Carroll (197/285) - Iowa State Wyoming: Sefton Douglass (125) - Western Wyoming Wyoming: Cody Phelps (133) - Michigan State Portal Chris Cannon (133/141) - Northwestern Lucas Daly (184) - Michigan State Jordan Decatur (141) - Kent State Kyle Dutton (149) - Little Rock Rafael Hipolito (157 - Virginia Tech Caden Horwath (125) - Michigan Daschle Lamer (184) - Cal Poly Tate Picklo (174) - Oklahoma Isaiah Powe (141) - Chattanooga Mike Slade (184/197) - Campbell Sean Spidle (133) - Central Michigan TJ Stewart (184) - Virginia Tech Jesse Vasquez (149) - Arizona State John Wiley (157) - Oklahoma

We’re about two months removed from the fifth anniversary of the Naval Academy sending shockwaves through the wrestling community as they hired Cary Kolat to become their next head coach. Just days after the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships, the Navy athletic department wasted no time filling their head coaching vacancy with one of the most attractive candidates possible. Kolat the previous six seasons as the head coach at Campbell University. During his tenure in Buies Creek, Kolat helped turn the Camels into a nationally recognized program after only producing nine NCAA qualifiers in their previous 15 seasons. In just his third season, Kolat saw Nathan Kraisser earn All-American honors, making him the first Campbell wrestler to do so at the DI level. The 2020 season saw Campbell go 11-2 in dual competition and push six wrestlers to the ill-fated national tournament. Three Camels were seeded in the top ten and two ended up earning NWCA first-team All-American honors. Fresh off a great season at Campbell, Kolat was a hot commodity. Or he could have been - had Navy let him test the market longer than March 20th. With five years of leadership at the Naval Academy under his belt, it seems like the right time to take a look at the Navy program and how it has evolved under Kolat. Results Navy put together an 8-6 record during their final season under Joel Sharratt, which wasn’t necessarily a bad record; however, they lost on criteria to Army West Point. The loss was the fourth in a row against their rival - a feat that had previously never been accomplished by Army. In Kolat’s abbreviated first season, the Midshipmen went 5-1 with a loss to Pittsburgh the only blemish on their record. Kolat started his career in Annapolis on the right foot with a 20-13 win over Army. Navy has gone 30-22 in duals under Kolat. They are coming off a 2024-25 campaign in which they went 6-4 and finished in a third-place tie with Army in the new-look EIWA with 116.5 points. The 2025 NCAA Championships ended up being the best showing for Navy in almost a decade. Their 21st-place finish was the best for the program since 2016. Navy also put two wrestlers (Josh Koderhandt/Danny Wask) on the NCAA podium since 2009. With David Key’s All-American finish from 2024 taken into consideration, it also marked the first time since 2008-09 that Navy produced All-Americans in back-to-back seasons. Koderhandt became Navy’s first two-time EIWA champion since 2020-21 and became the highest-seeded Navy wrestler (fourth) at the NCAA Tournament since 2008. In the five years that Kolat has been at the helm for Navy they have sent 25 wrestlers to the national tournament. During the five years before Kolat’s arrival the team totaled 24 qualifiers. Recruiting Navy has been able to recruit well under Kolat. They received national notice from InterMat with rankings in each of his first two years at the helm for Navy. The team was #18 in 2021 and #21 in 2022. Perhaps going hand-in-hand with the recruiting rankings was Navy’s ability to sign high-profile talent. His program inherited and retained a top 20 overall recruit in 2020 (#13 Andrew Cerniglia) and inked another in 2022 (Danny Wask). The chart below shows how Navy has fared in recruiting top 200 recruits. Recruiting at service academies has really heated up in the last five years as Air Force, Army, and Navy have all appeared in the national rankings twice during this span. Looking at the 2025 and 2026 classes, that should only continue. Miscellaneous Kolat brought Blaize Cabell with him from his staff at Campbell and he has been with Kolat through five years in Annapolis. After the 2023-24 season, Kolat remade the coaching staff - retaining Cabell but adding Barry Davis and Ty Eustice. In 2023, one of Kolat’s longtime proteges, Chance Marsteller, knocked off Jordan Burroughs to make the Senior world team. Kolat won his first three star matches against Army, but has dropped the last two. He’ll have a new rival as Kevin Ward recently stepped down from his position leading the Black Knights. In 2021, Navy finished in second place at the EIWA Championships. The last time they hit that mark was in 2013.

Union County

Union County

Washington Township

Lincoln Way West

DePere

Fowlerville

Ponte Vedra

Lake Gibson

Granger

Graham-Kapowsin

Stuyvesant

Akron North