InterMat Staff

Nebraska head coach Mark Manning (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) We finally made it! It’s the week of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, and we couldn’t be more excited. At last, we can watch the best in the country do battle to find out who truly is the best of the best. However, we feel it’s also important to reflect on the regular season. The athletes work too hard to not be celebrated for these achievements. It wasn’t for nothing that we watched these warriors put their bodies and minds through the grind of the B1G season. We trust that they all had these awards in mind when training and competing. Who are we to deprive them of this moment in the sun? Without further adieu, let’s get to the 2022-2023 B1G awards. (Thank you, Robbie Wendell, for the categories!) Redshirt of the Year Kevin: Drake Ayala, Iowa Drake Ayala has been patiently waiting for the chance to represent the Hawkeyes as the starter at 125 pounds. I mean, he did it last year as a true freshman where he made the NCAA tournament and showed some great signs for what the future holds, but that was just a holding spot as we waited for a healthy Spencer Lee to return. When Drake did compete this season, he did very well against everyone not named Spencer Lee. His teammate did pin him earlier this season, but that’s to be expected, considering Spencer has pinned the very best in the country several times this year. Nobody wants to be the guy who follows the legend, but Drake certainly appears to have the talent and mentality that you’d need to accept that challenge. Lauren: Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State Thanks to the NCAA’s new rule, allowing freshmen to compete in five events without burning their redshirts, we got a look at some true freshmen in dual action that we may otherwise not have – and they picked up valuable experience. Ohio State was able to use this rule to its advantage to give Nic Bouzakis some starts while fellow true freshman Jesse Mendez was out with injury. Bouzakis stepped up when called upon, going 4-0 in Mendez’s absence, including a 10-6 win over Kyle Biscoglia in the Buckeyes’ 19-13 loss to Northern Iowa, which kept them in the match with a chance to win or tie at the end. Bouzakis had an 11-1 record as a redshirt, his lone loss coming when he wrestled up at 141. He had eight bonus-point wins, including three consecutive falls to close out the season. Coach of the Year Kevin: Tom Brands, Iowa Tom Brands has done a masterful job this season. Sure his team is ranked second, which is not the goal for the Hawkeyes, but I am so impressed with how they appear to be peaking at the right time. There are some issues with 184 and 197, where Assad and Warner are battling some injuries which are hindering their performance, but you can’t coach away injury issues. Other than that though, the rest of their team has looked great. Spencer Lee remains awesome, Patrick Kennedy placed second in the B1G at one of the most competitive weights in the country, Nelson Brands placing fifth at 174 was impressive, and Cassioppi is clearly better than all but two HWYs in the country. They would need a lot to go right to win the NCAA title, but they are bringing all 10 of their athletes, which gives them a chance. The fact that it’s even worth discussing is impressive enough, and for me gets him the award. Lauren: Mark Manning, Nebraska After graduating four All-Americans in Eric Schultz, Christian Lance, Taylor Venz and Chad Red, and redshirting another in NCAA runner-up Ridge Lovett, it seemed like 2022-23 might be a rebuilding year for the Huskers. After losing two of their first three duals, including 20-16 to North Dakota State, it was looking like there might be credence to that thought. But then, Nebraska started to turn things around. It won its third straight Cliff Keen title, with Peyton Robb, Brock Hardy and Mikey Labriola as champs. It got its revenge on the Dakotas by topping South Dakota State, 22-17, and finished the regular season 12-3 – its only other loss coming to Iowa. Robb and Labriola finished their regular seasons undefeated and Liam Cronin emerged as one of the biggest surprise stories in the conference. The Huskers then placed a program-best five wrestlers in the Big Ten finals and crowned their first champ since Robert Kokesh in 2015, finishing third with 104.6 team points. A lot of different factors had to have gone into Nebraska’s season turnaround, but it would have been a lot more difficult without Mark Manning’s leadership from the top and the coaching staff he’s assembled with Bryan Snyder, Kokesh and Tervel Dlagnev. Oh, and Manning also surpassed his 300th-win milestone this season. Nebraska will enter the NCAA Championships with seven wrestlers, four top-five seeds and a chance to bring home a trophy. BONUS Machine Kevin: Mason Parris, Michigan So technically Spencer Lee has the most Bonus Point wins, but here’s the thing about Spencer Lee, he can’t win all the awards. He’ll get his well-deserved recognition coming up. Mason Parris was my Fantasy Wrestling first-round pick. I took him over Kerkvliet, and at the moment felt like it was probably the wrong move, but I needed to stick with my dude Mason. I’m certainly glad that I did, because he has been destroying the field. He is currently working with a 64% bonus point rate at one of the most competitive weights in the most competitive conference in the country. In fact for his career, Mason has a 55% bonus percentage. Can you imagine wrestling in college and getting bonus points in more than half of your matches? Michigan fans have been spoiled with our Heavyweights over the last decade, with Mason and Adam Coon before him (also we’ll have Ira Jenkins next, who should be super fun also), and I certainly hope he can finally get the NCAA Title that has eluded the Wolverines. I trust he’ll also get some bonus point wins along the way. Lauren: Spencer Lee, Iowa I mean … It’s hard to argue with this one. Spencer Lee has an insane bonus rate of 88.24%, with eight pins, four technical falls and three major decisions in his 17 matches this season (thanks, WrestleStat, for doing the math!). One of his most memorable bonus-point wins of the season was his pin in 38 seconds of Nebraska’s Liam Cronin, the third-ranked wrestler at that time. The week prior, he had decked Northwestern’s then-No.3 Michael DeAugustino in 2:01. With an RPI of .7297 and a 100% win percentage, Lee is on track to win his third Hodge Trophy and his fourth NCAA title this season. Freshman of the Year Kevin: Jaxon Smith, Maryland I had some high expectations for Jaxon Smith this year, but even I wouldn’t have guessed that he’d place third at 197 at the conference tournament. He started strong with some solid wins over Zac Braunagel at the Tiger Style Invite, Luke Surber at the Southern Scuffle, and Jacob Koser of Navy, before getting hurt and missing much of the B1G regular season. He has still managed to get 21 wins on the year, has helped the Terrapins collect dual wins over Oklahoma, and Pittsburgh, and was a huge part of their first B1G dual win over Purdue. He heads to Tulsa with the 11 seed and will have a solid chance at an All-American finish, which is pretty good for a Freshman in a weight class full of grown men. Lauren: Levi Haines, Penn State There were a lot of talented freshmen in this year’s class, but it’s hard to not go with the true freshman Big Ten champ here – Levi Haines. Penn State’s plan at the beginning of the season was for Haines to redshirt. But he said after his sudden-victory win over the previously undefeated Peyton Robb for the conference title, that having his hand raised on the big stage is always where he had envisioned himself being at this point. Before getting to that Big Ten final, Haines had to first earn his spot in the starting lineup, which he did by taking full advantage of the matches he got under the NCAA’s new freshman redshirt rule. After putting up 16 points on returning NCAA qualifier Gerrett Model and knocking off All-American Will Lewan in sudden victory the next week of competition, there wasn’t much doubt his redshirt would be officially burned against Iowa. Ever since, he’s done his best to make sure his coaches don’t regret their decision - a major decision over Paddy Gallagher, six wins over NCAA qualifiers after that Iowa dual, and, of course, a Big Ten crown. Entering NCAAs as the No. 2 seed with a 23-1 record, this freshman has certainly made the most of his opportunities this year. Best Mustache Kevin: Matt Finesilver, Michigan Matt Finesilver’s mustache is great. This is the second year that the Wolverines have brought in a stud-mustached transfer with tremendous success. I have mentioned this before, but simply transferring into the B1G is not as easy as he has made it look. Matt was a three-time NCAA Qualifier for the Blue Devils, and I was always impressed with what he could do while competing in the ACC, but if you told me before the season started that he would place third in the B1G conference tournament I wouldn’t have believed it. As it turns out though, that’s exactly what he did, and I feel like the mustache has a lot to do with it. A warning to all of those out there considering transferring into the B1G, don’t dare do it without a mustache. Lauren: Brian Soldano, Rutgers It’s admittedly hard to compete with Matt Finesilver in this category, but Brian Soldano is giving it a good run. The best part about Soldano’s facial hair is that it has evolved over the season. He started out the season with just the mustache, but he has since grown it out into almost a full beard. What does the evolution of Soldano’s facial hair mean? Is this a “playoff beard”-like superstition? These are all good questions that hopefully get asked in Tulsa. He’ll enter NCAAs as the No. 18 seed at 184 pounds, but as the top seed, in my mind, when it comes to quality facial hair. Newcomer of the Year Kevin: Aaron Nagao, Minnesota Remember at the beginning of the year when we put out a breakout wrestler list for the conference? Did you read that one? Well if you didn’t, let me remind you of who I had said would break out at 133. It was Aaron Nagao of the Golden Gophers. He had some injuries this year which kept him out of the lineup at times, but when the pressure was on, he was able to come through with some big wins in Ann Arbor to make the B1G finals. He wrestled pretty well against the odds on favorite and 2x defending NCAA Champion Roman Bravo Young of Penn State, and is positioned well to have a rematch with him in the quarterfinals if the seeds hold. Lauren: Real Woods, Iowa He’s not exactly new to NCAA wrestling, but Real Woods is new to the Big Ten this season after transferring to Iowa from Stanford – and he made an immediate impact in his new conference. Woods was a huge get for the Hawkeyes, filling the lineup spot vacated by NCAA finalist Jaydin Eierman and entering into a weight class at 141 pounds that just graduated two-time national champ Nick Lee, runnerup Kizhan Clarke, and five-time All-American Sebastian Rivera. He’s so far understood the assignment, posting a 16-0 record, winning the Big Ten title and earning the top seed at 141 pounds for NCAAs. It will be interesting to see if he can deliver this week in Tulsa. Singlet of the Year Kevin: Michigan at Battle at Bragg It seems like it was a long time ago, but it was only November 11th. Michigan traveled to Fayetteville, N.C. to wrestle the Camels of Campbell at Fort Bragg. This was an awesome event even before I saw the singlets. The two teams battled in a hangar next to Army planes. It was unlike any environment I’d ever seen before. Also, halfway through the dual they had to close the doors because the rain was blowing into the hanger and onto the mat. Completely wild situation, but they handled it with grace. Anyway, both Michigan and Campbell rocked some spectacular camouflage singlets. They genuinely made me wish that Michigan would just bust these out every so often. I want one. Michigan 125 lber Kurt McHenry (Photo courtesy of Chris Downey/Campbell Athletics) Lauren: Michigan at Battle at Bragg The blue, camo-print singlets were definitely cool enough on their own. But now picture wrestlers wearing them in pouring down rain in an airplane hangar at Ft. Bragg, with an Army airplane in the background and smoke coming up from the floor. Now you have a full picture of the most badass singlets and well-produced duals a Big Ten team wrestled in this season. Credit to Campbell and UNC for making that weekend of Battle at Bragg and Doubles on the Diamond happen. B1G Dual of the Year Kevin: The ‘Border Battle’ between Minnesota and Wisconsin Minnesota versus Wisconsin, or the border battle as it’s affectionately known, was an awesome way to finish out the season. Sure, I could have gone with Iowa and Penn State, but I felt like I knew who was going to win that going in, and turns out I was right. Minnesota and Wisconsin I had no idea, and then each match delivered some exciting action. The dual was back and forth, with Minnesota starting off strong with Michael Blockhus getting the pin, but Model and Hamiti were able to battle back and tie up the score at 6. Minnesota used two big wins from O’Reilly and Skillings at 174 and 184 before the Badgers went on a run. They won three matches in a row with Amos, Hillger, and Eric Barnett getting wins. Each of those three wins was by one point, so again, awesome competition against some closely ranked opponents. Minnesota needed the last two wins to get the win here, and they did just that. Aaron Nagao was able to get a 5-1 win over transfer Taylor Lamont, and then Jake Bergeland was able to eke out a 1-0 win over Joseph Zargo to finish off the dual on the road. This was an exciting dual to watch, and one that I will do my best not to miss in the future. Lauren: Indiana over Maryland on tiebreaker criteria, 17-16 What makes a dual the “best” is obviously highly subjective. There were numerous different ways to go with this category, but I ended up going with the meet that stuck out most in my mind when looking back on the season – and that was a little Monday night dual between Maryland and Indiana. With no other wrestling on that night, my attention was fully focused on this dual. The stakes were high for both teams. Maryland, the host, was looking for its first conference win since 2016 and Indiana was looking for its first conference win since beating Maryland the year prior and had its sights on earning multiple conference wins this season. At no point throughout the dual did you feel confident that one team or the other was going to win. And when the dual ended tied 16-16, it was hard to know who had criteria, and both teams waited several minutes in anticipation until it could be determined. The climax of the dual came at heavyweight, which was the sixth bout of the night. Maryland senior Jaron Smith held off Jacob Bullock, who had just come off a big upset win against Ohio State, despite a last-second reversal, for a crucial 3-2 victory. The teams then traded the next two bouts, and it all came down to the Rooks and the Miller brothers. Kal Miller took the first one, 6-4, in sudden victory over Cayden Rooks. Graham Rooks then avenged his brother’s loss with a 5-3 win over Ethen Miller to force tiebreaker criteria. There was excitement and tension throughout – a great Monday night wrestling treat. Most Improved Kevin: Chase Saldate, Michigan State In 2022, Chase Saldate placed 8th in the B1G tournament, was the 21 seed at the NCAA tournament, and went 0-2 in Detroit. In 2023, Chase Saldate made the semi-finals of the B1G tournament, and almost beat the number one seed, before ultimately placing fourth. He is now the 11 seed in the NCAA tournament and if he can make the quarterfinals, then he will have a chance at beating Peyton Robb to make the semifinals. DRAMATIC improvement in what is a toss-up weight. I picked him as my breakout wrestler at this weight earlier this year as well, and I trust he’ll make his way onto the podium in Tulsa. Lauren: Derek Gilcher, Indiana This category was one of the most difficult to choose, as there were so many deserving recipients of this title. A lot of the candidates came from the same team – Indiana. The Hoosiers’ accomplishments as a team - most dual wins and conference wins since 2016-17, most wins over DI opponents since 2010-11, most NCAA qualifiers since 2018 - weren’t due to one or two wrestlers, but rather marked improvements up and down the lineup. Derek Gilcher is one who stands out. The sophomore improved to 24-13 from 13-7 last year, with an eighth-place finish at Big Tens and an automatic qualification for NCAAs. He beat six ranked opponents this season, including a pin of Wisconsin’s Garrett Model at Big Tens, fellow “Most Improved” wrestler Chase Saldate, of Michigan State, at Reno, and a major decision at Big Tens over once-ranked Mikey Carr. Several of Gilcher’s teammates also make strong cases for this title. Heavyweight Jacob Bullock made the decision to transform his body over the offseason, coach Angel Escobedo said, and went from 11-11 last season to 21-6 and his first NCAA qualification. Graham Rooks improved from 12-12 to 28-8 and was a Big Ten semifinalist – ultimately finishing in fifth place, a career-best. Another wrestler who deserves to be mentioned here is former Hoosier Liam Cronin. The now-Husker has had past success but missed most of last season due to injury. He came back for a final season after dealing with the injury, the transfer, COVID disruption and off-the-mat adversity to have the best season of his career at 20-4 and the No. 3 seed at NCAAs at 125 pounds. The Nathan Traxler Best Hair Award Kevin: Cam Caffey, Michigan State This award could have gone to several people. Trent Hillger is certainly an honorable mention, and his flowing Thor-esque mane will be missed. Jacob Warner grew his hair out specifically in an effort to win this award, or at least that’s what many people are saying. However, when we talk about best hair, there’s only one person who can win this. Cam Caffey will always win best hair until he’s no longer wrestling in college. That being said, this is his last season in the Spartans singlet, so this is my last chance at appreciating his awesome afro. It’s been big, small, blonde, I feel like there was some green in there before. It’s just been great from the moment we saw it. Cam Caffey has had a great career and I hope he’s healthy enough to make one last run at the podium this year. Lauren: Brock Hardy and Peyton Robb, Nebraska It turns out that the best hair trend this year was not having any. Whether it’s Gandhi, The Rock, or, as one TikTok user pointed out in Ann Arbor, most of the Big Ten wrestling coaching staff members, some of the most successful people in the world have been bald. And after the season they’ve had, add Brock Hardy and Peyton Robb to that list. The pair, who both started out their Nebraska wrestling careers with hair, have since leveled up in major ways. I’m not saying it’s because they shaved their heads, but I’m also not saying it’s not … With support from volunteer assistant Tervel Dlagnev, the smooth domes gave the whole Cornhusker team a unique vibe – a cross between a Zen master, pro wrestler and Marine, if you will. It’s fair to say that not everybody can pull off the look, but Nebraska brought bald back in a big way. Wrestler of the Year Kevin: Spencer Lee, Iowa Spencer Lee is the Wrestler of the Year. Think about this, he hasn’t lost a match in 4 years, despite having destroyed his knees a couple times along the way. He pinned whoever was ranked third in the country at 125 three weeks in a row (Matt Ramos of Purdue, Michael DeAugustino of Northwestern, and Liam Cronin of Nebraska). As an encore, he pinned Eric Barnett, who was ranked 6th at the time as well. Technically Spencer Lee should have won the BONUS Machine award also, considering he has scored bonus points in 88% of his matches this season (he’s bonused 81% of his opponents in college, which is just insane). Spencer looks healthy, aggressive, he’s got his gas tank back, and he’s ready to finally catch them all. Lauren: Spencer Lee, Iowa I wanted to go with something different and creative here. But ultimately, it’s difficult – and kind of crazy – to choose anyone but Spencer Lee for this honor. Lee wins when it comes to statistics (as detailed above), he wins when it comes to style (his pin of Matt Ramos after almost being pinned himself comes to mind), he wins when it comes to legacy (vying for his fourth NCAA title and third Hodge Trophy) and he wins when it comes to resilience and heart, having overcome double ACL surgery last winter. There were other strong candidates for this award, such as Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young. But Spencer Lee is a unicorn, and has already left an undeniable mark on college wrestling – no matter what happens at NCAAs.

#2 seed at 125 lbs Patrick Glory of Princeton (Photo/Tony DiMarco) The 2023 NCAA Championships begin on Thursday, March 16th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The EIWA Conference is sending 53 wrestlers to compete. My bold prediction at the beginning of the season was that the conference would double its number of All-Americans last season from 7 to 14. With a few key injuries during the second semester of the season, I had some doubts. But, after breaking down the brackets, I feel there is a way to get there. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depending on who you ask) we have a few all-EIWA matchups in round one. If you like me and are interested in all EIWA schools, make sure you tune in right at the 12PM EST start time. Nate Lukez (Army – 157lbs) will be on mat 5 in a pigtail bout. Next to him on mat 6 will be Harvard’s Josh Kim in the 165lbs pigtail. Also in a pigtail is Cole Urbas of Penn at 197lbs, and Travis Stefanik of Princeton at 285lbs. See my weight-by-weight breakdown below. 125 – 6 Qualifiers **number in parenthesis is wrester’s seed in the bracket** (2) Pat Glory, Princeton (15) Brett Ungar, Cornell (18) Ryan Miller, Penn (17) Ethan Berginc, Army (24) Nick Babin, Columbia (22) Diego Sotelo, Harvard I’m not thrilled to see Miller and Ungar face off right away in the first round. Personally, I wish the NCAA separated conference opponents to limit the possibility of them already meeting during the season. In this case, Miller won their only matchup of the year. The winner of this one will square off against Pat Glory. Glory is the 2nd seed in this bracket. You expect him to make a run to the finals and give the fans an opportunity to see Princeton represented in the NCAA finals for the second year in a row. Babin squares off with returning All-American, Barnett of Wisconsin. He’ll need an upset here. Same with Sotelo. He will face McKee of Minnesota. Although, Sotelo’s match-up is interesting. In the last two NCAA Tournaments, McKee has lost in the first round and wrestled back for a top-five finish. It’s crazy enough to do it once, doing it twice is borderline skeptical - as if he does it on purpose? Army’s Berginc enters as the 17th seed. He faces Michigan’s Medley. Berginc has wins over the third seed (Cronin of Nebraska) and 7th seed (Kaylor of Oregon State). If he does win this one, he’ll have a tough one with Spencer Lee. Speaking of Lee, it’s worth noting he is attempting to win his 4th NCAA title this season. He’d be the 5th wrestler to do so at the D1 level. He was in a similar position in high school – looking for a 4th state title. For those of you who remember, Lee never won his 4th state title - thanks to future teammate Austin Desanto. Will history repeat itself? Glory is a man on a mission, looking to be the “Larry Owings” of this generation. Note - this is not a prediction by any means. I’m just laying the groundwork for a potential upset that you will be telling your grandkids for decades. When Sunday rolls around, I expect Glory to be in the finals. If anyone else from the EIWA wants to be on the podium, they will need to win some matches they are not supposed to. It seems Ungar, Miller, and Berginc have the skillset to do so, based on quality wins on the year thus far. 133 – 6 Qualifiers (3) Vito Arujau, Cornell (7) Michael Colaiocco, Penn (29) Angelo Rini, Columbia (20) Brendan Ferretti, Navy (31) Jack Maida, American (25) Kurtis Phipps, Bucknell ** Connor McGonagle, Lehigh – qualified as the 11 seed, but has pulled out due to injury Maida will kick things off against 3X runner-up Daton Fix. Phipps of Bucknell will square off with the 8th seed of Minnesota, Aaron Nagao. At the 20 seed, Navy’s Ferretti will take on true freshman phenom, Jesse Mendez of Ohio State. Rini has a tough out with Michael McGee of Arizona State, a multiple-time AA. These guys will need to pull an upset to win in round 1. It is possible we see Vito take on Latona of Virginia Tech, and try to avenge his lone loss of the season - assuming Vito wins his first two matches. Colaiocco’s round of 16 matchup will be a highly anticipated rematch with Illinois’s Byrd. Colaiocco beat him 15-13 at Midlands this season. It’s noteworthy to add Byrd is a 2X fifth-place finisher at NCAAs. With a healthy McGonagle, I would love to see three All-Americans at this weight in Vito, Colaiocco, and McGonagle. I expect Vito on the podium, and Colaiocco is a fringe-podium type of guy, who I believe gets it done. It seems like this weight is always entertaining. 141 – 5 Qualifiers (7) Vince Cornella, Cornell (25) Carmen Ferrante, Penn (16) Josh Koderhandt, Navy (22) Malyke Hines, Lehigh (19) Matt Kazimir, Columbia Koderhandt will be the first wrestler taking the mat at this weight for the EIWA. The 16th seed will square off with D’Emilio of Ohio State. Koderhandt was 1-2 last year at 133 lbs. A win here will put him against top-seeded Woods, of Iowa. Ferrante will see 8th seed Hart of Missouri. Hart is a former bloodround wrestler in 2021. Ferrante has been wrestling well, and I would not be surprised to see him win this one. Hart is a guy expected to All-American, by many people, so he is the favorite on paper. Kazimir will see Happel of Northern Iowa, and Hines will wrestle Carlson of SDSU. Both guys have upset potential here - they could have worse matchups, in my opinion. Cornella is the highest seed from the EIWA after winning the conference. If the seeds hold, he will have a 10th-seeded McNeil of UNC in the R16 and Alirez of Northern Colorado in the quarterfinals. Cornella is a freshman, who has improved since November. Cornella would have to reverse a loss to McNeil to even get to the quarters. In all honesty, I am not sure where I see Cornella finishing. He was not tested at all during EIWAs, earning 4 pins and a major. Is he that good, or was he wrestling particularly well that weekend? Cornella finding the podium is a great possibility. He would help Cornell in the team race - as they will be in a fight to take home a trophy. 149 – 3 Qualifiers (1) Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell (29) Dylan Chappell, Bucknell (11) Doug Zapf, Penn Yianni, similar to Spencer Lee, is looking to be the 5th person in NCAA history to win 4 NCAA titles in Division 1. We should not see him break a sweat until the quarterfinal round. He’ll most likely face All-American, Abas of Stanford, or Iowa’s Max Murin, in that round. Avoiding any hiccups, expect to see Yianni on the big stage Saturday night. Zapf of Penn came in with the 11th seed. His R16 matchup with Mauller of Missouri is very winnable. Zapf can pull that one out. Assuming seeds hold, his quarterfinal could be Parco of Arizona State, who is also an All-American. Do not count out Zapf, as he is a legit All-American threat. Chappell’s first-round match in round one will be against 4th seed, Henson of Virginia Tech. He’ll need to continue his improbable postseason run - and then some - to pull off this upset. We’ve seen it before, so never say never! Yianni’s quest for four has been somewhat overshadowed by Lee’s attention. Being at a small school (in comparison with Iowa) has its benefits in that regard. Yianni will make history Saturday night. It will be incredible to witness. 157 – 4 Qualifiers (5) Josh Humphreys. Lehigh (16) Anthony Artalona, Penn (33) Nathan Lukez, Army (27) Cesar Alvan, Columbia Nate Lukez will be in the pigtail round. The EIWA will have a lot of action in the pigtails - more to come on that. I like how Lukez has wrestled the past few weeks, so I like him in his first match. After his pigtail win, he’d face top-seeded Austin O’Connor of UNC. Artalona has a toss-up with #17 Jacques of Missouri. A win will also give him O’Connor. O’Connor majored Artalona during the season – he’ll have an uphill battle with him. Humphreys is looking for his first podium finish at NCAAs. I like him in the fifth spot. His potential quarterfinal match with Franek will be a doozy, as 4th vs 5th seed bouts typically are. I think he has great odds to win the whole bracket. He had O’Connor beat last year, until he slipped up and lost in the final seconds. Alvan has Cardenas of Stanford. Cardenas has had a heck of a year, although a quiet one, with a 17-1 record. Artalona has been R12 twice before, so do not be shocked to see him make a similar run in his last appearance as a Quaker. 165 – 6 Automatic Qualifiers (4) Julian Ramirez, Cornell (5) Quincy Monday, Princeton (16) Joshua Ogunsanya, Columbia (26) Brevin Cassella, Binghamton (33) Josh Kim, Harvard (30) Evan Barczak, Drexel Kim has a pigtail bout against Wyoming’s Moody. He, along with Lukez at 157lbs, will be in action right when the first whistles blow at 12PM EST. A win will give him a match against David Carr of Iowa State. Ogunsanya finds himself in a similar boat, with a win over Yant (Northern Iowa), and will get him a match with Carr in the R16. We could see round three of Ramirez vs Monday if they win twice – into the quarterfinals. Ramirez won both matchups in super tight fashion. It’ll be hard to beat a guy like Monday three times in a season. Also, Monday made the finals last season as the fifth seed… Just saying. The winner of this match will (most likely) get a semifinal date with a returning national champ in either 1st seed Carr or 9th seed Griffith of Stanford. Cassella has a tough first-round match with Caliendo of NDSU. Cassella is a tough out with anyone. He’s so long, can scramble well, plus likes to ride everyone hard. He can make a deep run here, as he’ll give guys fits with his length and can keep matches close. Barczak has returning All-American Hamiti of Wisconsin first round. He’ll need to avenge a 7-1 loss from their dual in December. In summary, I think we’ll see Monday and Ramirez on the podium somewhere. This is another weight class where the EIWA is expected to have at least two All-Americans. With this weight class being one the deepest in recent years, this would be one heck of an accomplishment. 174 – 6 Automatic Qualifiers (4) Chris Foca, Cornell (14) Benjamin Pasiuk, Army (21) Lennox Wolak, Columbia (24) Philip Conigliaro, Harvard (25) Nick Incontrera, Penn (23) Mickey O’Malley, Drexel Conigliaro and Incontrera will have Big Ten opponents in Ruth of Illinois and O’Reilly of Minnesota, respectively. I would not give Ruth an automatic win here, as Conigliaro was R12 last season a weight down at 165 lbs. His potential is there to knock off a highly-ranked wrestler. Incontrera had to MFF for 6th place at EIWAs. His shoulder injury really limited his capabilities at conferences. Hopefully, two weeks of additional rest and rehab will help him. Wolak has Olmos of Oregon State (12th seed) off the bat. He has a win over Ethan Smith (who came in as the 6th seed) on the year, so we could see an upset here. Pasiuk has Fisher of Northwestern. A win will put him the R16 against Lewis of Virginia Tech. O’Malley’s 23rd seed could be a good spot for him. Finishing in the bloodround last season, he’s ready to improve that finish. He's dangerous to wrestle when he’s on. Depending on his health, we can see him go 0-2, or finish on the podium. Foca will likely be an All-American, coming in as the 4th seed. He looked very good at EIWAs and is ready to make a deep run. He’d need to knock off returning 2X NCAA Champ, Starocci of Penn State, in the semifinals if he were to become NCAA Champion. I’m intrigued by this weight class. Let’s see how it turns out. 184 – 5 Automatic Qualifiers (17) Tate Samuelson, Lehigh (19) Jacob Nolan, Binghamton (26) David Key, Navy (25) Brian Bonino, Drexel (28) Jacob Ferreira, Hofstra Lehigh’s Samuelson will be the first to take the mat here. His matchup with Heller of Pitt is a complete toss-up. If he wins here, he’ll square off with 1st seed, Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Bonino’s first match at NCAAs will be against Finesilver of Michigan. Ferreira takes on last year’s 7th place finisher in Coleman of Iowa State. 19th seed Nolan will face Feldkamp of Clarion. Finally, Key has Bolen of Virginia Tech, who I thought graduated a decade ago… The conference will need to wrestle over their heads to earn an All-American at this weight. Last year’s 8th place finisher from Cornell, Jonathan Loew, missed the end of the season with an injury. He looked to be the conference favorite most of the year until his injury. Samuelson’s 5th time to NCAAs should help him navigate early round jitters. Nolan and Key have both been here before - while this is the first and final appearance for both Bonino and Ferreira. I am not saying we will not see anyone on the podium from the EIWA at 184 lbs on Saturday, but the odds are stacked against us. If I had to give anyone the best odds to do so, my gut says Samuelson and Nolan. This is simply based on having the better odds to win their first-round matchups. It’s a shorter road to the podium if you win that first one. 197 – 6 Qualifiers (10) Jacob Cardenas, Cornell (5) Michael Beard, Lehigh (23) Luke Stout, Princeton (28) Jacob Koser, Navy (29) Trey Rogers, Hofstra (33) Cole Urbas, Penn Cole Urbas will have a pigtail bout against UNC’s Shaw. A win will give him a bout with top-seed Bonaccorsi of Pitt. I’ve said it before, Urbas is dangerous if not scouted properly. His ability on top can lead to issues for some. Beard finds himself with a rematch of last week’s EIWA semifinal against Koser of Navy. Beard won via tech fall, so it’ll be an uphill battle for Koser to avenge that. Beard will likely take on #12 Braunagel, and then potentially Rider’s Laird (4th seed). Beard has already made the podium, in a previous life, as a Nittany Lion. I expect him to do the same in a Mountain Hawks singlet. Rogers from Hofstra has the aforementioned Laird in a tough first-round bout. In another EIWA rematch, Cardenas will face Stout. Last week’s result was an 8-1 win for Cardenas of Cornell. Stout has a win over him last season, but if Cardenas wrestles as he did at EIWAs, he is a podium threat. The winner of this one will take on 7th-seeded Sloan of SDSU. I like the path for Cardenas/Stout, as the weight class has no real favorites on either half of the bracket. For this reason, it will make for a crazy tournament at 197 lbs! 285 – 7 Qualifiers (15) Grady Griess (21) Nathan Taylor (6) Yaraslau Slavikouski (27) Ben Goldin (26) Cory Day (28) Dorian Crosby (33) Travis Stefanik Stefanik’s pigtail against Minnesota’s Joles will lead to a potential matchup with top-ranked Parris of Michigan. Crosby will make his NCAA debut against returning NCAA finalist Schultz of Arizona State. Nathan Taylor also has a tough matchup with McKiernan of SIUE. McKiernan was the MAC champ, but I’ll never count out a Lehigh heavyweight during crunch time. Cory Day will square off with Trephan of NC State, who is slated as the 7th seed. We have another EIWA matchup between Slavikouski and Goldin. A win will get a match-up with 2X All-American, Hilger of Wisconsin in the R16. Lastly, Griess will face Heindselman in a close 15 vs 18 seed match. This season’s meeting went to Heindselman in tiebreakers. A win by Griess will get a matchup with bonus-point machine Hendrickson of Air Force. Slavikouski sitting as the 6th seed is great, but after last week’s loss - I am hesitant to say he looks like an All-American just yet. Obviously, I am hoping he proves me wrong. Do not count out Grady Griess of Navy. He’s wrestled great this year, and is a heavyweight that can ride and turn - which helps for sure!

(from left) Wyatt Hendrickson, Mason Parris and Greg Kerkvliet (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews: 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview 157 lb Preview 165 lb Preview 174 lb Preview 184 lb Preview 197 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Mason Parris (Michigan) In his first NCAA tournament, Mason Parris finally gets the top seed. He twice earned the second seed, at the ill-fated 2020 tournament and a year later when he fell to Hodge Trophy winner Gable Steveson in the championship match. This year also marked the first Big Ten title for Parris. In each of the aforementioned seasons, Parris was the conference runner-up to Steveson. Parris comes in undefeated in a weight class full of talented big men. He, along with the seven of the remaining top-ten seeds have all competed on an age-group world team. Parris is the only one of the bunch without a loss and owns 2022-23 wins over the second-thru-fourth seeds this year. While Parris' bonus point percentage has been consistent with his career marks, this season he has begun to rack up the falls again. His 11 is tied for second-most in a season for his career. With a strong tournament, he might be able to tie the mark he set as a true freshman (13). The 2021-22 season saw a dip in that category (5) and many others as Parris was dealing with an ongoing injury. It's remarkable that despite an injury-plagued year, Parris still managed to go 20-6 and finish fifth in the nation. That marked the second time that the Wolverine heavyweight made it to the NCAA podium. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Bernie Truax, Nino Bonaccorsi, and Rocky Elam (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews: 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview 157 lb Preview 165 lb Preview 174 lb Preview 184 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) Through all of the mess and muck at 197 lbs, only Nino Bonaccorsi emerged from the regular season unscathed and unbeaten. That continued after the ACC Championships where Bonaccorsi claimed his third straight conference crown. For all of the craziness associated with this weight, Bonaccorsi has been a model of consistency. He became the first Pittsburgh wrestler since his head coach, Keith Gavin (2008), to earn the number one seed at nationals. During the first month-plus of the season, Bonaccorsi posted three of his biggest non-conference wins. He took out #5 Michael Beard, #11 Jaxon Smith, and #12 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) within the span of three weeks. Bonaccorsi then had to navigate a tough ACC schedule that featured the dangerous #6 Isaac Trumble in a dual and the ACC finals. Even amidst, the typical conference dual season, Pitt stepped out of the ACC and wrestled Iowa State, which allowed Bonaccorsi to defeat another returning All-American, Yonger Bastida. Bonaccorsi is looking to get back to the NCAA podium, as he was a national runner-up in 2021 and finished in the bloodround last season. An early upset loss to Gavin Hoffman forced him to battle back and he ran into Rocky Elam in the Round of 12. Even though Bonaccorsi was an ACC champion in 2022, he suffered three regular-season losses, so this has the potential to be a different ending for the Panther senior. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Aaron Brooks, Parker Keckeisen, and Trent Hidlay (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews: 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview 157 lb Preview 165 lb Preview 174 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) For many fans, one of the more shocking revelations from the bracket release was seeing two-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks as the three-seed. Two-time All-American Parker Keckeisen got the nod as the top seed based on his 22-1 record and a third consecutive Big 12 championship. Keckeisen carries a 16-match winning streak into Tulsa. In each of the last two NCAA tournaments, Keckeisen has finished in third place at 184 lbs. Of his four career losses, two came at the hands of Brooks, one in the 2021 NCAA semifinals. Keckeisen’s only loss this season was at the hands of Trent Hidlay in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational finals. Just a couple of weeks later, Keckeisen was able to avenge that loss in a big way. At the Collegiate Duals, Keckeisen locked up Hidlay in a cradle and pinned the former national runner-up. Keckeisen was remarkable during his first two years in Cedar Falls, but he’s become even more dominant during the 2022-23 campaign. He’s logged bonus points in almost two-thirds of his matches on the year, which is more than doubled the output from 2021 and 12% higher than in 2021-22. So far, Keckeisen has four wins this season over three past NCAA All-Americans. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Mekhi Lewis, Carter Starocci, and Mikey Labriola (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview 157 lb Preview 165 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) Perhaps the most underappreciated star in college wrestling today is two-time national champion Carter Starocci. Riding a 47-match winning streak, Starocci is seeking to win his third NCAA title in as many tries. I’d assume that some people think Starocci isn’t as high-scoring as teammates and fellow two-time champions RBY and Aaron Brooks; however, Starocci does possess a bonus point percentage that is over 73%. That’s the best in his career by almost 20%. Only five opponents this year have managed to avoid allowing bonus points to the Penn State 74 lber. Starocci is looking to go perfect for a second consecutive year. Last season, he ran the table in a veteran-laden weight class to claim his first Big Ten title and held off 2019 national champion Mekhi Lewis in tiebreakers. You have to go back to the 2021 Big Ten finals to find Starocci’s most recent loss, which was 7-2 to Iowa’s Michael Kemerer. Starocci reversed that result two weeks later in the NCAA finals and edged Kemerer in a 2021-22 dual meet. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Keegan O'Toole, David Carr, Dean Hamiti (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview 157 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 David Carr (Iowa State) This is it. This is the big one, the weight class we’ve all been anticipating all year. Three NCAA champions, four finalists, and seven past All-Americans. Leading the charge is David Carr, who is spending his first year at 165 lbs. Carr was a 2021 NCAA champion at 157 lbs and looked to be on track to claim a second heading into Detroit last season. That bid was interrupted by Oregon State’s Hunter Willits in the Round of 16 and Carr was forced to wrestle back for third. Up at 165, Carr started the year ranked third behind the 2022 champion Keegan O’Toole and 2021 champion Shane Griffith. Carr quickly showed he would be a force to be reckoned with at the new weight with bonus points in four of his first five bouts. His performance at the Collegiate Duals actually looks more impressive today than it did at the time. In his three duals, Carr picked up wins over the eventual EIWA/Pac-12 champions, both top-eight seeds, along with tough freshman #13 Alex Facundo. All of those wins were nice, but they paled in comparison to the matchup on February 15th, as Carr and the Cyclones went into Mizzou for the most anticipated individual clash of the year against then-number one, Keegan O’Toole. Carr was in control for the entire match and took the 7-2 decision and was in the driver’s seat for the #1 seed. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Austin O'Connor, Levi Haines, and Peyton Robb (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview 149 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Austin O’Connor (North Carolina) It took all year, but Austin O’Connor finally rose to the top spot at 157 lbs. He ascended to the number one seed after surviving another test from #7 Bryce Andonian in the ACC finals, while the previous number one, #3 Peyton Robb, was beaten by #2 Levi Haines. The conference championship brought O’Connor’s season record to 18-0, which includes a pair of wins against the dangerous Virginia Tech All-American. It also brings his career record against Andonian to 6-0. O’Connor missed most of the first half of the season recovering from a knee injury that hampered him during the end of the 2021-22 season. O’Connor fell to ACC rival Ed Scott in the 2022 ACC finals and ended up losing in the first round of the national tournament to Dazjon Castro, then of The Citadel. O’Connor battled back to make the NCAA podium (for a third time), beating Josh Humphreys in the deciding bout. Those late-season losses and NCAA finish affected O’Connor in the preseason rankings and he had to battle his way up from eight. Once O’Connor hit the mat in December, he never looked back. His bonus point percentage (almost 78%) was almost 25% more than his previous high in 2019-20. Perhaps, O’Connor’s best showing of the year was a major decision victory over Andonian in ACC dual competition. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Sammy Sasso, Yianni Diakomihalis, Kyle Parco (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews: 125 lb Preview 133 lb Preview 141 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) For as long as DI wrestling has been "a thing" there have only been four wrestlers who have finishing their collegiate careers with four national titles. Amazingly enough, in 2023, we could see it happen twice. Spencer Lee is in position at 125 lbs to claim his fourth national title, while Yianni Diakomihalis could join the club, as well. Diakomihalis enters the NCAA Tournament as the top seed for the third time in four tries. It's slightly different this time as Diakomihalis and the rest of the field have at least one loss. In Diakomihalis' season debut he was stunned by Austin Gomez, 9-3. The loss stopped a 70-match winning streak for the Cornell star and was only the second of his career. Despite the loss, Diakomihalis had an excellent season and posted the highest bonus point percentage of his career. Specifically, he tallied five tech falls and three pins. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Real Woods, Andrew Alirez, and Cole Matthews (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the previously released previews Here's the 125 lb Preview Here's the 133 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Real Woods (Iowa) This weight class is much different than the first two we previewed. 125 and 133 had a multiple-time national champions returning and in control of their respective weights. 141 lbs has #3 Cole Matthews as the bracket’s highest returner from last season after taking fifth in Detroit. Therefore, the weight class appears to be more wide open than its predecessors. Of course, the top seed Real Woods, would probably disagree with that notion. And for good reason. Woods was a sixth-place finisher last year while at Stanford. In the offseason, Woods transferred to Iowa and has taken off. He is 16-0 on the season and recently claimed his first Big Ten championship. Woods likely got the top seed over Andrew Alirez based on his schedule. He has a pair of wins over fourth-seeded Brock Hardy and another over #6 Beau Bartlett. Overall, 10 of Woods’ 16 victories came at the expense of eventual national qualifiers. This is a contrast from many other transfers to end up smothered by the constant strain of Big Ten competition. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

(from left) Vito Arujau, Roman Bravo-Young, Daton Fix (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here’s the 125 lb Preview The Top Seed: #1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) For the second consecutive year, Roman Bravo-Young comes into the national tournament as the top seed at 133 lbs. He’s in search of his third national championship and heads into Tulsa a winner of his last 52 matches. Quietly, this may have been Bravo-Young’s best collegiate campaign to date. He has amassed bonus points in 75% of his bouts with four falls and three techs. The four falls tie a career-high established during the 2021-22 season. During the last three seasons, RBY has walked a tightrope, facing a talented top-tier of contenders and deftly escaping defeat. This year, the top talent is dispersed throughout the country, at multiple conferences and the schedule has broken so that Bravo-Young has not faced any of the top title threats. The highest-seeded wrestler he’s faced in the 2022-23 campaign has been his Big Ten finals opponent #8 Aaron Nagao (Minnesota). RBY prevailed with a 5-2 win. Nagao, along with Dylan Ragusin and Jesse Mendez, are the opponents that have held Bravo-Young to a regular decision this season. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

The 2023 Women's NAIA National Champions from Southern Oregon (Photo/Southern Oregon athletics) 2023 NAIA Women's National Championships Final Results Team Score 1) Southern Oregon 160 2) Life 139.5 3) Grand View 123.5 4) Menlo 123 5) Providence 102 6) The Cumberlands 98 7) Central Methodist 92.5 7) Iowa Wesleyan 92.5 9) Texas Wesleyan 78.5 10) Campbellsville 66 Championship Finals 101 - Ira Navarro (Providence) over Erin Hikiji (Providence) 2-1 109 - Peyton Prussin (Life) over Mia Palumbo (Iowa Wesleyan) Fall 1:51 116 - Caitlyn Thorne (Central Methodist) over Camille Fournier (Texas Wesleyan) 10-0 123 - Carolina Moreno (Southern Oregon) over Alana Vivas (Menlo) 6-2 130 - Lexie Bashman (Texas Wesleyan) over Sarah Savidge (Life) 6-3 136 - Adaugo Nwachukwu (Iowa Wesleyan) over Mea Mohler (Texas Wesleyan) 15-2 143 - Emily Se (Southern Oregon) over Alexis Gomez (Grand View) 3-2 155 - Kaylynn Albrecht (Baker) over Latifah McBryde (Life) 11-8 170 - Dymond Guilford (The Cumberlands) over Joey Levendusky (Southern Oregon) Fall 3:59 191 - Grace Kristoff (Southern Oregon) over Jaycee Foeller (Central Methodist) Fall 5:59 Third Place Bouts 101 - Esthela Trevino (Southern Oregon) over Elizabeth Dosado (The Cumberlands) 9-4 109 - Jasmine Howard (Texas Wesleyan) over Natalie Reyna-Rodriguez (Southern Oregon) 11-1 116 - Ashley Gooman (Providence) over Juliana Diaz (Missouri Baptist) 12-2 123 - Maya Davis (Grand View) over Haley Narahara (Menlo) 14-13 130 - Cristelle Rodriguez (Doane) over Waipauilani Estrella-Beauchamp (Providence) 6-2 136 - Leidaly Rivera (Brewton Parker) over Bella Amaro (Southern Oregon) Fall 4:04 143 - Jamilah McBryde (Life) over Emma Walker (Campbellsville) 11-1 155 - India Page (Brewton Parker) over Caitlyn Davis (Central Methodist) 10-0 170 - Abby McIntyre (Grand View) over Liliana Vergara (Campbellsville) Fall :29 191 - Kelani Corbett (Missouri Valley) over Tavia Heidelberg (Menlo) 4-1 Fifth Place Bouts 101 - Kayla McKinley-Johnson (Menlo) over Karina Vang (Doane) 10-0 109 - Tehani Soares (Indiana Tech) over Faith Cole (Iowa Wesleyan) 16-4 116 - Avery Ashley (Oklahoma City) over Josie Bartishofski (Jamestown) 11-1 123 - Sophie Smith (Oklahoma City) over Catharine Campbell (Grand View) 3-1 130 - Skye Realin (Central Methodist) over Andrea Schlabach (Grand View) 7-3 136 - Aliyah Yates (The Cumberlands) over Erin Redford (Eastern Oregon) 5-0 143 - Liv Wieber (Eastern Oregon) over Isabelle Hawley (Iowa Wesleyan) Fall 2:41 155 - Shannon Workinger (Menlo) over Gabrielle Holloway (St. Andrews) 11-2 170 - Shenita Lawson (Grand View) over America Lopez (Iowa Wesleyan) Fall 1:23 191 - Olivia Brown (Grand View) over Jesse Kirby (The Cumberlands) 2-2 Seventh Place Bouts 101 - Tianna Fernandez (Menlo) over Devyn Gomez (Life) 2:10 109 - Stefana Jelacic (Lourdes) over Kory Phillips (Life) 6-0 116 - Hannah Hall (Central Methodist) over Jamesa Robinson (Brewton Parker) Fall 1:54 123 - Ashley Whetzal (Missouri Valley) MedFFT Larissa Kaz (Hastings) 130 - Louisa Schwab (Menlo) over Kaylee Moore (Eastern Oregon) Fall 1:05 136 - Paige Respicio (Providence) over Riley Dalrymple (Life) 10-0 143 - Josette Partney (Missouri Baptist) over Desiree Jones (Menlo) 11-0 155 - Kendra Thompson (Campbellsville) over Madison Diaz (Grand View) 11-0 170 - Jesaphine Lee (Life) over Olivia Robinson (Eastern Oregon) Fall 2:24 191 - Maquoia Bernabe (The Cumberlands) over Alexis Tupuola (Providence) Fall 3:59

The 2023 NCAA DIII National Champions Augsburg (Photo courtesy of Augsburg athletics 2023 NCAA DIII National Championships Final Results Team Score 1) Augsburg 101 2) Wartburg 66.5 3) Baldwin Wallace 66 4) North Central 63.5 5) Wisconsin-LaCrosse 61 6) Johnson & Wales 52 7) Stevens Institute of Technology 49.5 8) Dubuque 41.5 9) Coast Guard Academy 40.5 10) Wabash 35.5 Championship Finals 125 - Josiah Fry (Rhode Island) dec Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace) 4-2 133 - Robbie Precin (North Central) dec Dalton Rohrbaugh (York) 3-1 141 - Sam Stuhl (Augsburg) dec Ethan Harsted (Wheaton) 5-1 149 - Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) dec Javen Estrada (North Central) 10-4 157 - Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec Tyler Shilson (Augsburg) 6-5TB 165 - Nathan Lackman (Rhode Island) dec Matt Lackman (Alvernia) 3-1SV 174 - Zane Mulder (Wartburg) dec Jared Stricker (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) 7-5 184 - Jaritt Shinhoster (Wisconsin-Whitewater) dec Shane Liegel (Loras) 9-2 197 - Massoma Endene (Wartburg) dec Coy Spooner (Coast Guard Academy) 10-6 285 - Jack Heldt (Wabash) dec Kaleb Reeves (Coe) 6-1 Third Place Bouts 125 - Christian Guzman (North Central) maj Jake Craig (Southern Maine) 10-1 133 - Tyler Fleetwood (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) dec Jaden Hinton (Baldwin Wallace) 4-2 141 - Jacob Reed (Ohio Northern) fall Domenic Difrancescantonio (College of New Jersey) 3:40 149 - Hayden Brown (Johnson & Wales) dec Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens Institute) 6-1 157 - Jake Deguire (Springfield) fall Zeke Smith (Loras) 5:16 165 - Noah Leisgang (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec Nicholas Sacco (College of New Jersey) 3-2 174 - Seth Brossard (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec Charlie Grygas (Oswego State) 7-3 184 - Donovan Corn (Luther) dec Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg) 7-1 197 - Eze Chukweuzi (Ithaca) dec Dylan Harr (Johnson & Wales) 5-1 285 - Tyler Kim (Augsburg) fall Darryl Aiello (Dubuque) 1:50 Fifth Place Bouts 125 - Zac Blasioli (Millikin) maj Mason Barrett (Averett) 9-0 133 - Dylan Koontz (Dubuque) fall Ty Bisek (Concordia-Moorhead) 1:24 141 - Kyle Slendorn (Stevens Institute) fall Zayren Terukina (Wartburg) 5:56 149 - Chase Sumner (Ohio Northern) fall Thomas Monn (McDaniel) :57 157 - Ryan Luth (Washington and Lee) dec David Hollingsworth (Wartburg) 4-3 165 - Cooper Willis (Augsburg) dec Cooper Pontelandolfo (New York) 3-0 174 - Stefan Major (Stevens Institute) dec LJ Richardson (Coe) 8-5 184 - David McCullough (Coast Guard Academy) dec Colby Giroux (RIT) 9-4 197 - Doug Byrne (Baldwin Wallace) dec Tyler Hannah (Wisconsin-Platteville) 4-2 285 - Donovan King (Olivet) dec Jake Peavey (Southern Maine) 9-2 Seventh Place Bouts 125 - Brady Koontz (Dubuque) dec Joey Lamparelli (Muhlenberg) 7-2 133 - Luke Kowolski (Gettysburg) tech Chase Randall (Coast Guard Academy) 18-0 141 - James Rodriguez (Castleton) dec Josh Wilson (Greensboro) 5-2 149 - Chase Parrott (Springfield) dec Charlie Stuhl (Augsburg) 5-3 157 - Peter Kane (Williams) fall Ryan Smith (Stevens Institute) 2:39 165 - Nathan Fuller (Wartburg) dec Jordan Hardrick (Ohio Northern) 3-1 174 - Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) MedFFT Anson Dewar (Muhlenberg) 184 - Charles Baczek (Wabash) maj Mahlic Sallah (Roanoke) 8-0 197 - Beau Yineman (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) dec Josh Harkless (RIT) 5-4 285 - Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard Academy) dec Michael Douglas (Wisconsin-LaCrosse) 7-3

The 2023 NCAA DII national champions (Photo/Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) 2023 NCAA DII National Championships Final Results Team Score 1) Central Oklahoma 121 2) Lander 78 3) St. Cloud State 64.5 4) Western Colorado 61 5) Adams State 58.5 6) West Liberty 55 7) Indianapolis 46 8) Nebraska-Kearney 43 9) Glenville State 42 10) Gannon 35 Championship Finals 125 - Brendon Garcia (Adams State) dec Jaxson Rohman (Augustana) 4-2 133 - Gavin Quiocho (Glenville State) dec Quentrevion Campbell (Chadron State) 4-3 141 - Zack Donathan (Tiffin) dec Christian Small (Lake Erie) 2-1 149 - Josiah Adams (Adams State) fall Jason Hanenberg (Western Colorado) 3:46 157 - Nick Novak (St. Cloud State) dec Logan Bailey (Indianapolis) 3-1 165 - Chase Luensman (Upper Iowa) dec Hunter Mullin (Western Colorado) 9-7 174 - Austin Eldredge (Nebraska-Kearney) maj Abner Romero (St. Cloud State) 12-4 184 - Ty McGeary (West Liberty) dec Logan Hall (Lander) 3-1SV 197 - Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) dec Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) 1-0 285 - Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) dec Jared Campbell (Glenville State) 8-3 Third Place Bouts 125 - Patrick Allis (Western Colorado) maj James Joplin (Lander) 10-1 133 - Dylan Lucas (Central Oklahoma) dec Eric Bartos (Mercyhurst) 10-3 141 - Nate Keim (Central Oklahoma) fall Peter Kuster (Drury) 4:18 149 - Wyatt Turnquist (Northern State) dec Jalen Spuhler (UW-Parkside) 10-5 157 - Noah Hermosillo (Adams State) dec Dom Means (Gannon) 6-2 165 - Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma) dec David Hunsberger (Lander) 3-2 174 - Cade Lindsey (Fort Hays State) dec James Penford (Lake Erie) 3-1 184 - Daniel Beemer (Ashland) dec Matt Weinberg (Kutztown) 3-1 197 - Tereus Henry (Fort Hays State) dec Dominic Murphy (St. Cloud State) 7-5 285 - Darrell Mason (Minnesota State) dec Cale Gray (Indianapolis) 9-5 Fifth Place Bouts 125 - Christian Mejia (McKendree) MedFFT Cole Laya (West Liberty) 133 - Devin Flannery (Millersville) dec Vincent Scollo (West Liberty) 4-1 141 - Zeth Brower (Lander) dec John Carayiannis (Belmont Abbey) 6-1 149 - Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) dec Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) 9-6 157 - Nathan Smith (Pitt-Johnstown) dec Trent Mahoney (King) 5-2 165 - Alex Farenchak (Gannon) dec Alec Cook (West Liberty) 8-3 174 - Max Bruss (Mary) dec Cole Hernandez (Western Colorado) 11-5 184 - Alex Kauffman (Central Oklahoma) MedFFT Billy Higgins (Nebraska-Kearney) 197 - Matt Kaylor (Mary) dec Logan Kvien (McKendree) 3-2 285 - Johnny Green (Ouachita Baptist) dec Juan Edmond-Holmes (Lander) 2-1 Seventh Place Bouts 125 - Shane Corrigan (UW-Parkside) dec Brandon Mendoza (Tiffin) 5-0 133 - Reece Barnhardt (Mary) dec Elijah Lusk (Lander) 10-3 141 - Jake Niffenegger (Mercyhurst) dec Tate Murty (Upper Iowa) 10-6 149 - Nick Young (Gannon) fall Devan Moore (Newberry) 2:34 157 - Gabe Johnson (Central Oklahoma) fall Avery Shay (Shippensburg) 2:19 165 - Anthony Herrera (St. Cloud State) InjDef Mike Vernagallo (Mount Olive) 174 - Anthony DesVigne (Central Oklahoma) dec Nate Burnett (Ashland) 5-3 184 - Reece Worachek (UW-Parkside) dec Colter Bye (Upper Iowa) 6-2 197 - Kash Anderson (Colorado Mesa) MedFFT Cole Huss (Northern State) 285 - Lee Herrington (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Jake Swirple (Minot State) 3-2

(from left) Patrick Glory, Spencer Lee, Liam Cronin (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2023 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a state that hasn't hosted nationals since 2014 and a city that has never hosted the DI Tournament. Our Big 12 friends are plenty-familiar with the venue, the BOK Center, as it has become the home of their conference tournament. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: Spencer Lee (Iowa) What more can we say about Spencer Lee? The two-time Hodge Trophy winner is seeking to become only the fifth wrestler to ever win four DI national titles and the first to do so in Iowa's black and gold singlet. Lee comes into the national tournament with a perfect 17-0 record and bonus points in 15 of those contests. He's also racked up eight falls, four of which have come against wrestlers currently seeded in the top-12. For most normal wrestlers, the higher level of competition and the bright lights of the NCAA Championships tend to lead to closer matches. That isn't the case for Lee. In 15 career NCAA bouts, he has posted bonus points 11 times. I wouldn't expect that to change as Iowa will need every bonus point and as Lee looks to put the finishing touches on his remarkable career. Even with his accomplishments, Lee's collegiate career has been marred by injuries. He came into college after suffering a knee injury and has dealt with others. After winning his third title at the 2021 national tournament, Lee revealed that he did so with "no ACL's." He only saw action in three matches last season, before deciding to get surgery and prep for a final run in 2022-23. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2022 National Champion Jaritt Shinhoster of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) 2023 NCAA DIII National Championships Day One Results Team Scores 1) Augsburg 62.5 2) Baldwin Wallace 40 2) Wartburg 40 4) St. Cloud State 38 5) Wisconsin-La Crosse 35.5 6) Stevens Institute of Technology 34 7) US Coast Guard Academy 27 8) Johnson & Wales 26 9) Coe 23 10) Dubuque 21.5 Quarterfinal Results 125 lbs Josiah Fry (Johnson & Wales) dec Brady Koontz (Dubuque) 3-2 Christian Guzman (North Central) dec Zac Blasioli (Millikin) 3-2 Jake Craig (Southern Maine) dec Luca Paladino (UW-Stevens Point) 10-4 Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace) dec Mason Barrett (Averett) 3-2 133 lbs Robbie Precin (North Central) fall Jayden Cardenas (SUNY-Cortland) 1:07 Tyler Fleetwood (UW-Eau Claire) dec Dylan Koontz (Dubuque) 5-3 141 lbs Ethan Harsted (Wheaton) dec James Rodriguez (Castleton) 3-1 Domenic Difranscecenton (College of New Jersey) dec Kyle Slendorn (Stevens Institute) 9-6 Sam Stuhl (Augsburg) dec Josh Wilson (Greensboro) 4-1 Jacob Reed (Ohio Northern) dec Cameron Johnson (Aurora) 5-4 149 lbs Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) tech Chase Sumner (Ohio Northern) 19-3 Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens Institute) fall Kristian Rumph (Wartburg) 2:33 Javen Estrada (North Central) maj Thomas Monn (McDaniel) 16-5 Hayden Brown (Johnson & Wales) dec Charlie Stuhl (Johnson & Wales) 6-1 157 lbs David Hollingsworth (Wartburg) dec Thomas West (Baldwin Wallace) 8-6 Tyler Shilson (Augsburg) maj Ryan Luth (Washington and Lee) 8-0 Zeke Smith (Loras) dec Jason Rezac (Alvernia) 9-7 Nolan Hertel (UW-La Crosse) dec Peter Kane (Williams) 3-2 165 lbs Nathan Lackman (Rhode Island) dec Luke Reicosky (John Carroll) 5-2 Nicholas Sacco (College of New Jersey) dec Cooper Pontelandolfo (New York) 2-0 Noah Leisgang (UW-La Crosse) dec Austin Lamb (RIT) 2-1 Matt Lackman (Alvernia) dec Cooper Willis (Augsburg) 5-0 174 lbs LJ Richardson (Coe) dec Anson Dewar (Muhlenberg) 6-0 Jared Stricker (UW-Eau Claire) fall Stefan Major (Stevens Institute) 5:19 Charlie Grygas (Oswego State) dec Seth Brossard (UW-La Crosse) 5-3 Zane Mulder (Wartburg) dec Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) 8-2 184 lbs Jaritt Shinhoster (UW-Whitewater) maj Mahlic Sallah (Roanoke) 12-0 Donovan Corn (Luther) dec Sampson Wilkins (Castleton) 5-0 Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg) dec Tristan Westphal (Coe) 5-2 Shane Liegel (Loras) dec Colby Giroux (RIT) 9-7 197 lbs Coy Spooner (US Coast Guard Academy) dec Demitrius Henry (SUNY Cortland) 6-4SV Eze Chukwuezi (Ithaca) dec Beau Yineman (UW-OshKosh) 7-3 Tyler Hannah (UW-Platteville) fall Doug Byrne (Baldwin Wallace) 6:12 Massoma Endene (Wartburg) dec Camden Farrow (York) 9-7 285 lbs Jack Heldt (Wabash) maj Carl DiGiorgio (US Coast Guard Academy) 11-0 Tyler Kim (Augsburg) maj Daniel Skold (Augustana) 9-1 Kaleb Reeves (Coe) fall RayShawn Dixon (Ferrum) :23 Donovan King (Olivet) fall Evan Anderson (New York) 1:38

Central Oklahoma 285 lber Shawn Streck (Photo/Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) 2023 NCAA DII National Championships Day One Results Team Scores 1) Central Oklahoma 62.5 2) Lander 56 3) West Liberty 38.5 4) St. Cloud State 38 5) Western Colorado 31.5 6) Nebraska-Kearney 29 7) Indianapolis 27.5 8) Adams State 24.5 9) Gannon 24 10) Glenville State 23 10) Pitt-Johnstown 23 Quarterfinal Results 125 lbs Cole Laya (West Liberty) dec Dawson Collins (Colorado Mesa) 4-0 Jaxson Rohman (Augustana) dec Shane Corrigan (UW-Parkside) 6-4 James Joplin (Lander) maj Brandon Mendoza (Tiffin) 16-7 Brendon Garcia (Adams State) dec Patrick Allis (Western Colorado) 8-2 133 lbs Quentrevion Campbell (Chadron State) dec Dylan Lucas (Central Michigan) 5-3 Devin Flannery (Millersville) dec Elijah Lusk (Lander) 9-6 Gavin Quiocho (Glenville State) dec Reece Barnhardt (Mary) 7-4 Vincent Scollo (West Liberty) dec Eric Bartos (Mercyhurst) 7-3 141 lbs Zeth Brower (Lander) maj Tate Murty (Upper Iowa) 11-0 Christian Small (Lake Erie) dec Peter Kuster (Drury) 3-0 Zackary Donathan (Tiffin) fall Nate Keim (Central Oklahoma) :30 John Carayiannis (Belmont Abbey) dec Jake Niffenegger (Mercyhurst) 12-8 149 lbs Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) fall Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) :47 Jason Hanenberg (Western Colorado) fall Joey Bianchini (St. Cloud State) 6:06 Jalen Spuhler (UW-Parkside) dec Nick Young (Gannon) 8-4 Josiah Rider (Adams State) dec Wyatt Turnquist (Northern State) 8-3 157 lbs Dominic Means (Gannon) dec Noah Hermosillo (Adams State) 7-6 Logan Bailey (Indianapolis) dec Casey Barnett (Tiffin) 6-4 Nathan Smith (Pitt-Johnstown) dec Trent Mahoney (King) 5-2 Nick Novak (St. Cloud State) dec Avery Shay (Shippensburg) 8-1 165 lbs Hunter Mullin (Western Colorado) dec Shane Gantz (UW-Parkside) 7-6 David Hunsberger (Lander) fall Alec Cook (West Liberty) :57 Chase Luensman (Upper Iowa) dec Aaden Valdez (Adams State) 10-5 Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma) dec Alex Farenchak (Gannon) 5-2 174 lbs Abner Romero (St. Cloud State) fall Kolby Kost (Augustana) 4:23 Cade Lindsey (Fort Hays State) fall Anthony DesVigne (Central Oklahoma) 1:41 Austin Eldredge (Nebraska-Kearney) tech Cole Hernandez (Western Colorado) 16-0 James Penfold (Lake Erie) maj Chase Morgan (West Liberty) 10-2 184 lbs Billy Higgins (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Alex Kauffman (Central Oklahoma) 3-2 Logan Hall (Lander) dec Reece Worachek (UW-Parkside) 3-2 Ty McGeary (West Liberty) dec Keegan Gehlhausen (Chadron State) 8-6 Daniel Beemer (Ashland) fall Josh Jones (McKendree) 1:32 197 lbs Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) maj Luke McGonigal (Mercyhurst) 9-1 Dominic Murphy (St. Cloud State) dec Cole Huss (Northern State) 3-1SV Tereus Henry (Fort Hays State) maj Dakoda Rodger (Pitt-Johnstown) 15-1 Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) dec Kash Anderson (Colorado Mesa) 8-3 285 lbs Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) dec Juan Edmond-Holmes (Lander) 8-3 Johnny Green (Ouachita Baptist) dec Francesco Borsellino (West Liberty) 3-1SV Jared Campbell (Glenville State) dec Darrell Mason (Minnesota State) 6-2 Cale Gray (Indianapolis) dec Lee Herrington (Nebraska-Kearney) 9-8

2023 Big Ten champion Silas Allred (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) With the at-large's announced on Tuesday and brackets released Wednesday, the NCAA Championships are officially looming. And now, less than a week away. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our previews, here's a fun look at the NCAA Tournament, its competitors (individuals/teams). It's some of the facts, trends, numbers, and overall randomness that you never thought to look up about the participants of the 2023 NCAA Championships. School-Related Notes Four teams will send all ten of their wrestlers to Tulsa: Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Virginia Tech. Air Force had three automatic qualifiers (Tucker Owens/Sam Wolf/Wyatt Hendrickson) and added two more in the at-large phase (Cody Phippen/Dylan Martinez). Those five qualifiers are the most for Air Force since 1991. Of course, they were Thad Allen/126, Jon Erickson/134, Matt Ciccarello/142, Brian McGill/158, and Mark Lindlow/190. Wyatt Hendrickson got the second seed at 285 lbs. He's the highest-seeded wrestler from Air Force since Cole Von Ohlen got the number three in 2012. He's the first Air Force wrestler to get the second seed since fellow heavyweight Kevin Hoy in 2003. Jack Maida finished fifth in the EIWA for American University. He's the first NCAA qualifier during the Jason Borrelli-era at American. Jon Jon Miller became a four-time SoCon champion for Appalachian State. He's only the 16th wrestler to achieve the feat in the SoCon, the first since Nick Soto (Chattanooga) in 2012-15. Millner is the first Appalachian State wrestler to win four SoCon titles. Josh Mason made the MAC finals for the second time and is now a two-time national qualifier. He is Bloomsburg's first multi-time national qualifier since 2014. Cal Poly big man Trevor Tinker will head to his first national tournament after getting an at-large berth. He's the first 285 lber to wrestle at nationals for the Mustangs since Cody Parker did so in 2007. Clarion had a pair of MAC champions in Seth Koleno (141) and Will Feldkamp (184). It was the first time multiple Clarion wrestlers were victorious since moving to the MAC. The last time the school had two conference champions in the same season was in 2016 with Brock Zacherl and Michael Pavasko. An at-large addition of Cesar Alvan gives Columbia six wrestlers headed to Tulsa. That is the most in school history. Yianni Diakomihalis won his fourth EIWA title and became the 14th four-time conference champion. Cornell had six individual EIWA champions (Vito Arujau - 133; Diakomihalis - 149; Julian Ramirez - 165; Chris Foca - 174; Jacob Cardenas - 197). That is the most in school history in a single season. Of Cornell's seven national qualifiers, only Brett Ungar did not win the EIWA. Despite their long run of excellence and tradition, Cornell has never had an All-American at heavyweight/285 lbs. That streak will continue as the Big Red did not qualify at 285 lbs. George Mason's Nathan Higley became the team's first finalist since moving to the MAC in 2019-20. A match later, Peter Pappas joined him in the conference finals. Pappas defeated Ashton Eyler (Lock Haven) to win the school's first individual MAC championship. Harvard will send four wrestlers to Tulsa. The last time they had four NCAA qualifiers was in 2012 with Steven Keith (133), Corey Jantzen (149), Walter Peppleman (157), and James Fox (197). Yaraslau Slavikouski is the sixth seed at 285 lbs. The last time Harvard had a top-six seed at the tournament was in 2012 when Peppelman was the four. Iowa State's David Carr received the number one seed for a second consecutive year. The last time a Cyclone wrestler earned the #1 on multiple occasions was in 2009-10 with Jake Varner and David Zabriskie. Josh Humphreys became the first Lehigh wrestler to enter the NCAA Tournament unbeaten since Darian Cruz did so in the 2017-18 season. Carrying on the tradition of Jordan Wood at 285 lbs for Lehigh, redshirt freshman Nathan Taylor made the EIWA finals at the weight. That gives Lehigh an EIWA finalist at 285 lbs every year since 2018. Maryland has five NCAA qualifiers headed to Tulsa. The last time five Terps wrestled in the national tournament was in 2014, their last season in the ACC. Also leading the way for freshman national qualifiers is Maryland. They are the only school with four. Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller, and Jaxon Smith. Penn State, Rutgers, and Virginia Tech all have three. Aside from Penn State, the only team that has had a number-one-seeded wrestler in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments is Michigan. They have Mason Parris this season, Nick Suriano and Myles Amine (125/184) in 2022, and Amine (197) in 2021. NC State had four ACC champions (Jarrett Trombley - 125; Kai Orine - 133; Trent Hidlay - 184; Owen Trephan - 285). The Wolfpack have had at least four conference champs for each of the last three seasons. NC State produced the ACC champion at 125 lbs in Jarrett Trombley. Two other former NC State wrestlers made the tournament at that same weight. Both #6 Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) and #8 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) won their respective conferences. Silas Allred became the first Nebraska wrestler to win a Big Ten title since Robert Kokesh in 2015. Between that win and the time Allred's final match rolled around, the Cornhuskers had lost 13 straight Big Ten finals (four in 2023). That marked only the fourth Big Ten title since Nebraska joined the conference in 2011-12 (Kokesh 14/15, James Green 2014). Allred will also get the eighth seed at 197 lbs. The last Big Ten champion to receive such a low seed was Dom Abounader (Michigan), the eighth seed at 184 lbs in 2015. North Carolina's Austin O'Connor won his third ACC championship. He became the first Tar Heel wrestler since Evan Sola (2003-07) to win three. O'Connor became the first Tar Heel wrestler to earn the #1 seed since TJ Jaworsky did so in 1995. More O'Connor. He is the first Illinois native to receive the #1 seed since Chris Dardanes was the #1 at 133 lbs in 2015. Jared Franek is the first North Dakota State wrestler to earn a top-four seed at nationals since Steven Monk was #4 in 2014. In 2022, Andrew Alirez became Northern Colorado's first-ever Big 12 champion. A year later, he's the school's first two-time champion. Additionally, the Bears had two champions with a title from Stevo Poulin at 125 lbs. An untimely, late-season injury to three-time national qualifier Malik Heinselman left Ohio State without a national qualifier at 125 lbs for the first time since 2011. All of Oklahoma State's ten NCAA qualifiers hail from a home state that starts with an "O." Eight of them are from Oklahoma, while the other two are from Ohio and Oregon. Daton Fix captured his fourth Big 12 championship and became only the tenth four-time Big 12 champion in Oklahoma State's illustrious wrestling history. Oregon State won the Pac-12 title on the strength of five individual champions. The last time Oregon State had five champs was in 2015 with Ronnie Bresser (125), Jack Hathaway (133), Alex Elder (157), Joe Latham (174), and Cody Crawford (197). Penn and West Virginia were the big winners after the addition of at-large berths. Both schools added three wrestlers. Over the last two seasons, Penn has combined to send 17 wrestlers to nationals (8 in 2023; 9 in 2022). From 2016-20, they had 18. Three of Penn's eight NCAA qualifiers are from prep power Blair Academy (NJ). Ryan Miller (125), Michael Colaiocco (133) and Nick Incontrera (174). Penn State extended its active streak with at least one Big Ten champion. They've had at least one every year since 2010. Penn State has had at least one number-one seed every year since the 2016 tournament. With Carter Starocci receiving the top seed at 174 lbs, Penn State has had a top-five seed at the weight every year since 2011. Starocci (2023/1, 2022/1, 2021/3), Mark Hall (2020/1, 2019/1, 2018/2, 2017/5), Bo Nickal (2016/1), Matt Brown (2015/2, 2014/5, 2013/2), Ed Ruth (2012/1, 2011/2) Pittsburgh's Nino Bonaccorsi is the first Panther wrestler to grab a number one seed since his head coach Keith Gavin in 2008. Colton McKiernan won the first MAC title for SIU Edwardsville. The last time they had a conference champion was in 2018 when John Muldoon (133), Tyshawn Williams (149), and Nate Higgins (165) won the SoCon. After Tanner Jordan and Cade King received at-large berths, it boosted South Dakota State's 2023 total to eight wrestlers. That's the best mark in program history. Previously, SDSU had seven wrestlers at the 2018 tournament. Utah Valley's Demetrius Romero is finishing up his eighth year of collegiate wrestling. To put things into perspective, as a true freshman, Romero suited up for Boise State and wrestled Isaiah Martinez at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Wisconsin had years with back-to-back Big Ten champions (Austin Gomez/22, Dean Hamiti/23) for the first time since Isaac Jordan won in 2015 and 2016. This tournament will feature five (Killian Cardinale, Michael McGee, Shannon Hanna, Alex Cramer, Jacob Bullock) ex-Old Dominion wrestlers. There are four from Fresno State in Kyle Parco, Jacob Wright, Matthew Olguin and AJ Nevills. State-Related Notes The Joe Carpino Special: The Big Ten had a pair of conference champions from Indiana (Silas Allred - 197; Mason Parris - 285). The last time two Indiana natives won the Big Ten in the same year was 2010 (Angel Escobedo/Andrew Howe). They did it in 2009 also. Massachusetts is responsible for five NCAA qualifiers. That is the largest number during the time period that my state-data entails (1999-2023). They are Jake Ferri, Cesar Alvan, Brevin Cassella, Phil Conigliaro, and Austin Cooley. Speaking of, Alabama has two wrestlers at the NCAA Tournament (Sam Latona/Virginia Tech; Will Miller/Appalachian State) for the first time during that time period (1999-2023). There are three wrestlers from Alaska that will compete in Tulsa (Caleb Hopkins, Evan Bockman, Levi Hopkins). This is the first time three Alaskan natives made it to the national tournament since 2002 with (Jesse Brock/Boise State, Tony D'Amico/Boise State, and Jason Cooley/Oregon State). I'm not sure if we'll be able to totally validate this claim; however, I am very certain that Real Woods is the first Big Ten champion from New Mexico. It's a strong year for NCAA qualifiers from New York. The Empire State has 19 this season. The last time they had that many was in 2014 with 20. There are 13 NCAA qualifiers from the state of Oklahoma. The last time there were that many was in 2003, which also saw 13 wrestlers go to nationals. Florida has nine wrestlers at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Four of them, Tom Crook, Frankie Tal-Shahar, Malyke Hines, and Shannon Hanna are all 141 lbers. Georgia has seven wrestlers at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Four of them, Gavin Kane, David Key, Jha'Quan Anderson, and Matthew Waddell are 184 lbers. Iowa's 15 NCAA qualifiers are the state's most since they had 16 at the NCAA Championships in 2015. Obligatory, "Pennsylvania wrestling is incredible" note. Pennsylvania has eight wrestlers at both the 149 and 197 lb weight class. At 149, PA has the #2 Sasso, #5 Johnson, #8 Murin, and #12 Zapf seeds. At 197, PA has #1 Bonaccorsi, #4 Laird, and #5 Beard. And one more…Pennsylvania is responsible for three of the ten #1 seeds (Lee, Starocci, Bonaccorsi) and four #2 seeds (Sasso, Haines, Labriola, Hidlay). Texas is back in the game in 2023. They did not have any national qualifiers in 2022, but had two this season with Braxton Brown (Maryland) and Isaiah Delgado (Utah Valley). Wrestlers in this tournament with hometowns listed outside of the United States are Lachlan McNeil (Canada), Yaraslau Slavikouski (Belarus), and Yonger Bastida (Cuba). McNeil is the first national qualifier from Canada since Amar Dhesi (Oregon State) 2014-19. Bracketing The EIWA's top-three 125 lbers are all located in the same quadrant. #15 Brett Ungar (Cornell) and #18 Ryan Miller (Penn) clash in the first round. The winner likely gets #2 Patrick Glory (Princeton). At 133 lbs, should Brody Teske (Iowa) and Wyatt Henson (Oklahoma) lose in the first round, you'll have a match between a wrestler that transferred out of Iowa this offseason and another that transferred in. The 149 lb first-round matchup between #5 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) and #28 Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia) who verbally committed to Iowa State, before attending Penn State. In the second round at 149 lbs, we could see a huge matchup between #2 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) and Austin Gomez (Wisconsin). Both have accounted for the last three Big Ten titles at 149 lbs. Gomez holds a 3-0 edge on Sasso. Penn State's Levi Haines is the highest-seeded freshman true or redshirt at #2. He's a true freshman. The last true freshman to get a top-two seed at nationals was J'den Cox in 2014. All year we've talked about how star-studded and amazing the 165 lb weight class is. The top half of the bracket features three past NCAA finalists #1 David Carr, #5 Quincy Monday, and #9 Shane Griffith. The 165 lb bracket features a pair of high school teammates squaring off in round one. Olentangy Liberty's #10 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) and #23 Connor Brady (Virginia Tech) will meet for the second time this season. Kharchla won round one, 3-1. The 174 lb bracket has another meeting between #6 Ethan Smith (Ohio State) and #27 Tyler Eischens (Stanford). The two met in the first round last season and Eischens pulled a 13-12 upset. 7 of the 17 wrestlers on the top half of the 184 lb bracket have transferred at one point or another in their collegiate careers. Two matches feature battling transferee's #16 Reece Heller/#17 Tate Samuelson and #8 Matt Finesilver/#25 Brian Bonino. Two weight classes loaded with future stars and budding rivalries are 125 and 149 lbs. Both feature nine freshmen. The top-six seeds at 285 lbs have combined to compete in 19 World Championship events. #1 Mason Parris (19/Junior), #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (21/Junior), #3 Greg Kerkvliet (19/U23, 18/Cadet, 17/Cadet), #4 Tony Cassioppi (22/U23, 21/U23), #5 Cohlton Schultz (22/U23, 22/Senior, 21/Senior, 19/Junior, 18/U23, 18/Junior, 17/Junior, 17/Cadet, 16/Cadet), #6 Yara Slavikouski (21/U23, 19/Junior, 15/Cadet for Belarus) There will be two first-round matches that feature past NCAA All-Americans clashing. At 165 lbs with #2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) and #31 Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) and at 174 lbs with #3 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) and #30 Jackson Turley (Rutgers). Sheets was involved in the only first-round matchup between past All-Americans in 2022, when he squared off with Ryan Deakin. In the 133 lb bracket, if seeds hold up in the first round #23 Cody Phippen (Air Force) will face Kurtis Phipps (Bucknell) in the first set of consolation matches. Once again, if seeds hold in the Round of 16, Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh) will drop to the winner. Phipps, Phippen, and Phillipi. Try to say those names five times quickly. Four brackets contain multiple unbeaten wrestlers: 125 (#1 Spencer Lee/#2 Patrick Glory), 133 (#1 Roman Bravo-Young/#2 Daton Fix), 141 (#1 Real Woods/#2 Andrew Alirez), and 157 (#1 Austin O'Connor/#5 Josh Humphreys). From the, "I'm pretty sure it's never happened before" department. Austin O'Connor and Nino Bonaccorsi are both #1 seeds from the ACC. Going through brackets back to the 1970's, it doesn't appear that a pair of ACC wrestlers have been seeded number one at nationals in the same year.

Columbia head coach Zach Tanelli and assistant coach Joe Nord (Photo/Tony DiMarco) The 119th edition of the EIWA Championships was completed last weekend. They produced 45 automatic qualifiers and claimed 10 of the remaining 43 at-large bids. Below is a quick weight-by-weight breakdown. Stay tuned for an NCAA preview once brackets are released. 125 - 6 Automatic Qualifiers 1st - Pat Glory 2nd- Brett Ungar 3rd - Ryan Miller 4th - Ethan Berginc 5th - Nick Babin 6th - Diego Sotelo 7th - Carter Bailey 8th - Mason Leiphart Pat Glory earned his 3rd EIWA title with a tight 2-0 win over Ungar. Considering this previous matchup was a decision for Glory, Ungar's improvement is noticeable. The top 6 seeds allocated automatic bids, and all 6 seeds qualified. This weight class ended up pretty much chalk from the seeds. Glory is ready to make a run at the NCAA title. I can watch a round-robin of placers 3-6, as they seem to be relatively even across the board. This is the first trip to NCAAs for Ungar, Berginc, Babin, and Sotelo. Bailey was the 10th seed and showed promising skills to eventually earn the trip to NCAAs in the future. F&M's freshman, Leiphart, earned another tech fall over the weekend. As of now, he leads all D1 wrestlers with 13 technical falls. Not too shabby for a true freshman… 133 - 5 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Vito Arujau 2nd - Michael Colaiocco 3rd - Angelo Rini 4th - Brendan Ferretti 5th - Jack Maida 6th - Kyle Waterman 7th - Kurtis Phipps** 8th - Hunter Adrian DNP - Connor McGonagle** This was Vito's weight, as he dominated all with two majors and two tech falls. He looks to have separated himself from Colaiocco, which means a lot because Colaiocco is sixth in the nation at the moment. Columbia's Rini had himself a day, knocking off Phipps of Bucknell and majoring Ferretti of Navy. Maida of American won all of the close ones en route to fifth place. After making a similar run last season, but falling just short, he is Coach Borrelli's first NCAA Qualifier as the head coach at American University. I was told Maida had a sudden family tragedy right before the season started, making this season an emotional one for him. It was a special moment for Jack, the coaches, and the American fanbase. Kurt Phipps had a great regular season, which helped him earn an at-large bid. Speaking of, McGonagle of Lehigh went down in the quarters after a (what seemed to be a pretty serious) knee injury. He was forced to MFF the next match. I am hoping he comes back healthy, as he came into the weekend ranked in the top 8. A healthy McGonagle gives the EIWA three legit opportunities for (3) All-American at this weight. 141 - 5 Automatic Qualifiers 1st - Vince Cornella 2nd - Carmen Ferrante 3rd - Josh Koderhandt 4th - Malyke Hines 5th - Matt Kazimir 6th - Darren Miller 7th - Justin Hoyle 8th - Julian Sanchez Vince Cornella dominated this bracket, with three pins and a major. He earned the pinner award thanks to his performance. He shot up the rankings from 17th last week, to now filling in at the 9th spot. He has a golden opportunity to end up on the podium. Ferrante was one of my darkhorses that made me look smart, outplacing his sixth seed. Koderhandt, Hines, and Kazimir are returning to NCAAs - hoping to outperform last year's appearance. Ferrante qualified at 125 lbs years ago. This is his first time back to NCAAs since moving up two weights. Unfortunately, this is the second year in a row Miller of Bukcnell missed qualifying for the NCAA tournament. He needed one win Saturday to start the semifinal round. He lost in tiebreakers to Ferrante, then in overtime to Hines, and 3-0 to last year's champ, Kazimir. What a heartbreaking way to end the season, twice in a row. 149 - 2 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Yianni Diakomihalis 2nd - Dylan Chappell 3rd - Doug Zapf** 4th - Trae McDaniel 5th - Luke Nichter 6th - Danny Fongaro 7th - Max Brignola 8th - Marshall Keller Yianni won his 4th EIWA title. He was the 14th wrestler in history to do so. He barely broke a sweat on the mat. One of the biggest stories of the tournament was the emergence of Dylan Chappell. He lost wrestle-offs at 133lbs, and 141lbs before bumping up to 149lbs. He began as the 5 seed, knocking off McDaniel in overtime in the quarters. Sunday morning's semifinal match with Zapf was won by a scramble in the final minute. What an incredible run to witness! Marshall "Made for March" Keller came into Saturday as the 14th seed, nearly repeating his crazy run from last season. To my knowledge, with the exception of Keller, Zapf and Yianni, all returning placers return. With the COVID year, my assessment could be incorrect. Expect to see a lot of talent next season. I think Chappell will surprise some people at NCAAs, and Zapf will be in the mix as a potential All-American threat. Let's not forget, Yianni will attempt to be the 5th person in NCAA history to win four D1 National Championships. Regardless of the outcome, it has been a pleasure to see Yianni compete in this conference the past 5 years. 157 - 3 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Josh Humphreys 2nd - Anthony Artalona 3rd - Nathan Lukez 4th - Trevor Tarsi 5th - Nick Delp 6th - Jack Nies 7th - Ty Whalen 8th - Tyler Williams DNP - Cesar Alvan ** Lehigh's Josh Humphreys proved why he's ranked #5 in the country. The only decision of his tournament came in the finals. Artalona used a last-second takedown to defeat Lukez in the semis. Lukez is a fascinating story - as he was a 1X PIAA qualifier in high school. In his first year as a starter, he is an NCAA qualifier. I'm a sucker for storylines, and that's a heck of a story! Cesar Alvan did not place this weekend, losing to Tarsi of Harvard in the quarters, and Williams of Drexel in the consi's. His season was scattered with quality wins - helping him earn an at-large bid. Humphreys is one of those "outside shots to be the champ" type of guys. He has yet to make the podium, finishing round of 12 at NCAAs twice. Artalona is in the exact same boat. Both are looking to win that dreaded, all-important, match to become All-Americans. 165 - 5 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Julian Ramirez 2nd - Quincy Monday 3rd - Joshua Ogunsanya 4th - Brevin Cassella 5th - Josh Kim 6th - Dalton Harkins 7th - Lucas Revano 8th - Evan Barczak** Ramirez proved his first win was no fluke, knocking off the returning NCAA runner-up in the finals in an exciting match. Cassella avenged a loss to Barczak in the quarters, then lost to Ramirez in overtime. Keep an eye on him to make some noise at NCAAs. Kim is a first-time qualifier, winning three overtime bouts to earn a bid. He was the ninth seed entering the weekend. Barczak was the fourth seed, but finished in eighth. His season was strong enough to earn a wild card bid. Ramirez and Quincy are good chances to All-American, at an entertaining weight class. I would not exclude any of the qualifiers from finding the podium. This bracket will be busted in Tulsa - the question is by who? 174 - 4 Automatic Qualifiers, 2 At-Large Selections ** 1st - Chris Foca 2nd - Benjamin Pasiuk 3rd - Lennox Wolak 4th - Philip Conigliaro 5th - Sammy Starr 6th - Nick Incontrera** 7th - Ross McFarland 8th - Jake Logan DNP - Mickey O'Malley** This bracket was thrown out of whack from round one when McFarland beat Conigliaro. Pasiuk defeated Incontrera in the semis, who eventually dropped to sixth due to an injured shoulder. He did earn an at-large bid with O'Malley of Drexel, who went 1-2 on the weekend. Last season O'Malley was round of 12 at this weight. Conigliaro was round of 12 at 165 lbs. Expect Foca to be on the podium, as his lone loss is 3-2 to Lewis (former NCAA champ) of Virginia Tech. Wolak makes his first trip to NCAAs. He had three major decisions, after a win over O'Malley. Pasiuk has been to NCAAs twice already, and has had some great losses on the year to help him compete. This weight is well represented in Tulsa. 184 - 4 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Tate Samuelson 2nd - Jacob Nolan 3rd - David Key 4th - Brian Bonino 5th - Nate Dugan 6th - Jacob Ferreira** 7th - James Conway 8th - Aaron Ayzerov Samuelson was the champ in his first EIWA championships. He is making a rare fifth trip to NCAAs, after qualifying 4X for Wyoming. He was steady with three decisions and one major. Making the most of his fifth year too, was Brian Bonino - he's a first-time qualifier at Drexel after spending 4 years at Columbia. Nolan and Key are both returning to NCAAs after previous trips. It was great to see Ferreira get an at-large bid after a great season, hanging around in the rankings near the mid-20s. It will take some upsets at the weight to bring an All-American back to the EIWA conference. Samuleson's experience may give him the best opportunity to do so. 197 - 5 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Jacob Cardenas 2nd - Michael Beard 3rd -Luke Stout 4th - Jacob Koser 5th - Trey Rogers 6th - Jack Wehmeyer 7th - Sean O`Malley 8th - Daniel Lawrence DNP - Cole Urbas** Cardenas may have had the upset of the finals, as not many gave him much of a chance to win this one over Beard. Rightfully so, as Beard won the season match-up 6-2. Cardenas looked great in the semis, dominating Stout 8-1. Minus #1 and #2 being flipped, the top 5 wrestled to their seeds. We did see Wehmeyer of Columbia finish in sixth, with an 11th seed. Lawrence of Army came in as 13th seed - ending the tournament in 8th. Cole Urbas had a rough EIWA tournament, but found himself in the NCAA bracket with an at-large bid. He is dangerous, so he may win a match or more. We all assumed Beard was an All-American, and a potential National Champion, threat. We may need to add Cardenas to this list as well. He looked great this weekend. A finish on the podium would enhance Cornell's odds to bring home a team trophy. 285 - 6 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Grady Griess 2nd - Nathan Taylor 3rd - Yaraslau Slavikouski 4th - Ben Goldin 5th - Cory Day 6th - Dorian Crosby 7th - Brendan Furman 8th - Austin Kohlhofer DNP - Travis Stefanik** Similar to 197 lbs, many assumed the top seed, Slavikouski, would finish on top. Lehigh's Nathan Taylor beat him in the semifinals to earn a spot in the finals, where he lost to Griess in overtime. For those that like stats, Lehigh has now had an EIWA finalist at heavyweight since 2018. The at-large bid given at this weight class was Princeton's Stefanik, who was the EIWA runner-up at 184lbs last season. It will be fun to see Goldin, Day, and Crosby at NCAAs. After the top-tier guys, this weight class can get pretty wide open for anyone to go on a run. Team Race: Cornell 165.5 points Lehigh 120.5 points Penn 106 points Columbia 95 points Navy 95 points Army West Point 82.5 points Princeton 81.5 points The Big Red ran away with this one after the first day. Having 6 champs will do that. This was the most points by the team champ at EIWAs since Cornell's 170.5 in 2016. The margin from first to second was also the largest since that 2016 season. Many expected this outcome - the biggest discussion was the race for second. Penn was the runner-up last year, falling just short of that this season. The team that many were talking about was Columbia, who finished tied for fourth. Coach Tanelli has done a great job there, having his guys peak at the right time. They are taking 6 to NCAAs, which is the third most in the conference. Penn is bringing 8 to the show, while Cornell is bringing 7. Personally, I love seeing teams like Navy and Army in the top 5 or 6. Tradition of the conference is usually Cornell and Lehigh at the top, which remains the same this year. It is always fascinating to see who filters in behind them. Maybe one day there will be a change in guard at the top, but that day is not today. Brackets and Team Results can be found here:

3x NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis (Photo/Tony DiMarco) I didn't really start watching college wrestling until 2017 and didn't fully dive in until the next year. The same year a couple kids named Spencer Lee and Yianni Diakomihalis made their debut. Now, in what seems like a decade later, the books are about to close on these legendary careers. I almost think it was better that both careers were spaced out and staggered over six seasons. It's like we were able to really sit back and fully enjoy the greatness over a prolonged period of time. Will they both cap it off with number four? There's no guarantees in this sport. Yianni, in particular, has a slew of hammers that would love nothing more than to be the one to stop it from happening. Spencer has a guy in Pat Glory waiting for years for another shot at him and to play spoiler. No matter what the outcome is next Saturday, I'm grateful to have gotten in at the right time and to watch these two do what they do on a regular basis. Let's hope for many more years of success at the world level. Congratulations to both of you on spectacular careers and for doing it the right way and with class. Only about ten more years until every other high school wrestler is named Spencer and Yianni and their coach is named Cael Something. I just hope there's some jerk kid named Jagger in the background making fun of it all. Will this be the year Purdue ends my suffering? Nathan Wynn Yes! Matt Ramos will be on the podium! Currently the fourth seed, Ramos will be looking for another shot at tossing the aforementioned Spencer Lee and making the finals. Not sure that will happen but a spot on the podium looks highly likely. Does Iowa getting bad seeds put them in position to place lower than second? Matsquatch It can't help much, but I don't believe it's much to worry about. Spencer is basically worth two guys. Teske has an outside shot at making the quarters as a 24-seed and should at least get some backside points. Woods is fine where he is. Murin is primed for an AA run and a massive ice pack for his face when he's done. Siebrecht has the ability to make some noise. Patrick Kennedy doesn't have the worst path to the semis, if he can get past a red-hot Julian Ramirez. Brands and Assad I have no idea, but Warner has a meat grinder of a weight regardless of seed and Cass is Cass. It'll be fine. Can we get Jagger Night at the NJSIAA finals and if so, what would be the itinerary? Old Dirty Baffert It's just so tough for me to make it there. Falling on conference weekend also doesn't help. But if I did, the real Jagger Night would take place later at the cheapest Blackjack table complete with endless Screwdrivers and failed double-downs. If Rocky Jordan makes the podium, Should Dan Ransick hand out the awards at 174? Rhino Unbeknownst to most of the free world, former St. Paris Graham star Rocky Jordan has run out to a 19-2 record while manning the 174 spot for Chattanooga. You have to feel for our good buddy Dan, first he lost "he who shall not be named to the NLWC." Then Echemendia never happened and now the last Jordan has left Columbus. A run to the quarters seems feasible and then he's just one more away from getting on the podium. I expect Dan to be planning a parade immediately. Most ideal location for hosting NCAA's? Baby Grajales That's a tough one. You want a place that is at least equal distance for everyone in the country. Good weather is also a plus. I can only think of one place. Jerry World in Dallas where the Cowboys let their fans down every year. To get the tournament there would be an epic experience. (Editor's Note) Organizers in Texas would like for Globe Life Stadium, site of "Bout at the Ballpark," to host NCAA's at some point. Globe Life Stadium is the next door neighbor of Jerry World. How did Clay magically get the brackets before the end of the selection show? Richard Mann Bro Bible has sources that we at InterMat can only dream of. The truth is that he fast-forwarded through the show and spoiled it for everyone, for clout. Clay Lautt, not the Clay Clout, Bubba. Szuba snub of the century? Pelikan Head Sir, this is a Wendy's.

The 2023 Big Ten Champion Penn State Nittany Lions (Photo/Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) This has been great. I find myself sitting here in the early afternoon on Sunday, March 5th watching Max Murin and Yahya Thomas wrestle each other to see who is going to wrestle for third or fifth. Bummer of a finish to that match as Thomas hit his head on the floor as they went out of bounds, but the point remains that some of the country's best on the first session of day two were still jostling for position in Tulsa. I've had the great pleasure this weekend of hanging out with colleagues, coaches, athletes, and friends. This is an unforgiving tournament with minimal room for error, some of which I'll get into here shortly. Also, super unpredictable. I thought 197 was going to be crazy, and it was anything but. I thought 141 was going to be fairly predictable, and yet we had a 14-seed rattle off a bunch of wins on the back side, ultimately getting the ninth and final automatic qualifier allocation. As the great American philosopher Gwen Stefani once said, this "stuff" is bananas. Here are the main things that stood out to me from this weekend. Iowa looks good. I said this a week or two ago when they blew the doors off of Oklahoma State, but they have continued with this general narrative through this weekend as well. Sure there are some areas that leave you with some questions, Abe Assad being pinned twice being one of those things, but in the end, they qualify all 10 wrestlers for the NCAA tournament. Cody Goodwin confirmed this to Tom Brands, which made him happy. Spencer Lee largely looked better in this tournament than he did during the regular season, as he calmly won by tech fall on his way to the finals. His win over Cronin to cap it off was a nice way to finish off his B1G tournament career. Lee also won the light weights Outstanding Wrestler award, which is only the second time that a Hawkeye has won this award three times (Mark Ironside was the other guy to have done this). Additionally, you've got Patrick Kennedy who is going to be a delight in the lineup for the Hawkeyes for the foreseeable future. His gritty win over Amine in the semifinals was a strong point of affirmation that he is as good as advertised. He lost to Hamiti in the finals 9-6, but he'll make adjustments and continue to improve from here. I say this because that's what he's done all year long, so I expect it to continue. Tony Cassioppi is what we thought he was, it seems. He's very clearly better than all but two Heavyweights in the country, but he'll still have the chance to change that narrative in Tulsa. At the end of the day, if there is going to be any team champ other than Penn State, it'll require a team with all 10 wrestlers, and some super studs, and Iowa has both of those things. Purdue is growing up. We all know Kendall Coleman and Matt Ramos. Everyone expected them to perform at a high level, and they certainly did. I knew they were young, but there are sobering reminders of that from time to time as well. For example, when I learned that Hayden Copass just recently turned 19 years old, that surprised me. I mean, the guy is 8 feet tall, so it's a little strange to think of someone that big as a teenager, but that's the reality. At the end of the day, Purdue, who had a tough conference season, showed some growth at this tournament. Parker Filius, the elder statesman of the team, outwrestled his seed (8) by placing fifth and getting some solid wins over Tal Shahar of Northwestern, and D'Emilio of Ohio State who ended up placing 4th, Bergeland of Minnesota, and over Olivieri of Rutgers. Point of information, he is gigantic for 141. It's different standing near him versus just watching on BTN. I spoke with Charles Small about Dustin Norris, the Boilermakers 133 pounder, and his potential. He had a good tournament and even had a pin over Rayvon Foley of Michigan State. In the end, he dropped the last match to Taylor Lamont (Wisconsin) to automatically qualify for NCAAs, but I was impressed by what he did. Getting back to Heavyweight, you got Copass who avenged his loss to Bullock of Indiana in order to make the NCAA tournament. More evidence of growth though is shown that whether they made the tournament or not, Purdue won matches at this tournament at eight of the ten weight classes. Growing pains exist, and that's to be expected, but I feel good about this program and the direction they are headed in. We'll see if Purdue can do in Tulsa what they haven't done in previous seasons with this staff, which is to have an All-American. They have a couple legitimate chances to get that done, and if I had to put money on it, I'd say this is the year! Matt Finesilver has a great mustache, and other fun Michigan moments. His mustache is just the beginning though. He matches the excellence of his mustache with equally excellent wrestling. We've seen wrestlers transfer into the B1G before, and there are varying degrees of success with this. This is one of the better success stories though. Finesilver was a one-time ACC finalist before coming to Ann Arbor, and was a three-time NCAA qualifier, but what he did this weekend was super impressive. You don't take third in the B1G by accident. Sure, Aaron Brooks did put on a show against him in the semis, but he tends to do that against most people. Finesilver has shown that he has all the tools necessary to separate himself at the NCAA tournament and to get on that podium. Check out this interview I got with him after it was all said and done. Even shouted out his biggest fan. Matt Finesilver Interview I was happy for Jack Medley who will finally get to compete in the NCAA tournament. Last year, he took a backseat to Suriano and, in 2020, he had qualified for the NCAA tournament, but it didn't happen due to COVID. He's remained patient and confident though, and that patience is paying off. It even was close at the beginning of the year for him to get the starting job, but here we are in March, he's qualified for the tournament, and is ready to get his chance. Here he talks about what he continues to work on, and the road to this point. Jack Medley Interview Also, Cam Amine is the strongest man on the planet. I can say that with confidence now. At least 10 different times during his matches the media section looked at each other and asked the same question "how did he do that?" He looked to have tried to hit a bear hug from hopping on one leg at one point. At another point, he just muscled his opponent out of what was a deep shot back into a full stance. It sounds pedestrian as I look through again, but trust me, it was anything but. He has been battling knee injuries consistently throughout this year, and he injury defaulted out of the rematch with Kharchla for third place, but it was still a hard-fought weekend for him. I feel like when he's feeling closer to 100% is when his offense will pick up a bit more. We recently learned that Cole Mattin will also be traveling to Tulsa for the NCAA Championships. He's been battling injuries at points this season, but he has some strong wins also, and started the B1G Tournament with a solid win over Joe Olivieri of Rutgers before dropping matches to Beau Bartlett of Penn State, followed by a loss to D'Emilio of Ohio State. Earlier in the season though, he looked like one of the more exciting wrestlers in the country, and was never afraid to fire off 1,000 attacks per minute. So much so that he won the MSU Open on a stalling call in overtime. Happy that Cole is getting this chance to get over the hump and produce at the NCAA Tournament. We can't talk about Michigan without talking about the heavyweight finals match between Mason Parris and Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State. Michigan hosting the tournament only had one finalist in Parris, but fittingly so, it closed out the entire event. I think it's safe to say that this was the most anticipated finals match of the night, and included two absolute behemoths in Parris and Kerkvliet of Penn State. Let me set the stage for you. I was on the floor near one of the corners of the mat, over by the crane they used for the BTN coverage and on the side of the mat where the athletes were running out of the tunnel. For most of the night, it was fairly open. I'd have an SID or trainer come watch a match from that area, but then they'd continue on. Not for this match, before I realized what was happening, most of the Michigan team, as well as Coach Bormet and Coach Bolyard were down there with me. The energy was off the charts and the emotional roller coaster we all went on together was not for the faint of heart. The floor at the 2023 Big Ten Championships When Mason got the final takedown in overtime the entire place went nuts. The Michigan section was deep, and right up front near the mat. Mason Parris has won some big matches for the Wolverines throughout his career. From winning a match to beat Ohio State on the road, to beating Cassioppi in their highly anticipated first match, he just keeps getting it done for Michigan. This one felt different though, he was so excited, and so was the rest of the staff and team that was next to me. There are some matches and experiences that I'll always remember in my life, and this was undoubtedly one of them. Maryland I don't think it's much of a secret that I've grown very fond of what they are doing in College Park, Maryland. This is far from a finished product, but I think if you told the fans that this season they would have wins over Oklahoma and Pittsburgh, get a B1G dual win, and have five NCAA qualifiers, that it would be a successful season. In fact, this is the most qualifiers that Maryland has had since 2014, when they were still an ACC school. I hope that Ethen Miller is going to be healthy in Tulsa, but for the moment let's lean into the positives and how he and his brother (seeded 14th out of 14 to start the tournament) both have qualified for NCAAs, along with another freshman Jaxon Smith (197). Speaking of Jaxon Smith, he drops his quarterfinal match against Braunagel in overtime, then has to take the road less traveled to third place. I see why this road is less traveled, because it looks like it must have sucked to make it through. The road included beating Andrew Davison of Northwestern, Braxton Amos of Wisconsin, Jacob Warner of Iowa, and then finally avenging that quarterfinal loss with an OT takedown of his own to place third in the B1G. I was able to catch up with Jaxon after his win over Warner to talk about that match and coming back from his injury to get to this point. Jaxon Smith Interview Maryland got two more NCAA qualifiers in Braxton Brown at 125, as well as Jaron Smith at Heavyweight, and rightfully so, as it was announced Tuesday afternoon that the NCAA delivered on those expectations. Brown finished ninth by beating Jacob Moran of Indiana and Tristan Lujan of Michigan State on the back side, which certainly contributed to his bid for at-large consideration. Mostly though, it was his strong season as a whole that helped him earn this opportunity in his first season of D1 full-time competition. Jaron had a tough tournament, but his season as a whole was strong and he has been consistently ranked most of this season. As it turns out, the B1G at heavyweight remains very tough. Jaron has been a staple in the Maryland lineup for the last several years, and I'm happy to see him have one final chance to compete for the Terrapins in Tulsa. Spartans qualify 4 for Tulsa. There were a lot of ups and downs for the Spartans in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately, I think more downs than ups, but you had a solid sprinkling of both. Upside, Chase Saldate wrestled very well, and was very close to making the finals at 157. On his way to the finals, he got an impressive win over Cobe Siebrecht, putting the Hawkeye to his back a couple of times, and nearly getting the fall. Cobe has proven to be a very dangerous wrestler this year, and I think that would lead many wrestlers to approach him more cautiously, but Saldate seems comfortable baiting him into these scramble situations and then capitalizing on them from there. Saldate dropped his next two, the first being a two-point loss to Peyton Robb of Nebraska followed by the Will Lewan special of a 3-1 win in overtime. Chase had gotten the better of Lewan in this same situation last time, but not here in Ann Arbor. He finished the tournament with an impressive win over Kendall Coleman, who had also made the semifinals before dropping some matches on the back side of the bracket. Layne Malczewski at 184 and Cam Caffey also qualified for the tournament with 8th and 6th place finishes respectively, but both injury defaulted out of the tournament. Layne was wearing a massive knee brace, as he has done for most of this season, and I saw Cam walking around with his arm in a sling at the end of the event. Not encouraging, but I'm remaining positive and hope that both guys can recover and have strong showings in Tulsa. Speaking of Tulsa, Caleb Fish was awarded an at-large bid for NCAAs as well. He wrestled some very close matches at B1Gs, and almost made the semifinals, dropping a closely contested OT match to Cam Amine of Michigan. He showed at times this season that he can battle with the best, so happy for him to get that NCAA experience as well. Minnesota puts 2 in the finals and qualifies 9. First things first, I was bummed about Brayton Lee. That guy started the season ranked first in the country, and clearly couldn't get back to the version of himself that was beating people to a pulp, while occasionally scoring takedowns. The mat return from his match with Lewan in ride-outs clearly is what ended his run. He made no attempt to get back up, and after letting Lewan up during his turn to ride, he clearly couldn't move his right arm. It was hard to watch, but I have so much respect for the guy. He even came back out for his next match, but just wasn't able to do anything. You can only control what you can control, that's the general sentiment that I hear all the time from wrestlers, and you can't control how quickly your body recovers, or if your collarbone just stops working. I truly hope for the best and a more full recovery. Sometimes these things take two full years, and hoping that next season he'll be back to the Brayton Lee we know and love. Aaron Nagao (133) and Michael Blockhus (149) both made the finals as 6 seeds, and both dropped close losses to stud opponents. Nagao did his best against RBY, and in the end, had one of the closer matches with him that we've seen, but wasn't able to get it done. Blockhus looked as good as I've ever seen him, and was close to the OT win against Sasso, but in the end, getting stuck under Sasso on a shot for more than a moment usually leads to him cutting the corner and/or locking up a cradle. The same could be said for OT with Blockhus. In the end, Minnesota made the semifinals at half of the weights (125, 133, 149, 174, 184), and had a total of nine qualifiers for the NCAA tournament. Seven qualified using the traditional means, while Garret Joles (HWY) and Andrew Sparks (165, and no relation to Shane), received at-large bids. Minnesota's depth is great, and I'm happy to see how they ride some of this momentum into Tulsa. Final point, I always love the gold Minnesota singlets, and I'm glad that Nagao and Blockhus wore them in the B1G finals. Hamiti jumps around. Dean Hamiti had such a great year. His only three losses are to David Carr, Cam Amine, and Quincy Monday. He spent this weekend going through Andrew Sparks (8-0) and Carson Kharchla (14-2) to make the finals, and won in a convincing 9-6 regular decision. It was a more dominant three-point win though than many three-point wins traditionally are. Dean Hamiti has continued to look more dangerous and more impressive with every time we see him, and he's as dangerous as anyone going into Tulsa. I don't know what we do with the seeding in Tulsa at 165, other than Carr at 1, but then it'll get really weird. Probably O'Toole at 2, but also maybe not. Outside of Hamiti though, it was a bit of a tough weekend for Wisconsin. I was super-excited watching an interview with Austin Gomez from before the tournament talking about how he was 100%, which is exactly what I would do also because there's no downside to throwing that out there. He even sent out the "Scared money don't make money" tweet, like he had the morning that he beat Yianni. However, in watching him compete, it became pretty clear that he was a little shy of 100%. He drops his first match to Rooks of Indiana, followed by the unfortunate ending to his match with Ethen Miller of Maryland. He picks up Miller in a double leg, and in an attempt to finish the shot, he leaves his feet and lands on top of Miller. From where I was I couldn't figure out if it was a head injury, or ribs, but regardless it was called a slam immediately, and Miller looked clearly hurt. It was called a slam by the referee, and with Miller not being able to continue the match, Gomez lost the match on an illegal slam. I have it on good authority that Gomez did apologize to the staff and Miller, and that he didn't intend to hurt him or anyone, which I believe. For someone so capable of mass destruction, he's been largely responsible with what he does and the positions he's put people in. With great power comes with great responsibility, and he absolutely has carried that power with integrity. Whether it is Karma or his proven ability to wrestle with the best when healthy, Austin Gomez did receive an at-large bid to the NCAAs and will be able to compete in Tulsa one last time for the Badgers. I trust that he'll have the right people around him to help him remain positive and driven to be his best in Tulsa. In fact, as I sit here at my computer, I just noticed his tweet the "Now you're all in big, big trouble" GIF from Billy Madison. Yeah, I think he'll be fine. The Badgers qualified 8 total (125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 197, HWY), and did have some resilient performances from Joey Zargo at 141 and at 197, Braxton Amos on the backside to earn their automatic qualifier spots, each placing seventh. Garret Model placed 10th at 157, but that'll do it since 157 had 10 total allocations offered. Eric Barnett was pinned by Patrick McKee on the top side of the bracket, but he capitalized on the chance to avenge that loss in the 5th place match, which he did. Especially with these extra years that everyone has, I wonder which guys really hate other guys. I can't imagine Barnett and McKee look forward to these battles. They're crazy every time. Amos also avenged a loss, with his win over Foy in the 7th and 8th place match. In the end, the Badgers probably didn't get everyone they expected through, but they will have a respectable contingent in Tulsa, with the opportunity to make some real noise. Lauren's observations ANN ARBOR - There's nothing like being on the floor at the conference or NCAA championship finals to remind you about how real and how raw the emotions in this sport can be. At the same time, one athlete is experiencing the highest high of his career, and the other has potentially just been dealt his lowest. And because of the unique individual and team aspects of wrestling, you see coaches and athletes trying to balance their personal emotions of excitement or disappointment with celebrating their team and teammates' accomplishments and supporting those who fell short. Despite his team winning the 2023 Big Ten championship and picking up the conference's Coach of the Year award, Penn State's Cael Sanderson wasn't in much of a celebratory mood Sunday evening. His wrestlers went 4-for-6 in the finals, suffering losses at 197 pounds and heavyweight. "We were super happy to win the Big Ten team championship," Sanderson said. "But as a coach or as a team, your heart is always with the guys who didn't reach their goals. Unfortunately, that happens at pretty much every event, somebody doesn't quite achieve what they want. But you still just celebrate and be happy and move on to the next one." Nebraska's Mark Manning was dealing with similar emotions. He embraced his 197-pound champ, Silas Allred, when he came out for the final award ceremony after upsetting Penn State's defending Big Ten and NCAA champ Max Dean. But despite his smiles and excitement at that moment, his first comments when asked about his emotions went to his four wrestlers who didn't get their hands raised. "I feel for all the four guys who took a loss in the finals," he said. "A couple were so close to joining Silas in the winner's circle, but in two weeks from now - that's when it really counts." While the Big Ten Championships were exciting, they are ultimately - as the coaches are always quick to remind reporters - just a step toward the ultimate goal of winning NCAA titles. Three-time Big Ten champ Roman Bravo-Young may have summed it up best: "You win and move on." Here are some observations from the weekend: Penn State still looks like the favorite for the NCAA title In the words of Cael Sanderson: "Our guys just won some big matches - and lost some big matches." While there were, of course, both highlights and lowlights for the Nittany Lions this past weekend, they didn't leave much doubt that they should still be the favorite heading into Tulsa. The biggest surprises for Penn State were true freshman Levi Haines knocking off previously undefeated, top-ranked Peyton Robb, of Nebraska, for the 157-pound title, and Dean falling to Allred at 197. Dean's loss was the biggest blow to Penn State's firepower heading into Tulsa, as it will likely have a detrimental impact on his seed. But in reality, the seeds probably don't matter that much at 197. Outside of the undisputed No. 1 Nino Bonaccorsi, any of those guys could beat any of the others, and have proven as much throughout the season. Still, the loss will likely put Dean in a position where he'll have some work to do to defend his national title. On the bright side for Penn State, defending NCAA champs Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks had arguably their best matches of the season in the conference finals. Both widened the gap against two familiar opponents. Mikey Labriola still has yet to score a takedown on Starocci in their three matchups - while Starocci had two in his 6-1 win. Brooks earned the lone bonus-point win of the finals, a 12-2 major decision over Ohio State's Kaleb Romero - a match that ended 3-2 in February. Both look like they'll be hard to beat in two weeks. "He stepped things up just a little bit, put a little more pressure forward and just wrestled really well," Sanderson said of Starocci. "He's obviously really good." Haines' win also erased any questions about whether he should be considered an NCAA finalist threat, while the top four in this class remain very dangerous. Lost in the debate over whether or not Robb should have had a takedown in the first period was proper recognition of how much power and strength Haines used to counter Robb's counter-shot and pick him up and throw him to the mat for the winning takedown. "I just stayed persistent, pulled on his head, felt his open and let it rip," Haines said. "It just goes back to what we're doing in the practice room. I have guys who do similar stuff on me, so it helps me be tough in those positions." Bravo-Young was visibly frustrated after his 5-2 finals win over Minnesota freshman Aaron Nagao and getting ridden for nearly the full third period. He'll still be favored for his third consecutive trip to the NCAA finals. Despite falling 5-3 in sudden victory to Michigan's Mason Parris, heavyweight Greg Kervliet wrestled a solid match, and shut out Tony Cassioppi, 5-0, in the semifinals - this third straight (second official) win over the Hawkeye. The rest of Penn State's nine qualifiers fell more or less where they were expected to: Beau Bartlett third at 141, Shayne Van Ness fourth at 149 and Alex Facundo seventh at 165. If Penn State has another vulnerability heading into Tulsa, it's that it didn't exactly rack up bonus points. The Nittany Lions were one of only three teams not to record a pin over the weekend, but they did lead all other teams in major decisions with seven. They finished the weekend with 10 bonus-point wins (that counted for team points), while Iowa had 14. Nebraska is solidly positioned as a trophy contender Silas Allred not only beat defending Big Ten and NCAA champ Max Dean in the finals, he kind of dominated him, taking him down three times for the 6-2 victory. The Nebraska junior secured a takedown late in the first period, and then again in each of the other two. "I knew one wasn't going to be enough. I knew I was going to have to keep pushing the pace, so I kept working from my ties and waiting for him to make a mistake," Allred said. "He did, and my shot was there and I took it." With the win, Allred becomes the third Big Ten champ in program history, and the first since his assistant coach Robert Kokesh in 2015. Allred was one of the most unexpected winners on Sunday, coming into the tournament with a 23-5 record. But for Allred, those early-season losses were nothing but learning opportunities. "I took some lumps earlier this year," he said. "But all those losses are actually lessons for me. I don't look at an L as a loss, I look at it as a learning opportunity. So, every time I lose, I learn and I get better, and I think I showed that tonight." Hopefully, Allred was able to share some of his wisdom with his teammates who fell just short of the podium Sunday evening. Both Peyton Robb and Brock Hardy lost tight matches - Robb 3-1 in sudden victory and Hardy 2-1 against Iowa's Real Woods. Nebraska's coaching staff - along with many other spectators - thought Robb had the takedown on Penn State's Haines, but the no-takedown call stood after an official review. Liam Cronin made Spencer Lee wrestle a full seven minutes - a feat within itself - falling 8-2, and Labriola saw his undefeated streak end with the loss to Starocci. With two weeks to go until Tulsa, coach Mark Manning is hoping his team can stay healthy and be aggressive to try to flip some of those results. "Get a little rest, make sure we're healthy - I think we are - and then just getting fired on all cylinders," he said. "I think we've got a lot of firepower, and just being aggressive. You know, in two weeks, (it's just about) being aggressive buying into that aggressiveness and really working for pins and tech falls." One Husker who doesn't need to be told that advice twice literally has "pin" in his name - 184-pounder Lenny Pinto. The freshman spent just 3:12 on the mat the whole weekend, earning two pins, along with an injury default and a forfeit. He pinned Rutgers' Brian Soldano in 1:09 to take fifth. Bubba Wilson also qualified for nationals, placing sixth at 165. Despite the losses, putting five wrestlers in the Big Ten finals is still very impressive. Nebraska maintains its third spot in InterMat's tournament rankings, and should have a great shot at finishing the season with a trophy. Sasso reclaims Big Ten title and the Buckeyes are bringing 9 to Tulsa Sammy Sasso is no stranger to the Big Ten finals, finding himself there for the fourth time on Sunday. Having that familiarity must have paid off, as he came back from an early deficit to beat Minnesota's Michael Blockhus, 7-5, in sudden victory to reclaim his 2021 crown. One of the biggest storylines at 149 pounds, however, was that Sasso didn't get the chance to reclaim that crown from the wrestler who took it from his last year - Wisconsin's Austin Gomez, who was clearly still dealing with injury woes. But that doesn't take anything away from Sasso's achievement. He cruised to the finals with a major decision and an 8-2 win over Max Murin. As with all other teams, it was an up-and-down tournament for the Buckeyes. In addition to Sasso and runnerup Kaleb Romero, another highlight was the performance of Dylan D'Emilio, who placed fourth as the No. 9 seed at 141 - taking out Cole Mattin, Joseph Zargo and Frankie Tal Shahar on the back side before falling 6-2 to Penn State's Beau Bartlett. D'Emilio has shown good progression throughout the year, taking Hardy to the wire near the end of the season and now avenging his earlier Tal Shahar loss. One of the most exciting wins for the Buckeyes over the weekend was heavyweight Tate Orndorff with a seconds-left reversal to beat Trent Hillger, 7-4, and make it to the third-place bout as the No. 7 seed, where he fell to Tony Cassioppi. Ohio State fans certainly made themselves heard in Crisler Arena at that moment. Carson Kharchla earned a big win over Penn State's Alex Facundo at 165 to take back a loss from earlier in the season, as he and Ethan Smith finished third. Jesse Mendez, Paddy Gallagher and Gavin Hoffman didn't have the greatest tournaments. The latter two both needed at-large bids to make the trip to Tulsa. Mendez finished sixth as the No. 2 seed, as Chris Cannon and Dylan Ragusin both got revenge for earlier losses. But at the end of the day, the Buckeyes are taking nine to Tulsa and have two weeks time to make some adjustments. Northwestern to bring well-rounded lineup to Tulsa Northwestern didn't quite replicate its feat from last year - qualifying all 10 wrestlers - but got eight through after Sunday afternoon and nine when Troy Fisher received an at-large bid on Tuesday. The Wildcats were backside warriors - none more than Andrew Davison, who battled his way through the ninth-place bracket to earn the final automatic allocation at 197 pounds with a late takedown over Indiana's Nick Willham. Northwestern is missing the star power it had last year without national champion Ryan Deakin, but will still be bringing a well-rounded lineup to Tulsa. Michael DeAugustino, who appears to be battling injury and medically forfeited out of the third-place bout at 125, still picked up some nice wins, including a major decision over Matt Ramos and another top-10 win over Wisconsin's Eric Barnett. Maxx Mayfield also had himself an impressive tournament, finishing one above his seed at sixth. The 165-pound weight class is one of the toughest in the country and Mayfield showed he's right there in the mix with the best of them. Chris Cannon, Yahya Thomas and Lucas Davison each came out on the wrong side of some sudden victory matches - twice in Davison's case. Thomas also sustained a pretty scary injury against Max Murin when his head hit the floor and medically forfeited out of his last match. The impact of the injury is not fully known, but he was walking around on the floor during the finals. In a recurring theme, Northwestern had a mixed bag of success in Ann Arbor. There are surely a few matches their wrestlers will be hoping to take back in a few weeks with potential rematches. Byrd leading Illinois into NCAAs If there was any doubt about Lucas Byrd after dropping an early-season bout to freshman Jesse Mendez, he put it to rest this past weekend. Byrd had a strong tournament, falling in sudden victory to runner-up Aaron Nagao, then putting away a bevy of top-20-ranked wrestlers in Joe Heilmann, Dylan Ragusin and Chris Cannon. The Nagao loss seemed like a surprising upset at the time. But as we all know now - the freshman is pretty good. Byrd's sudden-victory win over Cannon to secure third place was especially impressive. He has never had much issue with Cannon, owning a 5-0 record over him going into that match, but found himself tied 1-1 at the end of regulation after fending off a late takedown attempt and stalking his opponent like prey until the whistle blew. The winning takedown came early as Byrd was able to get in on Cannon's left leg and finish. The third-place finish ties Byrd's finish from 2021, and sends him back to the NCAA Championships for the third time. Joining him in Tulsa will be teammates Danny Braunagel, Edmond Ruth, Dylan Connell and Zac Braunagel. Zac Braunagel traded matches with Maryland's Jaxon Smith - but lost the one that mattered most, for third place. Beating Smith once was still a feather in the cap after getting pinned earlier in the season. It's really just more proof that anyone can beat anyone at 197. Rutgers bounces back from slow start The Scarlet Knights did not start off their weekend too hot, winning just three of their 10 first-round bouts. But they were able to battle back to send seven to Tulsa. Most notably not earning a seed was 141-pounder Joey Olivieri. The sophomore went 0-2 in the championship bracket at Big Tens, but has a 13-6 overall record with previous wins over qualifiers Kal Miller, Cole Mattin and Dylan D'Emilio. Punching their tickets to Tulsa were Dean Peterson, Joe Heilmann, Tony White, Andrew Clark, Jackson Turley, Brian Soldano and Boone McDermott. It was pin-or-be-pinned in Ann Arbor for Soldano, who had one of the more memorable weekends for the Scarlet Knights. He handed Iowa's Abe Assad his second pin of the tournament, then was quickly put on his back by Nebraska's Lenny Pinto in the fifth-place bout. He also gifted wrestling fans with one of the more wild matches of the event in his 12-9 win in tiebreakers over Tyler Dow in consolations on Saturday. Both wrestlers kept looking for the throw. Soldano got the first 6-point move, then Dow countered with 6 of his own. Whenever Soldano takes the mat, fireworks can always be expected. Turley's performance also stood out. As the No. 10 seed, the junior took both No. 7 Nelson Brands and No. 5 Edmond Ruth to the wire, falling by just one point in each match. Then he beat Indiana's No. 6-seed D.J. Washington for the coveted final automatic allocation at 174. No. 8 Peterson joined Soldano and Turley in finishing above his seed. After losing to Michigan's Jack Medley by a 9-0 major decision in the first round, he battled through the consolation bracket and beat Medley, 7-1, for seventh. Indiana takes another step in the right direction D.J. Washington picked up an automatic bid Tuesday to join teammates Graham Rooks, Derek Gilcher and Jacob Bullock in Tulsa. The four NCAA qualifiers is the most for Indiana since 2018 - and the most since coach Angel Escobedo took over the program. The Hoosier fans showed up and made themselves heard throughout the weekend in Ann Arbor. Gilcher, in particular, got them on their feet when he came back from an early deficit and pinned Wisconsin's Garrett Model with just six seconds remaining. Oh, and this was after cruising to a comfortable 10-2 major decision over former Big Ten finalist Mikey Carr. Rooks also used some late heroics to beat Rutgers' Tony White in the first round. The pair were tied 1-1 with 45 seconds remaining when Rooks earned a takedown and rideout to seal it. He went on to upset a banged-up Austin Gomez and make his first semifinal. Gomez was clearly hurting and noticeably limped off the mat, but Rooks had several solid takedowns and battled throughout to earn the 6-5 victory. Bullock fought through the ninth-place bracket to earn an automatic qualification after falling to Purdue's Hayden Copass in the consolation bracket. A couple of his teammates, however, weren't so lucky. Washington had to wait for an at-large bid and Nick Willham and Henry Porter just missed the cut and didn't earn at-large bids. Ultimately, Indiana was hoping for a better performance than last year's 14th-place finish with 4 points. And with 30 points for 12th, the Hoosiers did just that.

2x Big 12 champion Wyatt Hendrickson (photo courtesy of Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) Brackets were released last night and, for a bit, social media and message boards went quiet as fans thumbed through them looking for the good draws, bad draws and questionable seeds. After that brief silence, there was plenty of hand-wringing and debate about seeds. Looking into the seeds and the process, some of them actually make sense, and some don't. Here are some of my initial reactions to the bracket release: Injury Defaults Paid the Price All year, and in previous years, fans have grumbled about coaches skirting the system and wrestling their guys less frequently than ever. The saying "All that Matters is March" comes into play, as coaches will do whatever it takes to get their wrestlers healthy into the tournament or put them in the best place to succeed. Nowhere was that more evident than with West Virginia's Killian Cardinale. It's no secret that Cardinale has battled shoulder injuries for the last couple of years of his career. Last year, Cardinale only had 12 bouts entering the postseason. This season, he made his debut a the Midlands and medically forfeited out after three wins. Cardinale would win all seven of his subsequent duals. At the Big 12 Championships, Cardinale purposely injury defaulted out after the whistle blew in his opening bout. For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

The 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place Detroit (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com The brackets have been released for the 2023 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The event takes place March 16-18 in Tulsa. Link: Brackets

The 2022 NCAA Championships (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Check back often as content related to the 2023 NCAA Championships will be posted here as it is released. NCAA Weight Class Previews 125 lbs 133 lbs 141 lbs 149 lbs 157 lbs Conference Results ACC Big 12 Big Ten EIWA MAC Pac-12 SoCon Qualifier Information At-Large Berths NCAA Releases Conference Allocations for 2023 DI National Championships NCAA Brackets NCAA Brackets Thoughts on the 2023 NCAA DI Seeds

Spencer Lee in the 2023 Big Ten quarterfinals (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Several of the nation’s top title contenders took a big step forward at their conference tournaments. Several of those contenders will come out of the Big Ten conference, which features membership from some of the top programs in the country. As always, there were a few wrestlers who set themselves apart from the field. The following looks at some of those standout statistical performances from the tournament. Point Differential Spencer Lee +2.18 Over the last few seasons of college wrestling, nobody has dominated the point differential stat like Iowa’s No. 1 Spencer Lee. His ability to score points from the top position and finish opponents quickly allows him to rack up a lot of points in a short period of time, and his finishing ability usually prevents his opponents from adding to their score. That skill and style was certainly on display this past weekend in Michigan. On the way to his third Big Ten title, Lee averaged 2.39 points per minute and allowed only 0.21 points per minute. After a 17-0 technical fall shutout over Jack Medley (Michigan) in his first match, Lee picked up another technical fall over Patrick McKee (Minnesota) by a 20-2 score. In the finals, Liam Cronin (Nebraska) managed to avoid giving up bonus points but still fell via an 8-2 decision. The four points that Lee allowed were composed entirely of escapes. Lee will be the heavy favorite to become a four-time NCAA champion at the upcoming tournament. There will likely be other dominant wrestlers in the college ranks, but fans might not see another with a skillset perfect for dominating this metric. Points per Minute Aaron Brooks 2.41 Despite Lee’s impressive offensive display, he was not the highest-scoring wrestler of the weekend. That honor belongs to No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State). The two-time NCAA champion picked up a Big Ten title at 184 pounds with victories over Brian Soldano (Rutgers), Matt Finesilver (Michigan) and Kaleb Romero (Ohio State). Along the way, Brooks scored 48 points in a little under 20 minutes for a 2.41 points-per-minute average. The scoring rate narrowly edged out Lee (2.39) and no other wrestler really came close to these two. The third-highest scorer of the weekend was Brook’s teammate Shayne Van Ness who averaged 1.57 points per minute on his way to a fourth-place finish at 149 pounds. Brooks awaits his seed for the NCAA tournament. He is the returning champion at the weight, but he took a surprising loss early in the season against No. 4 Marcus Coleman (Iowa State). A few of his regular rivals will be back, No. 2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) and No. 3 Trent Hidlay (NC State), but Brooks showed at the Big Ten tournament that he is near his point-scoring peak already. Points against per Minute Real Woods 0.06 The story has been the same for pretty much the whole season for No. 2 Real Woods (Iowa). He has continually blitzed his opponents early and looked like the best first-minute wrestler in the country. At times against tougher opposition, he has then relied on his strong hand fighting and scrambling to hold on for close victories. That defense was certainly on display this past weekend at the Big Ten tournament. Woods, the champion at 141 pounds, allowed his three opponents to score only a combined one point. In his first match, he decked Parker Filius (Purdue) before he could score anything. Woods then took a 3-0 decision over Frankie Tal Shahar (Northwestern). In the finals, Brock Hardy (Nebraska) managed to score a single point via stall calls. However, Woods held on for the two-point victory after nearly missing out on two sets of back points. That one point equates to 0.06 points against per minute, which was by far the best defensive rate of the tournament. The closest wrestler was Penn State’s Levi Haines, who won the 157-pound bracket and gave up only three points on the way. Woods went undefeated this season and will likely slot into one of the top two seeds at the NCAA tournament. He does hold a victory from last season over No. 1 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado), but he also dropped a decision against No. 3 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) at the last NCAA tournament. Total match time Will Lewan 46.53 Anyone who watched a few of the matches from Will Lewan (Michigan) over the weekend, probably thought, “this guy has to spend more time on the mat than anybody else.” At least for the Big Ten tournament, this statement rings true. Lewan spent over 46 minutes wrestling across his six matches. He ended up winning five of those matches and finishing third at 157 pounds. Of his six matches, Lewan went to overtime in half of them. His lone loss came against Kendall Coleman (Purdue) in regulation. The only wrestler to have nearly as much mat time as Lewan was Edmund Ruth (Illinois) who finished with exactly 45 minutes through his six matches. Lewan managed only 17 points across all the time he spent on the mat. This comes out to a 0.37 points-per-minute average, which was the 27th-lowest scoring rate across the entire tournament. However, he was also very stingy defensively as he allowed only 0.24 points per minute. Also, his strategy of slowing matches down does seem to work for him. After all, he did finish third in a rather deep weight. At the last NCAA tournament, Lewan famously finished fifth while employing quite similar tactics. It may not be the most fan-friendly style, but at the end of the day winning is what matters, and winning close matches can be essential in big tournaments. Also, this is the second year that NCAA wrestling has used the two-minute sudden victory round in overtime. Previously, it was only a one-minute period before tiebreakers. Now, the wrestlers must slog through an entire two minutes before they get their shot on bottom. This was clearly implemented to limit the number of matches that go to tiebreakers, and it appears to be working. At the Big Ten tournament, there were 285 matches excluding medical forfeits. Of those 285 matches, 31 went to overtime. Of the matches that went to overtime, 27 were decided in the first sudden victory period. Only three matches went to rideouts.