InterMat Staff

Voyageur Prep

The 2025 World Team Trials are only mere days away. Friday and Saturday, some of our nation's best will head to Louisville, Kentucky in search of a spot in Final X. There is at least one wrestler per weight in Final X currently, as all US Open champions advanced. Additionally, returning world/Olympic medalists competing at their 2024 weight also automatically advanced to Final X. That means there are two weights in men’s (57/61 kg) and women’s freestyle (57/65 kg) that will not be contested in Louisville. We’ve already seen some usual results at the US Open and that’s to be expected in the first year of a new Olympic cycle. Those years typically feature a handful of retirements and weight changes. With that in mind, I’d expect some unpredictability in Louisville. The first of our two previews will focus on the women’s freestyle tournament. There will be plenty of talented women who haven’t secured a spot in Final X, but are still seeking a berth on the 2025 world team. Among them, an Olympic champion and a world champion - plus plenty of others with age-group credentials. 50 kg Entries: Heather Crull Anaya Falcon Erin Golston Kendra Ryan Emily Shilson Veteran Erin Golston leads the way in the 50 kg women’s freestyle weight class. Golston, a three-time Junior world medalist, is still seeking to make her first team on the Senior level despite a dozen years on the scene. She was the Open runner-up to young star Audrey Jimenez. Also with a highly decorated age-group career, but looking to make her Senior World debut is Emily Shilson. Shilson has won titles in the U23, Junior, and Cadet age groups. Shilson was pinned in the semis of the Open by Golston. Likely getting the second seed in this small bracket is North Central’s multi-time All-American Kendra Ryan. Ryan took third at the Open by downing Shilson, 10-4. McKendree’s incoming freshman Heather Crull was fifth at the Open after pinning Life’s national finalist Anaya Falcon. It was her second win of the tournament over Falcon. They’ll likely assume the fifth and sixth seeds. Waiting in Final X: Audrey Jimenez Prediction: Erin Golston over Kendra Ryan 53 kg Entries Jaslynn Gallegos Katie Gomez Sage Mortimer Sydney Petzinger Salyna Shotwell Felicity Taylor The Open finals produced a bit of a surprising result as Felicity Taylor was upset by her former Iowa teammate Brianna Gonzalez. Taylor will be considered the favorite in Louisville and is presumably the top seed. She’s been a part of two U23 World Teams, but is seeking looking to make her first Senior team. Taylor, along with Katie Gomez, have both appeared in Final X’s opposite Dom Parrish. Gomez was third at the Open, but didn’t face Taylor. The last time they met Gomez had the upperhand in the 2023 US Open semifinals. Gomez was third at the Open, but had to escape in a 14-12 barnburner against Sage Mortimer in her final match of the tournament. Mortimer was an NCWWC national champion for the first-year program Grand Valley State in 2025. She’s likely the third seed and could be headed for a semifinal rematch with Gomez. There’s definitely some North Central flavor in this weight as the fourth and fifth seeds could be Cardinal national champions Jaslyn Gallegos and Sydney Petzinger. The pair met in the fifth place match at the Open and Petzinger got the 9-3 win. The weight class will be rounded out by Life’s national runner-up Salyna Shotwell. Waiting in Final X: Brianna Gonzalez Prediction: Katie Gomez over Felicity Taylor 55 kg Entries Ronna Gross Amani Jones Everest Leydecker Mateah Roehl Julia Vidallon Areana Villaescusa Thalia Vogelsang Jacarra Winchester This weight class has a great mix of experience and youth! 2020 Olympian and world champion Jacarra Winchester leads the way. She has the most credentials and as much international experience as anyone in this tournament. She dominated her way to the 57 kg US Open finals, but did not compete in the championship bout. Perhaps it was in order to avoid a Final X match with Helen Maroulis had she won the Open. Whatever the reasoning, Winchester is entered here and will be difficult to beat. The other veteran in this crew is Areana Villaescusa who made the world team in 2024 and wrestled for a bronze medal. She lost in the Open semifinals to high school phenom Everest Leydecker. Before beating Villaescusa, Leydecker posted back-to-back wins over collegiate national champions Julia Vidallon and Amani Jones. This means that the two will probably have to square off again as Winchester likely gets the top seed and Leydecker and Villaescusa are the two and three, respectively. Finishing fourth to Villescusa at the Open was Jones. She has plenty of international experience of her own with a bronze medal at the U20 and U23 levels. Thalia Vogelsang (6th) and Vidallon (7th) are the other two 55 kg Open placers in this bracket. Ronna Gross, who also has a long track record of age group success, was third at the Open at 57 kg and will drop down for the Trials. A third-place finish at the 2024 Bill Farrell helped Mateah Roehl punch her ticket to the Trials. Waiting in Final X: Cristelle Rodriguez Prediction: Jacarra Winchester over Everest Leydecker 59 kg Entries Michaela Beck Belle Foard Emily Frost Alexis Janiak Xochitl Mota-Pettis Lorianna Piestewa Brenda Reyna Ashley Whetzal With 57 kg being contested at the Trials, you have some of the Open placers from that weight mixed in with those who competed at 59. Since she was a finalist at the Open, at this weight, I’d imagine Michaela Beck gets the #1 seed. Beck has participated in Final X the last time it was held in Newark. There she fell in two straight bouts to Jennifer Page. During that same year, Xochitl Mota-Pettis also qualified for Final X; however, her series with Maroulis was delayed due to an injury. Mota-Pettis finished fifth at the Open but remains as dangerous as anyone in this field. The 57 kg Open placers moving up for this tournament are Lorianna Piestewa (5th), Ashley Whetzal (6th), and Belle Foard (7th). Alexis Janiak (4th), Emily Frost (6th), and Brenda Reyna (7th) were Open placers at 59 kg. Of this group, Janiak has the best international credentials with two U20 world medals. Waiting in Final X: Abby Nette Prediction: Michaela Beck over Alexis Janiak 62 kg Entries Samantha Barragan Alara Boyd SaVannah Cosme Bridgette Duty Marilyn Garcia Katerina Lange Ana Luciano Adaugo Nwachukwu It was no shock to see a Final X 2023 rematch in the Open finals with Kayla Miracle taking on Adaugo Nwachukwu and that could be the most likely outcome for Final X 2025. That being said, Nwachukwu had to come back from a 5-3 deficit at the break to defeat Alara Boyd in the Open semifinals and that was only after she held off Boyd during an attempt at a late-match comeback bid. After her narrow loss to Nwachukwu, Boyd lost two more matches and finished sixth. She was beaten by Bridgette Duty and Hannah Errthum (who is not in this field). Duty finished fourth with a one-point loss to SaVannah Cosme in the third-place bout. This should make seeding difficult and potentially make some interesting matchups in the opening round or quarterfinals. Since 65 kg is not being contested at the Trials, we have some of those Open placers as well. Katerina Lange leads the way in that group as she was fourth at the Open. Fifth-place finisher Ana Luciano and seventh-place placer Marilyn Garcia are also in the bracket. Wayland Baptist’s Samantha Barragan gets in after making the NAIA finals in 2025. Waiting in Final X: Kayla Miracle Prediction: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Bridgette Duty 68 kg Entries Gretchen Donally Brooklyn Hays Destiny Lyng Latifah McBryde Solin Piearcy We’ve got a very small but talented weight class here at 68 kg. The winner will go on to face Kennedy Blades, who won the Open without surrendering a point in three matches. Blades’ finals opponent was Solin Piearcy. Piearcy is your likely one-seed in Louisville. She made the Open finals after a razor-thin, 3-2 win over Brooklyn Hays in the semifinals. Both are resident athletes at the USOPTC, so I’d imagine there’s lots of familiarity between the two. The fifth and sixth-place finishers from the Open were Destiny Lyng and Gretchen Donally. Lyng prevailed with an 11-0 tech. NAIA national champion Latifah McBryde should present a formidable contender and could challenge for a finals berth. Waiting in Final X: Kennedy Blades Prediction: Brooklyn Hays over Solin Piearcy 72 kg Entries Kaylynn Albrecht Amit Elor Skylar Grote Elleni Johnson Joye Levendusky This bracket is also small and filled with experienced competitors, but the heavy, heavy favorite is 2024 Olympic gold medalist Amir Elor. Since Elor’s Olympic gold medal came at 68 kg, she didn't automatically advance to Final X at 72 kg. With Elor on the cusp of a six-year winning streak, any result without her advancing to Final X would be a monumental shock. In the field are Elor’s two most recent opponents at Final X - Joye Levendusky (2023) and Skylar Grote (2022). Both were soundly defeated 10-0 in two straight matches. Grote comes in fresh off a US Open finals appearance against former Beaver Dam RTC teammate Alex Glaude. Glaude used a score in the final :10 to down Grote and advance to Final X. I’d assume Grote gets the second seed. Either way, we’re probably looking at a semifinal matchup that involves Grote and Levendusky. That would put Kaylynn Albrecht and Elleni Johnson in the fourth and fifth seeds. The two met in the fifth-place match at the Open and Albrecht prevailed in an 11-9 shootout. Waiting in Final X: Alex Glaude Prediction: Amit Elor over Joey Levendusky 76 kg Entries Marlynne Deede Dymond Guilford Shenita Lawson Ashley Lekas Yelena Makoyed Naomi Simon Lilian Vergara In a 76 kg weight class without Adeline Gray, this has annually been one of the deepest and most exciting women’s weights to follow. Dymond Guilford is the only wrestler in this bracket who has made a Senior team already. She did that in 2022 and also picked up U23 world silver that same year. To make the 2022 team, Guilford got by frequent rival Yelena Makoyed. Makoyed was a 2024 U23 world champion and, since then, has won the Bill Farrell and the Zagreb Ranking Series Event. At the 2025 Open, Makoyed downed Guilford in the semifinals, but lost to Kylie Welker for the title. A pair of Iowa teammates are in the mix with 2024 national champion Marlynne Deede and Naomi Simon. Deede was fourth at the Open. The other two 2025 Open placers in this group are Shenita Lawson (6th) and Lilian Vergara (7th). Texas Wesleyan’s Ashley Lekas gets in after winning a national title in 2025. In the semifinals of that tournament, she teched Vergara. Waiting in Final X: Kylie Welker Prediction: Yelena Makoyed over Dymond Guilford

Hononegah

Cypress Springs

Ramsen

Chippewa

Marion Harding

South Western

Wyoming Valley West

Mechanicsburg

Grover Cleveland

Westview

Broad Run

Veterans Memorial

Har-Ber

St. Johnsbury

Scottsboro

One of the main themes of the 2025 offseason has been the transfer portal. Frankly, it was a huge talking point last year. It will be for the foreseeable future in college wrestling (and college athletics, in general). With old-school wrestling fans, mentioning the transfer portal tends to elicit uneasy feelings and a desire to return to the “old days,” when you could project a team’s lineup in April because you knew who they had coming into school, who they had graduating, and who was returning. Now, with the portal, a lineup could be remade in an offseason. Oklahoma State added three multi-time All-Americans in the 2024 offseason and went from tenth place at nationals to third in Philly. Rumors of six-figure deals have been commonplace and agreements/pressure to enter the transfer portal have been viewed as “the cost of doing business” in this era. When a friend of a particular program educates an athlete on what he/she might be able to earn after a transfer, it isn’t coming from the coaching staff so it may not technically be a violation. In general, the transfer portal can be a dirty business and not necessarily fun for the veteran fan. But today, I want to discuss the other side of the transfer portal. That other side, a more positive side, has been evident from the way Chattanooga has been conducting business these past few months. As the power programs are upgrading, combined with a pending roster limit (30), there has to be somebody who is squeezed out of a position. Sure, it will be the rare exception when a power program goes into the season with a glaring weakness in the lineup. Now, they can just throw money at a veteran transfer. So the way this ecosystem works, as wrestlers are recruited over or lose a starting spot to a transfer, they might feel the need to transfer themselves and are looking for a home. In many cases, these wrestlers have experienced the Big Ten (or other major programs) and the luster has either worn off or the idea of mat time is more important. That’s where a school like Chattanooga comes in. So far, in this transfer portal era, we’ve looked at the smaller programs and lamented the fact when a program recruits and develops a talent like a Michael Caliendo or Nasir Bailey, and they leave for a big payday. And that could happen at Chattanooga. One of their incoming recruits could shine right away, win matches at NCAA’s, and be vulnerable to the predators from the top ten. During this offseason, the Mocs did lose a pair of NCAA qualifiers in Blake Boarman and Sergio Desiante. These concerns will always be there for a smaller program; however, in this instance, they’ve added four recruits - three of which were top 100 recruits coming out of high school. Cooper Flynn (Minnesota - 125), Hunter Mason (Virginia Tech - 141) and Carter Neves (Ohio State - 285). Billy Meiszner of Kent State is the fourth transfer. Flynn is a two-time NCAA qualifier who won two matches at the 2025 tournament. In his two years as a starter, he made the ACC finals and finished seventh in the Big Ten. Mason has a combined record of 21-14 during his redshirt season and his freshman year in 2024-25. He hasn’t set the world on fire, but has some good wins - one of which came against Chattanooga’s 2024 national qualifier Isaiah Powe. Neves was an Ironman and Beast of the East champion - along with an appearance in the UWW U17 Trials finals in freestyle. He has yet to wrestle a collegiate match and has four years of eligibility remaining at heavyweight. Meiszner had a victory over 2025 SoCon champion Carson DesRosier (The Citadel) as one of his two wins over national qualifiers in 2024-25. Over the course of an offseason, Chattanooga remade 40% of their lineup, all of which should be able to contend for SoCon titles in 2026 and more. That’s huge for a program that has been trying to fight with Appalachian State and Campbell to regain control of the conference. Another sign of the times in sports and specifically college wrestling is “load management.” While Chattanooga will wrestle a full schedule with as many dates as Ohio State or Virginia Tech might, the competition is different. Would a veteran like Flynn be better, fresher, and ready to thrive in Cleveland after not wrestling as grueling of a schedule? Also, Flynn and Mason both went to high school in Tennessee. Maybe with a support system closer to home, each will improve their performance on the mat. The new-look Mocs will be an interesting team to follow in the 2025-26. Their offseason additions, along with recruits and returning team members, might make them the front-runner for the conference title. And perhaps some impressive individual accolades. So, as we lament the portal and all of the potentially negative aspects that come along with it, remember there are ways in which it can benefit more than just the normal NCAA team trophy contenders.

Lake Highland Prep

The Hill School

The University of Missouri announced today that one of the program’s all-time greats, Keegan O’Toole, will stay in Columbia as a part of the Tiger coaching staff. O’Toole finished his collegiate career in 2025 with a sparkling 108-5 career record, two NCAA titles, four conference championships, and five All-American honors. O’Toole joined his former club coach Ben Askren and J’den Cox as the only multi-time NCAA champions in Missouri wrestling history. He was deemed the #5 overall recruit in the Class of 2020 by MatScouts and immediately jumped into the Tiger lineup and took third in the Covid shortened 2021 campaign. A year later, O’Toole put the finishing touches on a perfect season by downing the returning national champion, Shane Griffith, in the NCAA finals. He would get his second title a year later after an 8-2 win over Iowa State’s David Carr. Carr had beaten O’Toole in their regular season dual meet and in the Big 12 finals. They would wrestle twice in 2023-24 with O’Toole winning in the conference final and Carr prevailing in the national finals. Because of the extra Covid eligibility, O’Toole goes down as the program’s only five-time All-American. In addition to his collegiate accolades, O’Toole has also starred internationally. He has won world titles at both the U20 and U23 age groups. He'll continue to pursue world team and Olympic berths while at the University of Missouri. O’Toole will join a veteran Mizzou coaching staff led by Brian Smith - one that includes mainstay assistant coaches Kendric Maple and Dom Bradley.

On Monday afternoon, we learned that 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder was one of 16 men arrested on Friday night in a prostitution sting. News of this incident has been floating around all weekend, but a report by Columbus, Ohio’s CBS affiliate WBNS confirmed the rumors. The report states that Snyder responded at approximately 8:15 pm to an ad posted by the Columbus Police Department in an undercover attempt to reduce prostitution. Shortly after, Snyder appeared at a local hotel and paid the undercover officer. He was arrested for engaging in prostitution by officers on scene and released from custody at the scene. Snyder has been summoned to appear in court on May 19th. The three-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist locked up a berth in Final X with his US Open win in late April. Final X would put him only two matches away from making his 11th straight world/Olympic team. It’s unclear if this arrest will impact his participation in Final X and perhaps the 2025 world team.

On May 7th, it marked the first anniversary of one of the most surprising and potentially transformative moves in recent college wrestling history. Of course, that was the day that Oklahoma State named David Taylor as their new head wrestling coach. As of only a few weeks prior, Taylor was competing for a spot on the Olympic Team and had no head coaching experience; however, he was one of the most popular and recognizable names in the sport. As you might have guessed, the first year under Taylor was very notable. On the mat, on the recruiting trail, in the freestyle world, and much more. We’ve documented some of the key moments of year one under Taylor in one article. May 7th, 2024: David Taylor Named Oklahoma State head coach After about a week of “he is or isn’t he” Taylor made it official in a late-night release that sent shockwaves through the wrestling community. May 9th, 2024: Taylor adds Jimmy Kennedy and Thomas Gilman to staff The addition of Taylor’s brother-in-law, Jimmy Kennedy, was an expected move; however, bringing in Thomas Gilman from the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club was a bit unexpected. May 10th, 2024: David Taylor’s introductory news conference We got to see Taylor in the orange and black for the first time and heard from him along with legendary Oklahoma State head coach John Smith and athletic director Chad Weiberg. May 17th, 2024: Taylor brings in Pearsall as Recruiting Coordinator Ex-Penn State teammate and longtime friend Bryan Pearsall was added after serving on the University of Pennsylvania’s staff from 2017 - first as an assistant coach and then as the Associate Head Coach. May 20th, 2024: Caldwell is retained as an assistant coach Keeping some continuity on staff, David Taylor keeps former rival Tyler Caldwell aboard. Caldwell was a four-time AA, twice for the Cowboys, and battled Taylor in the 2014 NCAA finals. May 28/29th, 2024: Transfer portal additions official Though they were announced before these dates, Dean Hamiti and Caleb Fish put pen to paper and made their transfers to Oklahoma State official. Both would go on to make the NCAA podium in 2025. June 6th, 2024: Routledge flips from Nebraska In a sign of things to come, Kody Routledge, a top prospect in the Class of 2025 re-opened his recruiting and gave a verbal to Taylor’s Cowboys. They would later flip three more high-level prospects from the Class of 2025 with Austin Johnson, Landon Robideau, and Sergio Vega. July 9th, 2024: Three-Time AA Cam Amine transfers in In a bit of a surprising move, Cam Amine leaves a Michigan program that was synonymous with his family to finish his career at OSU. August 8th, 2024: Air Force All-American Wyatt Hendrickson comes aboard We weren’t sure whether this would be allowed or not; however, Wyatt Hendrickson got a special waiver that allowed him to leave the Air Force Academy as a graduate transfer and use his final year of eligibility at Oklahoma State before starting his military service. Hendrickson ended up pulling one of the biggest NCAA shockers in recent memory (or ever) with his upset of two-time Hodge winner and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson. September 12th, 2024: Taylor to compete at World Team Trials This whole scenario that ended with Taylor as the Cowboys head coach started because he fell in the Olympic Trials finals. Taylor seemed to say he was done competing but didn’t fully close the door at his early press conferences. In the weeks leading up to the non-Olympic World Team Trials, whispers from the OSU room were that Taylor was training as if he’d compete at the Trials. This was confirmed on September 12th. September 15th, 2024: Taylor wins 92kg spot on the World Team Taylor cruised through the challenge tournament before sweeping Zahid Valencia in two straight bouts in the World Team Trials finals. October 31st, 2024: Taylor takes bronze at World Championships After a loss to the legendary Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Taylor won a pair of repechage matches to earn a spot in a bronze medal matchup. There he downed two-time world champion Kamran Ghasempour (Iran) to get the bronze. November 16th, 2024: Taylor earns first coaching victory In his dual coaching debut, Oklahoma State posted a 38-6 win over Utah Valley for Taylor to earn his first W. December 7th, 2024: Cowboys put on a show in Vegas In capturing the 2024 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational team title, Oklahoma State put all ten wrestlers on the podium, none lower than fifth place. That was good enough for a point total (192 points) that nearly challenged the CKLV tournament record - one established by Oklahoma State nearly 40 years ago. Seniors Dean Hamiti and Wyatt Hendrickson came away with titles. December 14th, 2024: Taylor’s Bedlam debut keeps streak intact With a 35-3 win over in-state rival Oklahoma, the Cowboys extended their winning streak over the Sooners to 20 duals! February 2nd/6th, 2025: OSU gets commitments from top 2026 recruits Jax Forrest and Dreshaun Ross - currently ranked #2 and #3 overall in the Class of 2026, both selected Oklahoma State over a bevy of potential suitors. They’ll set the foundation for a second-straight loaded recruiting class for the Cowboys under Taylor. February 23rd, 2025: Taylor’s team suffers first loss against Iowa After getting out to a 13-0 start, Oklahoma State fell 21-16 to rival Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Cowboys won two of the first three matches, but only two after that. March 9th, 2025: Cowboys win first Big 12 title since 2021 Taylor’s team won a Big 12 crown in his debut season and the 56th in program history. The finals were slightly bittersweet as Oklahoma State went 1-5 with Hendrickson the only champion. March 22nd, 2025: Hamiti and Hendrickson crowned NCAA champions as OSU finishes third Both Dean Hamiti and Wyatt Hendrickson upset two-time national champions to go out on top as champs in their final opportunity. The Cowboys put six on the podium, three in the finals, and tallied 102.5 points overall. Hendrickson’s win will become one of the indelible moments from the NCAA Championships going forward. March 31st, 2025: Hendrickson wins the Hodge Trophy In one of the tightest Hodge Trophy races ever, Hendrickson edged five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci for the award. 22 bonus point wins in 27 matches helped propel Hendrickson to the Hodge. He became the third Oklahoma State wrestler to win the award and the first since Alex Dieringer in 2016. April 26th, 2025: Three Cowboy RTC athletes win Senior US Open titles A revitalized Cowboy RTC saw Hendrickson, along with new additions Joey McKenna and Zahid Valencia, capture US Open titles in freestyle. Hamiti also made the finals. Incoming freshman, Ladarion Lockett, won the U20 freestyle tournament a day later.

Starmont