InterMat Staff

Penn

Canyon View

Earlier this week, we had a portal update and almost immediately after it was posted portal related news continued to hit. Now, we have a few notable wrestlers who have already announced their transfer destinations - along with more high-profile additions to the portal itself. Love it or hate it, it’s the reality. Student-athletes have the ability to transfer much more freely than past generations. Couple that with the extra year of eligibility doled out by the NCAA in the aftermath of the COVID years and you have a wild combination. There was lots of movement last “offseason” and I don’t foresee that changing this year. The first list of wrestlers we’ve listed have already publicly committed to a new transfer destination. That new school is listed first, along with their projected weight, followed by their former school. Below them are notable wrestlers that have gone into the transfer portal. It is not a comprehensive list. Expect many updates to this feature in the coming weeks and months. Transfers Cal Poly: Luke Gayer (165) - Rutgers Iowa: Nasir Bailey (133/141) - Little Rock Iowa: Jordan Williams (149) - Little Rock Michigan: Taye Ghadiali (285) - Campbell Minnesota: Jore Volk (125) - Wyoming Oklahoma State: Alex Facundo (165) - Penn State Oklahoma State: Gary Steen (133) - Penn State Oklahoma State: Casey Swiderski (149) - Iowa State Oregon State: Joel Adams (149) - Michigan/CKWC Penn State: Rocco Welsh (184) - Ohio State Portal Brendon Abdon (165) - Little Rock Christian Carroll (197) - Iowa State Hunter Catka (285) - Virginia Tech Remy Cotton (197) - Michigan State Isaac Dean (184) - Rider David Evans (149) - Penn State AJ Ferrari (197) - CSU Bakersfield Joe Fongaro (149) - Rutgers Louie Gill (125) - NC State Eli Griffin (141) - California Baptist Bryce Hepner (157/165) - Ohio State Brock Herman (157) - Ohio State Chase Horne (285) - NC State Hunter Mason (141) - Virginia Tech Maxx Mayfield (165) - Northwestern Lachlan McNeil (149) - North Carolina Billy Meiszner (149) - Kent State Ethen Miller (157) - Maryland Spencer Moore (125) - North Carolina Carter Neves (285) - Ohio State Draegen Orine (133) - NC State Isaiah Powe (141) - Chattanooga Caleb Rathjen (149) - Iowa Zach Redding (141) - Iowa State Vince Santaniello (133) - Pittsburgh Mike Slade (184/197) - Campbell Brian Soldano (184) - Rutgers Sean Spidle (133) - Central Michigan TJ Stewart (184) - Virginia Tech David Szuba (285) - Rider Kysen Terukina (125) - Iowa State Jesse Vasquez (149) - Arizona State Colton Washleski (157) - Rider

Earlier this week, 2024 NCAA finalist Rocco Welsh announced that he was transferring from Ohio State to Penn State. The fallout from that move has reared its head today as Penn State freshman Zack Ryder has entered the transfer portal. With the loss of five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci at 184 lbs, Ryder was seen as the replacement for Starocci until Welsh’s decision. Now, Ryder will look elsewhere for a suitor. Ryder was the sixth overall recruit in the high school Class of 2024 and redshirted last season in State College. He was able to amass an 8-0 record with tournament titles at the Black Knight Invite and the Southern Scuffle. Despite only competing in two tournaments, Ryder was able to rack up an impressive win list. Half of his victories came over past or eventual NCAA qualifiers. At the Scuffle, he downed 2025 NCAA Round of 12 finisher DJ Parker (Oklahoma) 9-2 and pinned 2024 All-American TJ Stewart (Virginia Tech). The Black Knight Invite saw him post hard-fought wins over Rutgers national qualifiers Brian Soldano and Shane Cartagena-Walsh. Ryder’s exploits outside of the United States are partly responsible for his lofty recruiting ranking. He earned bronze medals at the U17 World Championships in both 2022 and 2023. Last summer, Ryder moved up to the U20 age group and made the world finals. Domestically, Ryder was a Cadet freestyle champion in Fargo. As a high school sophomore, he was fifth at the Super 32 and third at the Walsh Ironman. With five of the top-six finishers from the 2025 NCAA Championships graduating, 184 lbs should be wide open next year. Wherever he lands, Ryder could be one of the new faces contending for a national title.

Prairie View via Clackamas CC

Cosby

Cane Bay

Gouverneur

The Woodlands

Venice

Frisco

Gilroy

Wyoming Seminary

Waynesburg

Columbia Central

Clinton

Olentangy Orange

Palmer

Altamont

Clover

Grand Haven

Since the 2025 NCAA Championships wrapped up, the biggest topic of conversation has been the transfer portal. Who entered it? Where could they be looking? Who has made a transfer decision? And for how much? Your traditional fans may yearn for a day when we didn’t fill the first two weeks after the tournament talking about transfers. But that’s the landscape of college wrestling and college athletics to a larger degree. Using the transfer portal to your advantage is almost a necessity these days in college wrestling. Sure, you need recruiting, retention, and development, but filling a potential hole with a transfer could be the difference between a team trophy and fifth or sixth place. Need proof? Below are the point totals from the 2025 NCAA Championships accumulated by wrestlers who have transferred at least once in their collegiate careers. We realize that all transfers aren’t created equally and there’s a difference between a transfer from 2022 and our current portal/NIL climate, but we’ll let you sort that out. Until then, here are the numbers. Oklahoma State (82.5 points) - Total Team Points: 102.5 125 - Troy Spratley (17.5 points) 141 - Tagen Jamison (5.5 points) 157 - Caleb Fish (5.5 points) 165 - Cam Amine (5.5 points) 174 - Dean Hamiti (22.5 points) 285 - Wyatt Hendrickson (26 points) Iowa (43 points) - Total Team Points: 81 125 - Joey Cruz (0 points) 149 - Kyle Parco (1 point) 157 - Jacori Teemer (0 points) 165 - Michael Caliendo (18 points) 197 - Stephen Buchanan (24 points) Penn State (34.5 points) - Total Team Points: 177 165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (24 points) 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (10.5 points) Michigan (29.5 points) - Total Team Points: 35.5 157 - Chase Saldate (6 points) 197 - Jacob Cardenas (13.5 points) 285 - Josh Heindselman (10 points) Lehigh (17 points) - Total Team Points: 29 197 - Michael Beard (3.5 points) 285 - Owen Trephan (13.5 points) Purdue (14.5 points) - Total Team Points: 34.5 125 - Matt Ramos (14.5 points) Oregon State (14 points) - Total Team Points: 18.5 125 - Maximo Renteria (0.5 points) 149 - Ethan Stiles (12 points) 197 - Trey Munoz (1.5 points) CSU Bakersfield (13.5 points) - Total Team Points: 14 points 197 - AJ Ferrari (13.5 points) Utah Valley (12.5 points) - Total Team Points: 12.5 points 165 - Terrell Barraclough (12.5 points) Virginia Tech (11 points) - Total Team Points: 41 133 - Connor McGonagle (9 points) 174 - Lennox Wolak (2 points) Oklahoma (10 points) - Total Team Points: 10.5 125 - Antonio Lorenzo (1.5 points) 141 - Mosha Schwartz (1 point) 174 - Gaven Sax (1 point) 184 - DJ Parker (6.5 points) Lock Haven (7.5 points) - Total Team Points: 7.5 133 - Anthony Noto (1 point) 141 - Wyatt Henson (2 points) 174 - Avery Bassett (0.5 points) 285 - Gavin Hoffman (4 points) Nebraska (7.5 points) - Total Team Points: 117 125 - Caleb Smith (7.5 points) Northern Colorado (6.5 points) - Total Team Points: 17.5 125 - Stevo Poulin (5.5 points) 133 - Dominick Serrano (1 point) Rider (6.5 points) - Total Team Points: 10 149 - Sammy Alvarez (6.5 points) 165 - Enrique Munguia (0 points) South Dakota State (6 points) - Total Team Points: 19 141 - Julian Tagg (2.5 points) 157 - Cobe Siebrecht (3 points) 165 - Drake Rhodes (0 points) 197 - Cole Glazier (0.5 points) Hofstra (5.5 points) - Total Team Points: 5.5 165 - Kyle Mosher (5.5 points) Minnesota (5.5 points) - Total Team Points: 51.5 125 - Cooper Flynn (3 points) 157 - Tommy Askey (2 points) 174 - Clayton Whiting (0.5 points) Indiana (4 points) - Total Team Points: 18.5 133 - Angelo Rini (3 points) 285 - Jacob Bullock (1 point) Little Rock (4 points) - Total Team Points: 22.5 149 - Jordan Williams (4 points) Northern Iowa (3.5 points) - Total Team Points: 45.5 149 - Colin Realbuto (1 point) 165 - Jack Thomsen (2.5 points) Illinois (3 points) - Total Team Points: 44.5 184 - Edmond Ruth (3 points) Maryland (3 points) - Total Team Points: 18.5 285 - Seth Nevills (3 points) West Virginia (3 points) - Total Team Points: 21 125 - Jett Strickenberger (3 points) Iowa State (2.5 points) - Total Team Points: 18 165 - Aiden Riggins (2.5 points) 184 - Evan Bockman (0 points) Cal Poly (1.5 points) - Total Team Points: 17.5 149 - Chance Lamer (1.5 points) North Carolina (1.5 points) - Total Team Points: 17 133 - Ethan Oakley (0.5 points) 174 - Josh Ogunsanya (1 point) 285 - Nolan Neves (0 points) Rutgers (1.5 points) - Total Team Points: 12 285 - Yaraslau Slavikouski (1.5 points) Pittsburgh (1 point) - Total Team Points: 18 125 - Nick Babin (0 points) 184 - Reece Heller (1 point) Edinboro (0.5 points) - Total Team Points: 0.5 133 - Colton Camacho (0 points) 184 - Jared McGill (0.5 points) Campbell (0 points) - Total Team Points: 2 141 - Shannon Hanna (0 points) Central Michigan (0 points) - Total Team Points: 5 174 - Alex Cramer (0 points) North Dakota State (0 points) - Total Team Points: 11.5 125 - Tristan Daugherty (0 points) 133 - Kyle Burwick (0 points) Wyoming (0 points) - Total Team Points: 19.5 149 - Gabe Willochell (0 points) 157 - Jared Hill (0 points)

The National Duals Invitational, a groundbreaking $1 million collegiate wrestling event sponsored by Paycom, has announced the qualification process for the inaugural 16-team bracket. Featuring top programs from across the country, this high-stakes tournament will bring together elite competition and unprecedented prize money to the BOK Center in Tulsa this fall. Automatic entry will be awarded to the top 12 teams in the final 2025 NCAA Division I standings: Penn State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, Cornell, NC State, Northern Iowa, Illinois, Virginia Tech and Michigan. To secure their spots, these 12 teams must complete their participation agreements by April 15. Final teams will be listed on the website as they are confirmed. “While we know this is not an accurate representation of dual team rankings, we believe it will ensure that the event features some of the best competition in the country,” said Matt Surber, Tournament Director. “I’m excited to see additional participation as we grow the sport of wrestling.” The remaining spots will be filled through a random drawing on April 24 from teams that finished 13-24 in the NCAA standings. The teams competing for these final spots are Purdue, Missouri, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, Little Rock, Arizona State, Stanford, West Virginia, Navy, Wyoming, South Dakota State, Indiana, Maryland and Oregon State. The premier 16-team event will feature a total purse of more than $1 million. The top eight teams will earn payouts, with the winning squad walking away with $200,000. The second- and third-place teams will earn $150,000, while fourth place earns $75,000. Fifth through eighth place payouts will be: $50,000, $40,000, $25,000, and $20,000, respectively. All participating teams will receive $20,000 for attending. Thirty-four-time NCAA champion Oklahoma State will serve as the host school. This event will be held at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 15-16. Learn more at nationaldualsinvitational.com.

Jore Volk is coming home! The 2024 NCAA All-American announced last night that he will return to his home state and transfer to the University of Minnesota. Volk earned All-American honors for Wyoming in 2024 as he finished seventh in the nation at 125 lbs. A few weeks earlier, Volk claimed a title at the Big 12 Championships which led to the #5 seed at NCAA’s. Volk fell in the opening round but battled back through the consolations to take seventh place. To lock up his spot on the podium, Volk needed a sudden victory win over top-seeded Big Ten champion Braeden Davis of Penn State. Volk finished his sophomore campaign with a 27-8 record. In 2024-25, Volk started the year with a pair of wins and then downed Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State at the NWCA All-Star Classic. The following week, he suffered a pair of losses to opponents from the Big 12 Oklahoma schools and was injured and lost for the year. Volk was tabbed the #64 overall recruit in the Class of 2022 after winning three Minnesota state championships and capturing a U20 world championship later that summer. He never redshirted at Wyoming - immediately jumping into the Cowboy lineup and notching a 25-11 record while qualifying for NCAA’s as the #21 seed. Volk will jump into a Minnesota lineup that features a returning of past All-Americans with Vance Vombaur (141) and Max McEnelly (184). The Gophers have a quality 125 lber returning in Cooper Flynn, as well. Flynn is a two-time national qualifier who joined Minnesota last offseason. He went 2-2 at the 2025 national tournament. To get both in the lineup, one of the two might be able to move up to 133 lbs, as starter Tyler Wells has a redshirt available. Volk should have two years of eligibility remaining as he missed the vast majority of the 2024-25 campaign with his injury.