InterMat Staff

Palmyra

Massillon Perry

Carson City

It’s about that time! In the past couple of weeks, we’ve spent time loosely discussing Final X; however, it’s time to start talking about the individual matches themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll break down all 20 Final X matchups - leading into the event itself on June 14th, from Newark, New Jersey. Our next preview is in men’s freestyle at 97 kg. It will feature an intriguing matchup between the legendary Kyle Snyder and former world team member Hayden Zillmer. Both have been on the domestic and international scene for a decade; however, they don’t have much of a history against each other. This series also might have some extra attention due to Kyle Snyder’s recent legal troubles. Prior Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 86 kg men's freestyle 92 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 65 kg women's freestyle 68 kg women's freestyle 97 men’s freestyle Kyle Snyder vs. Hayden Zillmer This weight class took a strange turn in mid-May as Kyle Snyder was arrested and his status for Final X and beyond was in doubt. Since then, Snyder has pleaded to a lesser charge, was temporarily suspended and reinstated by USA Wrestling, and is set to wrestle on Saturday. With the uncertainty around this weight, Hayden Zillmer dropped down from 125 kg at the US Open to wrestle at 97 kg at the World Team Trials. This will be one of two matchups on the men’s freestyle card between past world team members. Snyder has been a mainstay at 97 kg - making every world and Olympic team at this weight since 2015. During that span, Snyder has claimed an Olympic gold medal and three world titles. The 2024 Olympic Games marked the only time in the last decade that Snyder came away from a world/Olympic tournament without any hardware. That being said, he hasn’t given us a reason to think that he won’t make the 2025 team and contend for a medal this year. Zillmer was a teammate of Snyder on the 2022 world team - he made it at 125 kgs. Amazing enough, this will be the third different weight class Zillmer has wrestled at in Final X. He was a part of the very first Final X and competed there at 92 kg. To make the 2022 world team, Zillmer knocked off two-time world medalist Nick Gwiazdowski in a dramatic, three-match series in New York City. How They Got Here Snyder: Since Snyder did not win an Olympic medal in 2024, he was forced to compete at the US Open which is relatively new territory for him. Snyder was never significantly threatened in Vegas and won all four matches via tech and without surrendering a single point. Only one of his four matches, the final against Jay Aiello, was the only bout that went into the second period. Zillmer: As mentioned above, Zillmer finished fourth at the US Open at 125 kgs, but dropped down to 97 kg for the Trials. At the Trials, Zillmer faced Snyder’s US Open finals opponent Aiello in the championship bout. Zillmer needed a last-second takedown to seal a 5-3 win over Aiello. Recent Form Snyder: Despite a decade on the Senior level, Snyder remains one of our most active wrestlers at the Senior level. Before the Open, Snyder saw action in a pair of international tournaments. He captured the gold at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series event and was a bronze medalist at Albania’s Muhamet Malo event. Zillmer: Like Snyder, Zillmer also competed in Zagreb. He took a bronze medal while hitting the mat at the 125 kg weight class. Prior History Surprisingly, there is only one Senior level matchup between these two grizzled veterans. That came in the semifinals of the 2019 Bill Farrell. In that meeting, Snyder won via tech, 11-0. Keys to Victory Snyder: Get your mind right. Aside from one tweet, we haven’t heard anything from Snyder since his arrest. With his history and track record, one would assume he’ll be ready to roll mentally and physically in Newark. But who knows? If it’s the version of Snyder we’ve come to expect, then he is a heavy favorite. Zillmer: Get your mind right. With all eyes and all attention on every move from Snyder, there is very little pressure on Zillmer. Thrive on being the underdog. He did that in 2022, against Gwiazdowski, and ended up making the world team.

Yesterday, the coaching carousel got a swift jolt as Army West Point announced Troy Nickerson as the program’s next head coach. Of course, Nickerson filling that vacancy creates another in Greeley as Northern Colorado will now need to find a head coach themselves. We’ll see if Nickerson’s hiring leads to further moves from the Army or Northern Colorado staff. Another move that was announced over the weekend was Tyler Grayson returning to the Brown University coaching staff. The Central Michigan grad had previously served on staff at Brown for eight years under previous head coaches Dave Amato and Todd Beckerman. Coaching Changes Army West Point: Troy Nickerson (Head Coach) Binghamton: Brevin Cassella (Assistant Coach) Brown: Tyler Grayson (Assistant Coach) Missouri: Keegan O’Toole (Assistant 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 George Mason: Assistant Coach Kent State: Head Coach Little Rock: Assistant Coach Maryland: Assistant Coach Michigan State: Assistant Coach NC State: Assistant Coach Northern Colorado: Head Coach Northern Iowa: Assistant Coach Penn: Assistant Coach

It’s about that time! In the past couple of weeks, we’ve spent time loosely discussing Final X; however, it’s time to start talking about the individual matches themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll break down all 20 Final X matchups - leading into the event itself on June 14th, from Newark, New Jersey. Our next preview is in women’s freestyle at 68 kg. It will feature a matchup between Kennedy Blades and Brooklyn Hays. Both are young, rising stars on the women’s freestyle circuit. Blades has the 2024 Olympic silver medal, while Hays is steadily progressing after taking fifth at the U23 World Championships. Prior Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 86 kg men's freestyle 92 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 65 kg women's freestyle 68 kg women’s freestyle Kennedy Blades vs. Brooklyn Hays One of the faces of USA Wrestling’s women’s division will be in action at 68 kg attempting to make her first Senior World Team. Of course, Kennedy Blades already competed in the 2024 Olympic Games and came away with a silver medal. Technically, this could be her first world team - at the Senior level that is. On the age group front, Blades won a U20 world title in 2021 and made the U23 finals in 2023. Opposing Blades is Brooklyn Hays, who has quietly worked her way up the domestic ladder at this weight. Last year, Hays finished third at the Olympic Team Trials and fell to Alex Glaude in a wrestle-off for a national title spot. Later in 2024, she went to the U23 World Championships and lost in a bronze medal match. Also in 2024, Hays represented the United States at the Pan-American U23 and Senior Championships. She won gold at the Senior level and took silver at U23’s. How They Got Here Blades: Since Blades’ 2024 Olympic silver medal came at 76 kg, she had to compete at the US Open after moving down to 68 kg. The Open didn’t present much of a test for Blades, who won all three of her bouts in Vegas via tech and without surrendering a point. Only one made it to the second period. Hays: At the Open, Hayes was edged by fellow USOPTC teammate Solin Piearcy, 3-2 in the semifinals. That meant she’d have to go to Louisville for the World Team Trials for an opportunity to make Final X. At the Trials, the pair met again, but it was Hays who prevailed 4-0 on the strength of a takedown and step-out point in the first period. Recent Form Blades: Even though she was competing in college for Iowa and won USA Wrestling’s Women’s College Wrestler of the Year Award, Blades still managed to get a Ranking Series event under her belt earlier this year. She went to Croatia and came away with a title at the Zagreb Open. After the Open, Blades went to Mexico and claimed a gold medal at the Pan-American Championships. Hays: Hays also competed in a continental championship event in 2025. She struck gold at the Pan-American U23 Championships. Her fifth-place finish at the U23 World Championships was in late October, so that could be classified as semi-recent. Prior History You have to go back a couple of years to find the only prior meeting between these two. They clashed in 2023 in the semifinals of the U20 Trials at Women’s Nationals. In that contest, Blades prevailed with a 10-0 tech. Keys to Victory For Blades, it will be to just wrestle her normal match. She will be considered a heavy favorite in this series. Hays will need to find a way to slow Blades; perhaps her length could keep Blades at bay for a bit.

The decision is in for Army West Point! New York native Troy Nickerson will head to his home state to become the new head coach for Army. Nickerson just wrapped up his 11th season as the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado. The 2024-25 proved to be one of the best in school history as the Bears placed two wrestlers on the NCAA podium, a feat that they had not achieved in almost 60 years. UNC also had two Big 12 champions for the second time in three seasons. In addition to the exploits from the 2024-25 season, Nickerson guided Andrew Alirez to a 2023 NCAA title at 141 lbs. Alirez was the first DI national champion for Northern Colorado in wrestling…or any other sport! Alirez finished the 2022-23 campaign undefeated and was named a Hodge Trophy finalist and Big 12 Wrestler of the Year. Nickerson finished his UNC tenure with three All-Americans and three others named honorable mention All-Americans during the 2019-20 season. In his 11 years, Nickerson helped send 37 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament and had five of them win Big 12 crowns. Prior to Nickerson’s arrival, only 18 Bear wrestlers qualified for the NCAA tournament from 2007-15. Nickerson will inherit an Army West Point team that returns six of their seven NCAA qualifiers from 2025, along with two more from 2024. Army has an impressive recruiting Class of 2025 that will be featured in our forthcoming rankings, along with a loaded Class of 2026. Army finished tied for third in the revamped EIWA in 2025, the same place they finished in 2024. While Nickerson ultimately got the call, Army’s Associate Head Coach Scott Green and The Citadel’s head coach Ryan LeBlanc were finalists for the position. We’ll monitor how this move impacts the Army staff and Northern Colorado’s new vacancy.

Highland

St. Francis

St. Edward

Ringgold

Bakersfield

Knoxville Halls

Marietta

Brashear

It’s about that time! In the past couple of weeks, we’ve spent time loosely discussing Final X; however, it’s time to start talking about the individual matches themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll break down all 20 Final X matchups - leading into the event itself on June 14th, from Newark, New Jersey. Our next preview is in men’s freestyle at 92 kg. After previewing a handful of rematches, this will be one that we haven’t seen before. As they say in MMA, “styles make fights” and in this contest between, Trent Hidlay and Josh Barr, we should get some contrasting styles - and body types. Hidlay is compact and physically dominating with his underhooks. Barr is long and lean, but has high-quality leg attacks. Barr still has three years of collegiate eligibility remaining, while Hidlay finished in 2024. There’s a lot to be excited about for this matchup. Prior Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 86 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 65 kg women's freestyle 92 kg men’s freestyle Trent Hidlay vs. Josh Barr This is a brand-new matchup that could be a lot of fun and very competitive. While both wrestlers have their share of age group and NCAA experience, each is seeking to make their first world team at the Senior level. Hidlay had an excellent collegiate career highlighted by a pair of NCAA finals appearances mixing in his four NCAA All-American finishes. On the international stage, Hidlay already has a pair of age-group world medals. He was a Junior world bronze medalist in 2019 and took silver at the U23 World Championships in 2022. Last year, Hidlay was the true third-place finisher at the Olympic Team Trials. Shortly after the Olympic Trials, Hidlay traveled to Hungary and was a silver medalist at the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial. Barr just completed his redshirt freshman year at Penn State. Although initially assumed to be a 184 lber, Barr moved up to 197 lbs and won his first 12 bouts at the weight. Barr would go on to make the NCAA finals before falling to the eventual champion Stephen Buchanan. Setting the tone for his freshman year, Barr made the gold medal match at the 2024 U20 World Championships. How They Got Here Hidlay: Hidlay was the top seed at the US Open and showed that he deserved top billing with his tournament title. He advanced to the semifinals after two tech falls and then downed former Nebraska All-American Eric Schultz, 7-4, to make the finals. In the championship match, Hidlay cruised by young star Aeoden Sinclair, 7-1 to clinch his first berth in Final X. Barr: Barr did not participate in the US Open. Two wins over Sinclair at the 2024 U20 Trials helped Barr receive the top seed at the World Team Trials. In Louisville, Barr got by former Oklahoma State national finalist Dustin Plott to set up another meeting with Sinclair. A second-period flurry of points helped Barr to a 7-3 win over Sinclair. Recent Form Hidlay: Hidlay has been relatively active in 2025. He started the year with a bronze medal at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series event. After sealing his spot in Final X, Hidlay traveled to the Pan-American Championships and captured the gold medal. Barr: The first couple months of 2025 were dedicated to helping Penn State cruise to a fourth-straight national title. Barr was sixth in the Big Ten, but second in the nation. He has not wrestled internationally since the 2024 U20 World Championships. Prior History This is a brand-new matchup which is always fun to get. As we alluded to earlier, both wrestlers defeated Missouri’s redshirting freshman Aeoden Sinclair to punch their ticket to Final X. Neither necessarily had trouble with Sinclair, but neither dominated him, so I don’t think the margin of victory really plays a role in trying to figure out the winner. Keys to Victory Hidlay: Establish the underhook. That’s what it usually comes down to in Hidlay’s matches. The underhook series is even more vital in freestyle, because of its ability to help Hidlay establish control of the center of the mat and draw passivities on his opponent. In addition, to his offensive attacks. If he gets to the underhook early and often, he rarely loses. Barr: Attack from space and score from reshots. Kind of the opposite of Hidlay. Barr needs to try and create distance from Hidlay. If so, he’ll be able to fire off some low-leg attacks. In the Sinclair bout at WTT’s, Barr scored from a crotch lift off a Sinclair shot and from a reshot. Hidlay likely won’t be a high-volume shooter, but when he does open it, it could present an avenue for Barr to score. There has to be something said for Hidlay’s past history with Penn State wrestlers. He lost twice in the NCAA finals to former Nittany Lion Aaron Brooks. Particularly in their 2024 final, Brooks had a perfect game plan to nullify Hidlay’s strengths. I’m sure the NLWC staff will try to implement something similar with Barr, but can he make it work on the mat?

The most notable name in the transfer portal is on the move as AJ Ferrari announced that he will transfer to Nebraska for the 2025-26 season. Ferrari is expected to compete at 285 lbs for the Cornhuskers. Earlier this offseason, Ferrari announced his transfer to North Carolina. Just over a week ago, news trickled out of Chapel Hill that Ferrari had been denied admission to UNC and would be on the market once again. Ferrari is a two-time NCAA All-American and two-time conference champion. He won a national title in 2021 as a true freshman for Oklahoma State and amassed a 19-1 record. Since then, Ferrari had a long road back to the NCAA Tournament. He was injured in a car accident in January of 2022 and was unable to compete in the postseason. Later that year, Ferrari was dismissed from the Cowboy team and did not compete in college until the 2024-25 season. Ferrari returned to the collegiate wrestling world this past season for CSU Bakersfield. He entered the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 17-0 record after defeating returning All-American Stephen Little (Little Rock) to claim a Pac-12 title. At the 2025 NCAA Championships, Ferrari showed off his stingy defense and low-risk offensive strategy in defeating his first three opponents by a 15-2 margin. That set the stage for a semifinal contest with Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan. Ferrari spent some time during the 2023-24 season training with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at the University of Iowa, but never enrolled at the school. His younger brother, Angelo, is a freshman 184 lber at Iowa. Buchanan was able to give Ferrari a dose of his own medicine in a 3-0 win. After the Buchanan loss, Ferrari responded with back-to-back wins over Joey Novak (Wyoming) and Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) to claim third place. Cardenas entered the tournament as the top seed and was the Big Ten champion. He and Ferrari were briefly high school teammates at New Jersey’s Bergen Catholic High School. The win over Cardenas and the third-place finish gave Ferrari a 22-1 season record and ran his collegiate record to 51-2. The fit at heavyweight for Ferrari and the Cornhuskers could be a good one. 285 lbs was the only weight which Nebraska did not send to Philadelphia for nationals. Without counting Ferrari, Nebraska will return six All-Americans for the 2025-26 season. They’ll be in prime position to claim an NCAA team trophy for a second straight year.

It’s about that time! In the past couple of weeks, we’ve spent time loosely discussing Final X; however, it’s time to start talking about the individual matches themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll break down all 20 Final X matchups - leading into the event itself on June 14th, from Newark, New Jersey. Our next preview is in women’s freestyle at 65 kg. There will be a lot of familiarity in this series between two-time Senior world medalist Macey Kilty and US Open champion Aine Drury. The pair have met multiple times in high-stakes matches within the last year. They’ll do it again in Newark. The previous matchups have leaned heavily toward Kilty, so will Drury be able to close the gap? Prior Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 86 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 65 kg women’s freestyle Macey Kilty vs. Aine Drury This is one of two women’s freestyle series where there was a returning World/Olympic medalist that automatically advanced to Final X. That wrestler is Macey Kilty who has grabbed a hold of this 65 kg weight class. Kilty has made the world team in each of the last two years at this weight and came away with hardware in each of those two trips (silver and bronze). After training at North Carolina, since her high school career concluded, Kilty moved to finish college at the University of Iowa last school year. Her individual title helped contribute to a national team title for the Hawkeyes. The Senior World medals are just the next step in the progression for Kilty, who has won at every level. She has seven age-group world medals including a Cadet world championship from 2018. Aine Drury was a California state champion who stayed at home and went undefeated while winning a California Community College title for Cerritos College. Drury then transferred to King University where she made the national finals in 2024 and finished fifth at the NCWWC National Tournament in 2025. Her first loss on the championship side of the bracket in 2025 came to Kilty, who won via tech. How They Got Here Kilty: At the 2024 non-Olympic weight World Championships, Kilty suffered a quarterfinal loss to Romania’s Kateryna Zelenykh in the quarterfinals, but won a match in repechage before teching Russian Valeriia Dondupova Suvorova to claim a bronze medal. It was her second medal at the Senior level and allowed her to automatically advance to Final X. Drury: A runner-up finish at the 2024 World Team Trials helped Drury obtain the second seed in a pretty strong US Open weight class. Drury advanced to the finals after an impressive showing against world medalist Jennifer Page in the semifinals. She was up 10-2 at the time of a first-period fall over Page. In the finals, Drury got out to a big leave and survived a late rally from Isabella Mir to take the title and move on to Final X. Recent Form Kilty: Kilty’s only international event of 2025 has been the Pan-American Championships an event she won with two techs and a fall. The gold medal was her second from the continental championship at the Senior level for Kilty. She also won in 2024. In addition to her Senior world medal last year, Kilty also was a silver medalist at U23 World’s. Drury: Drury’s only competitions this year were on the collegiate front and the US Open. Prior History There’s plenty of recent history between these two. As we’ve already discussed the pair met in the semifinals of the NCWWC National Championships earlier this year. In 2024, Kilty also swept Drury in the World Team Trials finals to make the Senior World Team. Both of those matches resulted in techs. Kilty’s career advantage over Drury is 4-0 with a win at the 2023 US Open factored in. Keys to Victory Kilty: Stick with what works. Kilty has dominated the previous matchups with Drury - with little scoring from Drury, so why change? She has a sweep single that’s difficult to stop and works well with snap-downs and from the front headlock position. Her turns tend to work, too. Get to those attacks until proven otherwise. Drury: Impose her will. Drury likes to get to an underhook and work from there, whether it is looking for a trip or controlling the head for a variety of potential moves. She’s able to do this against just about everyone not named Kilty. She should try and get to her best positions while being cognizant of the fact that Kilty might disappear for a sweep single. Again, against the rest of the country, Drury is rather stout defensively but has trouble stopping Kilty.

It’s about that time! In the past couple of weeks, we’ve spent time loosely discussing Final X; however, it’s time to start talking about the individual matches themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll break down all 20 Final X matchups - leading into the event itself on June 14th, from Newark, New Jersey. Our next preview is in men’s freestyle at 86 kg. A pair of Senior world medalists clashing, the only time it will happen in men’s freestyle this year in Final X. Zahid Valencia versus Kyle Dake has the potential to be a classic Final X series. It’s also the only men’s series that we’ve seen before in Final X. That being said, their 2018 meeting is practically ancient history at this point and Valencia took their 2025 meeting at the US Open. With fewer mainstays of the men’s freestyle team participating in this event, could a Valencia win be another signal of a new era? Or an eighth straight team for Dake? Prior Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 86 kg men’s freestyle Zahid Valencia vs. Kyle Dake This has to be one of the most anticipated series of Final X. The US Open saw Valencia knock off Dake and forced the four-time world champion to win the World Team Trials to get a rematch and potentially make another world team. Valencia was a 2023 world team member at 92 kg and came away with a bronze medal in that appearance. To date, it’s been his only Senior world team. Valencia has made three Junior world teams and claimed a silver medal in the final of those three trips. In 2024, Valencia went down to this weight for the Olympic Trials and ended up losing a very controversial match to the eventual Olympic bronze medalist, Aaron Brooks. While Valencia has had success at 92 kg, he’s proven this year that 86 kg is probably the best weight for him. This is the first full year in which he’s been at Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC. You have to wonder how the mentorship of David Taylor impacts this series. Taylor has been a longtime competitor, friend, and teammate of Dake. Dake is seeking to make his eighth straight world/Olympic team; however, this is the first time since 2016 that he’s trying to do so at 86 kg. After the international weights shifted in 2018, Dake won the first two world titles at 79 kg, before dropping to 74 kg for the 2020 Olympics. He’s been at that weight ever since. Now it’s time for a new challenge. During his run on the world/Olympic team, Dake has been incredibly consistent with a medal in every one of those seven tournaments. How They Got Here Valencia: Not only did Valencia have to defeat Dake to win the 2025 US Open, but he also had to get by a second world team member, Chance Marsteller, in the semifinals. Valencia took a commanding lead over Dake with a picturesque duckunder followed by a high gut for a total of four points. Valencia extended his lead to 5-1 at the break. In the second, Dake battled back but came up short, 8-4. Dake: Since he fell in the Open finals, Dake had to head to Louisville and the Trials to advance to Final X. In the Trials finals, Dake squared off with fellow Nittany Lion Wrestling Club teammate Carter Starocci. The match was extremely tight and featured a close sequence that went Dake’s way. He’d prevail 3-3 on criteria. Recent Form Valencia: Valencia has been red-hot this year with the Open title and three gold medals in all three of his international tournaments. He started the year by winning the Dan Kolov/Nikola Petrov and then few weeks later, grabbed gold at the Zagreb Open Rankings Series event. After winning the Open, Valencia went on to win the Pan-American Championships. Dake: The US Open and World Team Trials are the only competitions for Dake since the 2024 Olympic Games. Someone of his age and experience is probably better off only competing in a couple events a year, anyway, so he should be fine. Prior History Obviously, we remember the Open finals matchup, but these two also clashed in the very first Final X, which was held in State College, Pennsylvania in 2018. In that series, Dake won 4-3 and 4-0. Obviously, that doesn’t have much impact on the 2025 rematch. This will be the only men’s freestyle series that has taken place before in Final X. Keys to Victory I’m not sure what to think about this rematch. Dake has long been one of the best at crafting and executing a game plan to beat high-scoring wrestlers like Jordan Burroughs and David Taylor. Now, will he be able to adjust and defeat Valencia? As mentioned earlier, has Taylor been the secret sauce for Valencia to beat Dake? One win again the legend is tough, but can Valencia pull off two more? That’s a long way to say that the winner will be the wrestler who can make adjustments and wrestle a different match than the one we saw in Vegas.

The roster additions continue to roll in for Real American Freestyle (RAF)! Today, RAF announced that they’ve signed two-time NCAA All-American Matt Ramos. Ramos recently finished his collegiate career at Purdue and will go down as one of the top wrestlers in Boilermaker history. Ramos is best known for his shocking upset of three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee of Iowa in the 2023 NCAA semifinals. Ramos would go on to finish as the national runner-up that year. In 2025, he got on the podium for a second time and was fourth. In each of his last three trips to the NCAA Tournament, Ramos earned a top-four seed in the 125 lb weight class. When Ramos earned All-American honors in 2025, he became the first Purdue wrestler since 2006 to get on the podium twice. His 2023 NCAA finals appearance was also the first by a Purdue wrestler since 2006. He’ll finish his career with the third-best winning percentage in Purdue history. Ramos also did some of his best work in Vegas at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. He won the event in 2024 and placed four times (1,7,2,8). Earlier this offseason, Purdue announced that Ramos will join the Boilermaker coaching staff for the 2025-26 season. He is also set to represent the Philippines on the international stage while chasing Olympic and World titles. Ramos does have a strong freestyle pedigree. He was a Cadet world champion in 2018 at 51 kg. In 2022, he won the US Open at 57 kg. RAF’s inaugural event will take place on August 30th from Cleveland, Ohio. More information about tickets and an actual card will be found here as the information is released. With Ramos’ addition, the RAF roster now looks like this: Ben Askren Kennedy Blades Aaron Brooks David Carr Kyle Dake Austin Gomez Seth Gross Wyatt Hendrickson Trent Hidlay Parker Keckeisen Will Lewan Matt Ramos Zahid Valencia Evan Wick Real Woods

All year we’ve tracked women’s collegiate commitments and one noticeable omission from the recruiting list throughout the year was King University. Until yesterday, they had not announced any signings from the Class of 2025. King used Instagram to roll out an impressive list of signees for their incoming freshmen class. Most notable is Isis France of Wyoming Seminary, who is originally from Arizona. France was a three-time National Prep finalist and one-time champion. Over the past two summers, France has captured a national title in Fargo, in 2023 at the U16 level and in 2024 as a junior. In 2024, France was also a runner-up at the World Team Trials in the U17 age group. France finished the 2024-25 campaign ranked #12 at the 140 lb weight class via USA Wrestling. Earlier this year, France was ranked #13 overall in FloWrestling's Class of 2025 rankings. One of France’s high school teammates, Amelia Murphy will join her in Bristol. Murphy attended Wyoming Seminary but is originally from Indiana. Murphy is a two-time National Prep finalist, who won the title at 107 lbs in 2023. She also had a fourth-place finish at the U17 Trials in 2024. Murphy finished the year ranked #8 at the 115 lb weight class by USAW and was #95 overall by Flo. Another highly ranked incoming freshman comes all the way across the country from Davis, Utah and she is Kristina Kent. Kent was a four-time Utah state champion and finished third in Fargo last summer at the Junior division while competing at 100 lbs. She’s ranked seventh in the country at 105 lbs and #27 overall by Flo. Jada Pichardo was a 2025 New Jersey state champion and placed at the state tournament four times for Pennsauken High School. Before her senior year, she finished sixth at NHSCA Nationals, and during the school year, she was fourth at the Beast of the East. Pichardo has appeared in the USAW national rankings but is not in the latest version. In-state recruit Jo Kolozsy comes to King from Montgomery Central High School. She placed twice at the Tennessee state tournament- third and fourth. Kolozsy should compete at either 131 or 138 lbs for the Tornado. King has finished in the top five at the NCWWC National Championships in every year of the tournament's existence. They were fifth at the 2025 tournament with seven All-Americans. For a look at King’s recruiting class: Click Here For all of the 2025 women’s commitments: Click Here

Wyoming Seminary

Davis

Wyoming Seminary

Montgomery Central