InterMat Staff

Arizona State splits duals Arizona State fell to Iowa State 28-10 with a handful of wrestlers watching from the sidelines. Richard Figueroa and Kyle Parco rested while Cohlton Schultz made his season debut. The Sun Devils only winners included Julian Chlebove winning 13-3 against Ethan Perryman and Kaleb Lakin defeating Zach Redding by pin. Jacori Teemer lost 9-5 to Cody Chittum and Schultz fell 4-3 to Yonger Bastida. The Sun Devils responded with a 43-0 victory against CSU Bakersfield. Chlebove, Teemer and Tony Negron won by pin while Schultz won by tech fall. CSU Bakersfield shut out by ASU The Roadrunners lost six of the ten matches by bonus-point deficits. Even though the Roadrunners failed to win a match, Richard Castro-Sandoval battled ASU’s Triston Mascarenas to a 5-4 loss. In addition, the Roadrunners’ Guillermo Escobedo nearly defeated ASU’s Maxwell Wilner 3-2. Oregon State falls to Nittany Lions The Beavers hosted Penn State in one of the top duals over the weekend. However, the Beavers fell short of an upset, losing 36-3 to the Nittany Lions. The Beavers lone win came in a familiar matchup. Trey Munoz won at 184 pounds against former Cal Poly All-American Bernie Truax 5-2. Besides the Munoz win, the Beavers had three tight matches. Cleveland Belton was taken down in sudden victory and lost 8-5 to Beau Bartlett, Nash Singleton lost 4-1 to Tyler Kasak and Isaiah Crosby lost 10-8 to top-ranked Levi Haines. A positive note is that Oregon State had a record-setting 8,540 fans in attendance during the PSU dual.

From time to time, during the middle or end of a season, you may hear a coach say something like, “They aren’t freshmen anymore.” However, the phrase is uttered, it’s meant to illustrate the fact that they’ve been with the team, practicing for months, experienced multiple competitions, and need to come up big for the team. Maybe some mental and physical errors early on in their season can be tolerated and learned from, but at some point coaches need results. It just so happened that a handful of talented freshmen earned huge wins over the last week. Wins that may change the trajectory of their entire careers. After beating an All-American (or a ranked wrestler), beating another one doesn’t seem like such a daunting task. They have that tangible evidence that the work they’ve put in has paid off, in terms of wins and losses. Not everyone is in that same boat. Some freshmen were thought to be really good, but just didn’t have a high-level opponent to validate such expectations. The schedule finally broke right so they got tested. However the scenario, during the last week of action, plenty of freshmen shined brighter than ever before in the 2023-24 season. And they all did it during a couple of day span. Here’s more about their big wins: Cody Chittum (Iowa State) In our “27 Key Matches to Watch This Weekend” article, we stated that “Chittum has been good thus far, but is still looking for a first signature win.” I think beating two-time All-American Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) qualifies as a “signature win.” Chittum finished his weekend with a football-score victory over California Baptist’s Chaz Hallmark (31-11). That loss was Teemer's first in a dual setting since January 2021 and only the fourth of his career. Braeden Davis (Penn State) It’s been well-documented that Penn State hasn’t been able to find a long-term answer at 125 lb since the graduation of Nico Megaludis in 2016. Maybe, just maybe, they’ve found it with Michigan native Braeden Davis. Davis came into the weekend with an 8-0 record and had passed every test presented to him. That trend continued and he even took it up a notch with an 11-6 victory over 2022 NCAA All-American Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State). We’re approaching Davis’ fifth date of competition so a decision about his status as the Nittany Lions starter should come soon. TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) The rest of the wrestlers we’ll mention are already in the rankings and/or were huge nationally-ranked recruits. TK Davis is a true freshman for Gardner-Webb who appears to be in the midst of a redshirt season. He entered the weekend with a 4-7 record competing only in tournaments. In Davis’ dual debut for Gardner-Webb, he stunned #28 Marlon Yarbrough (Virginia) with a first-period fall. That victory put Gardner-Webb up 9-0 after two matches against the Cavaliers. Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational was the site for Ryder Downey’s breakout when he earned wins over Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) and Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern). He took it up a notch over the weekend and defeated CKLV champion Peyton Robb, 6-5. It was Robb’s first regular season loss since February 2022. Tyler Kasak (Penn State) With the injury to All-American Shayne Van Ness, Penn State had a hole in the middle of the lineup at 149 lbs. In steps true freshman Tyler Kasak, for now, possibly for the rest of the season. Kasak competed in the Black Knight Invitational at 141 lbs, but has moved up for two duals since then. The most recent came at Oregon State, where Kasak knocked off redshirt freshman Nash Singleton, who was a sixth-place finisher at the CKLV. Sergio Lemley (Michigan) Thursday night saw Michigan travel to the Sanford Pentagon to take on South Dakota State for the first time in program history. Though the dual was ultimately a loss for Michigan, one of the bright spots was the performance of the Wolverines' two true freshmen. The first of which was Sergio Lemley who used a late score to knock off two-time All-American Clay Carlson. Since his debut, Lemley’s only losses have come to opponents ranked in the top ten. Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) Friday night the rest of the 165 lb weight class was put on notice by redshirt freshman Mitchell Mesenbrink. Coming into Friday’s dual, Mesenbrink had a perfect 9-0 record; however, he hadn’t faced anyone ranked higher than 16th in the nation. That changed as a match against the defending Pac-12 champion, #10 Matt Olguin (Oregon State), hung in the balance. Mesenbrink wasted no time racking up 17 points in a tech fall that took only 3:46 to amass. Mesenbrink is now solidified as a contender at 165 lbs. Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) We’ve had some glimpses at just how good Meyer Shapiro could be thus far, but on Friday night the picture became much clearer. Shapiro crushed #12 Paddy Gallagher with a 15-0 tech fall. Two days later, was the rematch of his much-anticipated CKLV bout against two-time All-American Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). Unfortunately, this match ended prematurely as Andonian suffered a gruesome-looking injury during a prolonged scramble. Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) One of the sparks for Oklahoma State during their 22-12 win over NC State Friday night came from leadoff hitter Troy Spratley. Spratley got the Cowboys on the board with a 7-3 win over Jakob Camacho, who has spent time as the number one-ranked wrestler in the nation at 125 lbs. Before beating Camacho, Spratley’s signature win was handing Midlands champion Luke Stanich his only loss of the year. Brayden Thompson (Oklahoma State) The true freshman that shine for Oklahoma State was their 174 lber Brayden Thompson. At the time of the 174 lb bout, the NC State dual was still in question with the Cowboys holding a 13-7 lead. Thompson and the Wolfpack’s Alex Faison were involved with a seven-minute stalemate, of sorts. Each wrestler had an escape after nine minutes of wrestling and needed rideouts to decide the bout. Thompson got another escape and appeared to have a takedown, via cradle, and potentially backpoints; however, that was deemed after the whistle. He would ride Faison long enough to get riding time on his side in the second :30 period.

The first weekend of 2024 saw plenty of action in the Big 12. Oklahoma State took out top-five NC State on the road, firmly establishing themselves as a trophy contender this season. South Dakota State beat a shorthanded Michigan team. Iowa State went 2-0 on the weekend, while Northern Iowa and Wyoming had a tri with Nebraska. Air Force (Overall: 2-2; Conference: 0-2): F&M Open Brackets Air Force sent a number of wrestlers to the Franklin and Marshall Open and came back with one champ and one on the podium. True freshman Josh Cordio made the semis while unseeded and finished fourth. Wyatt Hendrickson dominated his way to a title with five pins and a 9-3 decision over Taye Ghadiali. The only other typical starters were Joe Fernau (149) and Calvin Sund (174), who missed out on placing on the day. Next Up: Air Force wrestles Big 12 opponent Wyoming on January 12th on the road. California Baptist (Overall: 3-5; Conference: 0-2): Dual Results The Lancers competed against the Cyclones in a Big 12 dual. California Baptist won one match at 133 where Hunter Leake beat Ethan Perryman. Eli Griffin dropped a close one-takedown match to Kysen Terukina at 125. Justin Phillips had a close match against MJ Gaitan, but a late score by Gaitan won him the match. Next Up: California Baptist competes against Northern Colorado on January 13th at home. Iowa State (Overall: 8-1; Conference: 1-0): Dual Results (ASU)|Dual Results (CBU) Iowa State had a dominant weekend, beating Arizona State 28-10 and following it up with their first Big 12 win of the season over California Baptist 39-3. The Cyclones won 17 of 20 matches on the weekend. All eight typical starters went 2-0 on the weekend, including Echmendia and Carr scoring bonus points in each. Ethan Perryman started at 133 but went 0-2 while Zach Redding was quickly pinned by Kaleb Larkin. Chittum scored one of the biggest wins, taking out Jacori Teemer 9-5. Yonger Bastida took out Cohlton Schultz with an early takedown; Bastida now has an absurd 60:1 takedown ratio this season. Against California Baptist the team dominated with bonus point wins from Cody Chittum, David Carr, Will Feldkamp, Yonger Bastida, and Anthony Echemendia. Next Up: Iowa State duals against Utah Valley on January 12 and a rematch against Pittsburgh on January 14, both at home. Missouri (Overall: 6-0; Conference: 3-0): No Competition. Next Up: The team hits the road for a long trip to wrestle Stanford on January 10th. North Dakota State (Overall: 1-6; Conference: 0-1): No Competition. Next Up: The team had a dual against Oregon State canceled, so the team doesn’t compete again until January 20th against California Baptist. Northern Colorado (Overall: 7-1; Conference: 0-1): No Competition. Next Up: The Bears compete on the road against Cal Poly and California Baptist on January 12th and 13th. Northern Iowa (Overall: 2-4; Conference: 1-0): Dual Results Northern Iowa had a road tri-dual, taking on Nebraska and Wyoming. Starting against Wyoming the Panthers won eight matches. Trever Anderson dropped a close 4-0 decision to Jore Volk while Adam Allard lost 7-2 to Gabe Willochell. Wyatt Voelker returned to the lineup and notched a 5-3 decision win over tough true freshman Joey Novak. The team also got bonus point wins from Cael Happel, Ryder Downey, RJ Weston, Jared Simma, Parker Keckeisen, and Tyrell Gordon. Against Nebraska, the team ended up dropping a criteria match, 18-17. Trever Anderson again dropped a close match to a top-eight opponent, losing in overtime to Caleb Smith. Happel scored his second win over Brock Hardy this season, with an overtime takedown for an 11-8 win. The Panthers got a big upset at 157 lbs, with Ryder Downey beating Peyton Robb 6-5. Wyatt Voelker was pinned by Silas Allred in a neutral danger position. Tyrell Gordon scored a major decision to tie up the dual, but Nebraska won on criteria. Next Up: Northern Iowa hosts Utah Valley on January 13th. Oklahoma State (Overall: 5-0; Conference: 2-0): Dual Results The Cowboys scored their biggest win of the season, taking out top-five NC State on the road 22-12. Troy Spratley and Teague Travis lead the way with upsets over Jakob Camacho and Ed Scott respectively. Since making the move to 157, Travis is undefeated and now has a top-five win on the resume. Tagen Jamison lost a heartbreaker late in the match to Ryan Jack, while Jordan Williams lost a one-sided major decision to Jackson Arrington. Daton Fix moved to 3-0 on the year in impressive fashion, majoring All-American Kai Orine. Dustin Plott and Dylan Fishback had an entertaining back-and-forth, with Plott taking the match with a 13-8 win. Rumors are that Daton Fix could be making a descent to 125, something to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Next Up: Oklahoma State has two more road duals starting January 12th against Pitt then West Virginia on January 14th. Oklahoma (Overall: 4-2; Conference: 2-2): No Competition. Next Up: The Sooners compete in the Virginia Duals, wrestling Navy on January 12th followed by Wisconsin and Virginia on the 13th. South Dakota State (Overall: 4-2; Conference: 0-0): Dual Results South Dakota State scored their biggest dual win of the season with a 22-17 dual win over Michigan. While it wasn’t the Wolverines typical squad, SDSU still scored solid wins. Tanner Jordan won a regular decision, while Derrick Cardinal, Cael Swensen, Bennett Berge, and Tanner Sloan scored bonus points. Berge scored a ranked win over Jaden Bullock, his first of the season. Cade DeVos went to overtime with Shane Griffith, dropping a 4-1 decision. Clay Carlson made his dual debut, but lost a 6-4 decision to true freshman Sergio Lemley. Next Up: South Dakota State competes at the Virginia duals, taking on Kent State on January 12th followed by Navy and Virginia on January 13th. Utah Valley (Overall: 1-0; Conference: 0-0): No Competition. Next Up: The Wolverines wrestle Iowa State for their first Big 12 dual on January 12th followed by Northern Iowa on January 13th. West Virginia (Overall: 8-1; Conference: 2-1): Dual Results Competing on UFC Fight Pass, the Mountaineers needed some late heroics to take out Columbia 22-21. Down by four with one match left, Michael Wolfgram scored a 15-0 tech fall to secure the tech and the dual win. Earlier in the dual were wins from Jett Strickenberger, Ty Watters, Alex Hornfeck, and Peyton Hall. Strickenberger competed at 133, while Jace Schafer was pinned at 125. Alex Hornfeck and Caleb Dowling went back and forth for the starting spot last year and could be doing the same now. The team was missing Jordan Titus and Brody Conley in this dual as well. Now 8-1 on the year, it is the first time the team has won eight of its nine duals since 1990. Next Up: West Virginia wrestles Columbia on the road on January 7th. Wyoming (Overall: 3-5; Conference: 1-2): Dual Results Competing in a tri against Northern Iowa and Nebraska the Cowboys went 0-2. They lost to UNI 36-6 and Nebraska 43-3. Jore Volk had an impressive day, beating Trever Anderson and Caleb Smith. Gabe Willochell was the only other Wyoming wrestler to win, beating Adam Allard. Next Up: Wyoming hosts Air Force on January 12th for another Big 12 dual.

Ben Pasiuk photo courtesy of Tony DiMarco Several student-athletes across the country will end their wrestling careers after the 2023-2024 season to serve their country. Wrestlers go into college focusing on obtaining their degrees and establishing successful wrestling careers, but these wrestlers in particular are going after those accolades while preparing for their future careers in the United States Military. Wrestling and the military have had an excellent relationship. In fact, Military servicemen and servicewomen hand our wrestlers stop signs after winning Senior Nationals, US Open, and Fargo while sponsoring these tournaments. Soldier Salute and Armed Forces Wrestling Championship are also examples of how wrestling and the military support one another. The two acts joining forces are showing appreciation for our men and women serving our country and representing our country as USA athletes. Beyond the mat and spectacle, many wrestlers will grapple with public service and military service displaying true courage and dedication in the face of daunting challenges. This article aims to highlight our senior student-athletes who will serve off the mat, embodying the essence of heroism in the real world upon a 2024 graduation. Virginia Military Institute Seniors: David Diaz: Plans to use his Chemistry Degree in the civilian sector or pursue graduate school. Brian Jackson: “Following graduation, I will be commissioned into the US Army as an officer.” He plans to pursue law school and eventually become a Judge Advocate Officer. Reid Hampton: Following graduation will be commissioned into the US Navy. He will be working in the Surface Warfare Community pursuing his interest in ship weapon systems. After his service, he plans to use his degree in Mechanical Engineering. Fred Junko: Will graduate with a Civil Engineering Degree. He plans to enter the civilization workforce using his degree. Hopes to stay involved in the sport of wrestling as a coach. Ethan Barrett: Will graduate with a Mechanical Engineering Degree. Plans to attend graduate school to study in the aerospace sector. Noah Roulo: Plans to attend graduate school and possibly continue to wrestle. Isaac Dolph: Has secured a position with BWX Technologies working in their Nuclear Operations Security Group. Josh Yost: Will graduate with a business and economics degree - plans on having a position in construction management. Travis Fridley: Will graduate with a degree in Psychology. Plans to enter the Virginia State Police. Tyler Mousaw: Plans to graduate with a Business and Economics degree, and pursue a position using his degree. The Citadel Seniors: Ben Stemmet: “I will be working at an investment bank. I have already received an offer and signed the contract with Guggenheim Partners in Atlanta. I will be working for the Technology Mergers and Acquisitions group.” Joe Clement: “My plans after graduation will be to first commission into the Army as a second lieutenant and then get a job in New York doing medical sales while serving in the Army Reserve.” Ryan Duffelmeyer: “I am graduating with a civil engineering degree. After graduating I will be commissioned into the Army where I will serve for a minimum of 8 years. I want to branch infantry and serve as an infantry officer. Eventually, I plan on getting involved with anti-sex trafficking operations in my career outside of the Army.” Tucker Allen: “My plans after this year are to get my Masters in Finance or possibly something else along those lines and wrestle for my fifth year. Either here at The Citadel or anywhere else if opportunities present themselves. After that, I plan to pursue Law School and if possible use my last year of eligibility in my first year at law school. I am going to get my masters just to have and also be able to wrestle one more year. As well as use that time to finish preparing and take the LSAT exam.” Josh Stillings: Find a job in the finance sector in and around the Philadelphia area, specifically as a financial advisor, or as an accountant. “I will also continue to coach wrestling at the same club I grew up in called SEPA Wrestling where we coach kids K-12.” West Point Seniors: Logan Brown CDT: “My post-graduation plans are to be an Athletic Intern for a West Point Athletics Program for the first 6 months after graduation ending in December of 2024. Then in January of 2025, I will go to BOLC where I learn the job to specifically be a Field Artillery officer in Lawton, OK. After BOLC, I hope to stay in Lawton, OK for the rest of my 5 years or go where the Army needs me if I cannot. Non-militarily, I will be getting married in June 2024. As for wrestling, I don’t plan to compete after this year, but hopefully, if the opportunity arises I will get to coach my kids one day or help out a local wrestling club just to stay active in the sport!” Dominic Carone CDT: “I plan to branch Field Artillery or Engineers. I would like to be a paratrooper and post with the 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina. As of now, I plan on staying in the Army for 5-8 years but we will see how everything plays out down the road.” Tanner Craig CDT: “After graduation, I am going to be an athletic intern for the wrestling team for six months. I branched signal with detail in the infantry. So for the first three years, I will be infantry. After being an AI I will go to IBLOC then to ranger school and airborne school.” Daniel Lawrence CDT: “Upon graduating I’ll be an Engineer Officer and hope to become a Dive Officer. I also have personal goals of going to Ranger school and SAPPER school while in the Army. Currently, I’m not sure how long I plan to stay in the Army after my commitment is up. I do, however, hope to go to graduate school to earn a degree in an engineering field. Currently, I do not plan to wrestle competitively after graduating from West Point.” Nathan Lukez CDT: “After graduation, I do not plan to compete anymore. As for my military career, it’s currently up in the air. Assuming my cross-commission gets approved, I will be commissioned as a 2LT into the United States Marine Corps. I have always wanted to serve as a Marine. My father and two uncles were Marines, and I would like to carry on the family lineage of service in the Corps. If afforded the privilege to cross-commission, I am hoping to fly for the Marine Corps, ideally jets. I have always had an interest in aviation since I was a boy. If this process works out, I will attend The Basic School in Quantico, VA, and then report to Pensacola for primary flight training. Marines who I have spoken to have said they coached their sport in their free time at local high schools. I would like to do the same and get into coaching while I have the free time available.” Tyler Morris CDT: “My plans post-graduation are to branch infantry, and in the upcoming month we will all find out where we will be posting to (which base we will start at). All of us will get a month or two off after graduation. I plan on sticking around West Point to help out with the Summer Camps and give back to the West Point community. After that, I will be going to the Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) for my selected branch, IBOLC. After that, I plan on going to Airborne and Ranger School.” Benjamin Pasiuk CDT: “After I graduate from West Point, I plan to branch Field Artillery and if given the opportunity AI at West Point for the first six months, which is where I would be an additional instructor for the wrestling team.” Matthew Williams CDT: “I chose to go into the infantry, so after graduation, I will attend IBOLC (Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course) and go into my unit after that. I might go into BJJ, but other than that I am not planning on continuing my wrestling career.” Thomas Deck, Mark Montgomery, Julian Sanchez, and Dillon Sheehy are also a part of the West Point graduating class of 2024 but were not available to comment. Navy Seniors: Grant Treaster: Navy Pilot Chase Caprella: Naval Officer Tyler Hunt: Marine Air Luke Lucerne: Marine Ground Christian Hodges: Naval Officer Ben Bancroft: Navy Pilot Andrew Cerniglia: Marine Ground Zander Manuel: Marine Ground David Key: Marine Air Grady Griess: Navy Pilot Christian Bryant: Submarine Warfare Zane Chapman: Marine Ground Rudy Rodriguez: Submarine Warfare Air Force Seniors: Noah Blake: Contracting Wyatt Hendrickson: Air Force Acquisitions Garrett Henigin: Pilot Garrett Kuchan: Medical School at Virginia Tech Crew Squires (mgr): Space Force Acquisitions Giano Petrucelli: Space Force Acquisitions Cal Sund: Air Battle Manager Sam Wolf: Pilot Jeremiah Cronk (mgr): Intelligence

Saturday’s Dual Results Northern Iowa 36 Wyoming 6 125 - Jore Volk (Wyoming) dec Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) 4-0 133 - Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) dec Garrett Ricks (Wyoming) 4-1 141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) tech Stockton O’Brien (Wyoming) 21-6 149 - Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) dec Adam Allard (Northern Iowa) 8-2 157 - Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) tech Cooper Voorhees (Wyoming) 16-0 165 - RJ Weston (Northern Iowa) fall Brett McIntosh (Wyoming) 6:22 174 - Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) tech Kevin Anderson (Wyoming) 15-0 184 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) tech Tyce Raddon (Wyoming) 18-2 197 - Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) dec Joey Novak (Wyoming) 5-3 285 - Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) maj Mason Ding (Wyoming) 9-0 Nebraska 44 Wyoming 3 125 - Jore Volk (Wyoming) dec Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 5-1 133 - Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) dec Cooper Birdwell (Wyoming) 7-5 141 - Brock Hardy (Nebraska) maj Cole Brooks (Wyoming) 15-3 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) fall Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) 1:25 157 - Peyton Robb (Nebraska) tech Cooper Voorhees (Wyoming) 18-1 165 - Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) tech Brett McIntosh (Wyoming) 22-5 174 - Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) fall Kevin Anderson (Wyoming) :50 184 - Elise Brown Ton (Nebraska) dec Tyce Raddon (Wyoming) 10-3 197 - Silas Allred (Nebraska) fall Joey Novak (Wyoming) 2:15 285 - Nash Hutmacher (Nebraska) fall Mason Ding (Wyoming) 2:07 Nebraska 18 Northern Iowa 17 125 - Caleb Smith (Nebraska) dec Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) 4-1SV 133 - Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) dec Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) 8-1 141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 11-8SV 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec Cael Rahnavardi (Northern Iowa) 7-1 157 - Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) dec Peyton Robb (Nebraska) 6-5 165 - Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) dec RJ Weston (Northern Iowa) 6-3 174 - Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) dec Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) 3-1 184 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) tech Elise Brown Ton (Nebraska) 17-2 197 - Silas Allred (Nebraska) fall Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) 5:53 285 - Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) maj Harley Andrews (Nebraska) 9-1 Virginia 22 Gardner-Webb 19 125 - Drew West (Gardner-Webb) dec Kyle Montaperto (Virginia) 2-0 133 - TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) fall Marlon Yarbrough (Virginia) 2:19 141 - Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) dec Jack Gioffre (Virginia) 11-5 149 - Zach Price (Gardner-Webb) dec Erik Roggie (Virginia) 8-2 157 - Nick Sanko (Virginia) maj Tyler Brignola (Gardner-Webb) 11-3 165 - Mason Stefanelli (Virginia) tech Tyler Hicks (Gardner-Webb) 19-2 174 - Justin McCoy (Virginia) tech Samuel Mora (Gardner-Webb) 20-5 184 - Jha’Quan Anderson (Gardner-Webb) maj Griffin Gammel (Virginia) 10-1 197 - Colden Dorfman (Virginia) dec Joshua McCutheon (Gardner-Webb) 6-4 285 - Ryan Catka (Virginia) tech Peyton McComas (Gardner-Webb) 20-5 George Mason 18 Virginia 17 125 - Kyle Montperto (Virginia) dec Ben Monn (George Mason) 3-0 133 - Keyveon Roller (Virginia) dec Shawn Nonaka (George Mason) 10-3 141 - Kyren Butler (Virginia) maj Nathan Higley (George Mason) 18-7 149 - Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) dec Erik Roggie (Virginia) 5-4 157 - DJ McGee (George Mason) dec Nick Sanko (Virginia) 7-2 165 - Evan Maag (George Mason) dec Mason Stefanelli (Virginia) 13-7 174 - Justin McCoy (Virginia) maj Paul Pierce (George Mason) 9-1 184 - Malachi Duvall (George Mason) fall Griffin Gammel (Virginia) 7:00 197 - Tyler Kocak (George Mason) dec Colden Dorfman (Virginia) 15-10 285 - Ryan Catka (Virginia) dec Chad Nix (George Mason) 7-3 Michigan State 30 Ohio 11 125 - Tristan Lujan (Michigan State) dec Ryan Meek (Ohio) 8-3 133 - Mason Brugh (Ohio) dec Andrew Hampton (Michigan State) 5-2SV 141 - Jordan Hamdan (Michigan State) maj Aidan Wasza (Ohio) 12-4 149 - Derek Raike (Ohio) maj Braden Stauffenberg (Michigan State) 11-3 157 - Chase Saldate (Michigan State) fall Daniel Segura (Ohio) 2:33 165 - Caleb Fish (Michigan State) dec Garrett Thompson (Ohio) 7-1 174 - Sal Perrine (Ohio) maj Marty Larkin (Michigan State) 15-2 184 - Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) maj Zayne Lehman (Ohio) 8-0 197 - Kael Wisler (Michigan State) maj Austin Starr (Ohio) 14-3 285 - Josh Terrill (Michigan State) fall Jordan Greer (Ohio) 6:05 Rutgers 22 Penn 14 125 - Dean Peterson (Rutgers) dec Ryan Miller (Penn) 10-4 133 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) dec Michael Colaiocco (Penn) 9-8 141 - Mitch Moore (Rutgers) dec CJ Composto (Penn) 5-0 149 - Michael Cetta (Rutgers) dec Andy Troczynski (Penn) 9-3 157 - Lucas Revano (Penn) dec Andy Clark (Rutgers) 10-7 165 - Kaya Sement (Penn) dec Luke Gayer (Rutgers) 10-4 174 - Nick Incontrera (Penn) tech Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) 21-4 184 - Max Hale (Penn) dec Brian Soldano (Rutgers) 4-2 197 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) tech Cole Urbas (Penn) 18-1 285 - Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) tech John Stout (Penn) 21-5 Sunday’s Dual Results NC State 43 Hofstra 5 125 - Jarrett Trombley (NC State) maj Dylan Acevedo-Switzer (Hofstra) 9-0 133 - Jacob Cox (NC State) FFT 141 - Ryan Jack (NC State) tech Alex Turley (Hofstra) 20-4 149 - Noah Tapia (Hofstra) tech Trevor Kantor (NC State) 20-3 157 - Ed Scott (NC State) fall Jurius Clark (Hofstra) 1:30 165 - Derek Fields (NC State) tech Matthew Rogers (Hofstra) 19-4 174 - Alex Faison (NC State) tech Eric Shindel (Hofstra) 21-5 184 - Dylan Reinert (NC State) maj Will Conlon (Hofstra) 11-3 197 - Brock Delsignore (NC State) maj Nik Miller (Hofstra) 19-7 285 - Owen Trephan (NC State) maj Keaton Kluever (Hofstra) 11-3 SIU Edwardsville 24 Buffalo 9 125 - Davian Guanajuato (SIU Edwardsville) dec Max Elton (Buffalo) 7-2 133 - Marcel Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) dec Tommy Maddox (Buffalo) 5-2 141 - Eric Almarinez (SIU Edwardsville) maj Caleb Brooks (Buffalo) 15-3 149 - Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville) dec Kaleb Burgess (Buffalo) 5-0 157 - Brock Woodcock (SIU Edwardsville) InjDef Ty Raines (Buffalo) 165 - Hunter Shaut (Buffalo) dec Bradley Gillum (SIU Edwardsville) 5-2 174 - Marcus Petite (Buffalo) dec Dominic Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) 9-4 184 - Deron Pullium (SIU Edwardsville) dec Chase Kranitz (Buffalo) 4-1SV 197 - Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) dec Ryan Yarnell (SIU Edwardsville) 7-4 285 - Bryson Buhk (SIU Edwardsville) dec Robbie Unruh (Buffalo) 5-1 Rutgers 31 Rider 5 125 - Tyler Klinsky (Rider) dec Dean Peterson (Rutgers) 9-5 133 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) dec Richie Koehler (Rider) 10-4 141 - Mitch Moore (Rutgers) fall Will Betancourt (Rider) 4:14 149 - Michael Cetta (Rutgers) dec Quinn Kinner (Rider) 8-6 157 - Colton Washleski (Rider) dec Andy Clark (Rutgers) 4-1 165 - Tony White (Rutgers) dec Jake Silverstein (Rider) 4-1 174 - Jackson Turley (Rutgers) fall Michael Wilson (Rider) 1:05 184 - Brian Soldano (Rutgers) dec Isaac Dean (Rider) 7-1 197 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) maj Azeem Bell (Rider) 17-5 285 - Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) maj David Szuba (Rider) 11-2 Cornell 24 Virginia Tech 13 125 - Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech) dec Brett Ungar (Cornell) 4-3 133 - Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) maj Ethan Qureshi (Cornell) 14-3 141 - Vince Cornella (Cornell) dec Tom Crook (Virginia Tech) 4-2 149 - Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 9-2 157 - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) InjDef Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) maj Connor Brady (Virginia Tech) 10-0 174 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) dec Benny Baker (Cornell) 9-3 184 - Chris Foca (Cornell) maj Dakota Howard (Virginia Tech) 12-4 197 - Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) maj Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) 11-1 285 - Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) dec Jim Mullen (Virginia Tech) 6-3TB West Virginia 22 Columbia 21 125 - Nick Babin (Columbia) fall Jace Schafer (West Virginia) 5:57 133 - Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) fall Yianni Vines (Columbia) 5:46 141 - Kai Owen (Columbia) dec Sam Hillegas (West Virginia) 10-8 149 - Ty Watters (West Virginia) maj Richard Fedalen (Columbia) 10-1 157 - Alex Hornfeck (West Virginia) dec Jaden Le (Columbia) 8-4 165 - Peyton Hall (West Virginia) maj Andrew Garr (Columbia) 17-3 174 - Lennox Wolak (Columbia) tech Jack Blumer (West Virginia) 23-7 184 - Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) maj Dennis Robin (West Virginia) 12-2 197 - Jack Wehmeyer (Columbia) dec Austin Cooley (West Virginia) 4-3 285 - Michael Wolfgram (West Virginia) tech Billy McChesney (Columbia) 15-0 Arizona State 43 CSU Bakersfield 0 125 - Tristan Mascarenas (Arizona State) dec Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSU Bakersfield) 5-4 133 - Julian Chlebove (Arizona State) fall Santino Sanchez (CSU Bakersfield) 2:20 141 - Cody Foote (Arizona State) maj Michael Folch (CSU Bakersfield) 12-1 149 - Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State) maj Brock Rogers (CSU Bakersfield) 10-1 157 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) fall Devyn Flores-Che (CSU Bakersfield) :16 165 - Max Wilner (Arizona State) dec Guillermo Escobedo (CSU Bakersfield) 3-2 174 - Cael Valencia (Arizona State) dec Augustine Garcia (CSU Bakersfield) 5-1 184 - Tony Negron (Arizona State) fall Braden Smelser (CSU Bakersfield) 3:49 197 - Jacob Meissner (Arizona State) dec Ryan Arrington (CSU Bakersfield) 8-2 285 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) tech Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) 17-2 Iowa State 39 California Baptist 3 125 - Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) dec Eli Griffin (California Baptist) 4-2 133 - Hunter Leake (California Baptist) dec Ethan Perryman (Iowa State) 4-0 141 - Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) tech Emilio Trujillo (California Baptist) 20-3 149 - Zach Redding (Iowa State) dec Dayne Morton (California Baptist) 5-3 157 - Cody Chittum (Iowa State) tech Chaz Hallmark (California Baptist) 30-11 165 - David Carr (Iowa State) fall Timothy Cowan (California Baptist) 1:02 174 - MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) dec Justin Phillips (California Baptist) 10-9 184 - Will Feldkamp (Iowa State) fall Nathan Haas (California Baptist) 1:02 197 - Julien Broderson (Iowa State) dec Eli Sheeran (California Baptist) 7-2 285 - Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) tech Max Acciardi (California Baptist) 21-6

The last month or so has seen some excellent individual tournaments at the high school level. This span concluded with the best tournament out west, the Doc Buchanan Invitational, which took place on Friday and Saturday. The Doc B featured an incredibly deep field with most of California’s best teams, along with plenty of other top teams from the West Coast and all points in between. As we typically do with high-profile high school tournaments, we’ve singled out the wrestlers who have committed to compete at the next level and tracked their progress at the Doc B. These wrestlers have been grouped together by their future schools. Air Force Jack Estevez - Poway, California: 3-2 (160 lbs) Gianni Maldonado - Lake Gibson, Florida: Seventh Place (160 lbs) American Leo Maestas - Clovis West, California: 3-2 (135 lbs) - Class of 2025 Arizona State Nicholas Sahakian - St. John Bosco, California: Runner-Up (288 lbs) Army West Point Joseph Antonio - St. John Bosco, California: Runner-Up (168 lbs) - Class of 2025 Mike Calcagno - Immaculate Conception, Illinois: Fourth Place (218 lbs) Primo Catalano - Chaminade, California: Eighth Place (178 lbs) Bryce Luna: St. Francis, California: 4-2 (135 lbs) Ryland Whitworth - Fountain Valley, California: Seventh Place (218 lbs) Brown Khimari Manns - St. Edward, Ohio: 4-2 (129 lbs) - Class of 2025 Moses Mirabel - Gilroy, California: Fifth Place (147 lbs) California Baptist Paul Kelly - Poway, California: Champion (141 lbs) Sonny Kling - Canyon Springs, California: Champion (193 lbs) Remy Murillo - Canyon Springs, California: Fourth Place (135 lbs) Cal Poly Joe Buck - Clovis, California: Fourth Place (178 lbs) Eugenio Franco - Corona del Mar, California: Seventh Place (193 lbs) Jagger French - Del Oro, California: 2-2 (147 lbs) Carlos Garcia - Oakdale, California: 3-2 (178 lbs) Jake Honey - Bakersfield, California: Fifth Place (178 lbs) Anthony Lucio - Fountain Valley, California: 2-2 (129 lbs) Alek Van Bebber - Kingsburg, California: 3-2 (141 lbs) Hercules Windrath - Fountain Valley, California: 3-2 (141 lbs) Chadron State Mason Villwok - Elkhorn, Nebraska: 2-2 (193 lbs) Columbia Robert Platt - Poway, California: Runner-Up (218 lbs) Cornell Elijah Cortez - Gilroy, California: Champion (135 lbs) - Class of 2025 Isaiah Cortez - Gilroy, California: Champion (129 lbs) - Class of 2025 Cash Henderson - Woods Cross, Utah: Third Place (218 lbs) Illinois Ryan Bennett - St. Edward, Ohio: Champion (147 lbs) Lehigh Jadon Skellenger - Bishop Kelley, Idaho: Fourth Place (147 lbs) Mary Michael Murillo - Bakersfield, California: 2-2 (218 lbs) Maryland Abram Cline - Granite Hills, California: 2-2 (116 lbs) Michigan Brock Mantanona - Palm Desert, California: Champion (153 lbs) Missouri Mack Mauger - Blackfoot, Idaho: Seventh Place (123 lbs) Jace Roller - Bixby, Oklahoma: Sixth Place (141 lbs) Gage Walker - Bixby, Oklahoma: Third Place (129 lbs) NC State Daniel Zepeda - Gilroy, California: Fourth Place (152 lbs) - Class of 2025 North Carolina Beau Priest - Bakersfield, California: Fifth Place (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Braden Priest - Bakersfield, California: 3-2 (153 lbs) - Class of 2025 Laird Root - Poway, California: Third Place (153 lbs) Northern Illinois Lucan O’Brien - St. Edward, Ohio: Sixth Place (147 lbs) Oklahoma Clay Giddens-Buttram- Bixby, Oklahoma: Fifth Place (168 lbs) Oklahoma State Ishmael Guerrero - Bixby, Oklahoma: Runner-Up (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Cody Merrill - Gilroy, California: Champion (288 lbs) Oregon State Adrien Reyes - Clovis, California: Fourth Place (168 lbs) - Class of 2025 Pittsburgh Kade Brown - St. Edward, Ohio: Third Place (141 lbs) Princeton Diego Costa - Palm Desert, California: Fourth Place (193 lbs) Conor McCloskey - Buford, Georgia: 2-2 (193 lbs) - Class of 2025 Dale O’Blia - Mullen, Colorado: 3-2 (123 lbs) Purdue Isaiah Quintero - El Dorado, California: Champion (123 lbs) Rutgers Andrew Barbosa - Palm Desert, California: Champion (160 lbs) San Francisco State Antonio Aramburu - Corona del Mar, California: 3-2 (160 lbs) Stanford Grigor Cholakyan - St. John Bosco, California: Third Place (160 lbs) Collin Guffey - Granite Hills, California: Champion (168 lbs) Lars Michaelson - Bremerton, Washington: Fifth Place (193 lbs) EJ Parco - Los Gatos, California: Runner-Up (153 lbs) Angelo Posada - Poway, California: Champion (178 lbs) - Class of 2025 Edwin Sierra - Poway, California: Runner-Up (116 lbs) - Class of 2025 Virginia Adam Butler - St. Edward, Ohio: 3-2 (135 lbs) - Class of 2025 Virginia Tech Drew Gorman: Buford, Georgia: Runner-Up (141 lbs) - Class of 2025

The #11 Hokies are coming off a tough loss to #3 Missouri; the matches were split 5/5, but bonus points went in favor of the Tigers to give them the dual win. It was highlighted by wins from #9 Cooper Flynn over #2 Noah Surtin and #8 Bryce Andonian over #5 Brock Mauller in a thrilling back and forth match. The Hokies will look to rebound in another tough road test, facing #8 Cornell in Ithaca. The Big Red traveled to Blacksburg last year for a dual at the Moss Arts Center that was highlighted by a huge win from Sam Latona over Vito Arujau; unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like we will see that rematch today. There are some very fun matchups on deck for the day, though, including a rematch of CKLV between #8 Bryce Andonian and #15 Meyer Shapiro. This dual has the potential for fireworks, and they always pack a great crowd into the Friedman Wrestling Center. I like the way the dual lines up for the Hokies, but they are going to have to take care of business in front of a hostile Ivy League crowd to take the win back home. Potential Lineups: #11 Virginia Tech v #8 Cornell 125: #9 Cooper Flynn v #14 Brett Ungar 133: #12 Sam Latona v Ethan Qureshi 141: #18 Tom Crook v #17 Vince Corella 149: #2 Caleb Henson v #24 Ethan Fernandez 157: #8 Bryce Andonian v #15 Meyer Shapiro 165: #23 Connor Brady v #3 Julian Ramirez 174: #2 Mekhi Lewis vs Benny Baker 184: #18 Cody Howard OR Sam Fisher v #8 Chris Foca 197: #26 Andy Smith OR Sonny Sasso v #7 Jacob Cardenas 285: #20 Hunter Catka OR Jimmy Mullen v #19 Lewis Fernandes

After the 22-12 win by Oklahoma State over host NC State, we were able to speak with both head coaches along with NC State's multiple-time All-American Trent Hidlay. Below are the links to the interviews: Pat Popolizio (NC State) Trent Hidlay (NC State) John Smith (Oklahoma State)

Friday’s Dual Results Oklahoma State 22 NC State 12 125 - Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) dec Jakob Camacho (NC State) 7-2 133 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) maj Kai Orine (NC State) 11-3 141 - Ryan Jack (NC State) dec Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) 6-4 149 - Jackson Arrington (NC State) maj Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State) 10-0 157 - Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) dec Ed Scott (NC State) 7-6 165 - Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State) dec AJ Kovacs (NC State) 8-3 174 - Brayden Thompson (Oklahoma State) dec Alex Faison (NC State) 2-2RTTB 184 - Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) dec Dylan Fishback (NC State) 13-8 197 - Trent Hidlay (NC State) tech Jersey Robb (Oklahoma State) 21-4 285 - Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State) dec Owen Trephan (NC State) 2-1 SIU Edwardsville 23 Edinboro 9 125 - Davian Guanajuato (SIU Edwardsville) dec Caleb Edwards (Edinboro) 13-6 133 - Marcel Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) dec Lane Aikey (Edinboro) 7-2 141 - Eric Almarinez (SIU Edwardsville) dec Jacob Brennaman (Edinboro) 7-1 149 - Caine Tyus (SIU Edwardsville) dec Colin Roberts (Edinboro) 3-2 157 - Brock Woodcock (SIU Edwardsville) tech Steffan Lynch (Edinboro) 15-0 165 - Max Kirby (Edinboro) dec Bradly Gillum (SIU Edwardsville) 7-5 174 - Joey Arnold (Edinboro) dec Dominic Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) 6-5 184 - Deron Pullium (SIU Edwardsville) dec Brody Evans (Edinboro) 8-2 197 - Jack Kilner (Edinboro) dec Ryan Yarnell (SIU Edwardsville) 4-1 285 - Bryson Buhk (SIU Edwardsville) dec Nick Lodato (Edinboro) 7-4SV Michigan State 28 American 12 125 - Jack Maida (American) dec Tristan Lujan (Michigan State) 2-1 133 - Max Leete (American) fall Andrew Hampton (Michigan State) 1:50 141 - Jordan Hamden (Michigan State) dec Raymond Lopez (American) 8-4 149 - Braden Stauffenberg (Michigan State) dec Ethan Ezerencsits (American) 5-2 157 - Chase Saldate (Michigan State) fall Devon Capato (American) 6:08 165 - Caleb Fish (Michigan State) maj Breon Phifer (American) 8-0 174 - Lucas White (American) dec Marty Larkin (Michigan State) 3-2 184 - Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) maj Connor Bourne (American) 12-2 197 - Kael Wisler (Michigan State) tech Liam Volk-Klos (American) 17-2 285 - Josh Terrill (Michigan State) dec William Jarrell (American) 6-3SV Rider 19 Northern Illinois 18 125 - Blake West (Northern Illinois) dec Tyler Klinsky (Rider) 8-5 133 - Nathaniel Genobana (Northern Illinois) dec D’Amani Almodovar (Rider) 6-4 141 - Jacob Brya (Northern Illinois) fall Will Betancourt (Rider) 4:11 149 - Quinn Kinner (Rider) dec Jaivon Jones (Northern Illinois) 9-7 157 - Colton Washleski (Rider) maj Munkhtulga Zuunbayan (Northern Illinois) 10-2 165 - Tommy Bennett (Northern Illinois) dec Jake Silverstein (Rider) 5-4 174 - Michael Wilson (Rider) fall Hayden Pummel (Northern Illinois) 4:48 184 - Isaac Dean (Rider) dec Matt Zuber (Northern Illinois) 4-3 197 - Azeem Bell (Rider) dec Sean Carroll (Northern Illinois) 5-1 285 - Jacobi Jackson (Northern Illinois) dec David Szuba (Rider) 8-6 Iowa State 28 Arizona State 10 125 - Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) dec Tristan Mascarenas (Arizona State) 12-6 133 - Julian Chlebove (Arizona State) maj Ethan Perryman (Iowa State) 13-3 141 - Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) tech Cody Foote (Arizona State) 20-4 149 - Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State) fall Zach Redding (Iowa State) :48 157 - Cody Chittum (Iowa State) dec Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) 9-5 165 - David Carr (Iowa State) tech Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) 20-4 174 - MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) dec Cael Valencia (Arizona State) 8-4 184 - Will Feldkamp (Iowa State) dec Tony Negron (Arizona State) 12-7 197 - Julien Broderson (Iowa State) dec Jacob Meissner (Arizona State) 11-4 285 - Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) dec Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) 4-3 Ohio State 21 Cornell 20 125 - Brett Ungar (Cornell) dec Brendan McCrone (Ohio State) 7-1 133 - Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) fall Ethan Qureshi (Cornell) 1:48 141 - Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) maj Vince Cornella (Cornell) 14-4 149 - Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) dec Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 8-1 157 - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) tech Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) 15-0 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec Bryce Hepner (Ohio State) 6-4 174 - Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) tech Benny Baker (Cornell) 20-4 184 - Chris Foca (Cornell) fall Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) 1:48 197 - Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) dec Luke Geog (Ohio State) 8-2 285 - Nick Feldman (Ohio State) dec Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 6-4 Penn State 36 Oregon State 3 125 - Braeden Davis (Penn State) dec Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) 11-6 133 - Aaron Nagao (Penn State) maj Gabe Whisenhunt (Oregon State) 9-0 141 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec Cleveland Belton (Oregon State) 8-5SV 149 - Tyler Kasak (Penn State) dec Nash Singleton (Oregon State) 4-1 157 - Levi Haines (Penn State) dec Isaiah Crosby (Oregon State) 10-8 165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) 17-2 174 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) tech Travis Wittlake (Oregon State) 19-3 184 - Trey Munoz (Oregon State) dec Bernie Truax (Penn State) 5-2 197 - Aaron Books (Penn State) tech Justin Rademacher (Oregon State) 19-4 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) tech Boone McDermott (Oregon State) 21-5

It’s not a super busy week in the ACC, but there are some high-level duals on tap within the conference. Duke and UNC are off this week and Pitt has sent some starters to the F&M Open. UVA will “host” a tri with Gardner-Webb and George Mason at the ARMS Duals at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond on Saturday--I will preview some matches to watch once I get the final lineups. The biggest matchups will be on Friday and Sunday with two top-10 duals. On Sunday, the Hokies (#11 Dual #10 Tourney) will travel to New York to face Cornell (#8 Dual #8 Tourney); we will break that dual down later this weekend. The big one on tap for this evening will be NC State (#7 Dual #2 Tourney) hosting Oklahoma State (#10 Dual #6 Tourney) to open their home slate at Reynolds Coliseum. If we see both teams at full strength, there could be 10 ranked versus ranked matchups, including top-10 matchups at 133, 141, and 184. Though this time of year between injuries and illnesses, we seem to have several “OR”s listed on the probable lineups. Regardless of the final lineups, this dual will have fireworks from the opening whistle. 125: #17 Jakob Camacho OR Jarrett Trombley v #20 Troy Spratley OR Sam Smith Camacho is looking to bounce back from a rough showing at the Collegiate Duals and a scrappy Troy Spratley would be a good place to start. 133: #5 Kai Orine v #3 Daton Fix OR Reece Witcraft Orine has looked better every time he has stepped onto the mat this year. Fix only has two matches this season, but as we well know, he is one of the best wrestlers in the country. I would love to see these two get after it, it has absolute fireworks potential. 141: #4 Ryan Jack v #7 Tagen Jamison OR Sammy Alvarez Jack has quietly put together an impressive season, as has Jamison. Contrasting styles but this will be an important bout for the Pack to get some momentum. 149: #3 Jackson Arrington v #19 Jordan Williams Arrington continues to impress. He has incredible poise and mat presence for being a true sophomore. Williams can be explosive and dangerous, but I think Arrington is able to avoid being phased by that. 157: #5 Ed Scott v #23 Teague Travis After a slower start to the season, Ed Scott has been on a tear. He is looking to continue that run against Teague Travis. 165: #18 Derek Fields OR AJ Kovacs v #2 Izzak Olejnik OR Joey Sanchez A double “OR” at 165. I’m hopeful we get to see Olejnik, he is so fun to watch and will be a very tough test for whoever the Pack sends out. 174: #31 Alex Faison v #28 Brayden Thompson This is a big toss-up match and could have major implications on how this dual shakes out. The Pack will be looking to the veteran Faison for a big win in his home debut this season. 184: #5 Dylan Fishback OR Brock Delsignore v #3 Dustin Plott This is the match I have had circled. Fishback has put together an incredible redshirt freshman campaign but will face a very tough and experienced Dustin Plott. I actually like the style matchup in favor of Fishback, he is relentless, but Plott can be tough to score on and finds ways to win tight matches. 197: #4 Trent Hidlay v #12 Luke Surber OR Jersey Robb The soon-to-be mayor of Raleigh, Trent Hidlay, will be looking for a big win to open his final season at home for the Pack. We have come to expect Hidlay to be in the hunt for bonus points in every bout, I don’t see this one any differently. 285: #16 Owen Trephan OR Isaac Trumble v #11 Konnor Doucet I wondered if this one would be listed as an option for the Pack. Isaac Trumble has been in redshirt, opening 197 for Hidlay for his final season. Trumble has been wrestling on the freestyle circuit--winning a U23 World Championship at 97kg. He is coming off winning the Midlands title at 285 last week. As it stands, he is still in redshirt… The Pack has a solid starter in Trephan who was an ACC Champion and NCAA qualifier last year. I like this matchup for Trephan and it could be a big win for him if he is able to take out Doucet. I’m very pumped for this dual, the atmosphere at Reynolds is always amazing and they will have a sell-out crowd tonight. I’m about to hit the road to Raleigh myself so I can see this one in person.

Earlier this week, South Dakota State officially had ten wrestlers in the national rankings for the first time. On Thursday night, those ten wrestlers took down the ninth-ranked University of Michigan team that got a pair of big wins from true freshmen and saw Austin Gomez make his debut in the maize and blue. The Jackrabbits got bonus point wins from Derrick Cardinal (133 lbs), Cael Swensen (157 lbs), and Tanner Sloan (197 lbs). Another wrestler who got bonus was redshirt freshman #26 Bennett Berge who downed #12 Jaden Bullock, 14-5. In the most anticipated bout of the evening, Michigan’s Shane Griffith handed Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion Cade DeVos his first loss of the season with a takedown in sudden victory overtime. South Dakota State is back in action next week at the Virginia Duals, while Michigan will open up its Big Ten slate with duals against Maryland and Michigan State. #13 South Dakota State 22 #9 Michigan 17 125 lbs - Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) over Wilfried Tanefeu (Michigan) 5-3 133 lbs - Derrick Cardinal (South Dakota State) fall Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) 6:39 141 lbs - Sergio Lemley (Michigan) dec Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) 6-4 149 lbs - Austin Gomez (Michigan) dec Alek Martin (South Dakota State) 9-4 157 lbs - Cael Swensen (South Dakota State) maj Zack Mattin (Michigan) 13-2 165 lbs - Beau Mantanona (Michigan) dec Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) 4-2 174 lbs - Shane Griffith (Michigan) dec Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) 4-1SV 184 lbs - Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) maj Jaden Bullock (Michigan) 14-5 197 lbs - Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) tech Brendin Yatooma (Michigan) 17-1 285 lbs - Lucas Davison (Michigan) tech Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) 20-4

The new “weekend” of wrestling begins tonight as the University of Michigan travels to South Dakota State to face off with the Jackrabbits for the first time. As I was getting this week’s Live Streaming Guide together, I noticed it was an incredible week for duals. Though there aren’t a lot of them as some teams are licking their wounds from Midlands/Salute/Scuffle; what they lack in numbers is made up for in quality. Not only are good teams tangling, but there are some awesome individual matchups on the docket. Sometimes you can have good teams wrestling, but none of their top guys hit. Not this week. There’s a lot of them. About 27 of them. Maybe more; hopefully not less. Here’s a little bit about 27 prospective matches on tap for the next four days. 125 lbs - #3 Caleb Smith (Nebraska) vs. #8 Jore Volk (Wyoming) Appalachian State transfer Caleb Smith has been an excellent fit in a loaded Nebraska lineup. He is 13-1 with the Big Red, with his only loss coming against Jore Volk at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Smith has a chance to avenge that loss and solidify himself as a bona fide contender at 125 lbs. Volk has built on an impressive freshman campaign, by winning the Reno Tournament of Champions, finishing fifth in Vegas and making the Soldier Salute finals. 125 lbs - #9 Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech) vs. #14 Brett Ungar (Cornell) An injury to 2023 All-American Eddie Ventresca has led to Cooper Flynn getting pulled out of Olympic redshirt for the Hokies. Flynn’s debut saw him knock off CKLV champion Nico Provo (Stanford) and since then he’s defeated then-#2 Noah Surtin (Missouri) and finished fourth at the Midlands. Ungar made the Vegas finals opposite Provo. During the 2023 version of this dual, Ungar edged Ventresca in tiebreakers. He’d later finish his freshman year in the NCAA Round of 12. 125 lbs - #23 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) vs. #27 Eli Griffin (California Baptist) This match doesn’t have the rankings cache that most others on this list, but it has the potential for some fun. Kysen Terukina has been hard to read. He started the season with a dominating major decision victory over two-time All-American Eric Barnett (Wisconsin). Since then, he’s gone 2-5 albeit against a difficult schedule. Can he get things back on track against the surprise Midlands finalist Eli Griffin? Griffin posted four bonus point wins on his way to the Midlands finals. Since both schools compete out of the Big 12, this match also has conference-seeding implications. 125 lbs - Braeden Davis (Penn State) vs. #15 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) True freshman Braeden Davis appears to be getting the call for Penn State as the national favorites attempt to lock down a starter at 125 lbs. Davis has passed every test thus far with an 8-0 record and two wins over past national qualifiers. The competition gets much stiffer with 2022 All-American Brandon Kaylor. Kaylor was fourth in Vegas and is a good benchmark for whether or not Davis should be kept in redshirt. 133 lbs - #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) vs. #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) The only wrestler to defeat Vito Arujau during his national championship-winning 2022-23 season was Virginia Tech’s Sam Latona. The pair met three times during the season and Latona grabbed the victory in dual competition. Though Arujau prevailed in Vegas and Tulsa, Latona pushed him as much as anyone else in the country. They say “styles make fights” and the length of Latona could be an issue for Arujau, who tends to have that advantage against most other competitors. 133 lbs - #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) vs. #13 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) Before getting to Latona, Vito Arujau will have stud redshirt freshman Nic Bouzakis on Friday night. Bouzakis has had an interesting first half of the season, to say the least. He suffered a pair of losses in his Clarion Open debut and was upset in the first round of the CKLV. Bouzakis then stormed back through the consolation bracket with seven straight wins to take third place. At the Collegiate Duals, Bouzakis was edged by Northern Iowa’s Julian Farber, then pinned All-American Kai Orine to help spark Ohio State’s upset of NC State. 133 lbs - #3 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #5 Kai Orine (NC State) Daton Fix was a late-scratch in Vegas so we didn’t get to see this match in December. With Fix out of the picture, Orine went on to claim the CKLV title. In the colossal clash between OSU and NC State, this is the only potential matchup we’ve seen before. In the 2022 NCAA Round of 16, Fix downed Orine, 7-4. I’m not sure that result has much bearing on Friday's contest as Orine has improved significantly since then. 133 lbs - #9 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) vs. #11 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) Both of these wrestlers had prominent finishes at the Midlands though they did not square off against each other. Dylan Shawver was a finalist, while Michael Colaiocco finished fourth. Both suffered losses to Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin along the way. They also had another common opponent in Zeth Romney (Cal Poly). Shawver earned his second win of the season over Romney, while Colaiocco was majored by the Mustang freshman for third place. 141 lbs - #4 Ryan Jack (NC State) vs. #7 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) I’m not sure if we’ll see this one as Tagen Jamison hasn’t competed since the Bedlam Dual on December 10th. Just a week prior, he surprised the country with a fifth-place showing in Vegas. There he posted a win over a returning All-American and two other national qualifiers. Should he be unable to go, Sammy Alvarez is listed as a potential starter by Oklahoma State. Alvarez, originally an NC State recruit, was a national qualifier for Rutgers in 2020. The Vegas runner-up at 141 lbs was Ryan Jack, who did not meet Jamison on his way to the finals. Both of Jack’s 2023-24 losses have come to Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez. 141 lbs - #6 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. #8 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) Last year, Brock Hardy defeated Cael Happel 6-1 in the finals of the CKLV. Hardy would later make the Big Ten finals and finished sixth in the national tournament. Happel sputtered at the Big 12 meet and went 2-2 at NCAA’s. The two met at this year’s CKLV and Happel turned the tables in a wild 15-13 affair. Overall, Hardy has been more consistent, which has led to their current rankings. Another win over Hardy should be enough to push Happel past the Cornhusker star. 141 lbs - #11 CJ Composto (Penn) vs. #13 Mitch Moore (Rutgers) This should represent the most significant test of the year for Mitch Moore, who had joined Rutgers as a graduate transfer in his final year of eligibility. In his last outing, Moore defeated 2023 NCAA Round of 12 finisher Malyke Hines to capture a title at the Sheridan Invitational. Moore has yet to lose while wearing Rutgers’ block R. Looking to clear the zero on Moore’s record is Midlands runner-up CJ Composto. Composto was Penn’s first All-American during Roger Reina’s second tenure at the helm for the Quakers in 2022. Earlier this year, Composto won the Keystone Classic after suffering a pair of losses during his season debut at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. 149 lbs - #12 Nash Singleton (Oregon State) vs. Tyler Kasak (Penn State) Similar to the 125 lbs weight class, you have a wrestler with a good ranking for Oregon State against a true freshman from Penn State. In December, word trickled out of State College that 2023 NCAA third-place finisher Shayne Van Ness would miss the remainder of the year due to an injury. There was no clear-cut successor, but Tyler Kasak who started the year at 141, got the call against Lehigh and responded with a 7-5 win over Drew Munch. Nash Singleton put himself on the map with a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas. In Vegas, Singleton’s best victory came over Rider’s national qualifier Quinn Kinner. 157 lbs - #3 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) vs. #13 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) One of the best developments for Northern Iowa out in Vegas was Ryder Downey. Though he only went 2-2, Downey notched a pair of really solid wins in a loaded bracket. Since then, Downey’s proven he’s more than just a one-hit wonder. Winning that Vegas bracket was Peyton Robb who prevailed over the 157 lb weight class for a second straight year. Robb is undefeated and showing no ill effects from the gruesome post-NCAA inflection that almost cost him his leg. 157 lbs - #4 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) vs. #20 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) In two 2023-24 tournaments, Jacori Teemer has placed second (CKLV) and first (Midlands). Teemer missed last season due to an injury, but has not shown any rust during the first half of this campaign. His challenger from Iowa State is freshman Cody Chittum. Chittum has been good thus far, but is still looking for a first signature win. Beating the two-time All-American would definitely qualify as one. This should be a good style clash with Teemer typically looking for explosive attacks, while Chittum is more of a grinder. 157 lbs - #8 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) vs. #15 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) Everyone had this match circled as “must-watch” in the Round of 16 at the CKLV Invitational. True freshman sensation, Meyer Shapiro, prevailed via major decision; however, he did not get on the podium and went 2-2. Bryce Andonian rebounded to finish fourth. Andonian was recently in dual action against Missouri’s three-time All-American Brock Mauller and managed to win a 13-10 shootout. 157 lbs - #9 Will Lewan (Michigan) vs. #16 Cael Swensen (South Dakota State) I’m sure this match has been circled on Cael Swensen’s calendar since the 2023-24 schedule was released. Swensen was knocked out of the 2023 NCAA Tournament in the bloodround by Michigan’s Will Lewan, to the tune of, 7-4. Swensen has had a ridiculously tough schedule thus far. His record is a pedestrian 5-5; however, those five losses have come to #2 Jared Franek (Iowa), #3 Peyton Robb (x2), #8 Andonian, and #11 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota). It doesn’t get any easier tonight with Lewan. Typically, Lewan wrestles close bouts, so this could come down to the final buzzer. 157 lbs - #12 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) vs. #15 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) Shapiro’s busy weekend starts with Paddy Gallagher on Friday night. It’s a match between two wrestlers who were ranked #1 overall in their respective recruiting classes, 2023 (Shapiro) and 2021 (Gallagher). Gallagher had an up-and-down redshirt freshman season last year, but has been much more consistent this time around. When we last saw Gallagher, at the Collegiate Duals, he avenged a CKLV loss to Ryder Downey. 165 lbs - #9 Garrett Thompson (Ohio) vs. #14 Caleb Fish (Michigan State) I’m not sure there’s another wrestler that’s had a breakout campaign like Garrett Thompson has had in 2023-24. After going 11-9 as a part-time starter at 157 lbs last season, Thompson has moved up to 165 and has won 16 of 20 matches. He finished fifth in Vegas amidst a loaded field. Thompson’s next challenge is 2023 NCAA Round of 12 finisher Caleb Fish. Fish is coming off a fifth-place showing at the Midlands and has dropped a couple of slots in the rankings. Bouncing back by beating Thompson, could put him back in the top ten. 165 lbs - #10 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) vs. #12 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) Once again, we have a freshman from Penn State using an opponent from Oregon State as a measuring stick. Mitchell Mesenbrink has been utterly dominant with seven bonus-point wins among his nine 2023-24 matches. Just by the way things have broken, Mesenbrink has only faced one ranked opponent. Now, he’ll have 2023 Pac-12 champion, Matthew Olguin, a seventh-place finisher at the CKLV. Last year, when these two teams tangled in State College, Olguin fell by a 3-2 decision to Alex Facundo. 174 lbs - #4 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) vs. #5 Shane Griffith (Michigan) What a massive potential matchup between two top-five 174 lbers. Cade DeVos appears to have taken the next step and has gone from a possible medal threat to a high All-American finisher. He did so by winning the CKLV Invitational. 2021 NCAA champion Shane Griffith was the top seed at that tournament, but he was upset in the early going and defaulted out of the tournament. If SDSU has hopes of an upset, they’ll probably need to get this one. 184 lbs - #1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs. #4 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) We should get another round of Keckeisen/Pinto in the UNI/Nebraska dual. The two met in Vegas and Keckeisen grabbed an 8-4 victory. That match was one of only two regular decisions for Keckeisen amongst his 13 matches this season. This pair always makes for a good matchup with the physicality and technique of Keckeisen, mixed with the wide-open attacks by Pinto. 184 lbs - #2 Bernie Truax (Penn State) vs. #6 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) We’ve just got a ridiculous amount of top-notch 184 lb bouts this week. An upset or two could shake up the entire upper tier at this weight class. This match is the renewal of a former Pac-12 rivalry as Bernie Truax, formerly of Cal Poly, takes on Trey Munoz. Truax took the first four matches in this series; however, Munoz pinned him in the 2022 Pac-12 finals. This series goes back to 2021 when Munoz was wrestling 174 lbs for Arizona State. 184 lbs - #3 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) vs. #5 Dylan Fishback (NC State) Another great potential matchup from the Oklahoma State/NC State dual has the third (Dustin Plott) and seventh place (Dylan Fishback) finishers from Vegas finally going toe-to-toe. The duo did not meet at the CKLV. Fishback has been one of the most impressive freshmen in the nation; while Plott has moved up from 174 lbs and looks as good as ever. Plott’s only loss at 184 lbs came to Pinto early in the CKLV. He’d later avenge the loss by wrestling for third place. 184 lbs - #8 Chris Foca (Cornell) vs. #14 Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) Chris Foca and Gavin Hoffman were two of the four returning All-Americans who did not place at the CKLV meatgrinder that was 184 lbs. Though he didn’t crack the top eight, Gavin Hoffman did score a win over an opponent that did (Sam Fisher). Chris Foca used the Collegiate Duals to get back on track. He scored a win over CKLV finalist Will Feldkamp (Iowa State) and Reece Heller (Pittsburgh). A week before the Duals, Heller majored Hoffman. 197 lbs - #11 Silas Allred (Nebraska) vs. #21 Joey Novak (Wyoming) One of the better possible bouts in the Nebraska/Wyoming dual comes at 197 lbs where Big Ten champion Silas Allred is slated to meet the Cowboy's true freshman Joey Novak. The two met in Vegas and Allred prevailed with a second-period fall. Since then, Novak finished eighth (Allred was fifth) and had respectable showings at the Reno TOC and Soldier Salute. He’s proven to be one of the few true freshmen that can handle to rigors and physicality it takes to compete at 197 lbs. 285 lbs - #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #12 Boone McDermott (Oregon State) We haven’t seen top-ranked Greg Kerkvliet since he defeated the returning EIWA champion, Nathan Taylor, in a dual meet victory over Lehigh. Kerkvliet is listed among Penn State’s probable’s for Friday Night’s dual at Oregon State. There he’ll meet Boone McDermott. Though McDermott had spent the last three years at Rutgers, the two never crossed paths. McDermott appears to be on the verge of putting together his finest collegiate campaign. He finished fourth in Vegas and two of his three losses on the year have come to the same opponent (Taye Ghadiali - Campbell) 285 lbs - #3 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. #5 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) Here’s one I really hope we get to see. As of right now, Cohlton Schultz has yet to compete during the 2023-24 campaign. The three-time All-American is number one on the Olympic Greco-Roman ladder and has turned his focus towards making the team. If he does make his season debut, it’s quite a tough opponent to do it against. Yonger Bastida has taken off after moving up from 197 lbs. Bastida is a perfect 12-0 with a Vegas title under his belt. Thus far, he’s been able to amass bonus points in 8 of his 12 wins. It’ll be interesting to see how Schultz is able to slow down the big man from Cuba.

I’ve been sick as a dog for a month and traveling non-stop, which is why I haven’t done a show in a while. But you know I’m chomping at the bit to talk about Cornell mailing it in at Collegiate Duals, AJ Ferrari’s unprecedented double bird splits, and why duals just don’t matter despite very intelligent and life-long wrestling people insisting that they do. Case in point, last night #9 Michigan sat at least 40% of their lineup in a dual loss to #13 South Dakota State. Call them ducks. Call them rest. Call them load management. Call them whatever you will. When fans tune in to see Chris Cannon and get Nolan Wertanan, we’re bummed. And if the past is a prologue we’re in for more of it. Earl has a nice write-up on all the big individual matches slated for this weekend. But before he even published he told me, ‘I’m bracing for the worst.’ Editor's Note: We now have reason to believe that the matchup pictured (Vito Arujau/Sam Latona) on the referenced article will not occur. I’m hoping the scratches will be limited, but you best believe those that don’t materialize are going to be added to the war chest above which I will rant about next week. Here’s what else I’m burning on this weekend. 5. Nash Hutmacher To Debut For The Husker It could be something; it could be nothing. But Nebraska has a team this year that is very strong in both dual and tournament formats. A four-time state champ and Fargo titleist, Hutmacher, the starting nose tackle for the football team, shed 45 lbs to make weight for this weekend’s tri-meet vs. Wyoming and Northern Iowa. While my optimism is muted, it will certainly be interesting. It’s a rare occurrence when we get a starting DI football player coming back to wrestling. I’m skeptical of anyone who’s been off the mat for that amount of time. But if he proves to be even just ‘solid’ he’ll boost an already Top 4 dual team. 4. Cohlton Schultz Returns in Banger vs. Yonger A big old zero. That’s what I’ve been earning at HWT in my fantasy league all nine weeks this year because Cohlton Schultz is the only 285 I have on the roster and he’s yet to wrestle. But indications from ASU communications are that the perennial All-American will indeed go this weekend. And his first match is a doozy: Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida who is up to #3 in the country after wrestling 197 last year. It’s not only a Top 5 matchup, but a clash in styles as Schultz is among the largest 285’s and a Greco specialist while Yonger is among the smallest and a free-wheeling leg attacker. 3. Oklahoma State in Raleigh This dual was supposed to take place on a Navy base in Sicily. But when tensions arose in Israel the plan was scrapped. What that means to me is that I didn’t get the excuse to go to a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time. But it’s good news for you because now you won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch what should be an amazing dual. Six of the ten matchups feature opponents ranked within five spots of each other. 2. Braeden Davis’ Audition I’ve been the conductor of the start-Braeden-Davis train. He got the nod vs. Hofstra on December 12th and should get his first high-caliber opponent this weekend in #15-Brandon Kaylor, a former All-American. Davis is 8-0 on the year winning six by bonus. I already think Davis should be the full-time starter and postseason entry, but a win over Kaylor should put the issue to rest for the Nittany Lions. 1. Meyer’s Big Weekend The no-brainer #1 prospect of 2023, Meyer Shapiro came into college with much fanfare after winning world titles in both the Cadet and Junior divisions. His first college assignment was the uber-tough CKLV where he started off hot with a 16-4 major over All-American Bryce Andonian. But just when we started to crown him this year’s NCAA Champ, he fell to #7 Daniel Cardenas and then, in an uninspiring bout where he just didn’t look himself, to #14 Trevor Chumbley. While we thought we’d get a chance to see him rebound at Collegiate Duals, he didn’t go against Iowa State’s Cody Chittum. But he’ll have a couple good ones this weekend with #12 Paddy Gallagher (on Friday) who’s wrestling the best he has in his college career and then (on Sunday) Andonian again.

Well, that was some ending to 2023, eh? We had all kinds of excitement, drama, Zapruder-like video breakdowns, and even some inappropriate images. And that was just the Soldier Salute finals! But now it is 2024 and we have an entire second half of the season to get worked up about. We can say goodbye to the burden of trying to floor tournaments as it’s mostly all duals for the next two months. But fear not, tournament fans. There are still some open tournaments this weekend, including the much-anticipated Bongo Bayly going on somewhere in the land. But before that, it’s time to get cracking on the first mailbag of the new year! I swear, I‘ll hit my hundredth mailbag this year then probably ride off into the sunset. Double birds blazing. (Just kidding I’m not going anywhere) In honor of 2024, pick a wrestler currently ranked 20th and a wrestler currently ranked 24th to make the podium in March. Salty Walkon An interesting enough question, so I’ll bite. After perusing the Intermat rankings, I found a few viable options here. Naturally, 125 has two good options in Troy Spratley and Diego Sotelo. With the way that weight is going, anyone can do anything. I also like Josh Koderhandt and Danny Fongaro at 141 but that class has a solid top six and could be hard to penetrate. But if this was a fantasy draft and we were all picking one from each rank then I’m going with Cody Chittum first overall. We know how talented he is so it’s just a question of whether he develops during the season or succumbs to the grind like many a true frosh before him. Give me Chittum as my 20 and Fongaro as my 24 and let’s do this. Why are there two ranks for one weight in women's wrestling? I saw a handful of weights on Iowa's team with two ranked wrestlers. JD Money Because of the metric system? But seriously, that is because the women’s National tournaments are allowed to have multiple team entries per weight. Thus, making anyone worthy of a ranking eligible whether they are technically a starter or not. Who would win in a match, Dan Gable or Jagger? Remember, Dan Gable is 75 years old and has an artificial hip so I’m only setting the line at Gable -14.5. Jkos11 Remember, Jagger is 45 years old and on the fast track to two artificial lungs. Gable by a million. Unless I can hit him with a lefty headlock in the first 30 seconds. My beautiful friend, it's the New Year and several of PSU's big hitters have only a handful of matches... Any concerns the workload management has gone too far? Saltier Walkon Not really, And I’m certainly not going to argue with the coaching methods of one Cael Sanderson. But it does feel like Penn State has been MIA this year. It’s like Phil Hellmuth walking into the World Series of Poker 45 minutes late. He’s just not worried about it. Cael has a veteran team who know how to prepare themselves throughout the season. Plus, a good handful of Nittany Lions were supposed to compete at Senior Nationals until ultimately bowing out. Don’t worry, you'll see more than enough blue and white singlets come March than you’ll know what to do with. What's Jagger's favorite pro wrestling moniker and with word that pork rolls may be served at Rutgers @ VT next year, would Jagger make his appearance in Blacksburg for Pork Roll night? Ethan Aguigui See, you think you’re trolling me by stealing another Jersey gimmick after ruining Jagger Night. But you forgot one small detail. I’m a Taylor Ham man. You can’t troll me. It’s impossible. But I do like the way you guys do wrestling nicknames. Hit me with a Hunter Hearst Catka and I’ll pop. Do you think “Ferrari-ing” is going to become the new “planking?” Fantasy Championship Wrestling We can’t have guys pulling groins out there trying to go viral. It’s not worth it. Fongaro did it already. The joke has been made. And I’m certainly not one for repeating the same joke over and over. Couldn’t be me. What do you think of The Replacements? Oldest and Greatest The movie or the band? Doesn’t matter. Not a huge fan of either.

While the Midlands tournament may have lacked a bit of star power compared to some of the stacked fields of the past, the event still took place over the holiday break. As always, there were several wrestlers who put up impressive stat lines and those competitors are celebrated here. Michael Beard finishes with absurd Point Differential No. 9 Michael Beard had a borderline incredible performance in the 197-pound bracket. The Lehigh wrestler defeated all five of his opponents and averaged a tournament-high 3.10 points per minute. At the same time, he allowed his opponents to only score 0.34 points per minute. His resulting +2.77 point differential was the second highest of the event. The only wrestler with a better differential (Matthew Cover of Princeton) defaulted out after winning his first match. Beard opened his tournament with a pair of 18-1 technical falls over Carter Blough (Michigan State) and Ryan Yarnell (SIU Edwardsville). He then bested a pair of Virginia Tech teammates in Sonny Sasso and Andy Smith. Smith, the number 26th ranked wrestler in the most recent InterMat rankings, failed to even notch a single point before he was defeated via fall in the waning seconds of the second period. In the finals, Beard’s run continued with a 15-0 technical fall over No. 10 Luke Stout (Princeton). While Beard defeated the Princeton wrestler earlier this season, he seriously widened the gap in this rematch. Their first bout of the season, back in November was an 18-8 major decision. Dean Hamiti relies on his defense Down at 165 pounds, Wisconsin’s No. 6 Dean Hamiti was nearly as dominant as Beard. He averaged 2.23 points per minute, allowed 0.17 points per minute and therefore finished with a +2.07 point differential on his path to the title. While Hamiti has always been a prolific scorer in the neutral position and on top, his defense was perhaps the most impressive aspect of his Midlands performance. He surrendered four points in his opening match against Tate Geiser (Cleveland State). After that Hamiti did not allow a single point in his next four matches. He pinned Luke Gayer (Rutgers) and Beau Mantanona (Michigan) before they could get anything going. In the semifinals, he wrestled for the full seven minutes against No. 17 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) and walked away with a 10-0 major decision. For the title, Hamiti faced off against No. 11 Peyton Hall (West Virginia). He once again went the full regulation and did not give up a single point. Prior to the finals, Hall had been on quite a scoring tear. In his first four matches, he averaged 2.07 points per minute and won all four matches with bonus. Hamiti was able to completely stifle that offense and pick up his own bonus-point victory. Dakota Howard racks up the points While he did not win the tournament, Virginia Tech’s No. 18 Dakota Howard had a big-time scoring tournament at 184 pounds. He averaged 2.68 points per minute on his way to a fourth-place finish. His only defeat outside of a medical forfeit out of the third-place match was a quarterfinal loss against No. 17 James Conway (Franklin & Marshall) in sudden victory. Even in defeat, Howard managed to score eight points. Things really took off for him in the consolation bracket where he scored 22, 22, and 14 points respectively against No. 20 Nate Dugan (Princeton), Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) and No. 29 Tony Negron (Arizona State). Other things I liked and didn’t like Yes, I stole the idea for this section from ESPN basketball writer Zach Lowe. Sue me. Actually, please do not sue me. The following are a few things I came across while reviewing the brackets and collecting data that I thought I would share. All back points technical fall There has been some consternation among the wrestling Twitterati that the advent of the three-point takedown has devalued mat wrestling. There might be some merit to that argument, but do not tell that to Northwestern’s Sam Cartella. In the consolation bracket, the 149-pounder faced off against Jaivon Jones (Northern Illinois). After a scoreless first period, Jones won the toss and deferred to Cartella. The Wildcat took the top position and proceeded to score four consecutive sets of four-point near falls and finish the match via technical fall with 22 seconds left in the second period. Even with the three-point takedown, that kind of turning ability will never go out of style. Who cares about the scoreboard? Per Wikipedia, “Thomas More University is a private Roman Catholic university in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. It serves about 2,000 full and part-time students.” One of those students, heavyweight Daulton Mayer placed fifth at the Midlands. While it is always impressive when competitors from outside NCAA Division I place in the mid-season classic (Thomas More is transitioning from NAIA to Division II), Mayer took a very interesting path to his placement. He went 5-2 in the bracket with his only losses coming against Jacob Bullock (Indiana) and No. 24 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly). However, he only actually finished with more points than his opponent in one match. Mayer won his opening match via fall over Charles Hastriter (Oregon State) while leading 3-0. He then defeated Princeton’s Matthew Cover via injury default while trailing 2-0, Ira Jenkins (Michigan) by fall while trailing 6-3, John Stout (Penn) by fall while trailing 6-1, and finally picked up a forfeit over Tinker in the fifth-place match. For the tournament, he was outscored 31 to nine and still finished fifth. Technicality about Technical Falls Rule 4 Section 5 Article 13 of the NCAA Wrestling includes the following passage, “an earned riding time point may be awarded no sooner than at the end of the third period and/or at the end of any sudden victory or any round of tiebreakers.” While this is an odd way to turn a phrase, it basically means that for any match that ends via termination (such as a fall, technical fall or injury default) the riding time point should not be added to the point total. Unfortunately, this rule is not consistently followed in collegiate wrestling. It is exceedingly common to see a wrestler earn an extra point when the match is stopped due to a 15-point margin. In the grand scheme of things, the extra point does not mean very much. However, for the purposes of statistical analysis such as this article, it creates pretty clear inaccuracies. This was clearly a problem at the Midlands as the mistake appeared to happen with some frequency. Perhaps there could be some sort of standardized training for table workers, or a tournament official could be responsible for verifying final scores. I am open to ideas here people. While the Midlands tournament may have lacked a bit of star power compared to some of the stacked fields of the past, the event still took place over the holiday break. As always, there were several wrestlers who put up impressive stat lines and those competitors are celebrated here.

Below is a recap of last week’s EIWA action, with individual news and highlights worth noting. Key Takeaways Lehigh’s Stanich and Beard win Midlands titles Penn wins Midlands team title for first time in school history Conigliaro’s 2nd place finish at Midlands is best ever by a Harvard wrestler Pasiuk of Army, Phipps and Mulvaney of Bucknell win Southern Scuffle American The Eagles were off over the holiday break. This week’s agenda includes a dual with Michigan State. There will be some wrestlers at the F&M Open as well. Army West Point The Black Knights had a handful of participants in the Southern Scuffle. The top performer was #11 Ben Pasiuk at 174 lbs, earning a title. He beat #22 Norman of Stanford and won in the final by medical forfeit from #10 Washington of Indiana. At 165 lbs, Gunner Filipowicz was runner-up to #26 Mulvaney of Bucknell. He had a major decision win over #17 Carlson of Oklahoma before that. Ethan Berginc was 3rd and Charlie Farmer was 7th at 125lbs. Berginc won this head-to-head match-up 2-1. Nate Lukez was 4th at 157 lbs. Braden Basile (#33 @ 133 lbs) was sixth with losses to #27 Serrano of Northern Colorado and #17 Knox of Stanford. At 149lbs, Thomas Deck was 7th. In 3rd at 285 lbs was Lucas Stoddard, while Thomas Godbee was 8th at 197 lbs. Army will be in Lancaster, PA for the F&M Open this week. Binghamton The Bearcats did not compete over the holidays. They will return at the F&M Open this week as well. Brown The Bears competed at the Southern Scuffle to bring in the new year. They had a lone placewinner in Ian Oswalt at 141 lbs. He earned his 8th place finish when he lost in the first round, only to win four in a row to be on the podium. At 133 lbs, Hunter Adrian was a quarterfinalist. Unfortunately, he lost his next two bouts and failed to place. Much of the team’s lineup is still up in the air, as they had a very light first semester which contained zero dual meets. We will know more about this team as the season progresses. The Bears will be off this weekend. After that, they have a full slate of dual meets well into February. Bucknell The Bison were one of the teams at the Southern Scuffle. They walked away with two champions. Kurt Phipps (#24 @ 133 lbs) had a win over #27 Serrano of Northern Colorado in the finals. #26 Noah Mulvaney managed to win his 165 lbs bracket without facing a ranked opponent as all ranked wrestlers in his bracket lost before getting a chance to face him. At 285 lbs, #33 Dorian Crosby, wrestled in the finals where he dropped the match to #15 Heindselman of Oklahoma. Mikey Bartush was 4th at 184 lbs and Logan Deacetis was 6th at 197 lbs. Bucknell’s performance was good enough for a 6th place finish overall. Overall, it was a pretty good showing for Bucknell. The Bison will take a weekend off before dual meet action in two weeks. Columbia The Lions were at the Soldier Salute in Iowa. They finished as the highest non-Big Ten team, earning third overall behind Iowa and Minnesota. #24 Lennox Wolak was the highest finisher for the squad when he was runner-up at 174 lbs. Nick Babin was 4th at 125 lbs and #29 Aaron Ayzerov was 4th at 184 lbs. At 197 lbs, #28 Jack Wehmeyer was in 5th place. Angelo Rini lost his wrestleback match due to a medical forfeit. Columbia has been banged up with injuries and this continued over the holidays. Expect to see various lineups moving forward as the injuries heal and plenty of wrestlers see action. This week’s agenda includes a matchup with #23 West Virginia in Atlantic City. #8 Cornell Cornell was not in action between Christmas and New Year’s. They will face #6 Ohio State away on Friday and host #9 Virginia Tech on Sunday. This is a huge weekend of duals for the Big Red. Drexel The Dragons only had a few participants at the Southern Scuffle. They returned home with one placewinner at 125 lbs. Deon Pleasant took 8th place. He split matches with Farmer of Army, who finished in 7th. Jack Janda was 2-2 on the day at 174 lbs while Cody Walsh was 3-2 during the event. The Dragons will be back closer to full strength at the F&M Open this weekend. Franklin & Marshall The Diplomats had five wrestlers compete at the Midlands. Overall, they were in 12th place out of 30 teams. Noah Fox (174 lbs), Pat Phillips (141 lbs), and John Crawford (#32 @ 197 lbs) all finished in the round of 12, just failing to place. Mason Leiphart placed 6th at 133 lbs, with all three losses on the weekend coming from ranked opponents. At 184 lbs, #17 James Conway finished in 6th. It was a great performance by a quality contingent at this event. The Diplomats will host their Open this week. Expect a few starters to miss this one, as they recover from a tough Midlands. Harvard Harvard saw action at the Midlands over the break. #13 Phil Conigliaro returned to the lineup, earning 2nd in the 174 lbs bracket. He had wins over #7 McCoy of Virginia and #14 Kemp of Cal Poly. Conigliaro’s performance was the best ever by a Harvard wrestler. Finishing 5th at 125 lbs was Diego Sotelo – he came into the weekend with a ranking of #25. He had a win over #21 Gallagher of Penn in the consi’s. At 157 lbs, Jimmy Harrington earned 8th with a win over #23 Clark of Rutgers. Joe Cangro, Josh Kim, and Coleman Nogle each wrestled well, notching multiple wins. Next for Harvard is the F&M Open on Friday. Hofstra The Pride will return to competition this week at the F&M Open. #28 Lehigh The Mountain Hawks sent a handful of strong competitors to the Midlands. Luke Stanich was champion after defeating a two-time All-American #9 Barnett of Wisconsin. He then defeated #10 Flynn of Virginia Tech and #25 Sotelo of Harvard on the weekend. Stanich, who competed unattached, still has the potential to redshirt this season. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the season checks out. At 197 lbs, #9 Michael Beard was the champion using all bonus point wins, dominating his competition. This included a fall over #25 Smith of Virginia Tech and a major over #10 Stout of Princeton. Also at 197 lbs, JT Davis earned a fourth-place finish in the bracket behind Beard. Lehigh also had Kelvin Griffin competing at 149 lbs where he won a few matches. Lehigh’s unattached wrestlers included Mays at 165 lbs and Repos at 149 lbs – each winning a couple of matches on the weekend. The Mountain Hawks of Lehigh will be off this weekend. Expect a large turnout of Hawks for the F&M Open while the starters heal up, and the staff figures out what the line-up will look like moving forward. Long Island LIU will be back to competing at the F&M Open. Expect most of the team to compete. #15 Navy The last remaining undefeated team in the conference was home for the holidays. They will be in action at the F&M Open this week. #20 Penn The Quakers were team champions at the Midlands for the first time in school history. At 141lbs, #11 CJ Composto was the runner-up in the bracket. Max Hale (#28 @ 184lbs) had a big weekend with wins over #33 Fisher of Northwestern and #17 Conway of F&M to earn a silver medal. #11 Michael Colaiocco was 4th in the 133 lbs bracket. He had a win over #5 Latona of Virginia Tech, a multiple-time All-American. Lucas Revano may have had the most impressive day of everyone, wrestling to a 7-2 record – enough for 3rd place at 157lbs. After a loss to #23 Clark of Rutgers, he had wins over guys like #16 Saldate of Michigan State, #33 Washleski of Rider, and #28 McGee of George Mason. #12 Nick Incontrera was a third-place finisher with a lone loss to #3 Ruth of Illinois. At 197lbs, Cole Urbas emerged with a 3rd place victory. He had a tech fall over #29 Bates of Northwestern and a win over #25 Smith of Virginia Tech. At 285lbs, John Stout was 8th. His big win was over #26 Wolfgram of West Virginia. The Quakers return to action this weekend. You will see some wrestlers at the F&M Open on Friday. Expect the starters to be in action in a home dual with #14 Rutgers on Saturday. Princeton The Tigers competed at the Midlands. #10 Luke Stout was the highest placer with a runner-up finish at 197 lbs. In the same bracket, Aidan Conner was in 7th place. At 184lbs, #22 Nate Dugan was 6th after a quality win over #12 Malczewski of Michigan State. The talk of the Princeton faithful, however, was not wearing a Princeton uniform. Ty Whalen is in an active gray-shirt season where he is not enrolled in school. He competed unattached and won the 149 lbs bracket. He took out multiple-time All-American #3 Parco of Arizona State and #19 Watters of West Virginia. Rocco Camillaci was 4-2 on the weekend, with two losses to ranked foes by a total of two points. He is right there with many quality wrestlers. The Tigers will be at the F&M Open this week in return to competition. Sacred Heart The Pioneers competed before Christmas and are off until next week’s duals with Queens and VMI.

The Big 12 returned to action in a big way, with teams having success at the Midlands and Southern Scuffle. West Virginia continues to look like one of the most improved teams in the country with a program record Midlands performance. Missouri kicked off 2024 dual action with a superb back-and-forth with Virginia Tech. Oklahoma, Northern Colorado, and North Dakota State finished in the top ten at the Southern Scuffle. Then a handful of teams sent some wrestlers to the Soldier Salute, thankfully coming away without too many controversial headlines. January starts to heat up for a number of teams, including some exciting duals later this week. Air Force (Overall: 2-2; Conference: 0-2): No Competition. Next Up: Air Force has the F&M Open in Lancaster, PA on January 5th to start the new year. California Baptist (Overall: 3-4; Conference: 0-1): Midlands Brackets The Lancers sent nine wrestlers to the Midlands tournament and came back with one finalist in Eli Griffin. Griffin was on a tear with two falls, a major, and a tech before dropping a nailbiter overtime match in the finals. Included is a win over NIU’s Blake West, who had beaten him in the dual earlier this season. After a slow start, Griffin looks like he could be back to form in 2024. Hunter Leake was close to making a run, going 4-2 and only dropping losses to Dylan Ragusin and Julian Chlebove. Nathan Haas was another point scorer for the team after losing in the first round, reeling off four consecutive wins before losing in the bloodround. Despite not having a heavyweight, the team finished a solid 15th. Next Up: California Baptist competes against Iowa State on January 7th. Iowa State (Overall: 6-1; Conference: 0-0): No Competition. Next Up: The Cyclones compete against Arizona State on January 5th and California Baptist on January 7th. Missouri (Overall: 6-0; Conference: 3-0): Dual Results (ILL) | Dual Results (VT) While the Illinois dual was before the break, it saw a lot of great action in a very cool venue. The Tigers beat Illinois in the Stifel Theatre 29-6 on UFC Fight Pass, the first sporting event in the historic venue. Coming out of the break saw Missouri beat a tough Virginia Tech team 22-17 in an electric dual. Despite missing All-American Peyton Mocco, the team split matches 5-5, but scored bonus points in four of their wins. There were upsets against the team at 125, 141, and 157 as Cooper Flynn, Tom Crook, and Bryce Andonian won tight matches. Kade Moore got the upset of the night, however, pinning two-time All-American Sam Latona in the second period. Out of the break, the team started to pull away, getting bonus points from Keegan O’Toole, Clayton Whiting, and Rocky Elam. J Conway bumped up two weights to take on Mekhi Lewis, but lost by tech. Zach Elam closed out the dual over Hunter Catka, to give the Tigers their first win over Virginia Tech since 2018. Next Up: The team hits the road for a long trip to wrestle Stanford on January 10th. North Dakota State (Overall: 1-6; Conference: 0-1): Southern Scuffle Brackets North Dakota State didn’t get any champs, but put three wrestlers on the podium to finish ninth at the Southern Scuffle. Gavin Sax was third at 174, capping his day with a pin over Tate Picklo to avenge a loss in the dual this year. Aidan Brenot was seventh at 184 and Max Petersen was eighth. Next Up: The team had a dual against Oregon State canceled, so the team doesn’t compete again until January 20th against California Baptist. Northern Colorado (Overall: 7-1; Conference: 0-1): Southern Scuffle Brackets The Bears had a solid performance at the Scuffle, getting seven on the podium and two champs. Stevo Poulin beat Nico Provo 6-5 while Vinny Zerban upset Daniel Cardenas with an 8-5 decision; it was both wrestler's first Scuffle title. Dom Serrano dropped a 2-0 decision in the finals, but notched his biggest win of the season over Nasir Bailey 5-3 in the semis. Xavier Vasquez was 5th at 197, Noah Pettigrew 7th, and Travis Mastrogiovanni was 7th at 174. Baylor Fernandes pinned top seed Cael Carlson, but was disqualified against Tyler Lillard for clearly attempting to injure his opponent. He succeeded as Lillard not only had to medically forfeit, but had to be carried off the mat in clear pain. Fans may remember Fernandes also being disqualified last year for injuring Tanner Cook. A sour note on a very good performance from Northern Colorado. Next Up: The Bears compete on the road against Cal Poly and California Baptist on January 12th and 13th. Northern Iowa (Overall: 1-3; Conference: 0-0): Soldier Salute Brackets Northern Iowa sent mostly non-starters to the Soldier Salute and finished 6th with five placers. RJ Weston was the highest placer, finishing 5th at 165. Izzy Moreno was right behind him at 6th. Joining him in 6th place was Nick Fox at 174 while Adam Ahrendsen (197) and Garret Rinken (125) were both 7th. Next Up: The Panthers dual Wyoming and Nebraska in Lincoln on January 6th. Oklahoma State (Overall: 4-0; Conference: 2-0): No Competition. Next Up: OK State takes on NC State on the road on January 5th. Oklahoma (Overall: 4-2; Conference: 2-2): Southern Scuffle Brackets Despite missing two starters, the Sooners still managed a runner-up finish at the Scuffle. Led by Stephen Buchanan bonusing his way to a title, Josh Heindselman also won at 285. Jared Hill flipped a major decision loss to Alejandro Herrera-Rondon from earlier this year and beat teammate John Wiley, who finished 6th. While this was a lineup battle to start the year, Hill looks to have separated this season. Tate Picklo was pinned in the third-place match by Gavin Sax, an opponent he majored in November. Cael Carlson was upset twice, being majored by Gunner Filipowicz and pinned by Baylor Fernandes. Conrad Hendricksen and Giuseppe Hoose finished 5th, while fellow starter Jace Koelzer was seventh. If Mosha Schwartz has to miss more time, Carter Schmidt had a solid tournament, finishing fifth and outplacing teammate Kaden Smith at 141. Next Up: The Sooners compete in the Virginia Duals, wrestling Navy on January 12th followed by Wisconsin and Virginia on the 13th. South Dakota State (Overall: 3-2; Conference: 0-0): Soldier Salute Brackets The Jackrabbits sent a handful of wrestlers to the Soldier Salute and put seven wrestlers on the podium to finish fourth as a team. Alek Martin finished third, only losing to Anthony Ferrari, and notched a win over Victor Voinovich. Swensen was second, beating Paniro Johnson in the semis and dropping a one-takedown match to Jared Franek. Luke Rasmussen was also a finalist, dropping a decision to Bennett Tabor in the finals. Clay Carlson made his return this season, going 2-2 with losses to Vance Vombaur and Zeke Seltzer. Other Jackrabbits to make the podium were true freshman Brady Roark (5th - 125), Daniel Kimball (5th - 149), and Bowen McConville (6th - 285). Next Up: The Jackrabbits take on their third Big 10 wrestling team of the season with a dual against Michigan. Utah Valley (Overall: 1-0; Conference: 0-0): No Competition. Next Up: The Wolverines wrestle Iowa State for their first Big 12 dual on January 12th followed by Northern Iowa on January 13th. West Virginia (Overall: 7-1; Conference: 2-1): Midlands Brackets West Virginia continues to impress with their best finish at Midlands, finishing third overall. Jordan Titus was the team's second champ in program history, staying undefeated and continuing his impressive season. He took out Tom Crook in the semis followed by a dominating 18-3 tech over CJ Composto in the finals. Ty Watters and Peyton Hall both finished as runner-ups at 149 and 165. Watters scored wins over Kannon Webster and Corbyn Munson and already has ten falls this season. Peyton Hall made the finals with a wild first-period pin over Caleb Fish, a match that saw both wrestlers give up nearfall early. Hall now has seven pins and eight techs on the year. After his big win over Stevo Poulin, Strickenberger looked like a podium contender. Surprisingly he struggled here however, going 0-2 with losses to Tyler Klinsky of Rider and Ethan Spacht of Division III North Central. Dennis Robin, Austin Cooley, and Michael Wolfgram also failed to place with each wrestler taking upset losses. Brody Conley had a solid tournament finishing 5th while going 5-2. The Mountaineers continue to look like one of the most improved teams on the year. Next Up: West Virginia wrestles Columbia on the road on January 7th. Wyoming (Overall: 3-2; Conference: 1-1): Soldier Salute Brackets Wyoming sent a squad to the Soldier Salute and finished in 7th place with four wrestlers on the podium. Jore Volk was a runner-up, dropping a one-takedown match to Drake Ayala in the finals. Joey Novak finished third, with wins over Garrett Joles and Jack Wehmeyer. Rounding out the placers was Stockton O’Brien at 6th at 141, and Cooper Birdwell 8th at 133 after medically forfeiting. Next Up: Wyoming wrestles against Nebraska and Northern Iowa in Lincoln on January 6th.

We've made it into the New Year which means the Midlands, Soldier Salute, and Southern Scuffle are now in the rearview mirror. As you would expect after three tournaments of that caliber, plus a dual between Missouri and Virginia Tech, plenty changed rankings-wise. It sounds like a broken record, but 125 had plenty of shuffling. As of now, we're under the impression that Midlands champion Luke Stanich is still planning on redshirting, so he has not been added. A lot of time was devoted to 133 and 149 lbs, particularly that 8-15 range. Both weights have plenty of new faces within that range. Even the wrestlers that high in the rankings have a few "not-great" losses and, in some cases, have beaten each other. As of now, we have not added true freshmen Braeden Davis (Penn State - 125) and Gabe Arnold (Iowa - 174). Both could be featured prominently at their respective weights and would have some impact on the team race. Like Stanich, once we have more information about their potential redshirt status, they could be added.

2024 Southern Scuffle Final Results Team Scores 1. Stanford 153.5 2. Oklahoma 136 3. Indiana 134 4. Army West Point 133 5. Northern Colorado 110.5 Championship Finals 125 - Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) dec Nico Provo (Stanford) 6-4 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado) 2-0 141 - Danny Fongaro (Indiana) dec Jason Miranda (Stanford) 6-4 149 - Graham Rooks (Indiana) dec Cody Bond (Appalachian State) 4-1SV 157 - Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado) dec Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) 8-5SV 165 - Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) dec Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) 11-5 174 - Ben Pasiuk (Army West Point) MedFFT DJ Washington (Indiana) 184 - Jha’Quan Anderson (Gardner-Webb) dec Cam Pine (Clarion) 4-2 197 - Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma) tech Kyle Haas (Oklahoma State) 16-1 285 - Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) dec Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) 7-3 Third Place Bouts 125 - Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) dec Chad Bellis (Appalachian State) 5-3 133 - Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) maj Blake Boarman (Chattanooga) 13-4 141 - Isaiah Powe (Chattanooga) dec Riley Edwards (Appalachian State) 13-8 149 - Jacob Abas (Stanford) dec Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) 4-1 157 - Jared Hill (Oklahoma) dec Nate Lukez (Army West Point) 8-5SV 165 - Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) MedFFT Tyler Lillard (Indiana) 174 - Gavin Sax (North Dakota State) fall Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) 4:46 184 - Roman Rogotzke (Indiana) fall Mikey Bartush (Bucknell) 3:17 197 - Nick Stemmet (Stanford) maj Gabe Sollars (Indiana) 12-2 285 - Lucas Stoddard (Army West Point) fall Peter Ming (Stanford) :54 Fifth Place Bouts 125 - Conrad Hendrikson (Oklahoma) dec Blaine Frazier (Indiana) 7-1 133 - Tyler Knox (Stanford) dec Braden Basile (Army West Point) 10-6 141 - Carter Schmidt (Oklahoma) fall Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) 3:42 149 - Zach Price (Gardner-Webb) dec Jeremiah Price (Appalachian State) 4-2 157 - Zach Hanson (Stanford) dec John Wiley (Oklahoma) 5-4 165 - Hunter Garvin (Stanford) MedFFT Baylor Fernandes (Northern Colorado) 174 - Lucas Uliano (Appalachian State) Disq Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) 184 - Giuseppe Hoose (Oklahoma) maj Jack Darrah (Stanford) 11-2 197 - Xavier Vasquez (Northern Colorado) dec Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) 2-0 285 - Juan Mora (Oklahoma) dec Jacob Sartorio (Appalachian State) 4-1SV Seventh Place Bouts 125 - Charlie Farmer (Army West Point) dec Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) 8-3 133 - Jace Koelzer (Oklahoma) MedFFT Gabe Vidlak (Oklahoma) 141 - Jacob Silka (The Citadel) maj Ian Oswalt (Brown) 11-3 149 - Thomas Deck (Army West Point) fall Max Petersen (North Dakota State) 2:15 157 - Austin Paradice (Chattanooga) fall Gavin Cagle (Virginia) 1:16 165 - Cael Carlson (Oklahoma) tech Drake Acklin (Appalachian State) 16-1 174 - Travis Mastrogiovanni (Northern Colorado) dec Gerrit Nijenhuis (Oklahoma) 4-3 184 - Aiden Brenot (North Dakota State) MedFFT Abe Wojcikiewicz (Stanford) 197 - Noah Pettigrew (Northern Colorado) dec Thomas Godbee (Army West Point) 9-4 285 - Josiah Hill (Little Rock) tech Connor Barket (Duke) 17-2

all photos courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Welcome to 2024! The New Year has already started with almost two full days of the Southern Scuffle and action will continue tonight as ninth-ranked Virginia Tech travels to number three Missouri for an incredible non-conference dual. As we move into the second half of the collegiate season, everything starts to come into focus more. Results from previous seasons mean less and the 2023-24 season really takes form. With that in mind, we still have a lot to learn about this wrestling season. There are plenty of questions I’m hoping will get answered during the final two months of the regular season. With it being 2024, 24 seemed like the appropriate number of questions to ask. Since we’ve been thorough in answering the questions, this feature will need two parts. The second part will be ready later in the week. 1. How does 125 lbs shake out for Penn State? The lightest weight class has been an issue for Penn State since the graduation of Nico Megaludis after winning a national title in 2016. I’m sure non-Penn State fans are not shedding a tear for the program that’s won ten national championships since 2011, but the 125 lb representative is a major talking point for college wrestling’s superpower. One of the top recruits from the Class of 2020, Robbie Howard made the 2021 tournament as a true freshman, then missed two full years due to injury. He’s returned this season and went 3-4 in two tournaments. Howard has not gotten the call in any of PSU’s duals. Against Lehigh, Cael Sanderson turned to Gary Steen, a sophomore who’s 6-3 on the year. Steen does have a loss to Howard this year at the Black Knight Invite. Also in the mix is Michigan transfer Kurt McHenry; though McHenry went 1-1 at the Mat Town Open and medically forfeited out of the tournament after a loss to Binghamton true freshman Carson Wagner. Perhaps the best option is true freshman Braeden Davis. He got the call in the Hofstra dual and responded with a major decision to run his season record to 8-0. In winning the Black Knight Invite, Davis downed a pair of ranked wrestlers in #31 Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) and #32 Tristan Lujan (Michigan State). The question is whether or not Sanderson wants to pull Davis from redshirt in a year where the Nittany Lions should probably win the NCAA title by a comfortable margin. That gap shrunk in December as the program announced second-ranked Shayne Van Ness would miss the remainder of the season because of injury. With Iowa potentially getting stronger, the allure of Davis may be too much to pass up. 2. Will we see Ferrari(s)? To pull back the curtain a bit, these questions were written out before the Soldier Salute. Because of the hi-jinks caused by AJ, and to a lesser extent Anthony, it may have impacted their potential standing with the University of Iowa. What we know is that both AJ and Anthony are not enrolled at Iowa, yet. It appears that both have intended to do so and AJ released pictures from an official visit earlier last week. The spring semester at the University of Iowa starts on January 16th. In order to get started with classes, both would have to have already been involved in some phase of the enrollment process. I’m assuming there should be an answer soon on whether both are accepted. I’m operating under the assumption that Tom Brands is moving forward with attempting to add both to the roster and the Salute finals didn’t impact that decision. The biggest potential hurdle could come from the athletic department and the administration within. Will AJ’s history at Oklahoma State and perhaps the scene at the Salute be a bring too far for them? Ultimately, if I had to choose, I’d say both are available to wrestle for Brands this season. Since AJ was disqualified from the Salute for flagrant misconduct, that may push back a debut. Typically, an athlete disqualified for that reason would have to sit out the next event, but I’m not sure of the interpretation of that rule since AJ is not on a roster. 3. How does Missouri’s lineup work itself out? After Penn State, Missouri is one of the three teams that could make an argument for that number two spot in the dual rankings. Even so, there are a couple of spots in the Mizzou lineup that need to be determined in the second half of the season. Mainly, 133 and 149 lbs. Before the season, most assumed top 2022 recruit, Zeke Seltzer would slide into the starting lineup at 133 lbs as a redshirt freshman. Seltzer went 0-2 in dual competition and recently competed at 141 lbs for the Soldier Salute. It was another redshirt freshman, Kade Moore, who has recently gotten the call for Brian Smith at 133 lbs. Moore is now 7-2 with both losses coming to #29 Tyler Wells (Minnesota). He’s a perfect 3-0 in dual competition and tallied bonus points in two of those wins. With Seltzer competing at 141 lbs, I’d assume we’ll continue to see Moore at 133 lbs until further notice. Both Nate Pulliam and Logan Gioffre have seen time in the Tiger lineup and both have had their moments. Gioffre had a win over 2022 Big 12 runner-up Willie McDougald in Missouri’s win over Oklahoma. Pulliam has a pair of ranked wins; the most impressive came over CKLV placer Gabe Willochell during Missouri’s 40-6 romp over Wyoming. With Pulliam having to end his Soldier Salute tournament early due to an injury default, I’d expect Gioffre to get the next crack at solidifying the starting role. 4. When will Michigan get to full strength? During the offseason, Michigan reloaded with a transfer portal haul that included four past All-Americans Michael DeAugustino (125), Chris Cannon (133), Shane Griffith (174), and Lucas Davison (285). They’ll receive another shot-in-the-arm from 2022 Big Ten champion and All-American Austin Gomez, who is expected to join the team in the second half. After some unfortunate early-season injuries, Michigan has been and could be without some of those important cogs. Cannon only saw action in part of one bout, a Columbia dual, and was injured and has been on the shelf since November 17th. DeAugustino made the CKLV semifinals and suffered an apparent leg injury against Cornell’s Brett Ungar. DeAugustino attempted to continue but had to default out of that match and the tournament. Since Michigan hasn’t had any duals scheduled in December, he hasn’t missed any duals. The Wolverines also have been without redshirt freshman Rylan Rogers, the projected starter at 184 lbs, for each of their first two duals and the CKLV Invite. Rogers did return for the Cleveland State Open on December 9th and won three of four bouts. The emergence of Jaden Bullock with a sixth-place finish has allowed the Michigan staff to be cautious with Rogers. We’ll see if Rogers can regain his spot in the lineup. Michigan is back in action on Thursday evening against #13 South Dakota State which is a very strong out-of-conference test. We’ll see if Michigan is closer to full strength for the Jackrabbits. If DeAugustino goes, he’ll have a tough challenge in #19 Tanner Jordan, whom he defeated 6-3 in Vegas. 5. Does a 125 lb favorite emerge? In short, no! I think the volatility that we saw during the first two months of the season will continue for the rest of the year. As far as the favorites go, I’d still look toward the wrestlers who have “been there and done that” in the past. Specifically, #1 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) and #5 Matt Ramos (Purdue). Those two wrestlers have both wrestled at an extremely high level for the last year and a half. Others at this weight have gone up and down during that time. One guy I’d single out as someone who has been very consistent thus far is Caleb Smith. In his final year of eligibility, but first year at Nebraska, after wrestling at Appalachian State, Smith has won 13 of 14 matches and was third in Vegas. There he posted wins over Ramos and All-American Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State). This weekend, Smith will have matches against ranked opponents #7 Jore Volk (Wyoming) and #28 Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) before getting into the Big Ten schedule. The Volk match is particularly important as he’s responsible for Smith’s only loss of the year. Other matches to watch of note this week include #2 Noah Surtin (Missouri) vs. #10 Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech) and #3 Dean Peterson (Rutgers) vs. #21 Max Gallagher (Penn). Both Surtin and Peterson are undefeated, but haven’t wrestled any top contenders. Both opponents would represent the toughest test of the year. Should Surtin/Peterson continue winning, they could elevate themselves to favorite status. 6. Who wrestles 141 for the Hokies? Currently, Virginia Tech has nine of ten starters in the rankings with the “lowest” being Andy Smith at 197 lbs. The only weight class without a ranked Hokie is 141 lbs. In a perfect world, Tony Robie’s squad would redshirt Tom Crook and hope that one of their top-100 recruits, Mac Church or Hunter Mason, emerges as “the guy” at 141. Crook was in their shoes last year as a true freshman and earned the #15 seed at the 2023 NCAA Tournament. It appeared as if Crook was gearing up for a move to 149 lbs in 2024-25 since he wrestled in two tournaments in November at 149. At the Midlands, Crook was back down at 141 lbs and ended up in the semifinals before he fell, 9-6, to the eventual champion, undefeated Jordan Titus of West Virginia. Crook rebounded to finish third. His teammates Church and Mason both missed out on the podium and both were eliminated by Michigan State’s Jordan Hamdan. Crook had an 8-2 victory over Hamdan in the consolation semifinals. Circling back to the freshmen, Mason had three wins to Church’s two; however, Church’s win over 2023 Shannon Hanna (Campbell) was the most impressive victory between the two. With matches against Mizzou and Cornell this week for Virginia Tech and both expected to be close, we’ll probably get some sort of an answer, at least as far as Crook is concerned. 7. Can Echemendia take the next step? It seems as if Anthony Echemendia’s return to college wrestling with Iowa State slipped under the radar, a bit. He was in Iowa State’s wrestle-off at 149 lbs, but many fans assumed that spot belonged to Casey Swiderski. Echemendia won that wrestle-off and initially competed at 149 lbs, before dropping to 141. In his second match at the weight, Echemendia nearly knocked off top-ranked Real Woods in the Cy-Hawk dual. At the CKLV Echemendia finished seventh in a loaded weight. Since then, he’s registered a pair of major decisions over 2023 EIWA champion Vince Cornella (Cornell). In Vegas, he pinned returning qualifier Cleveland Belton (Oregon State) and at the Collegiate Duals, he majored 2022 All-American Cole Matthews. Echemendia’s only losses have come to top-ten opponents and he’s never looked overmatched. With a freestyle-only background, Echemendia has looked solid on the mat, as well. At his current rate of improvement, it’s not far-fetched to think that Echemendia could reverse some of his previous losses and put himself into high All-American status. 8. How good can South Dakota State be? Currently, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits sit in 13th place in both InterMat’s individual and dual rankings. SDSU’s 3-2 record is certainly not indicative of their actual talent as those two defeats came at the hands of #4 Nebraska and #12 Minnesota. Both duals were within six team points and South Dakota State was without at least two key starters in the Minnesota dual. They’ll continue to get tested this week as #10 Michigan comes to visit. As mentioned above, Michigan may not be entirely healthy themselves. SDSU has shown signs of getting back to full health with Clay Carlson returning at the Soldier Salute and Bennett Berge debuting against Nebraska. Both took losses that you wouldn’t necessarily expect; however, that could be some rust. In addition to the Michigan dual, South Dakota State has matches against undefeated Navy, both Oklahoma schools, and third-ranked Missouri on the schedule. They’ll be tested multiple times and have an opportunity to prove themselves in dual competition. As a tournament team, SDSU is very intriguing. Their big gun is 197 lber Tanner Sloan, a 2023 NCAA runner-up. Replicating a finals performance will be difficult as the weight class is loaded. Sloan already took a loss in the CKLV semifinals to Maryland’s Jaxon Smith. The Big 12 has title contenders like Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma) and Rocky Elam (Missouri) in the mix. Sloan has exchanged wins with both. Another returning All-American for SDSU is Carlson. It’s too early to judge whether or not he’ll be able to get back on the podium for a third time. He and Sloan led the Jackrabbits to a 14th-place finish in Tulsa last March. A positive for Damion Hahn’s team is that they are far from a two-man show. A title at the CKLV helped elevate Cade DeVos into fourth place in the rankings at 174 lbs. He has a mammoth matchup with the Wolverines and former national champion Shane Griffith, who slots in right behind him in the rankings. DeVos came up a match shy of placing in 2023, this time around the question may be “how high” rather than “if” he cracks the top eight. The Jackrabbits lightweights have the potential to make an impact at nationals, too. It’s been well-documented that 125 lbs is really a crapshoot nationally. Is there a good reason why #19 Tanner Jordan couldn’t find a way onto the podium? So far, this season Jordan has wins over two-time All-American Patrick McKee (Minnesota) and upstart freshmen Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) and Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa). Perhaps the most improved wrestler on the SDSU team is their 133 lber Derrick Cardinal. Cardinal was sixth in Vegas and has already surpassed his win total (13 to 11) from his entire freshman year. Again, 133 lbs is rather manageable after the top tier of contenders. Someone like the #14th ranked Cardinal making the All-American round wouldn’t be a huge shock. Just because a wrestler made the podium in the past, doesn’t guarantee they’ll do so in the future, so you can’t just pencil in Sloan/Carlson as high All-Americans, if they can find their way back and DeVos continues to impress, plus with some help from the lightweights, surpassing 2023’s 14th place finish at nationals is certainly doable. 9. Does Gable return? One of the storylines of the offseason and preseason was whether or not Gable Steveson would return and use his final year of eligibility. And, if so, would it be at Minnesota? The two-time Hodge Trophy winner and Olympic gold medalist turned his sights to the WWE after winning his second national championship in 2022. Steveson returned for the 2023 US Open and lapped the field. He solidified a spot on the world team after defeating Mason Parris at Final X, but withdrew from the team prior to World’s. Parris went on to capture bronze in his place. All the while, there were plenty of whispers about how Steveson may not be progressing as well as hoped with the WWE. Almost on cue, Steveson started to appear on TV semi-frequently. Even so, talks about a return to his roots on the wrestling mat have persisted. People close to Gable say he wants a shot at a second Olympic gold medal and what better way to train than with a collegiate program, sort of in conjunction with the WWE. So will we see Gable again in the collegiate ranks? The talk around Gable has subsided in the past few months. During the preseason, it almost felt like an inevitability that he’d return. And for Minnesota, despite taking a visit to Iowa. The final decision likely rests in the laps of the decision-makers with the WWE. Like the Ferrari situation, you’d imagine that we’ll find out more soon as the spring semester at the University of Minnesota is rapidly approaching. 10. Did we overestimate Cornell? Earlier this season, we had Cornell ranked as the number two overall team in both tournaments and duals. As the clock turns to the New Year, the Big Red sits at ninth in tournaments and eighth in duals. So, we dropped the ball, right? Not necessarily (but maybe). Cornell’s only dual loss came in that now-infamous Collegiate Duals match against Iowa State, where four starters were held out of the competition. Had the 133, 157, and 165 lbers wrestled, they might have beaten ISU and things look much differently. Dual rankings also can’t be done thinking about “what may have happened” had someone wrestled. Despite the dual loss to Iowa State, Cornell can change the perception this week with two massive duals against #6 Ohio State and #9 Virginia Tech. At this time, we’re unsure of the status of those wrestlers for Cornell. Should they sweep this trying gauntlet, Cornell likely climbs back toward the top five or six. Now tournament rankings are strictly determined by individual rankings. Once the rankings are set, there’s no further human element. One factor that stung Cornell in the rankings (and on the mat/locker room) was the loss of past All-American Jonathan Loew to injury. His career is said to be over, now. Initially, it looked like the Big Red would have a past AA at 184 lbs and a returning third-place finisher (Chris Foca) at 174 lbs. In Loew’s absence, Foca has moved up to 184 and Benny Baker has gotten the nod at 174. As of yet, Baker hasn’t been able to crack the national rankings and Foca has a few hiccups in Vegas acclimating to the new weight. That accounts for around 9-10 team points. Vito Arujau had his surprising loss to freshman Ryan Crookham and now sits in second place. I’d imagine many fans probably expect the world champion to eventually find his way and get back to the top of the podium. Should he do so, that would be an additional four team points (we don’t account for bonus points in rankings; so maybe more). A wild card would be Meyer Shapiro at 157 lbs. The top recruit in the Class of 2023 came into Ithaca with plenty of hype and high expectations. My thought process was that he’d be around the top 5-8 range after Vegas. Shapiro won that highly anticipated bout with two-time All-American Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) via major decision, but lost to a pair of lower-ranked wrestlers, so he currently sits at #15. With Cornell slated to face Ohio State and Virginia Tech, Shapiro could have another bout with Andonian and #12 Paddy Gallagher this week. Later in the season, he has duals scheduled against #5 Brock Mauller (Missouri) and #6 Ed Scott (NC State). It’s not a stretch to think he could climb into that 5-8 range before the NCAA tournament. Should he do so, that’s at least four-plus points we haven’t taken into consideration. Adding those potential points from Arujau/Shapiro and expecting Foca to settle in and improve on his eighth-place ranking, suddenly makes Cornell look much better than their current ninth-place ranking in tournaments. 11. Is this the year Rutgers is top-15 in duals and tournaments? Rutgers is a team that, in the past, has been excellent in tournaments (2019 - NCAA 9th), while not being great in duals (2019 - 12-6) and vice versa. In 2022 they were 16-5 in duals, but 20th at nationals. This could be the year where the Scarlet Knights finish the year top-15 in both. In InterMat’s latest rankings update, Rutgers has a wrestler in the top-33 at eight of the ten weights, meaning they are extremely balanced and can hang with anyone in the nation in dual competition. That has proven to be the case so far with a 5-1 record. The only blemish was a 19-12 loss to Virginia Tech and they have generally throttled all other opponents. Rutgers seems ready to make an impact at the NCAA tournament with three wrestlers ranked in the top eight of their respective weight classes. That doesn’t include Midlands finalist Dylan Shawver (133 lbs), undefeated Mitch Moore (141 lbs), and past All-American Jackson Turley (174). They also have a wild card in Brian Soldano (184 lbs) who can pin or be pinned by almost anyone in the country. Scott Goodale’s team is one that I’ll be following closely in the second half of the season as they have a handful of guys that look like contenders, yet haven’t been severely tested thus far. Dean Peterson (125), Mitch Moore (141), John Poznanski (197), and Yara Slavikouski (285) all are unbeaten. Should they excel under the rigorous Big Ten schedule, they all could rise higher than their current national rankings. Rutgers will get a solid test this weekend in an equally balanced dual team in Penn. Last season, the Scarlet Knights defeated the Quakes in an exciting 19-12 dual at the “Garden State Grapple.” The front half of the Big Ten schedule shouldn’t necessarily feature any stumbling blocks for Rutgers, as a team; though there are some intriguing matchups (Peterson/Matt Ramos - January 14th). It’s the second half of the conference schedule where it really heats up team-wise. Rutgers’ last five B1G duals include dates with #10 Michigan, #12 Minnesota, #6 Ohio State, #1 Penn State, and #21 Maryland. 12. Can Navy go undefeated? If you missed watching Navy matches over the first two months of the season, it was your loss! The Midshipmen had a knack for engaging in fun duals and had close wins over Illinois and Pittsburgh among their six dual wins, against no losses. As we move into the back half of the wrestling season, will Navy be able to remain undefeated? Navy has nine matches remaining on their schedule and a handful of interesting duals. There’s the possibility that Cary Kolat’s team suffers two or three losses, but at the same time, there’s a chance they could win out too. Looking at InterMat’s Dual rankings, #13 South Dakota State would present the stiffest challenge at the Virginia Duals. That weekend they are slated to meet #18 Oklahoma and #30 Wisconsin. In their first outing after the Duals, Navy has #28 Lehigh. Don’t be deceived by Lehigh’s dual record (0-3), they’re tough. The Mountain Hawks always are solid in dual competition and match up well against Navy. Going down Navy’s schedule, they’ll also have duals with #27 North Carolina and MAC power Lock Haven. As always, they’ll wrap up with the Star Match against rival Army West Point. That’s one of those matches where you can throw the records and rankings out the window. With the amount of ranked opponents left on Navy’s schedule, it seems hard to believe that they can navigate through the entire docket without a slip-up; however, just asking the question proves how far the team has come under Kolat.

The calendar has flipped to 2024 and we are going to open the new year with a great dual between the #9 Hokies and the #3 Missouri Tigers. There are some solid matches up and down the lineup here and the Hokies will need to get a couple upsets in order to pull off the dual win in Columbia. 125: #10 Cooper Flynn v #2 Noah Surtin Flynn returned by knocking off #4 Nico Provo and just placed 4th at the Midlands, while Surtin is unbeaten. This should be a great matchup to kick off the dual. 133: #5 Sam Latona v Kade Moore Latona will be looking to add bonus points over an unranked Moore; he is coming off a 5th place finish at the Midlands. 141: Tom Crook v #20 Josh Edmond Tom Crook is out of redshirt and will make his dual debut in Columbia. He competed unattached at the Midlands and had a phenomenal tournament, finishing in 3rd. The Hokies will look to Tampa Tom for an upset here. 149: #2 Caleb Henson v Logan Gioffre Henson will face the first of two Gioffre’s he will wrestle this season--brothers Jack and Michael are at UVA. Henson has looked incredible all year and will be looking to help the team with bonus points. 157: #8 Bryce Andonian v #5 Brock Mauller On paper, this is the marquee matchup up the dual--more on that soon--with five All-American finishes between Andonian and Mauller. Andonian was upset in the Stanford dual and will be looking to get back on track against a very tough Mauller. This match will be a clash of styles and could be a lot of fun. 165: #24 Connor Brady v #1 Keegan O’Toole OR James Conway Connor Brady will return to dual action after picking up an upset win against Stanford in his last match out. The Tigers have listed two potential options at 165--reigning NCAA champ Keegan O’Toole and James Conway. I would wager that we will see Brady and Conway at 165. Which brings us to… 174: #2 Mekhi Lewis v TBD Peyton Mocco is still dinged up for the Tigers, and I expect them to bump O’Toole for a match of NCAA champs against Lewis. For the sake of it being a fun matchup to watch, I really hope this happens. O’Toole bumped up to 174 in their last dual to face Edmond Ruth so this isn’t unprecedented, and depending on how the lightweight matches go, it may have a huge impact on the outcome of the dual. 184: Cody Howard v #11 Clayton Whiting This is a big swing match, in my opinion. Whiting has looked solid this season, but the relentless pace of Cody Howard is something to behold. He is coming off a fifth-place finish at the Midlands in his return to action after being off the first semester. Howard looked incredible in Illinois and I’m looking forward to seeing him in another dual. 197: #25 Andy Smith v #3 Rocky Elam This match is lopsided by rankings, but I think this will be a close match. Andy Smith has shown he can hang with anyone in the country and he is tough to score on. This could be a tougher match than expected for the smaller Elam brother. Smith looked great in his return to action at the Midlands, placing 5th. 285: #20 Hunter Catka v #6 Zach Elam This dual ends with another big matchup for Hunter Catka. When he is on and wrestles aggressively, he is able to put up a lot of points. He is going to need to be at the top of his game against a very good Zach Elam. The way these two teams match up, the dual could very much come down to the final match.

Big Tournaments for Womens Wrestling After a week off for most teams during the holidays, things picked up this week with two big tournaments. Several teams and unattached wrestlers headed to Iowa for the Soldier Salute, while others traveled to Illinois for the Midlands Championships. While both tournaments were a little less stacked than previous seasons, there were still some great matches and important moments to recap, so I will highlight some key takeaways with full brackets linked for anyone looking for complete results. Midlands High School Champs at 101, 109 and 130 We have seen some high school upsets on the men’s side at tournaments throughout this season, and the high school girls showed they were ready to do the same. In an incredible run at 101 lbs, Madison Nieuwenhuis a sophomore from Plainwell, Michigan had an impressive run after her first-round bye with a tech fall and pin before meeting 2023 NCWWC Champion and current #4 Madison Avila of North Central in the finals. In their match, Nieuwenhuis looked strong and energized. She was consistently the aggressor taking shots, and Avila actually got a passivity warning in the first. In the second, Nieuwenhuis was able to capitalize on the only takedown of the match and run a half to get the pin. At 109 lbs, high school freshman Kayla Batres out of Milford, Connecticut earned a 1st place finish after getting the win over former NCWWC champ and current #10 Pauline Granados of McKendree in the semis and then taking out returning All-American and #4 Kaelani Shufeldt of Lock Haven in the finals. Batres' wins were all held to decisions by the tough slate of college opponents, but she still showed dominance from such a young competitor. Finally, at 130 lbs, another high school freshman Taina Fernandez of Bowie, Maryland made her way to the top of the podium with dominant wins of her own. In the quarterfinals, she faced former NAIA All-American Nichole Moore of McKendree. Moore is also a 2023 U23 World Team Member. Then, in the premier upset of the tournament, Fernandez got the 12-1 tech over #2 Lexi Janiak of Aurora who is also a returning All-American and 2023 NCWWC finalist. In her finals match, Fernandez finished her run with a 10-0 tech in the finals over returning All-American #6 Salome Walker of North Central. Potential NCWWC national previews At 101 lbs at Midlands, we got to see the match that was almost the finals match at the 2023 NCWWCs. Last year, Lizette Rodriguez lost a decision by criteria in the semis that kept her out of a finals matchup against the eventual champion Madison Avila of North Central. At Midlands, these two met up in the semis and Avila got a 3-2 decision win. This is not the first time we have seen these two match up, in fact, they wrestled at the Region IV tournament last year where Rodriguez actually claimed the first-place spot with a 5-4 decision over the Cardinal. These two seem to have each other figured out, so it will be exciting to see which wrestler continues to have success this year if they meet up again at regionals or nationals. After wrestling this past April at U23 Nationals Viktorya Torres of McKendree and Kendall Bostelman of North Central met on the consolation side of the bracket and Torres had a dominant tech fall. She repeated that result here at Midlands in the semis winning 11-0. Both made it to the quarterfinals last year and lost, however, Torres competed last year at 136 lbs. Bostelman could very well see Torres again in March, so finding a way to hold off her offense and have more successful shots of her own will be pivotal in attempting to reverse these recent results now that Torres has bumped up into her weight class. 155 lbs had a very intriguing final with sophomore #6 Noelle Gaffney of Northern Michigan losing 3-2 to #7 Tiera Jimerson of North Central. Gaffney actually beat Jimerson last month in the finals of the Adrian Invite by decision. Last year, Gaffney qualified for NCWWCs as a freshman but was bounced pretty early in the tournament. Jimerson is a 2x All American finishing in 5th in 2022 and 7th in 2023. These two seem to be a stylistic challenge for one another with both favoring heavy hand-fighting followed by quick, explosive shots. I would love to see these two match up again and see if either can create a more dominant game plan over the other. While some brackets were a little small, there were still some awesome results from different collegiate programs and individual wrestlers who competed unattached. You can check out the full brackets here. Soldier Salute #1 Life vs #1 Iowa Makes for Exciting Matchups Life University holds the top team spot in NAIA with wrestlers in the top 10 at every weight. Iowa, in their first year competing, holds the top spot for NCAA schools with top 10 wrestlers at each weight as well. While these two teams will compete at separate national championships, there are always sparks when their athletes do get matched up. That was certainly the case here where quite a few of the highlight matches of the tournament came between the Eagles and the Hawkeyes. At 130 lbs, we saw #10 (NCAA) Emily Frost take on #2 (NAIA) Sarah Savidge. While Frost has had some strong matches in her freshman campaign, Savidge is a returning national finalist and U20 Pam-Am Team Member and just seemed to be too much in this match. Savidge scored 8 of her 10 points in the first period, starting with a 4-point move and then 2 subsequent single-leg takedowns. Frost had some strong defense and was able to hold off some of Savidge’s attacks until the two go reset, but she has a little bit of growing yet to do to be competing more competitively with the top of the weight class in either division. At 136 lbs, we saw the first of 3 finals between Iowa wrestlers and the 3 McBryde sisters of Life. Lilly Luft of Iowa took on #9 (NAIA) Zaynah McBryde, the youngest of the 3 sisters. Luft is also a part of the talented freshman class at Iowa, and although she does not have many signature wins yet this season, I look for her to develop well in the Iowa room considering the additional talent they have at 136 lbs. McBryde qualified for the tournament last year, and made it to the top 12, but also lacks the signature wins and All-American status her sisters have earned in their time so far. Both of these wrestlers have exactly the pedigree and potential to climb the rankings and become dominant at the weight, especially in future seasons. In this match, the two seemed fairly even, with McBryde taking a majority of the shots, but Luft showing strong defense. In the end, McBryde’s calculated and frequent attacks gave her the edge with a 5-2 decision. The finals match at 143 lbs was the match of the day. If you have not already watched it, please do so here. #1 (NCAA) Reese Larramendy took on #1 (NAIA) Jamilah McBryde. Both wrestlers seemed to immediately recognize patterns and weaknesses in their opponents and capitalize on them. McBryde was able to hit multiple duckunders and slide-bys when Larramendy had her elbows high in their ties. On the flip side, Larramendy was able to execute some single-leg and high crotch shots when McBryde took big steps forward on her lead leg. Each wrestler had double-digit points headed into the second period. With just under a minute left, Larramendy went for a throw on the edge when she felt McBryde get strong underhooks. That move put her in danger and gave McBryde a four-point move to go up 20-18. Not even 10 seconds later, Larramendy hit a duckunder of her own to tie the score 20-20. From the takedown, McBryde had to work to not give up any additional points from a turn. With 20 seconds left on the clock, the two squared up again. Larramendy initiated a takedown that landed the two in a scramble with McBryde trying to get her hips back to the outside and Larramendy able to catch an ankle from her knees. McBryde had a strong whizzer, however, and was able to use that momentum to throw Larramendy to her back. McBryde was able to get in position to hold her opponent for the pin. This match was high-flying, high-scoring, and just a roller coaster for the two athletes. In the background of the video footage, you can see photographers and videographers on the edge of the mat, switch their focus from the men’s finals happening simultaneously to capture the action in this women’s finals match. Obviously, these are two of the most talented athletes at the weight, so to watch them compete at that level for a combined 40 points before the final pin, was so impressive. I hope there is an opportunity for them to compete again, and other wrestlers could learn a lot about these formidable opponents by watching how they competed against one another. In the last Iowa vs Life finals match of the day, Bella Mir took on #2 (NAIA) Latifah McBryde at 155 lbs. Mir was certainly headed into this match looking to get an Iowa win over Life for her team, but also looking for a little bit of redemption as well. These two actually met up at last year’s Soldier Salute, where Mir was wrestling unattached. In that match, McBryde got the pin in just over 4 minutes in the match. However, in this match, Mir was ready and secured a pin of her own in just over a minute. Mir had been on a roll during the tournament with 4 total pins and a tech fall to make up 5 of her 6 wins. This is certainly a result that could flip back in McBryde’s favor if the two met up again, but more so serves as a testament to the growth in just a year that Mir has shown. Right now, Iowa has #1 (NCAA) Marilynne Deede at 155 lbs, but Mir represents the depth of the Hawkeyes at a few weight classes. Mir was presented the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament and continues to prove why she is one to keep an eye on. Results this week in major NCAA, NCWA, and NAIA competitions Midlands VIEW BRACKETS Soldier Salute VIEW BRACKETS Upcoming Events January 5&6: NWCA National Duals January 5: NUWAY Combat Women’s Open

We're now in 2024 which means it's the second half of the wrestling season. We're in the process of moving from a split tournament/dual schedule into only duals. A total of 24 duals will be contested along with some 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). All times are Eastern. Tuesday, January 2: Appalachian State, Bloomsburg, Brown, Bucknell, Chattanooga, Clarion, CSU Bakersfield, Davidson, Drexel, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Indiana, Little Rock, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma, Stanford, The Citadel at Southern Scuffle hosted by Chattanooga 11:00 AM FloWrestling Virginia Tech at Missouri 8:00 PM FloWrestling Wednesday, January 3: Lindenwood at Purdue 1:00 PM B1G+ Thursday, January 4: Michigan vs. South Dakota State at Sioux Falls, SD 8:00 PM MidCo Sports Plus Friday, January 5: Air Force, American, Army West Point, Binghamton, Campbell, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, Harvard, Hofstra, Kent State, LIU, Lock Haven, Maryland, Navy, Penn, Pittsburgh, Presbyterian, Princeton, Sacred Heart at Lehman Open, hosted by Franklin & Marshall 9:00 AM FloWrestling Bellarmine at NWCA National Duals, hosted by Northern Iowa 11:00 AM FloWrestling SIU Edwardsville at Edinboro 6:00 PM FloWrestling American at Michigan State 6:30 PM B1G+ Oklahoma State at NC State 7:00 PM ESPNU Northern Illinois at Rider 7:00 PM ESPN+ Arizona State vs. Iowa State at Chandler, AZ 8:00 PM Pac-12 Plus Cornell at Ohio State 8:00 PM Big Ten Network Penn State at Oregon State 8:00 PM Pac-12 Live Saturday, January 6: Bellarmine at NWCA National Duals, hosted by Northern Iowa 10:00 AM FloWrestling Northern Iowa vs. Wyoming at Nebraska 1:00 PM Gardner-Webb vs. Virginia at Richmond, VA 1:30 PM Wyoming at Nebraska 3:00 PM B1G+ George Mason vs. Virginia at Richmond, VA 3:00 PM Ohio at Michigan State 5:00 PM B1G+ Northern Iowa at Nebraska 5:00 PM B1G+ Rutgers at Penn 7:00 PM ESPN+ Sunday, January 7: Edinboro, Morgan State at Bobby Kauffman Open, hosted by Edinboro 9:00 AM NC State at Hofstra 11:30 AM SIU Edwardsville at Buffalo 1:00 PM ESPN+ Rider at Rutgers 2:00 PM B1G+ Columbia vs. West Virginia at Atlantic City, NJ 2:30 PM UFC FightPass Virginia Tech at Cornell 3:00 PM ESPN+ Arizona State at CSU Bakersfield 5:00 PM California Baptist vs. Iowa State at Walnut, CA 5:00 PM FloWrestling

2024 Southern Scuffle Quarterfinal Results 125 lbs Nico Provo (Stanford) tech Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) 17-1 Conrad Hendrikson (Oklahoma) dec Blaine Frazier (Indiana) 9-3 Chad Bellis (Appalachian State) InjDef Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) dec Michael Spangler (Indiana) 10-5 133 lbs Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) maj Hunter Adrian (Brown) 14-1 Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado) dec Braden Basile (Army West Point) 5-4 Kurtis Phipps (Bucknell) maj Jace Koezler (Oklahoma) 9-0 Blake Boarman (Chattanooga) dec Tyler Knox (Stanford) 11-4 141 lbs Danny Fongaro (Indiana) dec Isaac Byers (Appalachian State) 3-0 Isaiah Powe (Chattanooga) tech Thomas Termini (The Citadel) 15-0 Riley Edwards (Appalachian State) dec Kaden Smith (Oklahoma) 4-2 Jason Miranda (Stanford) maj Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) 12-4 149 lbs Jaden Abas (Stanford) maj Tyler McKnight (Gardner-Webb) 12-0 Cody Bond (Appalachian State) dec Benji Alanis (Northern Colorado) 3-0 Graham Rooks (Indiana) fall Jeremiah Price (Appalachian State) 2:40 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) dec Thomas Deck (Army West Point) 8-5 157 lbs Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) fall John Wiley (Oklahoma) 4:39 Nathan Lukez (Army West Point) maj Logan Ferrero (Duke) 12-4 Jared Hill (Oklahoma) dec Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Clarion) 4-2 Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado) maj Zach Hanson (Stanford) 11-3 165 lbs Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) maj Cael Carlson (Oklahoma) 16-3 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) dec Baylor Fernandes (Northern Colorado) 7-2 Tyler Lillard (Indiana) tech Hunter Garvin (Stanford) 21-5 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) maj Kamdyn Munro (Chattanooga) 19-6 174 lbs DJ Washington (Indiana) fall John Worthing (Clarion) 2:27 Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) dec Gaven Sax (North Dakota State) 8-4 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) maj Gerrit Nijenhuis (Oklahoma) 16-7 Ben Pasiuk (Army West Point) dec Lucas Uliano (Appalachian State) 8-7 184 lbs Giuseppe Hoose (Oklahoma) dec Branson Britten (Northern Colorado) 4-2 Jha’Quan Anderson (Gardner-Webb) dec Jack Darrah (Stanford) 2-2RTTB Cam Pine (Clarion) dec Mikey Bartush (Bucknell) 5-1 Roman Rogotzke (Indiana) maj Dalton Battle (Appalachian State) 10-2 197 lbs Stephan Buchanan (Oklahoma) fall Xavier Vasquez (Northern Colorado) 6:13 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) dec Lathan Duda (North Dakota State) 8-3 Kyle Haas (Oklahoma State) maj Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) 8-0 Nick Stemmet (Stanford) tech Thomas Godbee (Army West Point) 19-4 285 lbs Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) tech Jacob Sartorio (Appalachian State) 18-3 Lucas Stoddard (Army West Point) dec Xavier Doolin (Northern Colorado) 8-6 Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) dec Juan Mora (Oklahoma) 7-2 Peter Ming (Stanford) dec Josiah Hill (Little Rock) 8-7

The last few days of 2023 saw one of the best high school tournaments of the season take place as the Powerade Tournament was contested in Western Pennsylvania. Nestled in one of the hotbeds of high school wrestling in the country, the Powerade attracts one of the best fields all year for an in-season tournament. Plenty of tough local teams attend to compete against the best in the state and from around the nation. 2023 was no exception with some excellent high schoolers in action. The high school stars of today will soon become mainstays on the collegiate and Senior level. As we typically do with high-profile high school tournaments, we’ve singled out the wrestlers who have committed to compete at the next level and tracked their progress at the Powerade. These wrestlers have been grouped together by their future schools. Air Force Logan Fowler - Cleveland, Tennessee: 4th Place (160 lbs) Carter Nogle - Mt. St. Joseph, Maryland: 8th Place (139 lbs) American Hunter Hohman - Grove City, Pennsylvania: 6th Place (172 lbs) Colin Martin - Staunton River, Virginia: 7th Place (127 lbs) - Class of 2025 Arizona State Pierson Manville - State College, Pennsylvania: Champion (145 lbs) Army West Point Nick Jones - West Allegheny, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (152 lbs) Gage LaPlante - St. Francis, New York: 2-2 (172 lbs) Nick O’Neill - Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania: Champion (133 lbs) Brown Eli Carr - Hempfield, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (145 lbs) Devon Magro - Bishop McCort, Pennsylvania: 5th Place (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Khimarri Manns - St. Edward, Ohio: 4-2 (127 lbs) - Class of 2025 Braedon Welch - Fort Cherry, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (172 lbs) - Class of 2025 Bucknell Ty Kapusta - Franklin Regional, Pennsylvania: 5th Place (121 lbs) Chris Nucifora - Bergen Catholic, New Jersey: 4-2 (121 lbs) Campbell Michael Trujillo - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: 1-2 (139 lbs) Columbia Jake Dailey - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: Runner-Up (189 lbs) Dom Federici - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: 4th Place (172 lbs) Connor Smith - Seneca Valley, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (121 lbs) - Class of 2025 Cornell Lou Cerchio - Delbarton, New Jersey: 3rd Place (172 lbs) Rocco Dellagatta - St. Joseph’s Regional, New Jersey: Runner-Up (285 lbs) - Class of 2025 Jaxon Joy - Wadsworth, Ohio: Runner-Up (152 lbs) Alessio Perentin - Delbarton, New Jersey: Runner-Up (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Ayden Smith - Notre Dame-Green Pond, Pennsylvania: Runner-Up (114 lbs) Davidson Anderson Heap - Kissimmee Osceola, Florida: 4th Place (145 lbs) Blake Reihner - Trinity, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (139 lbs) Duke Noah Kochman - Bergan Catholic, New Jersey: 4-2 (139 lbs) Edinboro Vitali Daniels - Bentworth, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (189 lbs) Chris Vargo - Bentworth, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (127 lbs) Franklin & Marshall Brody Kline - Berks Catholic, Pennsylvania: 8th Place (215 lbs) Illinois Ryan Bennett - St. Edward, Ohio: 7th Place (145 lbs) Indiana Nick Pavlechko - State College, Pennsylvania: Champion (285 lbs) Lehigh Vaughn Spencer - Pine-Richland, Pennsylvania: 7th Place (172 lbs) - Class of 2025 Little Rock Gunner Holland - Kissimmee Osceola, Florida: 3-2 (172 lbs) Lock Haven Griffin Walizer - Central Mountain, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (145 lbs) Michigan Jude Correa - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: Champion (215 lbs) - Class of 2025 Navy Andrew Binni: Canon-McMillan, Pennsylvania: 4th Place (127 lbs) NC State Louie Gill - Reynolds, Pennsylvania: 3rd Place (121 lbs) North Carolina Aidan Schlett - St. Joseph’s Regional, New Jersey: 3rd Place (215 lbs) Luke Simcox - Central Mountain, Pennsylvania: Runner-Up (139 lbs) Ohio Ky Szewczyk - Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: 1-2 (121 lbs) Oklahoma Sebastian DeGennaro - Jensen Beach, Florida: 8th Place (127 lbs) - Class of 2025 Penn Donny Almeyda - St. Joseph’s Regional, New Jersey: 5-2 (139 lbs) - Class of 2025 Omer Barak - Lake Highland Prep, Florida: 8th Place (172 lbs) Davis Motyka - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: 4th Place (114 lbs) Eren Sement - Council Rock North, Pennsylvania: Runner-Up (127 lbs) - Class of 2025 Wyatt Stout - Southern Regional, New Jersey: 2-2 (145 lbs) - Class of 2025 Penn State Asher Cunningham - State College, Pennsylvania: Champion (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Nathan Desmond - Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania: Champion (121 lbs) - Class of 2025 Pittsburgh Kade Brown - St. Edward, Ohio: 5th Place (139 lbs) Bode Marlow - Thomas Jefferson, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Matthew Marlow - Northport, New York: 2-2 (127 lbs) Princeton Ethan Rivera - Lake Highland Prep, Florida: 4th Place (121 lbs) Luke Sipes - Altoona, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Rutgers Ryan Ford - Bergen Catholic, New Jersey: 3rd Place (160 lbs) Alex Nini - Christian Brothers, New Jersey: 3rd Place (145 lbs) Stanford Jack Consiglio - Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania: Runner-Up (145 lbs) Virginia Macon Ayers - Staunton River, Virginia: 3-2 (160 lbs) - Class of 2025 Adam Butler: St. Edward, Ohio: 2-2 (133 lbs) - Class of 2025 Nathan Rickards: Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania: 7th Place (152 lbs) Virginia Tech Ryan Burton: St. Joseph’s Regional, New Jersey: Runner-Up (172 lbs) - Class of 2025 Frank DiBella: St. Joseph’s Regional, New Jersey: 6th Place (160 lbs) Matt Henrich: Southern Regional, New Jersey: 4th Place (152 lbs) Noah Nininger: Staunton River, Virginia: 6th Place (139 lbs) - Class of 2025 Gage Wright: Parkersburg South, West Virginia: Champion (172 lbs) West Liberty Caiden Harbert: West Allegheny, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (114 lbs) Chase Schepis: West Allegheny, Pennsylvania: 2-2 (145 lbs) West Virginia Gunner Andrick: Point Pleasant, West Virginia: 7th Place (133 lbs) Mason Kernan: Bethel Park, Pennsylvania: 7th Place (139 lbs) Joe Simon: Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: 3-2 (133 lbs)