InterMat Staff

2025 Big 12 Championships Final Results Team Scores 1. Oklahoma State 153.5 2. Northern Iowa 149.5 3. South Dakota State 110 4. Iowa State 107.5 5. Northern Colorado 79.5 6. West Virginia 77.5 7. Oklahoma 72.5 8. Missouri 65.5 9. North Dakota State 58.5 10. Wyoming 58 11. Arizona State 43 12. Utah Valley 21.5 13. California Baptist 15 14. Air Force 11.5 Championship Finals 125 lbs - Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) dec Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) 5-2SV 133 lbs - Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado) dec Kyle Burwick (North Dakota State) 11-4 141 lbs - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) 2-2RTTB 149 lbs - Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) dec Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) 5-4 157 lbs - Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado) dec Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State) 7-4 165 lbs - Peyton Hall (West Virginia) dec Cam Steed (Missouri) 2-0 174 lbs - Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) dec Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) 7-4SV 184 lbs - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) dec Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 8-1 197 lbs - Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) dec Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) 4-1 285 lbs - Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma) dec Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) 8-5 Third Place 125 lbs - Richie Figueroa (Arizona State) dec Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma) 8-3 133 lbs - Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) dec Kade Moore (Missouri) 10-6 141 lbs - Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) dec Jacob Frost (Iowa State) 8-2 149 lbs - Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) dec Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) 9-2 157 lbs - Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) dec Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) 4-2 165 lbs - Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) dec Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) 1-0 174 lbs - MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) dec Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) 6-4 184 lbs - Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) maj Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) 197 lbs - Zach Glazier (South Dakota State) dec Ian Bush (West Virginia) 4-3 285 lbs - Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) dec Sam Mitchell (Wyoming) 8-3 Fifth Place 125 lbs - Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) maj Tristan Daugherty (North Dakota State) 9-1 133 lbs - Derrick Cardinal (South Dakota State) MedFFT Hunter Leake (California Baptist) 141 lbs - Julian Tagg (South Dakota State) MedFFT Jordan Titus (West Virginia) 149 lbs - Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) dec Avery Allen (South Dakota State) 5-2 157 lbs - Jared Hill (Wyoming) dec Cody Chittum (Iowa State) 4-3 165 lbs - Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) MedFFT Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) 174 lbs - Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) 9-4 184 lbs - DJ Parker (Oklahoma) MedFFT Evan Bockman (Iowa State) 197 lbs - Joey Novak (Wyoming) maj Brian Burburjia (Air Force) 9-0 285 lbs - Daniel Herrera (Iowa State) dec Juan Mora (Oklahoma) 5-3 Seventh Place 125 lbs - Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) fall Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) 6:58 133 lbs - Evan Frost (Iowa State) MedFFT Cleveland Belton (Oklahoma) 141 lbs - Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma) dec Cole Brooks (Wyoming) 17-13 149 lbs - Sam Hillegas (West Virginia) fall Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) 1:53 157 lbs - J Conway (Missouri) dec Caleb Dowling (West Virginia) 6-3 165 lbs - Jack Thomsen (Northern Iowa) dec Clayton Ulrey (Northern Colorado) 4-0 174 lbs - Devin Wasley (North Dakota State) dec Ayden Rix-McElhinney (Northern Colorado) 6-3 184 lbs - Aidan Brenot (North Dakota State) dec Colton Hawks (Missouri) 11-7 197 lbs - Nate Schon (Iowa State) dec Kael Bennis (Utah Valley) 9-4 285 lbs - Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) maj Andrew Blackburn-Forst (North Dakota State) 13-0 Automatic Qualifiers Arizona State: Richie Figueroa (125), Nicco Ruiz (165), Cohlton Schultz (285) California Baptist: Hunter Leake (133) Iowa State: Jacob Frost (141), Paniro Johnson (149), Cody Chittum (157), Aiden Riggins (165), MJ Gaitan (174), Evan Bockman (184) Missouri: Kade Moore (133), Cam Steed (165), Keegan O’Toole (174) North Dakota State: Tristan Daugherty (125), Kyle Burwick (133), Gavin Drexler (149), Aidan Brenot (184) Northern Colorado: Stevo Poulin (125), Dominic Serrano (133), Andrew Alirez (141), Vince Zerban (157) Northern Iowa: Trever Anderson (125), Julian Farber (133), Cael Happel (141), Colin Realbuto (149), Ryder Downey (157), Jack Thomsen (165), Jared Simma (174), Parker Keckeisen (184), Wyatt Voelker (197) Oklahoma: Antonio Lorenzo (125), Mosha Schwartz (141), Gaven Sax (174), DJ Parker (184) Oklahoma State: Troy Spratley (125), Tagen Jamison (141), Teague Travis (149), Caleb Fish (157), Cam Amine (165), Dean Hamiti (174), Dustin Plott (184), Luke Surber (197), Wyatt Hendrickson (285) South Dakota State: Derrick Cardinal (125), Julian Tagg (141), Cobe Siebrecht (157), Cade DeVos (174), Bennett Berge (184), Cole Grazier (197), Luke Rasmussen (285) Utah Valley: Terrell Barraclough (165) West Virginia: Jett Strickenberger (125), Jordan Titus (141), Peyton Hall (165) Wyoming: Jared Hill (157), Eddie Neitenbach (184), Sam Mitchell (285)

Finals Team Scores: 1. Virginia Tech 91.5 2. Pittsburgh 63.5 3. NC State 62.5 4. North Carolina 45.5 5. Stanford 45 6. Virginia 38.5 7. Duke 1.5 Championship Finals 125 lbs - Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) DEC Vincent Robinson (NC State), 4-1 133 lbs - Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) DEC Kai Orine (NC State), 5-2SV 141 lbs - Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) DEC Sam Latona (Virginia Tech), 8-6 149 lbs - Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) DEC Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina), 4-1SV 157 lbs - Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) DEC Ed Scott (NC State), 7-3 165 lbs - Hunter Garvin (Stanford) DEC Nick Hamilton (Virginia), 5-1 174 lbs - Matthew Singleton (NC State) DEC Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh), 5-2 184 lbs - Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) DEC Dylan Fishback (NC State), 4-1SV 197 lbs - Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) MAJ Nick Stemmet (Stanford), 10-2 285 lbs - Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) DEC Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech), 4-1SV Third Place Bouts 125 lbs - Keyveon Roller (Virginia) DEC Nick Babin (Pittsburgh), 7-5 133 lbs - Ethan Oakley (North Carolina) DEC Tyler Knox (Stanford), 3-1 141 lbs - Jason Miranda (Stanford) DEC Briar Priest (Pittsburgh), 6-3 149 lbs - Koy Buesgens (NC State) DEC Jack Gioffre (Virginia), 4-1SV 157 lbs - Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) DEC Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh), 4-1SV 165 lbs - Mac Church (Virginia Tech) DEC Derek Fields (NC State), 4-1SV 174 lbs - Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) DEC Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech), 4-2TB 184 lbs - Gavin Kane (North Carolina) DEC TJ Stewart (Virginia Tech), 4-1 197 lbs - Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) DEC Stephen Burrell Jr. (Virginia), 4-2 285 lbs - Nolan Neves (North Carolina) MAJ Peter Ming (Stanford), 16-5 Fifth Place Bouts 141 lbs - Jayden Scott (North Carolina) DEC Troy Hohman (NC State), 4-1 149 lbs - Jaden Abas (Stanford) DEC Finn Solomon (Pittsburgh), 8-6 165 lbs - Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) MAJ Charlie Darracott (North Carolina), 13-5 174 lbs - Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) FALL Rocco Contino (Virginia), 5:50 285 lbs - Connor Barket (Duke) MEDFFT Isaac Trumble (NC State) Automatic Qualifiers Duke: Connor Barket (285) NC State: Vincent Robinson (125), Kai Orine (133), Koy Buesgens (149), Ed Scott (157), Derek Fields (165), Matthew Singleton (174), Dylan Fishback (184) North Carolina: Ethan Oakley (133), Lachlan McNeil (149), Sonny Santiago (157), Josh Ogunsanya (174), Gavin Kane (184), Nolan Neves (285) Pittsburgh: Nick Babin (125), Briar Priest (141), Jared Keslar (165), Luca Augustine (174), Reece Heller (184), Mac Stout (197), Dayton Pitzer (285) Stanford: Jason Miranda (141), Hunter Garvin (165), Nick Stemmet (197), Peter Ming (285) Virginia: Keyveon Roller (125), Dylan Cedeno (141), Jack Gioffre (149), Nick Hamilton (165) Virginia Tech: Eddie Ventresca (125), Connor McGonagle (133), Sam Latona (141), Caleb Henson (149), Rafael Hipolito (157), Mac Church (165), Lennox Wolak (174), Andy Smith (197), Jimmy Mullen (285)

2025 Ivy League Championships Final Results Team Scores 1. Cornell 135.5 2. Penn 129.5 3. Columbia 114.5 4. Princeton 113 5. Brown 84.5 6. Harvard 62 Championship Finals 125 lbs - Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) dec Max Gallagher (Penn) 8-6 133 lbs - Ryan Miller (Penn) dec Tyler Ferrara (Cornell) 4-2 141 lbs - CJ Composto (Penn) dec Eligh Rivera (Princeton) 4-0 149 lbs - Cross Wasilewski (Penn) dec Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 5-1 157 lbs - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) tech Jude Swisher (Penn) 19-2 165 lbs - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec Cesar Alvan (Columbia) 8-6 174 lbs - Simon Ruiz (Cornell) maj Jack McGill (Columbia) 8-0 184 lbs - Chris Foca (Cornell) dec Max Hale (Penn) 8-5SV 197 lbs - Luke Stout (Princeton) tech Mikey Dellagatta (Cornell) 20-5 285 lbs - Ashton Davis (Cornell) dec Vincent Mueller (Columbia) 6-1 Third Place Bouts 125 lbs - Marcello Milani (Cornell) dec Sulayman Bah (Columbia) 5-2 133 lbs - Danny Jones (Princeton) maj Logan Brzozowski (Harvard) 11-3 141 lbs - Josh Saunders (Cornell) dec Lorenzo Frezza (Columbia) 8-4 149 lbs - Ty Whalen (Princeton) tech Kai Owen (Columbia) 16-1 157 lbs - Richard Fedalen (Columbia) maj Blake Saito (Brown) 10-1 165 lbs - Keegan Rothrock (Brown) fall Andy Trocyznski (Penn) 5:48 174 lbs - Nick Incontrera (Penn) maj Haden Bottiglieri (Harvard) 14-1 184 lbs - Nick Fine (Columbia) fall Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) 4:12 197 lbs - Joe Curtis (Columbia) dec Nate Taylor (Penn) 4-0 285 lbs - John Pardo (Penn) InjDef Alex Semenenko (Brown) Automatic Qualifiers Columbia: Lorenzo Frezza (141), Richard Fedalen (157), Cesar Alvan (165), Jack McGill (174), Nick Fine (184) Cornell: Marcello Milani (125), Tyler Ferrara (133), Josh Saunders (141), Ethan Fernandez (149), Meyer Shapiro (157), Julian Ramirez (165), Simon Ruiz (174), Chris Foca (184), Mikey Dellagatta (197), Ashton Davis (285) Penn: Max Gallagher (125), Ryan Miller (133), CJ Composto (141), Cross Wasilewski (149), Jude Swisher (157), Max Hale (184) Princeton: Marc-Anthony McGowan (125), Eligh Rivera (141), Ty Whalen (149), Kole Mulhauser (184), Luke Stout (197)

2025 Big Ten Championship Final Results Team Scores 1. Penn State 181.5 2. Nebraska 137 3. Iowa 112 4. Minnesota 108.5 5. Illinois 105.5 6. Ohio State 95.5 7. Michigan 71 8. Maryland 54 9. Rutgers 46 10. Purdue 44.5 11. Indiana 33 12. Northwestern 21.5 13. Wisconsin 19 14. Michigan State 11.5 Championship Finals 125 - Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) dec Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 4-3 133 - Lucas Byrd (Illinois) fall Drake Ayala (Iowa) 3:16 141 - Brock Hardy (Nebraska) fall Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) 1:59 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec Kannon Webster (Illinois) 1-0 157 - Tyler Kasak (Penn State) maj Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) 12-2 165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) dec Michael Caliendo (Iowa) 4-1 174 - Levi Haines (Penn State) maj Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) 12-1 184 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 8-5SV 197 - Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) dec Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) 4-2 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) dec Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 10-3 Third Place Matches 125 - Matt Ramos (Purdue) dec Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) 8-5 133 - Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) fall Braeden Davis (Penn State) 2:23 141 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) 4-2 149 - Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) maj Kyle Parco (Iowa) 13-0 157 - Joey Blaze (Purdue) dec Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 3-2TB 165 - Beau Mantanona (Michigan) dec Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 2-1 174 - Danny Braunagel (Illinois) dec Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) 4-1 184 - Edmond Ruth (Illinois) dec Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 5-2 197 - Zac Braunagel (Illinois) dec Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 4-1SV 285 - Ben Kueter (Iowa) dec Josh Heindselman (Michigan) 2-1 Fifth Place Matches 125 - Jacob Moran (Indiana) MedFFT Dean Peterson (Rutgers) 133 - Braxton Brown (Maryland) dec Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 9-6SV 141 - Sergio Lemley (Michigan) dec Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) 5-1 149 - Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) dec Andrew Clark (Rutgers) 4-2 157 - Tommy Askey (Minnesota) dec Ethen Miller (Maryland) 7-3 165 - Braeden Scoles (Illinois) MedFFT Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) 174 - Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) fall Branson John (Maryland) 1:59 184 - Gabe Arnold (Iowa) dec Silas Allred (Nebraska) 4-3 197 - Camden McDanel (Nebraska) MedFFT Josh Barr (Penn State) 285 - Nick Feldman (Ohio State) dec Luke Luffman (Illinois) 7-2 Seventh Place Matches 125 - Cooper Flynn (Minnesota) MedFFT Caleb Weiand (Michigan State) 133 - Angelo Rini (Indiana) MedFFT Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) 141 - Greyson Clark (Purdue) dec Henry Porter (Indiana) 7-1 149 - Kal Miller (Maryland) dec Dylan Gilcher (Michigan) 4-1SV 157 - Jacori Teemer (Iowa) dec Chase Saldate (Michigan) 8-3 165 - Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) MedFFT Christopher Minto (Nebraska) 174 - Clayton Whiting (Minnesota) fall Brody Baumann (Purdue) 6:52 184 - DJ Washington (Indiana) MedFFT Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) 197 - Evan Bates (Northwestern) MedFFT Seth Shumate (Ohio State) 285 - Seth Nevills (Maryland) dec Max Vanadia (Michigan State) 4-0 True Ninth Place 125 - Brendan McCrone (Ohio State) dec Joey Cruz (Iowa) 8-1 133 - Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) maj Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) 8-0 165 - Cody Goebel (Wisconsin) dec Anthony Clark (Rutgers) 4-1SV 197 - Gabe Sollars (Indiana) MedFFT Remy Cotton (Michigan State) 285 - Jacob Bullock (Indiana) dec Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) 5-2 NCAA Qualifiers: Illinois: Lucas Byrd (133), Kannon Webster (149), Braeden Scoles (165), Danny Branaugel (174), Edmond Ruth (184), Zac Braunagel (197), Luke Luffman (285) Indiana: Jacob Moran (125), Angelo Rini (133), DJ Washington (184), Gabe Sollars (197), Jacob Bullock (285) Iowa: Drake Ayala (133), Kyle Parco (149), Jacori Teemer (157), Michael Caliendo (165), Patrick Kennedy (174), Gabe Arnold (184), Stephen Buchanan (197), Ben Kueter (285) Maryland: Braxton Brown (133), Kal Miller (149), Ethen Miller (157), Branson John (174), Jaxon Smith (184), Seth Nevills (285) Michigan: Nolan Wertanen (133), Sergio Lemley (141), Dylan Gilcher (149), Chase Saldate (157), Beau Manatona (165), Jacob Cardenas (197), Josh Heindselman (285) Michigan State: Caleb Weiand (125), Remy Cotton (197), Max Vanadia (285) Minnesota: Cooper Flynn (125), Vance Vombaur (141), Tommy Askey (157), Andrew Sparks (165), Clayton Whiting (174), Max McEnelly (184), Isaiah Salazar (197), Gable Steveson (285) Nebraska: Caleb Smith (125), Jacob Van Dee (133), Brock Hardy (141), Ridge Lovett (149), Antrell Taylor (157), Christopher Minto (165), Lenny Pinto (174), Silas Allred (184), Camden McDanel (197) Northwestern: Maxx Mayfield (165), Evan Bates (197) Ohio State: Brendan McCrone (125), Nic Bouzakis (133), Jesse Mendez (141), Dylan D’Emilio (149), Brandon Cannon (157), Paddy Gallagher (165), Carson Kharchla (174), Seth Shumate (197), Nick Feldman (285) Penn State: Luke Lilledahl (125), Braeden Davis (133), Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149), Tyler Kasak (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Carter Starocci (184), Josh Barr (197), Greg Kerkvliet (285) Purdue: Matt Ramos (125), Greyson Clark (141), Joey Blaze (157), Brody Baumann (174), Hayden Filipovich (285) Rutgers: Dean Peterson (125), Dylan Shawver (133), Joey Olivieri (141), Andrew Clark (149), Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) Wisconsin: Nicolar Rivera (125), Zan Fugitt (133), Cody Goebel (165)

It has been a busy day in Durham and the ACC Championships have been wild as usual. The team race has separated a bit but isn’t out of reach with Virginia Tech holding a 18 point lead over NC State. We will start the matches at 157 and end the night with the returning NCAA Champ Caleb Henson facing two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil. Team Scores: Virginia Tech: 75.5 NC State: 57.5 Pittsburgh: 53.5 Stanford: 40 North Carolina: 34.5 Virginia: 33.5 Duke: 1.5 157 Finalists:Rafael Hipolito, Virginia Tech v Ed Scott, North Carolina State 3rd/4th:Sonny Santiago, North Carolina v Dylan Evans, Pittsburgh Hipolito won their dual matchup in an uncommonly low scoring bout for both wrestlers, 3-2. Scott and Hipolito both have dynamic offenses and this could be an incredible way to kick off the finals. 165 Finalists:Nick Hamilton, Virginia v Hunter Garvin, Stanford 3rd/4th:Derek Fields, North Carolina State v Mac Church, Virginia Tech The final will feature the reigning ACC Champion in Nick Hamilton against All-American Hunter Garvin who is looking for the first ACC title for Stanford. They are both very technically sound wrestlers and this should be a tight bout. 174 Finalists: Matty Singleton, North Carolina State v Luca Augustine, Pittsburgh 3rd/4th: Lennox Wolak, Virginia Tech v Josh Ogunsanya, North Carolina Not only do we have one surprise finalist here, we have two! Matty Singleton entered as the 4 seed, taking out returning All-American Lennox Wolak and 1-seed Josh Ogunsanya to reach his first ACC finals. Luca Augustine came from the 3 seed and took out 2 seed Lorenzo Norman for his first finals appearance. 184 Finalists: Reece Heller, Pittsburgh v Dylan Fishback, North Carolina State 3rd/4th: Gavin Kane, North Carolina v TJ Stewart, Virginia Tech Heller won a close decision in the dual, but Fishback has been wrestling his best the past few weeks. This should be a good one. 197 Finalists: Mac Stout, Pittsburgh v Nick Stemmet, Stanford 3rd/4th: Andy Smith, Virginia Tech v Stephen Burrell, Jr. Virginia Mac Stout has been on an absolute tear since mid-November and is looking to continue that momentum all the way to an ACC title. Stemmet has looked tough all day and this match should be an absolute scrap. 285 Finalists: Jimmy Mullen, Virginia Tech v Dayton Pitzer, Pittsburgh 3rd/4th: Peter Ming, Stanford v Nolan Neves, North Carolina Mullen has looked fantastic all ACC season, his lone loss was to Isaac Trumble. Most people expected a rematch there but Dayton Pitzer was able to upset Trumble in the semis to get his shot at a title. Not to take anything away from PItzer, he has looked solid all day, but Trumble injury defaulted out of the tournament following that match. 125 Finalists: Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech v Vince Robinson, North Carolina State 3rd/4th: Nick Babin, Pittsburgh v Keyveon Roller, Virginia This should be another gem of a match. Round one was won on a late takedown from Ventresca and both of them have looked fantastic today. Both of them are very quick and can attack from anywhere. This has the makings of an NCAA medal match. 133 Finalists: Conor McGonagle, Virginia Tech v Kai Orine, North Carolina State 3rd/4th: Tyler Knox, Stanford v Ethan Oakley, North Carolina (3 Allocations) Kai Orine went from a 4 seed and not earning an allocation to his 3rd straight ACC final. McGonagle was the two seed and battled through a couple tight bouts to make his first ACC title bout. McGonagle took a decision win in the dual a couple weeks ago, but it was a battle, and I expect the same tonight. 141 Finalists: Sam Latona, Virginia Tech v Dylan Cedeno, Virginia 3rd/4th: Briar Priest, Pittsburgh v Jason Miranda, Stanford Latona has showcased his defense all day but will need to open up his offense to take round two against Dylan Cedeno. Latona is making his fourth ACC final appearance and has one ACC title. Cedeno only has one loss on the year--to Latona--and is looking to avenge it for his first ACC title. 149 Finalists: Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech v Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina 3rd/4th: Koy Buesgens, North Carolina State v Jack Gioffre, Virginia They made the right choice putting this match last. These two have been on a collision course for this match all season. We haven’t seen this match this year, Henson was out with an injury during the opening week of ACC competition when they squared off. Both are two-time All-Americans, Henson at 149 and McNeil at 141. Get the popcorn ready for this one.

ACC Semifinals 125 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech vs Nick Babin, Pittsburgh Spencer Moore, North Carolina vs Vince Robinson, North Carolina State 133 Ethan Oakley, North Carolina vs Kai Orine, North Carolina State Connor McGonagle, Virginia Tech vs Tyler Knox, Stanford 141 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech vs Jayden Scott, North Carolina Briar Priest, Pittsburgh vs Dylan Cedeno, Virginia 149 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech vs Jack Gioffre, Virginia Jaden Abas, Stanford vs Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina 157 Rafael Hipolito, Virginia Tech vs Grigor Cholakyan, Stanford Michael Gioffre, Virginia vs Ed Scott, North Carolina State 165 Hunter Garvin, Stanford vs Mac Church, Virginia Tech Derek Fields, North Carolina State vs Nick Hamilton, Virginia 174 Josh Ogunsanya, North Carolina vs Matty Singleton, North Carolina State Lorenzo Norman, Stanford vs Luca Augustine, Pittsburgh 184 Reece Heller, Pittsburgh vs TJ Stewart, Virginia Tech Gavin Kane, North Carolina vs Dylan Fishback, North Carolina State 197 Mac Stout, Pittsburgh vs Cade Luatt, North Carolina Andy Smith, Virginia Tech vs Nick Stemmet, Stanford 285 Isaac Trumble, North Carolina State vs Dayton Pitzer, Pittsburgh Connor Barket, Duke vs Jimmy Mullen, Virginia Tech Semifinalists by School Duke 1 North Carolina 7 North Carolina State 7 Pittsburgh 6 Stanford 6 Virginia 4 Virginia Tech 9

125 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) maj Matt Ramos (Purdue) 12-4 Caleb Smith (Nebraska) dec Dean Peterson (Rutgers) 3-1SV 133 Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 8-2 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) dec Braxton Brown (Maryland) 141 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) dec Beau Bartlett (Penn State) 4-1 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) dec Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) 9-8 149 Kannon Webster (Illinois) dec Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) 4-2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) maj Kyle Parco (Iowa) 14-2 157 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) dec Tommy Askey (Minnesota) 10-3 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) fall Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 1:18 165 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech Beau Mantanona (Michigan) 25-8 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) tech Braeden Scoles (Illinois) 22-7 174 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 10-3 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) dec Danny Braunagel (Illinois) 9-8 184 Carter Starocci (Penn State) maj Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 12-2 Max McEnelly (MInnesota) maj Edmond Ruth (Illinois) 11-3 197 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) dec Zac Braunagel (Illinois) 4-0 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) dec Josh Barr (Penn State) 4-1SV 285 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) maj Nick Feldman (Ohio State) 15-4 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) maj Josh Heindselman (Michigan) 9-1 Finals Matchups 125 - Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 133 - Drake Ayala (Iowa) vs. Lucas Byrd (Illinois) 141 - Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) vs. Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 149 - Kannon Webster (Illinois) vs. Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) 157 - Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) vs. Tyler Kasak (Penn State) 165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. Michael Caliendo (Iowa) 174 - Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) 184 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 197 - Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) vs. Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) Consi Semi’s Matchups 125 Matt Ramos (Purdue) vs. Jacob Moran (Indiana) Dean Peterson (Rutgers) vs. Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) 133 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) vs. Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) Braxton Brown (Maryland) vs. Braeden Davis (Penn State) 141 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. Sergio Lemley (Michigan) 149 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. Andrew Clark (Rutgers) Kyle Parco (Iowa) vs. Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) 157 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) vs. Joey Blaze (Purdue) Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) vs. Ethen Miller (Maryland) 165 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) vs. Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) Braeden Scoles (Illinois) vs. Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 174 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) vs. Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) Danny Braunagel (Illinois) vs. Branson John (Maryland) 184 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) vs. Silas Allred (Nebraska) Edmond Ruth (Illinois) vs. Gabe Arnold (Iowa) 197 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) vs. Camden McDanel (Nebraska) Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 285 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) vs. Ben Kueter (Iowa) Josh Heindselman (Michigan) vs. Luke Luffman (Illinois)

The energy in this arena is something very special. I typically do well with using my extensive vocabulary to express what an environment feels like, but it’s very hard to do that here. There is something very special about being in the moment of truth. Every one of these athletes and coaches have spent all season preparing to execute today, in hopes of then executing two weeks from now. It’s tense but exciting. Nervous but full of anxious adrenaline. Competing is a privilege and environments like this really remind you of that. Welsh-Ryan Arena is pretty awesome. It’s compact, but that means that there isn’t a bad seat in the house. It also means that the fan bases are all right next to one another. Hawkeyes and Buckeyes overlapping ready to yell “STALLING” at a moment's notice. As the action begins, we begin to see upsets abound. Thankfully this is the B1G, and there are plenty of allocations and chances to rebound, but those chances involve going through one hammer after another. This is always a great time of year, the time of year when new wrestling shoes are on display. New colors, styles, and structures, all designed to raise the ceiling of their athlete. The feeling on the floor was pretty universal. We all watched the regular season, and certainly it has its value, but the general consensus is that this is when the season truly begins. You know who I like watching? Vance Vombaur of Minnesota. He’s a hammer, but not in your traditional sense. He reminds me of Parker Filius of Purdue, but instead of beating your head in like Parker would do, Vance is a whirling dervish of action and violence. He walks with the confidence of someone who knows a secret about you but won’t tell you what it is. Sergio Lemley of Michigan just got a win over Dario Lemus of Maryland. That match was a tech fall last year, this year both wins by Lemley were close decisions. The margins here are razor-thin. As a 39-year-old man, the scrambles and twisted knees and bridged necks make me remember that I didn’t take my turmeric this morning. I’m sore just watching this. I had the chance to introduce myself this morning to Tyler Lillard of Indiana. The Hoosier recently had a B1G spotlight on some of the hardships he’s endured while still competing in the toughest sport in the toughest conference in the toughest division in the world. I recommend the spotlight highly, and Tyler couldn’t have been more gracious. The coaches on the floor are a who’s who of legends. Brands, Sanderson, Jackson, Jaggers, O’Connor. You could fill a warehouse with the hardware that these guys have accumulated throughout their careers. Meanwhile, it’s Miller Time on Mat 1 as Kal Miller of Maryland battles with Dylan Gilcher of Michigan. Back-to-back Wolverine and Terrapin battles. If you were wondering, the difference between a turtle and a terrapin is that terrapins are largely freshwater turtles. All terrapins are turtles, but not all turtles are terrapins. Kal Miller just beat Gilcher. Wolverines don’t do quite as well in fresh water I guess. I’m going to miss watching Ridge Lovett. He’s wearing some sweet Combat Speeds, which probably helped him with that smooth duck under a moment ago. I looked away and it’s a tech fall for Lovett. Note to self, don’t look away from Ridge Lovett. I can’t believe I missed Ridge Lovett while reminding myself that I’m going to miss watching him. I blame myself. At least I will have several more years of watching Mantanona’s wrestle. Those Wolverines are electric. My favorite show when I was a kid was Inspector Gadget. I have the same feeling of excitement getting ready to watch them wrestle as I did waiting for 6pm to watch IG. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know it’s going to be good. Tommy Askey of Minnesota has very broad shoulders. You could build a small house on his back. I appreciate the Brands brothers having slightly different haircuts. It’s very helpful in telling them apart. Essential really. However, you can also tell them apart by their body language while coaching. Terry is a bit more active and animated in the corner. At the moment he’s coaching Jacori Teemer who is in a closer match than I would have guessed in the first round. Currently down 1-0 in the second. Well, not anymore. Three!!! Teemer! Threemer? Just workshopping here. Now up 6-2 at the end of the second. Things escalated quickly. Trevor Chumbley of the hosting Northwestern Wildcats getting his first match underway. I had the chance to speak with him at the MSU Open this year, and he talked about how cool it is to be in both the best wrestling conference in the world and also to be at one of the best institutions in the world. I like Trevor. I hope he gets on the podium this year. He has two degrees from Northwestern. It took me five and a half years to get one degree from Central Michigan. We all have our strengths I guess. As I typed that Beau Mantanona got a pin in 30 seconds. Electric. Branson John is a freshman for Maryland who has had a solid season in his first year in college wrestling. He’s a name I believe you’re going to get familiar with over the years if you’re not already. He started his match with a takedown against the five seed, Clayton Whiting of Minnesota. As I look down I see Sammy Sasso giving an interview to the B1G Network. What an awesome ambassador for the sport. Sometimes things happen in life that flat-out suck, and the events that ultimately lead to the end of his career certainly fall under that category. He appears to have handled it with grace and strength that I don’t believe most people have. Sammy Sasso is built different. Brody Baumann, 174 for Purdue, is taking the mat following Chumbley’s win. Brody was my breakout pick for the Boilermakers this season, and he has helped back up my assertion as he begins the match with a quick takedown. Meanwhile, you have Braeden Scoles - a 4x Wisconsin State Champion, currently wrestling for Illinois. His opponent is 4x Michigan state champion, Stoney Buell of Purdue. Dear lord, these kids are so good. Branson John just won. If you don’t know, now you know. Baumann is up 6-1. I’m so smart. I should have majored in wrestling predictions, but that major wasn’t offered at CMU. Derek Gilcher is a fun story. The Detroit Catholic Central product, competing for the Hoosiers, is up at 174 this season after a medical redshirt last year. He’s 9-2 on the season, having spent some time battling for the starting spot at 165, has now found his spot for the team up a weight class. He’s battling with Danny Braunagel. The Braunagels remind me of soccer goons who use wrestling as a means to prepare to fight people at soccer matches. Sorry, futbol. Danny looks prepared for the next futbol match, as he just pinned Gilcher. The call is under review, which I can only assume is a reflection of the clock and time possibly being out. The pin stands, and now Danny can go prepare for his next match with a pint of Guinness (probably not what he’s doing, but I like to think that he is). We are in the 10th minute of Tyler Lillard versus Anthony White of Rutgers. The rare double ride out in double overtime has them back on their feet, which once again resulted in no points. It’s a good thing that repechage isn’t a thing in college wrestling, because a marathon match like this will be tough to perform at peak levels in their next match. Although these guys are warriors and I’m simply not at that level, so maybe they’ll have a Gatorade and a sandwich and be just fine. White wins the match in the second set of rideouts. What a show. That match alone was worth the price of admission. Orlando Cruz for Purdue is wrestling Gabe Arnold of Iowa. This reminds me that James Rowley got hurt earlier this season and is out for the year, and that makes me sad. I like James Rowley and think he’ll be able to bounce back next season and be a real factor. Spoiler alert, I may pick Rowley as my breakout guy for next season. You heard it here first. I want Arnold to have a great year and to finish strong. He just teched Cruz, so that’s a good start. He’ll have to get through Jaxon Smith next and if so we’ll finally get the much-anticipated Starocci v Arnold match! Assuming of course that Starocci wins his first match. Probably a safe assumption. Meanwhile, we’ve got Gabe’s teammate Patrick Kennedy competing at 174 for the Hawkeyes. That’s notable because it is not Nelson Brands, the son of coach Terry Brands. No preferential treatment going on in Iowa City. Silas Allred, Tom Seleck, Sam Elliot, Hulk Hogan. That’s the Mount Rushmore of mustaches. Silas and his mustache just pinned Dylan Russo of Wisconsin. The Cornhuskers are looking good this morning. Edmond Ruth of Illinois begins today’s tournament against Jon Halvorsen of Northwestern. Edmond is a great follow on Instagram. Here comes Zac Braunagel at 197 for the Fighting Illini. I like it when a name matches a person. It’s essential that Braun be part of their name. As I write that, he hits a very smooth post double followed by a tilt. They just announced Jaxon Smith as the winner on mat 3 before the match was over. Although it was premature, it’s probably a good guess. Ruth with an OT win. That’s not premature, simply reporting results. Oh, man. Jacob Cardenas had cornrows earlier this week and I’m sad to report that they have been taken out. I thought those were a good sign of things to come. By the looks of his wrestling, it looks like the cornrows have done their job, as he collects a takedown followed by some back points. Jacob’s tech fall in the first is making me think that maybe hair doesn’t matter as much as I thought it did, which I appreciate as a bald man. Tom Ryan is walking around on the floor, and I realize that his hair color is almost the exact gray of the Ohio State colors. How serendipitous. Minnesota has some great singlet options. They started today wearing the gray with the skyline on the back and the maroon trim. Their black ones are awesome, as are their classic maroon with the gold trim. We’re getting to Heavyweights, along with the first Matt Ramos sighting. Matt Ramos is the man. I got to meet him this year, and was very impressed with his character and charisma. I want all good things to happen to him. But Ramos doesn’t wait for things to happen to him. He makes things happen as he hits the fireman’s carry early on. I don’t believe he’s been taken down this season. Winning matches is much easier when you don’t get taken down. I should remind the kids that I coach of that fact. Josh Heindselman of Michigan is about to wrestle in his first and last B1G championships. He’s been a really good addition to the Michigan lineup and has been very impactful for them. I didn’t see as much of him when he was with the Sooners, but I am super impressed with him, and by all accounts, he is a great guy. Thought you should know that. I like it when wrestlers are also good people. Oh man. I shouldn’t have said anything. Matt Ramos just got taken down. This is my fault. The score is tied 4-4 in the third with Ramos on top. He’s riding well and has just accumulated a minute of riding time, but gave up the escape to essentially tie it up. Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin is wrestling with the ferocity of a badger, which is fitting. Oh my gosh, Ramos comes out on top in a scramble and gets the fall in overtime! Wake-up calls are helpful, and I hope that gets Ramos back on the horse. Props to Rivera. I was speaking with Jim Gibbons before the tournament (humble brag) and we were talking about how there weren’t many upsets that we were expecting in the first round. That one was almost as big of an upset as we could have gotten. We’re into the next round of the tournament, and rather than make this piece 3,000 words (it’s 2155 words), I’m going to end this stream of consciousness here. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Stay cool. Rock on.

2025 MAC Championship Final Results Final Team Scores Lock Haven 121.5 Central Michigan 113 Edinboro 97.5 George Mason 94.0 Rider 92.5 Ohio 62 Northern Illinois 49.5 SIU Edwardsville 46.5 Buffalo 39 Cleveland State 38.5 Kent State 29.5 Clarion 20.5 Bloomsburg 3 Championship Finals 125 - Blake West (Northern Illinois) maj. Travis Clason (Clarion) 14-2 133 - Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) dec. Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) 5-1 141 - Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) tech. Andrew Austin (Central Michigan) 23-3, 7:00 149 - Sammy Alvarez (Rider) maj. Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) 13-4 157 - DJ McGee (George Mason) dec. Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) 8-1, SV 165 - Enrique Munguia (Rider) dec. Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) 6-0 174 - Garrett Thompson (Ohio) maj. Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) 14-0 184 - Isaac Dean (Rider) dec. Jared McGill (Edinboro) 4-1, SV 197 - Brock Zurawski (Rider) dec. Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) 7-4 HWT - Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) dec. Jordan Greer (Ohio) 8-3 Third Place Bouts 125 - Drew Davis (SIU Edwardsville) dec. Ben Monn (George Mason) 2-1 133 - Colton Camacho (Edinboro) fall Markel Baker (Northern Illinois) 2:17 141 - Danny Martinez (SIU Edwardsville) maj. Anthony Ferraro (Edinboro) 11-0 149 - Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) dec. Ryan Michaels (Edinboro) 5-4 157 - Landen Johnson (Northern Illinois) dec. Ryan Burgos (Edinboro) 12-6 165 - Caden Dobbins (Lock Haven) def. Hunter Shaut (Buffalo) 6-3, SV 174 - Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) dec. Michael Wilson (Rider) 10-4 184 - Malachi DuVall (George Mason) fall Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) 4:12 197 - Luke Cochran (Central Michigan) dec. Blake Schaffer (Kent State) 5-3 HWT - Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) dec. James Blackman (George Mason) 7-1 True Second Place Matches 165 - Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) dec. Caden Dobbins (Lock Haven) 2-0 NCAA Qualifiers Central Michigan: Sean Spidle (133), Mason Shrader (149), Johnny Lovett (157), Chandler Amaker (165), Alex Cramer (174) Cleveland State: Daniel Bucknavich (HWT) Edinboro: Colton Camacho (133), Jared McGill (184) George Mason: Kaden Cassidy (149), DJ McGee (157), Malachi DuVall (184) Lock Haven: Anthony Noto (133), Wyatt Henson (141), Avery Bassett (174), Gavin Hoffman (HWT) Northern Illinois: Blake West (125), Landen Johnson (157) Ohio: Garrett Thompson (174), Jordan Greer (HWT) Rider: Sammy Alvarez (149), Enrique Munguia (165), Isaac Dean (184), Brock Zurawski (197)

2025 SoCon Championships Final Results Team Scores 1. Appalachian State 79.5 2. The Citadel 73.5 3. Campbell 71.5 4. Chattanooga 66 5. Gardner-Webb 50 6. Bellarmine 45.5 7. VMI 10.5 8. Davidson 6 9. Presbyterian 5 Championship Finals 125 - Gylon Sims (The Citadel) dec Tyson Lane (Gardner-Webb) 7-6 133 - TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) dec Blake Boarman (Chattanooga) 5-4 141 - Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) dec Shannon Hanna (Campbell) 2-2RTTB 149 - Carson DesRosier (The Citadel) dec Kaden Keiser (Appalachian State) 4-1SV 157 - Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) dec Chris Earnest (Campbell) 4-2 165 - Thomas Snipes (The Citadel) dec Will Miller (Appalachian State) 4-1 174 - Sergio DeSiante (Chattanooga) dec Lucas Uliano (Appalachian State) 4-2 184 - Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) dec Kamdyn Munro (Chattanooga) 4-3 197 - Levi Hopkins (Campbell) dec Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) 8-5SV 285 - Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State) dec Jonathan Chesser (The Citadel) 6-5 Third Place Bouts 125 - Anthony Molton (Campbell) dec Jack Parker (Bellarmine) 16-15 133 - Chad Bellis (Appalachian State) maj George Rosas (The Citadel) 5-0 141 - AJ Rallo (Bellarmine) maj Eli Knight (Chattanooga) 12-3 149 - Wynton Denkins (Campbell) FFT Joseph Giordano (Gardner-Webb) 157 - Jeremiah Price (Appalachian State) maj Drew Pepin (Gardner-Webb) 17-4 165 - Dom Baker (Campbell) dec Jackson Hurst (Chattanooga) 8-5SV 174 - Riley Augustine (Campbell) dec Ben Haubert (The Citadel) 11-8 184 - Logan Eller (Appalachian State) MedFFT Braxton Lewis (VMI) 197 - Carson Floyd (Appalachian State) maj Andrew Liber (Bellarmine) 13-3 285 - Daulton Mayer (Bellarmine) dec Josh Evans (VMI) 4-0 True Second Place Matches 133 - Blake Boarman (Chattanooga) dec Chad Bellis (Appalachian State) 4-1SV 141 - Shannon Hanna (Campbell) dec AJ Rallo (Bellarmine) 3-2 NCAA Qualifiers Appalachian State: Stephan Monchery (285) Bellarmine: Devan Hendricks (184) Campbell: Shannon Hanna (141), Levi Hopkins (197) Chattanooga: Blake Boarman (133), Noah Castillo (157), Sergio Desiante (174) Gardner Webb: TK Davis (133), Todd Carter (141) The Citadel: Gylon Sims (125), Carson DesRosier (149), Thomas Snipes (165), Patrick Brophy (197)

The ACC Championships kick off Sunday morning in Durham, with Duke serving as the host for the first time since the 1990’s. With three teams sharing the ACC dual title, we know there will be a tightly-contested team race. NC State has held the title for the past six years and is looking to add another trophy to the case. Virginia Tech will attempt to knock them off again, as they did in dual two weeks ago to earn their share of the dual title. North Carolina was the third team to earn a share of the dual title and they will look to their senior leaders to make a push toward an ACC title. The depth of the ACC will be on display with 38 automatic qualifying bids up for grabs; five of the seven teams have a top-seeded wrestler in the brackets and every team has multiple wrestlers in contention for those slots. I expect a very close team race and momentum could play a huge role, as will every upset along the way. The tournament will be broadcast from the opening whistle on ESPN/ACCNetwork with every match shown. 125 4 Qualifiers Even though we are missing starters at this weight from Stanford and Duke, this may be one of the most competitive weights in the tournament. There are three guys ranked in the top 10 in Eddie Ventresca, Vince Robinson, and Spencer Moore who had round-robin wins over each other in duals. Ventresca over Robinson, Robinson over Moore, Moore over Ventresca. But the four and five seeds here could make some noise. This bracket will shape up oddly with only 5 wrestlers; the opening round match will feature Keyveon Roller from UVA and Nick Babin from Pitt. The winner here will get Ventresca in the semis, with Moore and Robinson meeting on the bottom side. Robinson has been dynamic throughout the season while Moore does a great job slowing matches down and being more methodical, it will be an interesting clash of styles. I would expect a rematch of the final dual with Robinson and Ventresca in the finals, but I’ve long said that Spencer Moore is sneaky good - could we see him pull off a huge upset in the semis? The Tar Heels have an outside shot at the ACC title and Moore getting to the finals could be a catalyst in making that happen. 133 3 Qualifiers This weight may have the most top-end talent and guys who you could make an argument that will win the ACC title. Ethan Oakley has had a quietly solid season and went through the ACC unscathed - he had a SV win over Orine and a decision win over Knox, he did not wrestle McGonagle in the dual as he was out with an injury. McGonagle has also had a quietly impressive season, albeit shortened by injuries. He is 12-1 on the year with his only loss to Tyler Wells of Minnesota early in the season. His wins over Orine and Knox are his best of the year. Tyler Knox put together a very impressive freshman season at 22-4, making his way into the top-10 in the rankings before dropping two in conference matches. He has wins over Drake Ayala, Zeth Romney, and Jacob Van Dee out of conference to bolster his resume. Orine has been the odd man out, not earning an allocation this year and having his worst record in the conference throughout his time in Raleigh. Orine started the year at 141 and dropped to 133 mid-year. He was 8-2 at 141 and is 3-3 at 133. If it goes chalk we will have Oakley and Orine on the top side and Knox and McGonagle in the bottom semi; both of these could easily go either direction. I’m very interested in the first-round match with Orine and Gable Porter; Orine is making a big cut to 133 and his match will be one of the first of the tournament against a dangerous Porter. 141 4 Qualifiers After two very potentially chaotic weights, I don’t see as much uncertainty at 141. Sam Latona is the top seed, working his way into the top-10 of the national rankings after another solid season. Dylan Cedeno has been fantastic for Virginia, he came back midseason after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and has been nearly unbeatable. He is 11-1 on the year and won the Southern Scuffle. His only loss is the dual to Latona. Jason Miranda had a solid back half of the season and looked good in ACC duals to earn the 3 seed. Troy Hohman bumped up a weight for the team and earned the spot after Orine dropped to 133 and is 1-1 with a win over Miranda and a loss to Latona at 141. I could see Jayden Scott getting a first-round upset to make a semifinal appearance, he will face Hohman for the spot. 149 4 Qualifiers This weight features the returning NCAA Champion Caleb Henson and fellow two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil who has made the transition to the higher weight class quite nicely. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see these two square off in the dual as Henson was out with an injury, but I think that is the final we are all expecting to see Sunday night. There is no shortage of talent at this weight and I think there are six wrestlers who can make a case for those four allocations. Jaden Abas is a former All-American and has had a strong season, Koy Buesgens has had a good season and has been very consistent for the Wolfpack. The wildcard here is Jack Gioffre who has been in and out of the rankings this year, mostly because of missing matches due to illness - this kept his match count too low to earn an RPI and likely an allocation. The opening-round matches have very real chances to be upsets; Gioffre will face Buesgens and Finn Solomon, who has also had a solid year, will face Abas. 157 3 Qualifiers I have been talking about the chaos factor at this weight all year. This weight only got 3 allocations, with two wrestlers who were just outside the cutline; but there are more wildcards available at this weight nationally than any other. The top two at 157 are Rafael Hipolito and Ed Scott, who are both wide-open and fun to watch. Hipolito won in a tight battle in the dual but doesn’t have the postseason experience that the former All-American Ed Scott does. The opening-round matches here could be crazy. Sonny Santiago is the 4 seed and will face Grigor Cholakyan to open the day; Santiago is the more seasoned and battle-tested wrestler, but Cholakyan seems to thrive in creating chaos. Dylan Evans earned the three seed and an allocation-after putting in a strong performance for the Panthers throughout the year; he is 19-5 overall and 5-1 in the ACC including a SV win over Hipolito. Evans will face Michael Gioffre who started the year 6-2 before an injury ended his Southern Scuffle, he then missed extended time with an illness and was able to return for the final two ACC duals where he took losses to Evans and Ed Scott. 165 5 Qualifiers This weight features the most ranked wrestlers out of any weight in the ACC; in the final Intermat rankings 6 of the 7 wrestlers are ranked. Hunter Garvin had a slow start to the year but has looked great in the back half of the season, including going undefeated in ACC competition. Nick Hamilton is the reigning ACC champ and has a limited season due to injury; he is 9-2 overall and his only loss in conference is to Garvin. It will be interesting to see how the first-round matchups play out as they could have a big impact on team scoring. Aidan Wallace had a big run midseason, including a trip to the Scuffle finals, but struggled in ACC competition; he will face Derek Fields who has had a solid season, including a 3-2 record in the ACC - but he didn’t face Hamilton in their dual. The top half will see Mac Church square off with Jared Keslar. Church has had a very up-and-down season, ending a five-match skid at the end of the year with a TB win over Fields in the dual. Keslar is .500 on the year but has some good wins and can never be counted out of a match. 174 4 Qualifiers If anyone had returning All-American Lennox Wolak entering this tournament as the fifth seed, please raise your hand. This is the one weight I really expected an additional allocation to come from and it may result with a good wrestler staying at home and not getting a wildcard. Josh Ogunsanya earned the top seed on the strength of a win over Lorenzo Norman in the final dual; he is 11-4 on the year with his lone ACC loss to Luca Augustine. Norman has had an impressive freshman year. He is currently ranked 5th nationally and is 18-2 on the year with his other loss to Dean Hamiti. Norman was out for a few weeks from injury and the UNC dual was his first match back. Luca Augustine had a solid year and has faced some of the toughest competition out of everyone in the weight. Augustine is 15-7 overall and 4-2 in the ACC with losses to Norman and Wolak. Matty Singleton had a good year, finishing 14-7 with quality wins over Wolak, Simon Ruiz, and Jackson Turley, and all of his losses being to ranked opponents. The opening round matches will be huge for both qualifying and for the team race. Augustine will face Rocco Contino from UVA who had an injury-shortened year but has a high-ceiling and is very dangerous. The other big first-round match is a Singleton and Wolak rematch which will have huge team implications. 184 3 Qualifiers This is another weight that didn’t go as expected this year. TJ Stewart finished the year at .500 after a difficult start to the season. The freshman All-American finished last year on fire and will be looking to regain that postseason form that led him to an ACC title and podium finish last year. Stewart will enter as the fourth seed and will face Tye Montiero for the chance to meet top-seed Reece Heller in the semifinals. Heller had an excellent season, entering the postseason at 18-3 after earning a Midlands title and going undefeated in the ACC; he hasn’t lost a match since 12/20 and all of his losses are to top 15 ranked wrestlers. The other side of the bracket will feature a likely semifinal pairing of Gavin Kane from UNC and Dylan Fishback from NCST. Kane was an All-American in 2023, he is 16-6 on the year and was a big part of the dual success that helped the Tar Heels earn a share of the ACC dual title. He will face a very tough Dylan Fishback who is 11-5 on the year; two of those losses are to Heller and the other three are to top-15 opponents. Fishback took a 14-5 major in the rivalry dual. 197 3 Qualifiers 197 has been top-heavy all year with Andy Smith, Mac Stout, and Nick Stemmet all spending the majority of the year in the top 15 of the rankings. Mac Stout has had an incredible run this year; after losing to Zac Braunagel and Michael Beard in November, Stout has won 18 straight matches to finish the year at 21-2 and undefeated in the ACC. Andy Smith was a bloodround finisher last year and had a good, though injury-shortened year for the Hokies. He is 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the ACC. Nick Stemmet started the year slowly but only has one loss since the calendar turned over to end the year at 19-8, his only loss in the conference is to Stout. There is a big match to watch for the team race in the first round between four-seed Christian Knop from NCST and 5 seed Cade Lautt from UNC. Both have had decent seasons and have had wins that helped their team in close duals - a win here could be big for either of them. 285 5 Qualifiers I didn’t expect the top weight to be as deep as it ended up being this season. We knew there was some top-end talent in Isaac Trumble who made the Olympic Trials finals in his redshirt year and in blue chip recruit Jimmy Mullen, but through the year emerged several other dangerous options in the conference. Nolan Neves earned the three seed on the strength of upset wins over Dayton Pitzer and Peter Ming to go 3-3 in the ACC. Dayton Pitzer had a solid year overall, but his unexpected loss to Neves dropped him to the 4 seed. Conner Barket had a good year overall but struggled in the ACC; he is 22-8 on the year but 1-4 in the ACC with his lone win over Nolan Neves. The opening round will see a rematch of the opening ACC dual with Pitzer facing Ming--Pitzer won the first round--and Barket facing Neves who is his only win in the conference this year. I really don’t know how that round is going to play out, but I would expect Mullen to get to the semis off the bottom and Trumble has a bye on the top. Mullen gave Trumble his toughest test in conference and was his only nonbonus point win. It would be a pretty wild scenario for the team title to come down to a rematch of a tight bout at the final weight.

The 121st EIWA Championships kicked off today. The action in the championship bracket included the first round (round of 16), quarterfinals, and semi-finals. We saw two rounds of wrestling in the consolation bracket. Tomorrow’s action begins at 10AM with consolation semifinals and 7th place bouts. All finals, 3rd place, and 5th place matches will begin at approximately noon. Full brackets can be found HERE 125lbs – 2 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: All of the higher seeds won in the first round, which placed seeds 1-8 into the quarters. The semifinals included the top 4 seeds. The closest quarterfinal match was between Wagner of Binghamton and Sagaris of LIU. Wagner won via tiebreakers in an awesome bout. The previous meeting of the year was a win by Wagner via fall. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Seymour continued his run as the top seed with a pin over Wagner. Farmer defeated Pleasant in a tight 8-6 battle. Seymour and Farmer each punch their ticket to NCAAs. In the consi’s, Coen Bainey won two matches to advance to the consi-semis. Robbie Sagaris of LIU did as well. Finals: #1 Sheldon Seymour (LEH) vs #2 Charlie Farmer (ARMY) Consi Semi #1: #7 Coen Bainey (AMER) vs #4 Carson Wagner (BING) Consi Semi #2: #5 Robbie Sagaris (LIU) vs #3 Desmond Pleasant (DREX) 7th: #6 Nick Treaster (NAVY) vs #10 Julian Dawson (MSU) 133lbs – 1 Allocation Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: This was another weight where the top 8 advanced into the quarterfinals. During the quarters, the top side of the bracket had some barnburners. Top seed, Berginc of Army, defeated Leiphart of F&M after trailing 7-2 after the first period. He came away victorious in a come-from-behind win 11-8 win in overtime. Waterman of Drexel beat Roes of Binghamton for the second time this season in a tight 4-1 bout. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: In a weight class that we knew would be tight coming into the weekend, the semifinals did not disappoint. Kyle Waterman of Drexel used a takedown and rideout point to defeat Army’s top-seeded Berginc. Kurt Phipps of Bucknell snuck by Matty Lopes of Lehigh in the other semifinal. No wrestler has punched a ticket to NCAAs, as there is only one allocation. Raymond Lopez of American and Micah Roes each advanced into the consolation semis. All wrestlers in the wrestlebacks will need to hope for an at-large selection. Finals: #4 Kyle Waterman (DREX) vs #2 Kurt Phipps (BUCK) Consi Semi #1: #7 Raymond Lopez (AMER) vs #1 Ethan Berginc (ARMY) Consi Semi #2: #5 Micah Roes (BING) vs #3 Matty Lopes (LEH) 7th: #6 Braxton Fries-Appello (SHU) vs #10 Brendan Ferretti (NAVY) 141lbs – 3 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: For the third straight weight class, all top 8 seeds competed in the quarterfinals. Second-seeded Soriano of Drexel dominated his quarter by winning via tech fall. Bryce Kresho was trailing in the third until he pinned Lehigh’s Bailey. Kresho is the 5th seed, while Bailey is the 4th. Kresho suffered a loss to Bailey during the season. This was the tightest bout of that round. Top-seeded Koderhandt of Navy, and 3rd seed, Chappell of Bucknell, each won by decision. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Josh Koderhandt of Navy won over F&M’s Bryce Kresho. The bottom half was a tight one-point win by Dylan Chappell of Bucknell over Jordan Soriano from Drexel. Chappell lost to Soriano during the season. In the consies, Army’s Rich Treanor had two wins to stay alive. Justin Hoyle of Hofstra knocked off the 4th seed, Bailey of Lehigh to continue his run. There are three allocations, which means all wrestlers in the consi semis are still alive to earn the auto bid to NCAAs Finals: #1 Josh Koderhandt (NAVY) vs #3 Dylan Chappell (BUCK) Consi Semi #1: #6 Rich Treanor (ARMY) vs #5 Bryce Kresho (F&M) Consi Semi #2: #8 Justin Hoyle (HOF) vs #2 Jordan Soriano (DREX) 7th: #9 Nate Lucier (BING) vs #4 Carter Bailey (LEH) 149lbs – 1 Allocation Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: There was one lower seed to win in the first round. Braden Bower of Bucknell came in as the 11th seed and knocked off Tapia of Hofstra. All matches in the quarters were decided by regular decision. The top 3 seeds advanced while 5th seed, Smith of Navy, knocked off Asuncion of Sacred Heart by a 7-5 score. McDaniel of Army is the top-seed. He squeaked by Drexel’s Findora, the 8th seed, by a 1-0 score. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Trae McDaniel of Army dominated his Navy opponent nearly earning a tech fall victory. Lehigh’s Malyke Hines won 5-1. Both of the top seeds will meet in the finals with an automatic berth to NCAAs on the line. The 11th seed from Bucknell, Braden Bower, won both of his wrestle-back matches to stay alive. Noah Tapia, the 6th seed, of Hofstra advances as well. Hillard and Findora wrestled first round today, they will go at it again tomorrow for 7th place. Finals: #1 Trae McDaniel (ARMY) vs #2 Malyke Hines (LEH) Consi Semi #1: #11 Braden Bower (BUCK) vs #5 Kaemen Smith (NAVY) Consi Semi #2: #6 Noah Tapia (HOF) vs #3 Ivan Garcia (BING) 7th: #9 Josh Hillard (F&M) vs #8 Dom Findora (DREX) 157lbs – 1 Allocation Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: We saw some first-round drama in this weight class when 12th-seeded Greenwood of Morgan State upset 5th-seed Roberts of LIU. A last-second takedown gave him the 3-1 win. Sacred Heart’s Lettini had a close 2-1 win over Hofstra’s Clark, who was a place winner last year. They were the 8th and 9th seeds, respectively. Greenwood’s Cinderella run was cut short by a 1-0 loss to Wirnsberger of Bucknell. This weight class’s quarterfinals included four decision wins by the top four seeds to advance to the semi. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: The top half of the bracket saw a very tight match between top-seed Rozynski of Lehigh and 4th-seed Wirnsberger of Bucknell. Rozynski prevailed 2-1. The bottom half was controlled by Drexel’s Luke Nichter. Two big moves followed by a third to get a fall over Ley of Navy. The top two seeds will battle it out for an auto bid to NCAAs. LIU’s Roberts won two matches in the consies to stay in the tournament. American’s Jack Nies, the 11th seed, is still wrestling and has claimed a top-six finish. Finals: #1 Logan Rozynski (LEH) vs #2 Luke Nichter (DREX) Consi Semi #1: #5 Brayden Roberts (LIU) vs #4 Cade Wirnsberger (BUCK) Consi Semi #2: #11 Jack Nies (AMER) vs #3 Jonathan Ley (NAVY) 7th: #9 Jurius Clark (HOF) vs #8 Felix Lettini (SHU) 165lbs – 2 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: We saw three falls in the first round. Walsh of Drexel defeated Palmucci of F&M by a 1-0 score. The quarterfinals were much of same when Mulvaney of Bucknell, Baer of Binghamton, and Filipowicz of Army each won via major. 3rd seed, Mosher of Hofstra, was a winner by fall over Lehigh’s Grungo. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Bucknell’s Noah Mulvaney earned a last-second takedown to upend Carter Baer of Binghamton. Mulvaney limped off the mat with the help from his trainer and coach. His status for tomorrow may be up in the air, especially since he has already clinched a trip to NCAAs. The other semifinal was won via medical forfeit by Kyle Mosher. He is Hofstra Head Coach, Jamie Franco’s, first NCAA qualifier in his new role. Army’s 2nd seed, Filipowicz, was unable to complete, unfortunately. He will hope for a wild card after failing to make the finals. Kaden Milheim of American won two matches to continue his run on the backside. Dylan Elmore of Navy did as well. It’s worth noting Morgan State’s Cooper Lockhart came in as the 12th seed. He will wrestle for 7th place tomorrow. Finals: #1 Noah Mulvaney (BUCK) vs #3 Kyle Mosher (HOF) Consi Semi #1: #7 Kaden Milheim (AMER) vs #5 Carter Baer (BING) Consi Semi #2: #4 Dylan Elmore (NAVY) vs #2 Gunner Filipowicz (ARMY) 7th: #12 Cooper Lockhart (MSU) vs #8 Cody Walsh (DREX) 174lbs – 4 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: Sacred Heart’s Zarella, the 9th seed, defeated Lehigh’s Rogers in the first round. He was the only lower seed to win that round. In the quarters, the tight match was 5th seed Army’s Harkins overtime victory over the 4th seed, Queen of Drexel. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: We saw two NCAA tickets punched. First, Danny Wask showed why he is the top seed with a win over Harkins of Army. The 2nd seed, Cassella, of Binghamton hung on to win over 3rd seeded Takats of Bucknell. American’s Caleb Campos needs one more win to punch his ticket. He will face off with Army’s Harkins. Jasiah Queen wrestled back as well. He and Takats will wrestle with an automatic bid to NCAAs on the line. Finals: #1 Danny Wask (NAVY) vs #2 Brevin Cassella (BING) Consi Semi #1: #6 Caleb Campos (AMER) vs #5 Dalton Harkins (ARMY) Consi Semi #2: #4 Jasiah Queen (DREX) vs #3 Myles Takats (BUCK) 7th: #8 Rylan Rogers (LEH) vs #10 Blake Bahna (LIU) 184lbs – 1 Allocation Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: Sacred Heart followed up with another upset win when 11th seed Perez beat Army’s 6th seed, Gilfoil. All other matches went as seeded in the first round. The quarterfinal round included one higher seed losing. Williams of Navy, the 7th seed, defeated Hoose of Drexel for the second time this season. With one allocation of the line, and the competitiveness of this weight – the semifinals will be exciting. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Two of the closest semifinal bouts of the night occurred at this weight, unsurprisingly. Ross McFarland earned a one-point victory over top-seed Ebert of Binghamton. This was a similar result to the regular season overtime win by McFarland. On the bottom half, we saw Caden Rogers win 2-0 via escape and riding time point over Williams of Navy. This was a reversed outcome from their previous matchup during the season. Rogers or McFarland will need to win the bracket to claim an auto bid. Hoose of Drexel finds himself in the consi semifinals against top-seed Ebert. Hoose won this matchup by two points last time they squared off. LIU’s D’Alesio is looking to wrestle back for a 3rd place finish. He will need an at-large bid to return to NCAAs. For 7th, we have a rematch from the first round where Perez knocked off Gilfoil 5-4. Finals: #4 Ross McFarland (HOF) vs #3 Caden Rogers (LEH) Consi Semi #1: #2 Giuseppe Hoose (DREX) vs #1 Will Ebert (BING) Consi Semi #2: #7 Daniel Williams (NAVY) vs #8 Anthony D’Alesio (LIU) 7th: #11 Hunter Perez (SHU) vs #6 Jake Gilfoil (ARMY) 197lbs – 4 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: The first round’s exciting match occurred with the 8th and 9th seed matchup. Moore of F&M used a reversal and backs, and ultimately earning a pin, with two seconds left for the win. In an old-fashioned rivalry between Army and Navy in the quarters between 4th seed Frable of Army and 5th seed, Thomas of Navy, Thomas walked away the winner 7-4. He reversed the result from their dual in February. The top three seeds all advanced. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Beard of Lehigh earned another tech fall to cruise to the final. He will face Bechtold of Bucknell, who came in as the 2nd seed. He defeated Drexel’s O’Malley in overtime, reversing a loss earlier in the year. Beard won via technical fall when they wrestled in the dual. In the wrestlebacks, we still have the top eight wrestling to their respective seeds. A win in the consi-semis will earn an automatic allocation. Finals: #1 Michael Beard (LEH) vs #2 Dillon Bechtold (BUCK) Consi Semi #1: #6 Cayden Bevis (BING) vs #5 Payton Thomas (NAVY) Consi Semi #2: #4 Wolfgang Frable (ARMY) vs #3 Mickey O’Malley (DREX) 7th: #7 Nikolas Miller (HOF) vs #8 RJ Moore (F&M) 285 – 3 Allocations Session 1 First round and quarterfinals: The top eight seeds were in action in the quarters. We saw Morgan State’s Doolin become the lone semifinalist for his squad when he defeated 4th seed Jarrell of American. Doolin is the first Morgan State wrestler to compete in the semifinals in the EIWA Championships. The other close quarterfinal match was 3rd seeded Day of Binghamton earning a tight 1-0 victory over Ameer of Drexel. Session 2 Semifinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2: Trephan of Lehigh kept the team’s momentum rolling with a pin over Doolin. He earns his third trip to NCAAs. Day of Binghamton knocked off 2nd seed, Brady, of Army in the other semi. He also clinched his third trip to nationals. In their previous meeting, Trephan won by major decision. We will see the 9th seed Chris Powell of LIU and 8th seed Logan Shephard of Bucknell wrestle in the consolation semis. They each defeated higher-seeded wrestlers to advance. Finals: #1 Owen Trephan (LEH) vs #3 Cory Day (BING) Consi Semi #1: #9 Chris Powell (LIU) vs #5 Xavier Doolin (MSU) Consi Semi #2: #8 Logan Shephard (BUCK) vs #2 Brady Colbert (ARMY) 7th: #6 Ibrahim Ameer (DREX) vs #4 Will Jarrell (AMER) Team Race Lehigh leads the way with 120 points and six finalists. Bucknell is in 2nd place with 4 finalists. Drexel leads Army by half a point with 93.5 points for 3rd place. Each team has two finalists while Drexel is the only team to place all ten place wrestlers in the top 8. Binghamton is in 5th place with 90 points and two finalists. Navy has 85 points with 2 finalists in sixth place as a team. Hofstra has two finalists, currently in a distant 7th place.

The inaugural Ivy League Wrestling Championships will be held at Princeton on Sunday, March 9th. The six-team conference has earned a hefty 26 allocations. Below is a weight-by-weight breakdown to investigate the allocations a little deeper. The actual brackets can be found here: Ivy League Brackets 125 Pounds (3 Allocations) *1. Marc-Anthony McGowan, Princeton *2. Max Gallagher, Penn *3. Diego Sotelo, Harvard 4. Marcello Milani, Cornell 5. Sulayman Bah, Columbia 6. Jared Brunner, Brown * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference McGowan’s win over Gallagher gives him the top seed. Gallagher and Sotelo are set to wrestle for the fifth time in their career – the series is tied up at 2-2. One thing to note is that Sotelo has not competed since January 25th. He’s been banged up all year, and it may play a factor. His last outing was against Milani where he squeaked by with a 6-3 win. If seeds hold, a third-place bout with a trip to NCAAs on the line between Sotelo and Milani may keep things interesting. Milani is in the RPI rankings, which would help his resume if an at-large bid would be needed. Many expect McGowan to make the finals. Whether he squares off with Gallagher or Sotelo, the score will most likely be close. McGowan is a very slight favorite due to his win over Gallagher. Plus, a little home-field advantage may come into play. 133 Pounds (2 Allocations) *1. Tyler Ferrara, Cornell *2. Ryan Miller, Penn 3. Hunter Adrian, Brown 4. Danny Jones, Princeton 5. Logan Brzozowski, Harvard 6. Connor Smith, Columbia * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Ferrara had a huge win over Miller in the dual, helping him claim the top seed. Miller has not wrestled Adrian this season but won via major decision a year ago. We will see if Adrian closes the gap and overturns that result. Ferrara and Miller seem to be in a tier by themselves here, so not seeing them wrestle in the final would be shocking. Miller is a gamer, and the higher-ranked wrestler in the coaches panel and RPI. Although he lost the first time around, he may be the slightest of favorites when they match up again. 141 Pounds (4 Allocations) *1. CJ Composto, Penn *2. Joshua Sanders, Cornell *3. Eligh Rivera, Princeton 4. Lorenzo Frezza, Columbia *5. Ian Oswalt, Brown 6. Dante Frinzi, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference We will have a vital one right off the bat. Frezza and Oswalt will meet in the quarterfinals as the 4th and 5th seeds, respectively. Oswalt earned an allocation for the conference based on his RPI and win percentage. It gets interesting because Frezza is 3-0 on the year, with a win over Oswalt. He has a win over Frinzi and a win over Bucknell’s nationally ranked (#20) Chappell. Frezza is in a great position to “steal” a spot away from Oswalt. A Sanders/Rivera semifinal will be fun to watch – as Sanders won the first bout 11-7 a month ago. We’ll likely see Composto in the finals. He has a 6-4 win over Sanders on the year thus far, giving him a slight advantage. Composto placed eighth at NCAAs in 2022. He will look to repeat this achievement in front of his home crowd this time around. Overall, this is one of the deep weights in the conference where five wrestlers are competing for four automatic bids. 149 Pounds (3 Allocations) *1. Cross Wasilewski, Penn *2. Ethan Fernandez, Cornell *3. Ty Whalen, Princeton 4. Kai Owen, Columbia 5. Joey Iamunno, Brown 6. Jaden Pepe, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Leading the way is Cross Wasilewski. He has an overtime win over Whalen and a one-point victory over Fernandez. He’s earned the top seed here. Fernandez and Whalen have not wrestled this year but expect a highly-contested bout when they presumably meet in the semis. Kai Owen was an NCAA qualifier last season while competing down at 141lbs. He began the year there and made the decision permanent in the second half. His length caused issues for opponents last season. He’s hoping for more of the same up a weight. He will need an upset win over the Whalen/Fernandez semi-final loser most likely. Fernandez won EIWAs last season as a sophomore. Wasilewski is a freshman while Whalen has sophomore eligibility. This weight class will be fun for years to come. We could see another Whalen/Wasilewski match in the finals. It will be a toss-up that Wasilewski won previously. 157 Pounds (3 Allocations) *1. Meyer Shapiro, Cornell *2. Jude Swisher, Penn *3. Blake Saito, Brown 4. Jimmy Harrington, Harvard 5. Jacob Mann, Princeton 6. Richard Fedalen, Columbia * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Shapiro comes in as the second-ranked wrestler in the country. He has nine victories on the year. Only two of them are not by pin or tech fall - both were decision wins over Swisher (6-2) and Saito (7-2). He’s the heavy favorite here. Swisher and Saito met this season. Unfortunately, Saito was forced to injury default out of the match, although Swisher was winning at the time. Rankings would dictate Swisher being a favorite if they were to meet again. Saito’s first-round matchup with Fedalen is a personal favorite of mine in the early rounds. Fedalen began the year at 149 lbs, making the move up in February. This will be their first meeting. Harrington of Harvard is also a threat to “steal” an allocation. He has two losses to Swisher on the year by a 5-1 and 9-3 score. He dropped a 13-8 decision to Saito late in the year. In a rematch against either one of those, Harrington would be the underdog needing to reverse a previous outcome. Jacob Mann began the season at 141. Yes, two weight classes below this one. His best win at this weight is over #30 Luke Nichter of Drexel. Do not count him out either. Overall, this may be the deepest weight where all six in the bracket can potentially be in the mix for a top-three finish. 165 Pounds (2 Allocations) *1. Julian Ramirez, Cornell *2. Cesar Alvan, Columbia 3. Blaine Bergey, Princeton 4. Keegan Rothrock, Brown 5. Andrew Troczynski, Penn 6. Cael Berg, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Julian Ramirez is the odds-on favorite here. He’s undefeated against the field, while his closest win was by a major decision. He will look to add an Ivy League Championship to his resume, which already includes two EIWA titles. Alvan from Columbia will look to make another appearance at NCAAs. Assuming he will meet Bergey in the semi-finals, this would be the first time they meet. Alvan, at least on paper, would be the favorite here. A first-round matchup between Rothrock and Troczynski is a rematch from their dual in which Rothrock won in overtime. In the other first-round match, Bergey defeated Berg via major decision in their dual. Looking at the bracket, it would take a notable upset for Ramirez and Alvan to not end the weekend as the top two. 174 Pounds (2 Allocations) *1. Simon Ruiz, Cornell 2. Jack McGill, Columbia *3. Nick Incontrera, Penn 4. Drew Clearie, Brown 5. Xavier Giles, Princeton 6. Haden Bottiglieri, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Ruiz’s top seed is thanks to a win over both Incontrera and McGill. Incontrera does have a win over Ruiz early in the year, however. McGill’s upset win over Incontrera slides him into the #2 seed. These two will likely meet in the semifinals again. McGill’s loss to Ruiz was by two points. A win for McGill in the semifinals would go a lot further than a win for Incontrera, as he did not earn an allocation. This holds more weight for the selection committee when at-large bids are considered after conference weekend. McGill is a senior looking to qualify for NCAAs for the first time. Drew Clearie has an overtime loss to McGill during the year. He will need to create some magic on the top half to knock off Ruiz. Ruiz will be the favorite to win the bracket, based on recent results. 184 Pounds (4 Allocations) *1. Chris Foca, Cornell *2. Maximus Hale, Penn *3. Kole Mulhauser, Princeton *4. Nick Fine, Columbia 5. Andrew Reall, Brown 6. Luka Rada, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference Foca will be a heavy favorite to win this bracket. He has beaten all other opponents handily. The bottom half of the bracket will have a fun matchup between Mulhauser and Hale. Hale’s win in the dual came via 4-3 score. Expect another close bout for a finals berth. Mulhauser has two wins over Fine this year already. Fine pinned Hale when they met. Seeds 2 through 4 are very evenly matched. Brown’s Andrew Reall lost in tiebreakers to Hale. He’s one to keep an eye on if you are looking for a potential “stolen” allocation at this weight class. Expect some fireworks in this bracket. This is another deep weight for the conference. 197 Pounds (2 Allocations) *1. Luke Stout, Princeton *2. Mikey Dellagatta, Cornell 3. Joe Curtis, Columbia 4. Max Agresti, Harvard 5. Thomas Sandoval, Brown 6. Nathan Taylor, Penn * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference This weight is pretty straightforward. Luke Stout has dominated everyone else in the bracket, including Dellagatta. Dellagatta dominated everyone not named Luke Stout. Expect to see these two square off in the finals, unless there is a crazy upset or an injury. Stout’s win over Dellagatta was by tech fall but expect that gap to tighten at this point in the season. Joe Curtis did not wrestle Agresti nor Sandoval, but has a win over Taylor. As stated, the top two are in a separate tier – which could make for an interesting race for 3rd place. Stout will look to make his fourth appearance at NCAAs in as many tries while Dellagatta would make his first trip as a freshman. 285 Pounds (1 Allocation) 1. Ashton Davis, Cornell 2. John Pardo, Penn 3. Sebastian Garibaldi, Princeton 4. Vincent Mueller, Columbia 5. Alex Semenenko, Brown 6. Logan Marissal, Harvard * indicates the wrestler earned an allocation for the conference First of all, notice there are no asterisks near anyone’s name. This indicates none of the wrestlers met the minimum threshold to obtain an automatic bid. When this occurs, the conference champion earns the automatic bid. Secondly, this is the only weight class without any NCAA experience between the participants across the entire tournament. Davis is 3-0 in conference matches with wins over Pardo, Garibaldi, and Semenenko. It’s simple to see why he’s the one seed. This is where things get spicy. Pardo has losses to Davis and Mueller, but victories over the remainder of the field. Garibaldi has wins over Semenenko and Mueller but lost to Pardo and Davis. Mueller split matches with Semenenko, beat Pardo, and lost to Garibaldi. Semenenko has losses to Garibaldi, Pardo, and Davis while splitting with Mueller. With all this in mind, Davis is the likely favorite to win it on paper. His win over Semenenko was in sudden victory while his wins over Pardo and Garibaldi were by three and five points, respectively. There will be a lot of nervous fans watching this bracket, as postseason matches (especially at heavyweight) are typically closer than usual. With one allocation on the line, there is no room for error – which will only add to the drama. Team Race The Cornell Big Red have won the Ivy League dual meet title 22 times since 2000. Keep in mind, that there was no 2021 Ivy League wrestling season. To say that they dominated is an understatement. We can expect them to be crowned champions at the first conference tournament in the league’s history, barring anything extraordinary occurring. They are coming off back-to-back team trophy seasons at the NCAA Championships. An Ivy League title is just another box for The Big Red to check off, as they have greater aspirations. Look for Penn to be right behind Cornell. They have firepower to match Cornell in some weight classes, but not the talent at all ten weights to keep up. This was evident in their dual when Cornell won seven of ten bouts. Obviously, this is a different setting so Penn will be making it interesting if a few matches go their way while Cornell suffers an upset or two. You can expect Princeton to potentially be in this mix as well. Wrestling in their home gym in front of a home crowd may be the advantage they need to help close the gap on Penn and Cornell.

2025 Pac-12 Championships Final Results Final Team Scores 1. Little Rock 86.5 2. Oregon State 81.5 3. Cal Poly 70 4. CSU Bakersfield 74 Championship Finals 125 - Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) maj Koda Holeman (Cal Poly) 11-2 133 - Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) dec Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) 4-1SV 141 - Nash Singleton (Oregon State) fall Brennan Van Hoecke (Little Rock) 6:22 149 - Jordan Williams (Little Rock) maj Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) 15-5 157 - Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) dec CJ Hamblin (Oregon State) 5-4 165 - Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) dec Luka Wick (Cal Poly) 4-1SV 174 - Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) maj Murphy Menke (Oregon State) 11-0 184 - TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) dec Daschle Lamer (Cal Poly) 8-5SV 197 - AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) dec Stephen Little (Little Rock) 2-0 285 - Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) maj Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) 8-0 Third Place Bouts 125 - Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSU Bakersfield) tech Jayden Carson (Little Rock) 16-1 133 - Damion Elliott (Oregon State) dec Santino Sanchez (CSU Bakersfield) 7-1 141 - Hayden Zinkin (CSU Bakersfield) dec Korbin Shepherd (Cal Poly) 9-3 149 - Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) tech Brock Rogers (CSU Bakersfield) 19-4 157 - Legend Lamer (Cal Poly) tech Jose Farias (CSU Bakersfield) 17-1 165 - Guillermo Escobedo (CSU Bakersfield) dec Kekana Fouret (Oregon State) 8-4 174 - Cash Stewart (Cal Poly) maj Chris Neal (CSU Bakersfield) 14-2 184 - Gerrit Nijenhuis (CSU Bakersfield) maj Brock Delsignore (Little Rock) 11-2 197 - Trey Munoz (Oregon State) maj Cole Jackson (Cal Poly) 13-5 285 - Brett Mower (Oregon State) tech Branson Britten (Little Rock) 19-3 True Second Place Matches 125 - Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSU Bakersfield) fall Koda Holeman (Cal Poly) 2:21 285 - Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) dec Brett Mower (Oregon State) 4-1SV NCAA Qualifiers Cal Poly: Zeth Romney (133), Chance Lamer (149), Trevor Tinker (285) CSU Bakersfield: Richard Castro-Sandoval (125), AJ Ferrari (197), Jake Andrews (285) Little Rock: Nasir Bailey (133), Jordan Williams (149), Matt Bianchi (157), Joey Bianchi (165), Tyler Brennan (174) , Stephen Little (197) Oregon State: Maximo Renteria (125), Nash Singleton (141), Ethan Stiles (149), TJ McDonnell (184), Trey Munoz (197)

Prospect

Hey besties, Welcome to the postseason - the Southern Conference will certainly spice things up this year with a two-day tournament and nine-man brackets. But first, let’s talk about allocations. Each of the ten weight classes has received one allocation for the NCAA Championships, with 133, 141, and 197 classes earning two bids at their weights, which almost always includes a round of true second-place matches at the conclusion of the championship round. The team race will be fun to watch - The Citadel and Bellarmine are both contenders for top-three placements. Bellarmine has the #1 seed at 184 (Devan Hendricks) and heavyweight (Daulton Mayer). Speaking of heavyweight, Campbell’s Taye Ghadiali entered the transfer portal this week listed as ‘Do Not Contact,’ after ending his season due to injury in December. Pivoting back to the team race - App State and Campbell ended the regular season as co-champions, Campbell losing to The Citadel 11-24, only to turn around and defeat App State 21-15. In our pre-conference tournament rankings, App State has three ranked wrestlers, #7 Will Miller (165), #28 Luke Uliano (174), and #30 Carson Floyd (197). The same for Campbell, #24 Anthony Molton (125), #21 Shannon Hanna (141), and #21 Levi Hopkins (197). All six of these wrestlers are the #1 and #2 seeds in their weights as well. This season was full of twists and turns, which is why it wouldn’t color me surprised to see some upsets and rematches this weekend. While I can’t predict the future, I’d like to make some fun predictions for the weekend: Bellarmine will make history with their program’s first (and possibly second) national qualifiers at 184 (Devan Hendricks) and heavyweight (Daulton Mayer). The conference will end up with at least 4 at-large bids, likely at 165, 174, 197, and heavyweight. 197 rematches will SURELY include Brophy/Floyd semis rematch, and possibly a Floyd/Hopkins final. The SoCon usually gets the least amount of allocations, which means every match matters. This tournament is high stakes and the arena is essentially a pressure cooker. We laugh, we cry, we celebrate, we throw bricks, some of us may be thrown out…but at the end of the day, we’re all here for the sport we love. Hopefully, I’ll see some of y’all in Asheville or Philly - as always, don’t be shy come say hi!! xoxo

The 2025 MAC Championships are coming to Trenton, New Jersey and they will take place Friday and Saturday. Wrestlers at ten weight classes will battle for 23 automatic berths in the 2025 NCAA Championships two weeks from today. Last season, one of the running themes of the regular season was, “Who will win the MAC?” Ultimately, it was Central Michigan. This year, it appears as if Lock Haven has the inside track to win a third title in four years. The 2024 Lock Haven team was very star-driven and top-heavy, featuring three conference champions, but no other NCAA qualifiers. This version of the Bald Eagles still has the top-end talent but is also much deeper and balanced. That might spell bad news for contenders like Central Michigan and Rider. Both of those teams have multiple top seeds heading into the tournament. Despite Lock Haven being the favorite, either of these two schools could have a good day and come away with the trophy on Saturday. Hey, maybe George Mason gets into the title fray. They have outperformed their pre-tournament rankings, of late. Before getting to the action, check out our weight-by-weight preview of the action and some picks for the finals and the wrestlers who we think will come away with the precious NCAA berths. 125 lbs 1 allocation 1. Blake West (Northern Illinois) 2. Noah Michaels (Rider) 3. Ben Aranda (Cleveland State) 4. Drew Davis (SIU Edwardsville) 5. Chris Vargo (Edinboro) 6. Ben Monn (George Mason) 7. Travis Clawson (Clarion) 8. Max Elton (Buffalo) With three-time MAC champion Anthony Noto moving to 133 lbs, this weight class seemed up for grabs at the beginning of the season. 2024 national qualifier Blake West quickly seized control of the weight. He showed he was the class of the league after making the Midlands finals and pushing undefeated, top-ranked Matt Ramos in a one-point loss. Not only has West gone undefeated in MAC duals, but he was only held to a regular decision on one occasion. After West, this weight is wide open. Noah Michaels is the second seed. He also has a perfect dual record and comes into the postseason on a five-match winning streak. Also on the bottom half of the bracket are veterans Ben Aranda and Ben Monn. Aranda currently holds the third seed, but has lost to Monn this year. After the second seed, it can get a little tricky, as a lot of these guys have exchanged wins with each other. On West’s half of the bracket are freshmen Drew Davis and Chris Vargo. Davis hit the ground running and knocked off national qualifier Ramazan Attasauov (Illinois) in his collegiate debut. Since then, he’s had some up-and-down moments, but he’s capable of playing spoiler here. Vargo has also had a typical season for a true freshman. He’s had a few unforeseen losses but has had some good moments as well. Finals Pick: Blake West (Northern Illinois) over Ben Monn (George Mason) Qualifier projection: West 133 lbs 3 allocations 1. Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) 2. Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) 3. Markel Baker (Northern Illinois) 4. Colton Camacho (Edinboro) 5. Nick Molchak (Cleveland State) 6. Marcel Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) 7. Scott Johnson (Clarion) 8. Will Betancourt (Rider) We mentioned Anthony Noto already once - he’ll be at 133 lbs aiming for his fourth consecutive MAC title. Noto’s track record has been he might lose a strange match or two during the regular season, but he brings it in March. In addition to his three MAC titles, he has also finished third and fourth at the past two NCAA Tournaments. Noto did not lose to a MAC opponent this year and earned bonus points against all of them. As you would expect with three bids handing in the balance, there are quite a few potential candidates to get the other two - assuming Noto gets one. The bottom half of the bracket is formidable with Sean Spidle and Markel Baker. Spidle has progressively gotten better each year in Mount Pleasant. He comes in red-hot. Spidle’s most recent loss came in the consolation semifinals at the Midlands (he took fifth). He’s reeled off 12 straight wins since then. Baker nearly made the national tournament as a true freshman while he was at George Mason. Lost by a point to Noto in the semis and ended up in fourth. He’s also on a hot streak, having won his last six straight - including one over CKLV champion Zeth Romney of Cal Poly. Don’t write a Spidle/Baker semifinal in pen just yet! Sixth-seeded Marcel Lopez finished his regular season with one-point losses to both wrestlers. Alongside Noto on the top half of the bracket is Colton Camacho and Nick Molchak. Camacho is a veteran that has nearly made the national tournament on a couple of occasions. He lost in the fifth-place bout at the Midlands to Spidle 10-5, but closed the gap to two points in their late-season dual. Molchak was Cleveland State’s entry at the 2024 MAC Championships and went 0-2. He’s steadily improved this season and sports a 15-9 record. Finals Pick: Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) over Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) Qualifier projections: Noto, Spidle, Camacho 141 lbs 1 allocation 1. Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) 2. Andrew Austin (Central Michigan) 3. Jordan Decatur (Kent State) 4. Danny Martinez (SIU Edwardsville) 5. Jacob Brya (Northern Illinois) 6. Anthony Ferraro (Edinboro) 7. Ethan Mitchell (Cleveland State) 8. Dom Hargrove (George Mason) Since coming to the MAC Wyatt Henson has been a force of nature. He hasn’t lost to a MAC opponent in either of his two years in the league and, more often than not, has won via tech fall. Henson hasn’t lost since the calendar flipped to 2025 and is currently riding a 13-match winning streak. Coming in as the second seed is Andrew Austin, who is another Central Michigan wrestler who has been coming into his own. Austin has losses at 133 lbs to MAC opponents and another one that’s not in this field; however, at the same time, he has head-to-head wins over the three wrestlers behind him in the seeds. Austin is a remarkable story, as he has found his place in the CMU lineup after seeing time at 133 and 149 this season. The third seed belongs to Jordan Decatur. Once regarded as one of the top recruits in the nation, Decatur has settled into the starting lineup at KSU and has seen more mat time than ever in his collegiate career. A one-point loss to Austin, late in the season, snapped his modest four-match winning streak. Unfortunately, two wrestlers that have been (or currently are) in the national rankings at this weight enter the tournament as the four and five seeds - which is the same side as Henson. Jacob Brya was an NCAA alternate this year and started the season nationally ranked. He generally has a solid resume, but didn’t compete much through the first month of the year. Martinez is a freshman who turned heads at the Midlands when he majored Brya and NCAA qualifier Eli Griffin (California Baptist) on his way to taking fifth place. These two didn’t meet again in the regular season. Finals Pick: Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) over Jordan Decatur (Kent State) Qualifier projections: Henson 149 lbs 3 allocations 1. Sammy Alvarez (Rider) 2. Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) 3. Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) 4. Billy Meiszner (Kent State) 5. Lucas Kapusta (Lock Haven) 6. Derek Raike (Ohio) 7. Hayden Whidden (SIU Edwardsville) 8. Kyle Schickel (Clarion) This is another weight with three qualifiers and, provided there aren’t too many upsets at other tournaments, I could see another at-large berth coming from this bracket. With the Big 12 losing two, there are now six available. In his final year of eligibility, Sammy Alvarez came back to his home state and has thrived at Rider. He has been very consistent and has generally only lost to All-American types. At the CKLV, he finished sixth in a weight that featured four All-Americans ahead of him. He hasn’t lost to a MAC foe and holds a seventh-match winning streak and has got his hand raised in 10 of his 11 matches post-Vegas. The second through fourth seeds are all veterans who have taken their game to the next level and could be ready to qualify for their first national tournament. Mason Shrader will get his first opportunity to compete in the postseason after sitting behind some high-quality teammates earlier in his career. Shrader was seventh at the Midlands and closed his dual campaign with wins over in-state rivals from Michigan and Michigan State. Kaden Cassidy made the MAC semifinals last year in a bracket that had three allocations, but ended up in fifth place. About a month into the 2024-25 season, he solidified his spot in the rankings with a win over returning qualifier Kal Miller of Maryland. Meiszner won the Navy Classic and followed it up with a dual win over returning national qualifier Andrew Clark (Rutgers) in his next appearance. He got off to a rough start, but has only lost once since the second week of the season. Redshirt freshman Lucas Kapusta has had a great initial year in the Bald Eagles starting lineup. He also put himself on the map with an early-season win over Clark. Kapusta also grabbed ahold of the starting role for Lock Haven with two wins over teammate DeShawn Farber - a former national qualifier. Finals Pick: Sammy Alvarez (Rider) over Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) Qualifier projections: Alvarez, Shrader, Cassidy 157 lbs 3 allocations 1. Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) 2. Colton Washleski (Rider) 3. DJ McGee (George Mason) 4. Nick Stampoulos (Lock Haven) 5. Landen Johnson (Northern Illinois) 6. Kaleb Burgess (Buffalo) 7. Eric Almarinez (SIU Edwardsville) 8. Carson Miller (Kent State) Three more allocations here in a bracket that contains four returning national qualifiers. Four-time national qualifier Johnny Lovett is looking for his second MAC title and is in the midst of his best season in a CMU singlet. He was a runner-up at the Keystone Classic and a champion at the Midlands. He boasts a 12-match winning streak and has won 16 of his last 17. One conference opponent who has been a thorn in Lovett’s side is George Mason’s DJ McGee. They’ve met at the Midlands in each of the last two seasons, where they’ve split victories. Even in this year’s win, McGee pushed Lovett to tiebreakers. McGee also downed Lovett in the semifinals of the 2024 MAC Championships. Before we get another chapter in the Lovett/McGee rivalry, McGee will have to get through Colton Washleski in the semifinals. Washleski and McGee’s matches have been toss-up’s, as well. McGee got the best of him last season, but Washleski prevailed in sudden victory in this year’s dual. Behind the big three is Nick Stampoulos, who qualified for nationals last year at Buffalo when he finished fourth in this weight class. Stampoulos punched his ticket to Kansas City with a win over Washleski. He did the same in 2024-25 with a late-season dual win over Washleski. Stampoulos’ former Buffalo teammate Kaleb Burgess could be in position to pull an upset as the sixth seed. Burgess posted a career-high 26 wins this year and was a champion at the Big Red Invitational. He drops to the sixth seed after a sudden victory loss to Landen Johnson in February. The seventh seed at this weight, Eric Almarinez, also has a win over Johnson, so this bracket could see its share of upsets. Finals Pick: Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) over DJ McGee (George Mason) Qualifier projections: Lovett, McGee, Burgess 165 lbs 2 allocations 1. Enrique Munguia (Rider) 2. Evan Maag (George Mason) 3. Tate Geiser (Cleveland State) 4. Jack Lledo (Ohio) 5. Ethan Barr (Kent State) 6. Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) 7. Caden Dobbins (Lock Haven) 8. Hunter Shaut (Buffalo) One of the big upsets from the 2024 MAC Championships was when Evan Maag pinned Garrett Thompson to win the title at 165 lbs. Maag is back and looking for title number two. He’s as dangerous as ever with eight falls on the year, amongst his 21 wins. The only blemish on Maag’s MAC record this year is the loss via injury default to Rider’s Enrique Munguia. Munguia was a conference finalist in 2023; however, he was in a 165 lb weight class that only had one allocation and had to stay home. That shouldn’t be the case in 2025, as Munguia has earned an allocation for the conference after a 19-6 regular season that includes no MAC losses. He heads into the postseason a winner of eight straight matches. Behind the big two is Tate Geiser, who ended the regular season with a loss to Munguia in sudden victory. Geiser was actually seeded second at the 2024 tournament but ended up in fifth place. The fourth seed is Jack Lledo who doesn’t have a great record this season (10-15) but is wrestling his best with five wins in his last six matches. Finals Pick: Enrique Munguia (Rider) over Evan Maag (George Mason) Qualifier projections: Munguia, Maag 174 lbs 3 allocations 1. Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) 2. Garrett Thompson (Ohio) 3. Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) 4. John Worthing (Clarion) 5. Logan Messer (George Mason) 6. Michael Wilson (Rider) 7. Tommy Bennett (Northern Illinois) 8. Brody Evans (Edinboro) With three allocations, four past national qualifiers, and two wrestlers currently ranked in the top-ten nationally, this is probably the best weight in the conference. The top-two have already met three times this season with Alex Cramer prevailing 1-0 at the National Duals and in sudden victory at the Michigan State Open and Garrett Thompson returning the favor in a 13-1 major decision in their conference dual. Cramer has been excellent with a title at the MSU Open, a fourth-place finish at the Midlands, and a win over All-American and Big 12 champion Cade DeVos on the 2024-25 resume. Thompson was third at the CKLV Invitational - his second time placing top-five at that prestigious event. Aside from each other, neither have lost to another MAC opponent this year. The other two returning qualifiers in the field are fourth-seeded John Worthing and sixth-seeded Michael Wilson. The pair met last year in a true second-place match where the winner got a berth in the Big Dance. Wilson ended up prevailing in an 11-2 major decision. These two have not met this year, as Worthing competed sparingly in the second half of the season. When their teams met in dual action, Wilson teched Worthing’s brother, Brady. The other two top-five seeds in this field are #5 Logan Messer and his former George Mason teammate #3 Avery Bassett. Both are looking for their first NCAA berth after narrowly missing out in the past. Bassett was third at the 2023 tournament. Messer has finished fourth and sixth during his first two MAC appearances. When these two squared off in dual meet competition, Bassett got the 7-3 win. Finals Pick: Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) over Garrett Thompson (Ohio) Qualifier projections: Cramer, Thompson, Bassett 184 lbs 3 allocations 1. Isaac Dean (Rider) 2. Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) 3. Malachi DuVall (George Mason) 4. Marcus Petite (Buffalo) 5. Jeremy Olszko (Ohio) 6. Adrien Cramer (Central Michigan) 7. Jared McGill (Edinboro) 8. Holden Martin (Kent State) The veteran breakout star of the conference this year has been Rider’s Isaac Dean. Dean forced the nation to pay attention in Vegas when he upset All-American Bennett Berge (South Dakota State), on his way to a fifth-place finish. In his next outing, Dean picked up wins over top-15 foes Jaxon Smith (Maryland) and Reece Heller (Pittsburgh). Dean did have a slip-up in-conference as he fell to Malachi DuVall by a point in their dual. DuVall is the returning champion at this weight. He won the 2024 tournament as the sixth seed. Dean ended up eighth. Coming in as the second seed is Lock Haven’s Colin Fegley. Fegley has been fourth at the last two MAC Tournaments. His head-to-head win over DuVall gives him the edge seeding-wise. After the three who earned allocations are Marcus Petite, Jeremy Olszko, Adrien Cramer, and Jared McGill. These four have all been in the national rankings, or on the cusp of them, at times this year. Each is capable of getting an unexpected win or two propelling them to Philly. Petite took seven losses within the first month but has been very good since then. Olszko is a freshman who forced the conference to take notice when he teched DuVall. Cramer is a Midlands eighth-place finisher and McGill has been a threat whenever he’s been to stay on the mat. With the depth of this weight class and the uncertainty of this weight nationwide, I could see an addition at-large (or perhaps two) coming from this conference. Finals Pick: Isaac Dean (Rider) over Malachi DuVall (George Mason) Qualifier projections: Dean, DuVall, Petite 197 lbs 1 allocation 1. Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) 2. Luke Cochran (Central Michigan) 3. Brock Zurawski (Rider) 4. Tyler Kocak (George Mason) 5. Blake Schaffer (Kent State) 6. Nick Nosler (SIU Edwardsville) 7. Sean Carroll (Northern Illinois) 8. Joey Lyons (Cleveland State) Tucker Hogan has been one of the biggest recruits to ink with Lock Haven in some time and has certainly lived up to his pre-collegiate hype. The word on Hogan coming into college was that he was a beast from the top position. That’s proven to be the case with seven tech falls, most coming after he racked up a boatload of points from the mat. This was probably difficult to seed. Even top-seeded Hogan has a loss to George Mason’s Tyler Kocak. Coincidentally, the pair could meet in the semis. Kocak is a returning sixth-place finisher in the conference, but is down at the fourth seed based on a pair of regular-season losses to Brock Zurawski. Zurawski, like second-seeded Luke Cochran, is perfect in-conference, aside from a loss to Hogan. The second and third seeds did not end up meeting during the regular season. Someone who could be dangerous from the fifth seed is veteran Blake Schaffer. Schaffer was a match away from NCAA qualification last season, as he fell to Sam Mitchell in a true second-place match. That year he tallied 26 wins against 11 losses. This year hasn’t been as prolific from a wins standpoint, but he still should not be overlooked. Finals Pick: Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) over Luke Cochran (Central Michigan) Qualifier projections: Hogan 285 lbs 3 allocations 1. Jordan Greer (Ohio) 2. Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) 3. Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) 4. Austin Chapman (Clarion) 5. James Blackman (George Mason) 6. Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) 7. Brentan Simmerman (Kent State) 8. Aden Roe (Edinboro) Heavyweight tends to be a strong bracket in the MAC and this year is no different. With three allocations on the line and plenty of tough competitors in the field, the action should be intense. This weight features a pair of wrestlers that come into the week unbeaten in the MAC - Jordan Greer and Gavin Hoffman. I assume since Greer has wins over nine MAC opponents; as opposed to three from Hoffman, he gets the nod. Greer has quietly gone 20-4 with only one loss coming since the CKLV in early-December. Greer was seeded sixth at the 2024 MAC Championships, but wrestled his way into the national tournament with a third-place finish. Hoffman came to Lock Haven to take a coaching role, but returned to competition to use his final year of eligibility, and has moved to heavyweight. The 2021 All-American has had a seamless transition back to the match and won 15 of 17 matches, including one over Binghamton’s multiple-time qualifier, Cory Day, in his heavyweight debut. In what could be Cleveland State’s final MAC Tournament, Daniel Bucknavich probably represents the Vikings best shot at a conference title. Bucknavich was a conference runner-up last season and earned a win at his first NCAA Tournament. He’s 22-4 on the year but has a loss to Greer and George Mason’s James Blackman on the ledger. Blackman is a true freshman and a local product for the Patriots, who has been a great find from the GMU staff. Along with Bucknavich, he also had a win over Wyoming’s national qualifier Sam Mitchell. Blackman will be seeded fifth. Coming in as the fourth seed is Austin Chapman. Chapman is a veteran who only has conference losses to Greer and Hoffman. His quarterfinal with Blackman should be a good one. Seeded sixth is a wrestler who spent a significant amount of the season in the rankings - Bryan Caves. Caves was the opponent that Greer defeated with an NCAA berth on the line in the 2024 MAC consolation finals. He’s been solid for the year, but not always consistent. With three allocations available, he could threaten for one and will also make for a difficult quarterfinal for Bucknavich. Finals Pick: Jordan Greer (Ohio) over Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) Qualifier projections: Greer, Bucknavich, Hoffman

ACC pre-seeds and brackets dropped late Tuesday afternoon; since the seeding is done by the coaches, they are able to take in the entire body of work for the season. The only time there is specific criteria utilized is if there is a tie in the seeding points that two wrestlers get at any specific weight--this can lead to some interesting seeding choices based on only looking at conference results. Let’s take a look at the seeds and some must-watch first-round matchups. 125 4 Allocations 1 Seed: Eddie Ventresca, VT 2 Seed: Vince Robinson, NCST 3 Seed: Spencer Moore, UNC 4 Seed: Nick Babin, PITT 5 Seed: Keyveon Roller, UVA 6 Seed: FFT Stanford 7 Seed: FFT Duke Must-watch first-round match: Only one first-round match in this weight, but it’s a good one. Keyveon Roller had a great start to the season but struggled in the conference. He will face a scrappy Nick Babin who had a lot of tight matches in ACC duals. Even the odd man out at this weight could have a good case for an at-large bid. 133 3 Allocations 1 Seed: Ethan Oakley, UNC 2 Seed: Connor McGonagle, VT 3 Seed: Tyler Knox, STAN 4 Seed: Kai Orine, NCST 5 Seed: Gable Porter, UVA 6 Seed: Tyler Chappell, PITT 7 Seed: Raymond Adams, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: Kai Orine making the mid-season drop from 141 to 133 left him short of the needed match total to obtain RPI, so he didn’t earn an allocation and will have to steal one to guarantee a trip to Philly. He will face a very gritty Gable Porter, who will be a tough test. Orine’s biggest opponent every day in the postseason will first and foremost be the scale; he has a big pull to get to 133 and a match fresh off the scale against a crafty guy who can throw is intriguing. 141 4 Allocations 1 Seed: Sam Latona, VT 2 Seed: Dylan Cedeno, UVA 3 Seed: Jason Miranda, STAN 4 Seed: Troy Hohman, NCST 5 Seed: Jayden Scott, UNC 6 Seed: Briar Priest, PITT 7 Seed: Christian Colman, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: Troy Hohman has been a team guy this year and when Orine went back down, Hohman chose to go up a weight class to get a chance in the lineup. He made the most of his opportunities in the weight including ACC wins over Jason Miranda and Gable Porter. He will face Jayden Scott who has had an up-and-down season for the Tar Heels but has the potential to make a run in Durham this weekend. 149 4 Allocations 1 Seed: Caleb Henson, VT 2 Seed: Lachlan McNeil, UNC 3 Seed: Jaden Abas, STAN 4 Seed: Koy Buesgens, NCST 5 Seed: Jack Gioffre, UVA 6 Seed: Finn Solomon, PITT 7 Seed: SP ODonnell, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: The next two weights will feature twin brothers Jack and Michael Gioffre as must-watch opening-round bouts. They are both incredibly talented and have some big wins this season; both also missed a large chunk of the middle of the season with illness/injuries and are wild cards in this tournament. Jack will face a very game Koy Buesgens for the opportunity to face reigning NCAA champ Caleb Henson. 157 3 Allocations 1 Seed: Rafael Hipolito, VT 2 Seed: Ed Scott, NCST 3 Seed: Dylan Evans, PITT 4 Seed: Sonny Santiago, UNC 5 Seed: Grigor Cholakyan, STAN 6 Seed: Michael Gioffre, UVA 7 Seed: Nick Tattini, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: Michael Gioffre will have the chance to make some noise as he is as close to 100% as anyone can really be at this point in the season. He will square off with Dylan Evans who has had a solid season for Pitt. 157 is a wild and wide-open weight in the ACC and there is a second match everyone should have their eyes on with Grigor Cholakyan and Sonny Santiago. Santiago was just outside the cut line to earn an allocation and is looking to steal a spot, so he doesn’t have to hope for a wild card. Cholakyan has shown all year that he is willing to go throw for throw with anyone who steps on the mat and is one of my favorites to watch in the conference. 165 5 Allocations 1 Seed: Hunter Garvin, STAN 2 Seed: Nick Hamilton, UVA 3 Seed: Derek Fields, NCST 4 Seed: Jared Keslar, PITT 5 Seed: Mac Church, VT 6 Seed: Aidan Wallace, DUKE 7 Seed: Charlie Darracott, UNC Must-watch first-round match: 165 has been the most wide-open weight in the conference all season, so it’s fitting there are the most allocations on the line here. There is a lot of volatility at this weight and potential for big first-round upsets. Two important matches to keep an eye on in the opening round: Mac Church against Jared Keslar and Derek Fields against Aidan Wallace. Church started the year strong and has been on a bit of a slide, but is capable of beating anyone in the field. Keslar has been up and down all year with some good wins and some odd losses - this is very much a toss-up. Aidan Wallace made a huge impression mid-year getting to the Southern Scuffle finals, but hasn’t had the momentum since hitting ACC duals. He will face a very tricky Derek Fields who has shown to be a solid force in the middle of the lineup and consistently good, but doesn’t have any marquee wins on the year. 174 4 Allocations 1 Seed: Josh Ogunsanya, UNC 2 Seed: Lorenzo Norman, STAN 3 Seed: Luca Augustine, PITT 4 Seed: Matty Singleton, NCST 5 Seed: Lennox Wolak, VT 6 Seed: Rocco Contino, UVA 7 Seed: Gaetano Console, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: I don’t think anyone in the country would have expected this to be how seeding would look at this weight when looking at the lineups at the beginning of the season. Lennox Wolak has been a head-scratcher all year - he has shown flashes of the skill that made him an All-American sprinkled between stretches of bad losses. He will face Matty Singleton in the opening round. Singleton has built a lot of momentum on the back end of the season, including a big win over Wolak in the final dual of the year. This one could have a lot of implications on the team race and both the Hokies and the Wolfpack have this one circled. 184 3 Allocations 1 Seed: Reece Heller, PITT 2 Seed: Dylan Fishback, NCST 3 Seed: Gavin Kane, UNC 4 Seed: TJ Stewart, VT 5 Seed: Tye Montiero, STAN 6 Seed: Justin Phillips, UVA 7 Seed: David Hussey, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: This is another one that has a very different feel than we expected to start the year. Like Wolak, TJ Stewart has had some tough stretches of bad losses in between stints of the incredible wrestling that we saw last year when he made the podium. The Hokies will need Stewart to be back in his postseason form to make a run for the team title. He will have an opening match against Tye Montiero of Stanford that he will need to use to build some positive momentum going into a big semifinal against Reece Heller; Stewart had a SV win over Heller in their only meeting last season. 197 3 Allocations 1 Seed: Mac Stout, PITT 2 Seed: Nick Stemmett, STAN 3 Seed: Andy Smith, VT 4 Seed: Cade Lautt, UNC 5 Seed: Christian Knop, NCST 6 Seed: Steven Burrell Jr., UVA 7 Seed: Kwasi Bonsu, DUKE Must-watch first-round match: 197 has been a top-heavy weight in the conference all season. Andy Smith was the preseason favorite but Mac Stout has had an incredible season, reeling off an 18-match winning streak after a couple early losses. The one to watch here has potential team race implications. Cade Lautt has had a quietly strong ACC season, even in his losses he was able to slow the matches down and keep them close. He will face senior Christian Knop who is making his ACC tournament debut. The Wolfpack is hoping for some important points from Knop and an opening win could be huge. 285 5 Allocations 1 Seed: Isaac Trumble, NCST 2 Seed: Jimmy Mullen, VT 3 Seed: Nolan Neves, UNC 4 Seed: Dayton Pitzer, PITT 5 Seed: Peter Ming, STAN 6 Seed: Conner Barket, DUKE 7 Seed: Gabe Christensen, UVA Must-watch first-round match: Isaac Trumble has been atop the conference all season and is a heavy favorite to win the title. But even with a clear leader at the weight, 285 has been a deep weight for the conference and has seen multiple upsets. I would call both the 4-5 matchup with Pitzer and Ming as well as the 3-6 with Neves and Barket toss-up matches. Neves had an awesome ACC run to earn the 3 seed and will face Barket who has had flashes of his potential all season. Dayton Pitzer had a tough back half of his ACC season but opened ACC duals with a win over Ming, who he will see in the opening bout.

Welcome to the 121st EIWA Championships! Thank you to the host school, Lehigh University. With Ivy League schools no longer in the conference, Lehigh is now the longest-tenured school. They joined the EIWA in 1913. Army and Navy each joined in 1941, making them the second-oldest member schools. This season was Morgan State’s first season as a member of the EIWA conference. They are the newest addition since LIU joined in 2019. Welcome to your first EIWA Championships, Morgan State! For the first time in EIWA history, the conference was divided into two divisions for the dual meet season. The Independence Division includes Binghamton, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, Hofstra, Long Island University (LIU), Morgan State, and Sacred Heart. Drexel was undefeated this season in division matches – earning the title of Independence Division Champion. Congratulations to the Drexel Dragons, led by Coach Matt Azevedo! The Patriot Division includes American, Army West Point, Bucknell, Lehigh, and Navy. This year’s title went to both Lehigh and Navy. The co-champions each went 3-1 in divisional matches. Congrats to Coach Kolat and the Navy Midshipmen, and congrats to Coach Santoro and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks Below is a weight-by-weight preview. Wrestlers are listed by order of EIWA ranking. The latest coaches ranking and RPI are listed. Wrestlers who earned an allocation for the conference are indicated with an asterisk. Pre-seeds have been released: View them here Brackets can be found: Here 125lbs. EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Sheldon Seymour (RJr.) Lehigh – 15th / 8th *2. Charlie Farmer (Jr.) Army – 27th / 29th 3. Desmond Pleasant (RJr.) Drexel – 30th / 30th 4. Carson Wagner (So.) Binghamton 5. Robbie Sagaris (Sr.) LIU 6. Nick Treaster (Fr.) Navy Number of NCAA Allocations (2) Last season, the conference earned 6 NCAA qualifiers. Sheldon and Farmer secured allocations. Pleasant was just on the outside looking in. Favorites Sheldon Seymour has the highest ranking in the weight class. He has not lost to anyone in the conference but has had 2-point wins over both Farmer and Wagner. Unfortunately, Farmer and Wagner did not wrestle this season. Desmond Pleasant has a win over Wagner in their dual meet matchup. These four are the favorites, on paper, to finish 1-4. The important semi-final will occur between Farmer and Pleasant. A trip to NCAAs will be on the line. They have not wrestled this year but split matches a season ago. This is a straight toss-up in a vital match. Darkhorses and Wild Cards LIU’s Robbie Sagaris fits this category. He is a wrestler who has tight matches, which is a huge benefit to him controlling the pace. He has a win over Peterson of Rutgers, who is top 10 nationally. Jack Parker of F&M is another guy to fit this category. With a couple of decision losses to Pleasant and Wagner, a reversed result could put him in a great position to make a run. His 1-0 loss to Sagaris puts these two on similar levels. 133 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Ethan Berginc (Jr.) Army – 21st / 19th 2. Matty Lopes (Fr.) Lehigh – 31st / NR 3. Kurt Phipps (RSr.) Bucknell – 27th / 31st 4. Kyle Waterman (RJr.) Drexel – NR / 29th 5. Micah Roes (Sr.) Binghamton 6. Raymond Lopez (Jr.) American Number of NCAA Allocations (1) Last season, the conference earned 6 NCAA qualifiers. This season, it appears Berginc has done enough to earn an allocation. Phipps appeared to have an allocation a few weeks back, but a late-season loss in the final week may have eliminated that. Favorites With Ryan Crookham missing the postseason, this weight class is now much more open. Phipps was top 12 in the nation last season. Berginc was 3rd last year in the EIWA at the 125lbs weight class. Phipps’s win over Berginc in their dual gives him a slight edge. However, Lopes defeated Phipps and lost to Berginc by a point. With four wrestlers in the coaches ranking and/or RPI competing for one spot, this bracket will be very entertaining. Moving down the rankings, Waterman lost by two points to Phipps in a dual. If they meet again, expect another tight one. Micah Roes is in this mix also. He has a one-point loss to Waterman. These two are right there with Phipps and Berginc. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Braxton Appello will represent Sacred Heart at this weight class. Appello’s biggest win came via fall over F&M’s Leiphart. The former Ohio State wrestler will be competing in his first EIWA postseason. Another darkhorse to know about is Raymond Lopez of American. His conference losses were by decision to Waterman, Phipps, and Berginc. Most of his losses came to ranked opponents this season. He will be in some close ones this weekend again. Mason Leiphart of F&M has a solid chance to compete for the top few spots on the podium. He’s consistently near the top of the NCAA in tech falls over the past two seasons. This season, he has missed time with an injury. He’ll be fresh to compete at EIWAs. Matty Lopes should be considered a contender. He has filled in nicely in Crookham’s absence. He has wins over Phipps and Lopez, plus a 1-point loss to Berginc. With only one automatic bid on the line, this weight will be a battle. There will be some talented wrestlers on the outside looking in, hoping to earn an at-large bid. 141 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Josh Koderhandt (Sr.) Navy – 7th / 2nd *2. Jordan Soriano (Jr.) Drexel – 27th / 19th *3. Dylan Chappell (RJr.) Bucknell – 20th / 17th 4. Carter Bailey (RJr.) Lehigh – 31st / 23rd 5. Rich Treanor (Sr.) Army – 30th / 32nd 6. Bryce Kresho (Jr.) Franklin & Marshall – NR / 33rd Number of NCAA Allocations (3) Last season, the conference earned 5 NCAA qualifiers. This season, Koderhandt, Soriano, and Chappell have the resume for an allocation. Treanor, Bailey, and Kresho all have a ranking in the coaches panel and/or RPI. All three were shy of earning an allocation, but very close to doing so. Favorites The favorite here, by a long shot, is Josh Koderhandt. He is looking to repeat as EIWA Champion and claim his second title in the process. He’s suffered two losses at the conference championships in three seasons. He dominated last season’s tournament with two falls, a major, and a five-point victory. His mission will be to do the same this time around, or bonus, everybody in front of him. Koderhandt has beaten everyone else he has wrestled in the conference. His ultimate goal is to be an All-American. As you can see by the rankings, Soriano, Chappell, Bailey, and Treanor each have a coaches rank and RPI. They are all evenly matched and will compete for the remaining two allocations. Kresho is in the RPI ranking, which illustrates his tough schedule. He has close losses to Soriano, Chappell, and Bailey. He will need to reverse at least two of those results in order to put himself in a better position to qualify for NCAAs. His 32 wins on the year leads all of D1 wrestling. His nonstop motor makes him a very difficult matchup in the first round for someone fresh off the scale. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Outside of those mentioned above, it’s hard to count out Hofstra’s Justin Hoyle. He has placed 7th and 8th in the EIWA championships in years past. He has a win over Treanor this season, showing he’s capable of a quality win. Nate Lucier of Binghamton was 8th last season in a bracket that took five wrestlers to NCAAs. He has split matches with Kresho during the year. If he gets on a roll, expect to find him in some winnable close matches with higher-seeded wrestlers. Andrew Fallon missed being an NCAA qualifier last season by a tiebreaker loss. This was at 133lbs. Moving up a weight this year adds another unfamiliar, but quality face to this bracket. 149 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI 1. Malyke Hines (RSr.) Lehigh – 29th / NR *2. Trae McDaniel (Jr) Army – / 24th 3. Ivan Garcia (RSr.) Binghamton – NR / 27th 4. Kaemen Smith (Jr.) Navy 5. Dom Findora (So.) Drexel 6. Noah Tapia (So.) Hofstra Number of NCAA Allocations (1) Last season, the conference earned 5 NCAA qualifiers. This season, Trae McDaniel was the lone wrestler to earn the allocation. His RPI and win percentage were high enough. Hines of Lehigh spent the first month of the season down at 141lbs. It may cause one to question if a full season at this weight could have earned another allocation for the conference. Favorites Hines is already a 4x NCAA qualifier, placing at EIWAs three times and claiming one title along the way. He’s looking for that rare fifth appearance at NCAAs, thanks to the free year due to COVID. His win over McDaniel in the dual was by a score of 12-10. If these two meet again, expect a similar close match. Plus, with an automatic trip to NCAAs on the line, it will have vital implications to add to the excitement. Garcia has a few losses to lesser opponents. But he’s shown glimpses of beating higher-ranked opponents. He may very well be in the mix to knock off Hines or McDaniel. He has wins over #21 Fernandez of Cornell (last year’s EIWA champ) and #29 Miller of Maryland. McDaniel has a win over Garcia and has been much more consistent with his results. He saw some action up at 157lbs, where he was 6-4. This has skewed his overall record. Darkhorses and Wild Cards This weight class has so many options here. Dom Findora is technically the highest placer returning from the bracket last year. He was 6th as a true freshman. He has an overtime loss to Garcia. Noah Tapia is one to watch. He has two close losses to Garcia and one to Findora. Findora has a loss to Navy’s Kaemen Smith. Smith has a loss to Gage Owen of American, whom lost to Findora in overtime. Examples like this are plentiful in this weight class. 157 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Logan Rozynski (Fr.) Lehigh – 28th / 21st 2. Luke Nichter (RJr.) Drexel – 30th / NR 3. Brayden Roberts (So.) LIU – NR / 33rd 4. Cade Wirnsberger (RFr.) Bucknell 5. Jonathan Ley (So.) Navy – NR / 19th 6. Dakota Morris (So.) Army Number of NCAA Allocations (1) Last season, the conference earned 3 NCAA qualifiers. This year’s allocations were based on the resumes of Lehigh’s Rozynski. As you can see, four of the ranked EIWA wrestlers have an RPI or coaches ranking. This will force some quality wrestlers on the outside looking in. Favorites Lehigh’s Rozynski has the highest ranking and RPI of the group. He has a win over Morris and Wirnsberger this season. He had a fall over Morris and a 4-3 decision over Wirnsberger. The true freshman is a slight favorite over Nichter of Drexel. Nichter is someone who can throw you to your back with one move. He’s a dangerous out for anyone. He’s looking for a 2nd trip to NCAAs to end his redshirt junior campaign. Brayden Roberts has had a quietly productive year. Him being in the RPI, along with his .800-win percentage, shows he can win while wrestling a tough schedule. He’s spent three seasons at West Virginia and has found a home at LIU where he’s becoming a leader right away. The next few are Wirnsberger, Ley, and Morris. They all have close losses to those ranked above them. This weight class will be competitive. Do not be shocked if we see any combination of the top-six ranked wrestlers in a finals matchup. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Binghamton’s Fin Nadeau has two close losses to Roberts. He has shown he can stay in a tight match with the top guys in the weight. Almost every single loss he took this season was to a higher-ranked opponent. He has the skill set to gain a quality win when it counts. Jurius Clark from Hofstra finished 7th in this weight class at last season’s EIWA tournament. American’s Jack Nies should be mentioned here. It may be bizarre to say someone who is 0-6 in conference matchups is a darkhorse – but when those losses are all within three points – it makes a little more sense. Not to mention, all losses were wrestlers in the top 6 of the EIWA rankings. Nies has been on par with the top wrestlers – expect him to be in some tight ones and potentially upset someone early. Felix Lettini is someone to keep an eye on as well. He has a tiebreaker win over Clark. He’s transferred into Sacred Heart from Wisconsin where he wrestled at 141lbs. 165 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Noah Mulvaney (So.) Bucknell – 24th / 13th *2. Gunner Filipowicz (So.) Army – 16th / 14th 3. Dylan Elmore (Fr.) Navy 4. Carter Baer (RSo.) Binghamton 5. Kyle Mosher (Sr.) Hofstra – 28th / 31st 6. Richie Grungo (Fr.) Lehigh Number of NCAA Allocations (2) Last season, the conference earned 6 NCAA qualifiers. This season’s allocation is two thanks to Mulvaney and Filipowicz. Unfortunately, Mosher is on the bubble, which may help him earn a wild card if needed. Favorites The top two, Mulvaney and Filipowicz, are the favorites to win here. Mulvaney won this year’s matchup between them while they split last season. He was sixth last year in a loaded bracket after earning the fourth seed. Mulvaney’s only EIWA loss on this season is to Elmore of Navy. Filipowicz has not wrestled Mosher this year, but has wrestled a majority of EIWA competitors. Filipowicz and Elmore wrestled in mid-February. Filipowicz won that match up 2-0. Elmore’s win over Mulvaney inserts him at #3 in the EIWA rankings. Darkhorses and Wild Cards American’s Kaden Milheim was in the first set of RPI due to his strength of schedule. He has a conference win over Cody Walsh, who placed 7th in the bracket last season. Walsh just missed out on an NCAA bid, as the top six were qualifiers for nationals. Cody Walsh is always a wild card. He is one of three returning place finishers from last year’s 165lbs bracket. The senior is looking to get hot at the right time and earn his first NCAA appearance in front of a home crowd in Philadelphia. Lehigh’s Richie Grungo has been solidified to represent Lehigh. He is a darkhorse since his only losses in the conference came at the hands of Mulvaney, Elmore, and Filipowicz. He has a win over Milheim in the process. Binghamton’s Carter Baer has a win over Mosher. He’s been in and out of the rankings and RPI, making him a suitable candidate for an at-large bid if he needs one. 174 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Brevin Cassella (Sr.) Binghamton – 8th / 3rd *2. Danny Wask (So.) Navy – 13th / 4th *3. Myles Takats (So.) Bucknell – 16th / 6th 4. Dalton Harkins (Sr.) Army – 29th / 22nd *5. Jasiah Queen (RFr.) Drexel – 32nd / 24th 6. Caleb Campos (RSo.) American – NR / 29th Rylan Rogers (RSo.) Lehigh – NR / 28th Number of NCAA Allocations (4) Last season, the conference earned 7 NCAA qualifiers. This season, the allocation allotment is four. Four of the top five ranked wrestlers earned allocations for the conference. Harkins has the RPI, but his win percentage and coaches rank were not quite high enough. He was just short of adding another to this stacked weight class. Favorites Cassella is the likely favorite at this weight with wins over Wask and Rogers already. The only losses Cassella has this season are to top 10 nationally ranked wrestlers. His win over Wask was by major decision, handing Wask his largest margin of victory loss of the season. Cassella was 3rd place in an uber-talented conference bracket last March down at 165lbs. He has a 12-match winning streak heading into the postseason. Wask finished the season last year in the top 12 at NCAAs – one win away from earning All-American honors. His EIWA performance was a seventh-place finish after earning the fifth seed. He has close wins over Takats and Rogers. Bucknell’s Myles Takats is a force to be reckoned with. He was sixth last season at this weight class in his true freshman year. He’s improved vastly since then. His lone conference loss came from Wask via a 4-2 decision. Dalton Harkins is a senior looking to become an NCAA qualifier for the first time. He earned an overtime win against Campos and had an overtime loss to Takats. It’s a prime example of how closely contested this weight may be. Queen of Drexel earned an allocation based on RPI and win percentage. A two-point loss to Takats was his lone EIWA loss. He’s expecting to be at the top of the podium at conferences. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Rylan Rogers does not have that high-quality win yet – but the vast majority of his losses are to highly ranked opponents. This has launched him into the RPI with a record slightly above 500, simply because of his intense strength of schedule. He’s proven to keep it close with the best. He is 0-4 in the conference, but with losses to Cassella, Wask, Takats, and Campos. Morgan State’s Darrien Roberts is a redshirt senior who may cause a hiccup or two in this bracket. He spent four years at Oklahoma before landing at Morgan State. His short season, due to injury, has caused him to miss valuable mat time. His two losses in the EIWA competition came to Takats and Cassella. Roberts has the skills to be in the mix. He is certainly a wild card to watch. 184 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI 1. Guiseppe Hoose (RSr.) Drexel – NR / 33rd 2. Ross McFarland (RSr.) Hofstra – 32nd / 31st 3. Caden Rogers (RSo.) Lehigh 4. Logan Deacetis (Sr.) Bucknell 5. Daniel Williams (So.) Navy 6. Anthony D'Alesio (RSr.) LIU Will Ebert (RSo.) Binghamton – 33rd / 27th Number of NCAA Allocations (1) Last season, the conference earned 7 NCAA qualifiers. None of the wrestlers in the conference had the resume to earn an allocation. The champion will earn an automatic bid. Favorites It’s difficult to nail down one favorite. This bracket could be wrestled ten times and we would get ten different results. The seeding will be very critical at this weight. This weight class is WIDE open – so expect some great matches right out of the gates. Drexel’s Hoose has wins over McFarland, Ebert, D’Alesio, and Deacetis. His lone loss was to Williams early in the season. McFarland of Hofstra has an overtime win over Ebert and a tiebreaker win over D’Alesio. His lone loss is to Hoose. Caden Rogers has wrestled very well in the second half of the season. He has an overtime win against Ebert and a win over Deacetis. His lone loss also came to Williams of Navy. Daniel Williams of Navy has wins over Rogers and Hoose, but took a loss to Deacetis and Gilfoil. D’Alesio beat Ebert, but was defeated by both Deacetis and McFarland. He was LIU’s first NCAA qualifier at the D1 level last March when he placed seventh. He’s looking to improve upon that finish. He is the lone returning place finisher from the 2024 EIWA Championships. As noted, Williams of Navy has wins over the top guys. He is right up there with the rest of them. Basically, this bracket is a crapshoot! Darkhorses and Wild Cards This entire bracket is a wild card. Everyone has beaten everyone. This is the bracket to really keep an eye on. There is no clear-cut favorite, at least on paper. It’s a very strange scenario where he’s ranked in the coaches rankings and has an RPI due to his out-of-conference wins during the year. But, he’s 1-5 against EIWA competition. All 184lbs wrestlers are so evenly matched – essentially needing overtime in many of these bouts to settle a winner. We can expect much of the same this weekend. Of all the names not mentioned, Jake Gilfoil of Army is another guy in the mix. He’s lost a few tight ones to the top guys. His late-season win over Williams cements him as one of the favorites. Expect him to be in some close matches as well. 197 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Michael Beard (RSr.) Lehigh – 5th / 7th *2. Mickey O'Malley (RSr.) Drexel – 22nd / NR *3. Dillon Bechtold (Fr.) Bucknell – 19th / 20th *4. Wolfgang Frable (Jr) Army – 25th / 26th 5. Payton Thomas (Fr.) Navy 6. Cayden Bevis (RSo.) Binghamton Number of NCAA Allocations (4) Last season, the conference earned 7 NCAA qualifiers. This season’s allocations appear to be earned by the top four wrestlers in the conference rankings. These four have separated themselves from the pack Favorites Beard is the defending EIWA champion. He’s been the guy to beat all year and has dominated everyone in his path. He has a tech fall win over Bechtold and Frable on the season. He has yet to meet O’Malley. Beard’s goals are much greater than an EIWA title. This would just be a stepping stone for him. He currently sits in fifth place for the most tech falls in D1 wrestling with nine total. O’Malley is a past EIWA champion, down at 174lbs. He had limited mat time during the year due to injury. He’s difficult to wrestle with his scrambling and upper body capabilities. The only EIWA-ranked opponent he’s wrestled this year was Bechtold. O’Malley won 13-10 in a wild bout. Bucknell’s Bechtold is a freshman who has made an immediate impact on the team. He has a close loss to O’Malley and Thomas. He reversed the result against Thomas later in the year. With many of his losses coming to highly ranked opponents, he’s primed to make a run this postseason. Frable has been solid all year. His only losses in the conference have come to Bechtold and Beard. He was below .500 last season. This year is much improved with over a .692 win percentage. He will be looking for his first EIWA podium finish. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Payton Thomas is a freshman from Navy who has hovered around the .500 mark all year. He is considered a darkhorse due to a win over Bechtold early in the season. He has decision losses to Beard, Frable, and Bechtold. Coach Kolat is notorious for having his boys wrestling their best during the postseason. Thomas has an opportunity to earn a bid. 285 EIWA Rankings and Coaches Rankings / RPI *1. Owen Trephan (RSr.) Lehigh – 5th / 5th *2. Cory Day (RSr.) Binghamton – 15th / NR *3. Brady Colbert Fr.) Army – NR / TBD 4. William Jarrell (Sr.) American – 32nd / 26th 5. Xavier Doolin (RJr.) Morgan State – NR / 20th 6. Logan Shephard (Jr) Bucknell Number of NCAA Allocations (3) Last season, the conference earned 8 NCAA qualifiers. This year’s bracket will only include 3 allocations. Trephan, Day, and Colbert all produced enough during the year for the conference’s allocations. Army’s Brady Colbert was a last-minute addition to replace Lucas Stoddard. His resume is still good enough for the conference to keep its three allocations. Brady’s exact RPI has not been released, but we know it’s high enough for an allocation along with his win percentage. Jarrell of American looks to be right on the cusp, just missing the requirements. Favorites Owen Trephan was a second-semester transfer from NC State. The grad student will compete in his first EIWA Championships. He has been dominating in conference matches and will look to continue this trend. He already has a major decision win over Day, Jarrell, and Shephard. Day of Binghamton was a top 16 finisher in the nation last season. He will look for his third trip to NCAAs. He was fifth in this bracket last year – the highest returning placer this season. On an annual basis, Day is in the top 5 for falls across the country in D1 wrestling. Expect him to look to get off the mat quickly. Brady Colbert was added to the bracket in the eleventh hour. He is 26-5 on the year. He split matches with Doolin on the season, but has quality wins outside of the conference. Jarrell was in ninth place last year, making him the first alternate selection for NCAAs. He is looking to make the trip once again but actually compete this time around. He’s had a very solid year – and as we stated above – is right on the cusp of earning another allocation for the conference. The senior will hold nothing back to earn a chance to compete at NCAAs. Darkhorses and Wild Cards Xavier Doolin from Morgan State has a chance to steal an allocation. He’s missed some time with an injury but has strong wins over a couple quality wrestlers. He came to Morgan State after three seasons at Northern Colorado. Doolin’s win over Colbert makes him an interesting factor in the bracket. Bucknell’s Shephard burst onto the scene with a fourth-place finish at Midlands. Team Race The last decade has mainly been dominated by Cornell and Lehigh battling it for the EIWA Championship. With Cornell out of the picture, Lehigh looks to be the favorite heading into the weekend. They claimed 4 champs last year in Luke Stanich (125), Ryan Crookham (133), Michael Beard (197) and Nathan Taylor (285). They have a legitimate chance to exceed that total this season. The race for second will be highly contested. Army, Navy, Binghamton, Bucknell, and Drexel all seem to have the best odds of falling in right behind Lehigh. On paper, Army seems to have a lineup with the least number of holes. The team race may come down to bonus points. Get your popcorn ready, as this will be worth the price of admission.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference announced the preliminary seeds for the 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which are set for March 8-9 at Northwestern. Five schools boast at least one top-seeded wrestler, with Penn State leading the way with five No. 1 seeds. The pre-seeds, as voted on by the conference’s coaches, rank 14 starters in all 10 weight classes. The Nittany Lions have five top-seeded wrestlers, with 141-pounder Beau Bartlett, 149-pounder Shayne Van Ness, 165-pounder Mitchell Mesenbrink, 174-pounder Levi Haines and 184-pounder Carter Starocci. Purdue’s Matt Ramos (125), Iowa’s Drake Ayala (133) and Stephen Buchanan (197), Maryland’s Ethen Miller (157) and Minnesota’s Gable Steveson (285) round out the group of top-ranked wrestlers. This year’s field contains a combined 12 Big Ten individual championships (eight wrestlers) and nine NCAA individual championships (five wrestlers). For more information on the 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, visit the Big Ten Championships Central page here. The complete list of Big Ten Championships pre-seeds can be found below. 125 lbs 1. Matt Ramos (PU) 2. Caleb Smith (NEB) 3. Dean Peterson (RU) 4. Luke Lilledahl (PSU) 5. Joey Cruz (IA) 6. Jacob Moran (IN) 7. Brendan McCrone (OSU) 8. Nicolar Rivera (WIS) 9. Cooper Flynn (MN) 10. Dedrick Navarro (NU) 11. Caleb Weiand (MSU) 12. Christian Tanefeu (MI) 13. Caelan Riley (IL) 14. Tyler Garvin (MD) 133 lbs 1. Drake Ayala (IA) 2. Lucas Byrd (IL) 3. Braxton Brown (MD) 4. Braeden Davis (PSU) 5. Dylan Shawver (RU) 6. Jacob Van Dee (NEB) 7. Zan Fugitt (WI) 8. Angelo Rini (IN) 9. Nic Bouzakis (OSU) 10. Tyler Wells (MN) 11. Dustin Norris (PU) 12. Massey Odiotti (NU) 13. Andrew Hampton (MSU) 14. Nolan Wertanen (MI) 141 lbs 1. Beau Bartlett (PSU) 2. Jesse Mendez (OSU) 3. Brock Hardy (NEB) 4. Vance Vombaur (MN) 5. Sergio Lemley (MI) 6. Joseph Olivieri (RU) 7. Danny Pucino (IL) 8. Henry Porter (IN) 9. Greyson Clark (PU) 10. Christopher Cannon (NU) 11. Cullan Schriever (IA) 12. Dario Lemus (MD) 13. Brock Bobzien (WI) 14. Jaden Crumpler (MSU) 149 lbs 1. Shayne Van Ness (PSU) 2. Kyle Parco (IA) 3. Ridge Lovett (NEB) 4. Dylan D’Emilio (OSU) 5. Kannon Webster (IL) 6. Andrew Clark (RU) 7. Sam Cartella (NU) 8. Kal Miller (MD) 9. Dylan Gilcher (MI) 10. Drew Roberts (MN) 11. Isaac Ruble (PU) 12. Clayton Jones (MSU) 13. Joey Butler (IN) 14. Royce Nilo (WI) 157 lbs 1. Ethen Miller (MD) 2. Tyler Kasak (PSU) 3. Antrell Taylor (NEB) 4. Jacori Teemer (IA) 5. Tommy Askey (MN) 6. Joey Blaze (PU) 7. Trevor Chumbley (NU) 8. Chase Saldate (MI) Brandon Cannon (OSU) 10. Conner Harer (RU) 11. Jason Kraisser (IL) 12. Ryan Garvick (IN) 13. Luke Mechler (WI) 14. Braden Stauffenberg (MSU) 165 lbs 1. Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) 2. Mike Caliendo (IA) 3. Christopher Minto (NEB) 4. Beau Mantanona (MI) 5. Andrew Sparks (MN) 6. Braeden Scoles (IL) 7. Tyler Lillard (IN) Maxx Mayfield (NU) 9. Paddy Gallagher (OSU) 10. Anthony White (RU) 11. Stoney Buell (PU) 12. Alex Uryniak (MD) 13. Cody Goebel (WI) 14. Jay Nivison (MSU) 174 lbs 1. Levi Haines (PSU) 2. Carson Kharchla (OSU) 3. Lenny Pinto (NEB) 4. Patrick Kennedy (IA) 5. Clayton Whiting (MN) 6. Jackson Turley (RU) 7. Danny Braunagel (IL) 8. Brody Baumann (PU) 9. Lucas Condon (WI) 10. Derek Gilcher (IN) 11. Joseph Walker (MI) 12. Branson John (MD) 13. Ceasar Garza (MSU) 14. Aiden Vandenbush (NU) 184 lbs Carter Starocci (PSU) Max McEnelly (MN) Silas Allred (NEB) Gabe Arnold (IA) Jaxon Smith (MD) Edmond Ruth (ILL) Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU) Ryder Rogotzke (OSU) DJ Washington (IN) Jaden Bullock (MI) Jon Halvorsen (NU) Lucas Daly (MSU) Orlando Cruz (PU) Dylan Russo (WI) 197 lbs Stephen Buchanan (IA) Josh Barr (PSU) Jacob Cardenas (MI) Isaiah Salazar (MN) Zac Braunagel (IL) Camden McDanel (NEB) Evan Bates (NU) Gabe Sollars (IN) Seth Shumate (OSU) Remy Cotton (MSU) Ben Vanadia (PU) Chase Mielnik (MD) PJ Casale (RU) Niccolo Colluci (WI) 285 lbs 1. Gable Steveson (MN) 2. Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) 3. Joshua Heindselman (MI) 4. Nick Feldman (OSU) 5. Luke Luffman (IL) Yaraslau Slavikouski (RU) 7. Ben Kueter (IA) 8. Jacob Bullock (IN) 9. Seth Nevills (MD) 10. Hayden Filipovich (PU) 11. Harley Andrews (NEB) 12. Max Vanadia (MSU) 13. Dirk Morley (NU) 14. Gannon Rosenfeld (WI)

Big 12 brackets dropped and gave us a great look at what to expect this year in Tulsa. Based on seeds Oklahoma State and Northern Iowa will be battling it out for the title. The Cowboys are looking to win their first non-Conchampionship Big 12 title since 2020, while Northern Iowa’s highest conference finish is second from 2018. Returning Big 12 champs Iowa State are slotted in third, with SDSU and OU are in a close battle for fourth place. For the most part, the seeds follow rankings but there are some weights that have a lot of change, which could create some chaos. The Big 12 has depth in several weights that may be missing an AQ or two and lost a handful of spots due to a recent injury. 125lbs - 7 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #2 Richie Figueroa, Arizona State 2. #6 Stevo Poulin, Northern Colorado 3. #12 Jett Strickenberger, West Virginia 4. #3 Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State 5. #18 Tanner Jordan, South Dakota State 6. #28 Antonio Lorenzo, Oklahoma 7. #29 Trever Anderson, Northern Iowa 8. #14 Kysen Terukina, Iowa State The most chaotic weight last season hasn’t been as wild this year, but this bracket has the potential to get wild. Richie Figueroa is the favorite and my pick, since coming back from injury he is 8-0 and just recently majored Jett Strickenberger. A match between him and Spratley could be interesting, as Spratley majored him in their dual last season, but they didn’t face off again. On the opposite finals side, there could be a couple options. Poulin has had a great season with his only loss coming in early December. However, he hasn’t competed since January 24 and missed the last five duals. If he isn’t 100%, then Trever Anderson could be a dangerous quarterfinal matchup. Strickenberger has been on a tear since returning to 125, going 8-1 in the second semester. Even after the major decision loss, he could be a sneaky title contender with his style. There are only seven automatic qualifiers but eight ranked wrestlers, and Gage Walker for Missouri spent most of the season on the bubble. Kysen Terukina is an easy pick as someone to outperform his seed but also hasn’t competed since mid-January. Returning All-American Tanner Jordan’s only conference loss was to NDSU’s redshirting freshman Ezekiel Witt, but hasn’t seen any other top wrestlers in the Big 12. I’d be surprised to see any of the top four not in the finals but anything can happen at 125. Semifinal Projection: Richie Figueroa over Troy Spratley Jett Strickenberger over Stevo Poulin Finals Pick: Richie Figueroa over Jett Strickenberger Projected Qualifiers: Richie Figueroa, Jett Strickenberger, Troy Spratley, Stevo Poulin, Kysen Terukina, Tanner Jordan, Antonio Lorenzo 133lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #4 Evan Frost, Iowa State 2. #18 Dominick Serrano, Northern Colorado 3. #17 Julian Farber, Northern Iowa 4. #21 Reece Witcraft, Oklahoma State 5. #23 Kyle Burwick, North Dakota State 6. #22 Cleveland Belton, Oklahoma 7. UR Derrick Cardinal, South Dakota State 8. UR Kade Moore, Missouri Returning finalist Evan Frost will be the heavy favorite and my pick to win here. He hasn’t lost since the CKLV finals and his only conference losses have come to now-graduated Daton Fix. His semis opponent is a tossup, as Witcraft and Burwick haven’t faced off but could be an entertaining bout. Burwick is 8-1 since the Southern Scuffle and has seven bonus point wins. Meanwhile, Witcraft is 1-2 in his last three but is always dangerous with big moves. Opposite Frost are two solid opponents in Serrano and Farber. In the dual earlier this year, Farber actually majored Serrano 11-3. Farber has had a breakout year but struggled in his last two matches, losing 8-0 to Frost and 5-0 to Zan Fugitt. Serrano has only lost to Farber and an overtime match against Nasir Bailey at the Southern Scuffle. His getting majored by Farber could be an outlier, making this rematch intriguing. There are some potential landmines mixed in as well with the last three seeded wrestlers. Cleveland Belton has had a rollercoaster season, but hasn’t seen most of the field. A blood-rounder last season, he could be dangerous in the right matchup. Similarly are returning qualifiers Derrick Cardinal, Kade Moore, and Julian Chlebove. They’ve all struggled this season, but have quality wins in their career and could be dangerous opponents with only six qualifying spots. Semifinal Projection: Evan Frost over Reece Witcraft Julian Farber over Dom Serrano Finals Pick: Evan Frost over Julian Farber Projected Qualifiers: Evan Frost, Dom Serrano, Julian Farber, Reece Witcraft, Kyle Burwick, Cleveland Belton 141lbs - 7 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #3 Andrew Alirez, Northern Colorado 2. #4 Cael Happel, Northern Iowa 3. #11 Jacob Frost, Iowa State 4. #5 Tagen Jamison, Oklahoma State 5. #15 Mosha Schwartz, Oklahoma 6. #16 Josh Edmond, Missouri 7. #18 Haiden Drury, Utah Valley 8. #25 Julian Tagg, South Dakota State One of the deeper Big 12 weights, there is a clear title pick with Alirez then a deep tier of opponents who seem to trade wins and losses. Alirez has only seen the last three seeds this season, but majored all of them. His semis opponent will likely be Tagen Jamison or Mosha Schwartz. Jamison beat Schwartz 8-3 at Bedlam this season. Still, Schwartz has wins over Happel and Edmond and is always dangerous with a unique set of attacks. Opposite Alirez could be a number of opponents depending on quarters. Happel is the favorite, is a returning Big 12 finalist, and has wins over Jacob Frost and Josh Edmond this season. He’ll likely get Haiden Drury in the quarters, who he majored last season but hasn’t faced off with this year. Frost gets a tough quarters match against Josh Edmond. He just beat Edmond 9-8 with a late takedown in the third period in the dual in what is a tossup match. Haiden Drury and Julian Tagg both present as interesting sleepers in this weight. I touched on Tagg in my sleepers article, and he could be a tough opponent in the consolations. Drury missed out on qualifying last season but looks much improved this year with a full season at this weight. Cole Brooks of Wyoming and Jordan Titus of West Virginia are other names to look out for. They’ve bounced in and out of the rankings this year but are currently unranked. Brooks has wins over Titus, Drury, and a close loss to Tagg. Titus was a qualifier last season with some big wins but has close losses to highly ranked opponents. Any of these wrestlers could be a tough first-round matchup. Semifinal Projection: Andrew Alirez over Tagen Jamison Cael Happel over Josh Edmond Finals Pick: Andrew Alirez over Cael Happel Projected Qualifiers: Andrew Alirez, Cael Happel, Tagen Jamison, Mosha Schwartz, Josh Edmond, Jacob Frost, Haiden Drury 149lbs - 4 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #10 Colin Realbuto, Northern Iowa 2. #8 Paniro Johnson, Iowa State 3. #17 Willie McDougald, Oklahoma 4. #28 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming 5. UR Gavin Drexler, North Dakota State 6. UR Paul Kelly, California Baptist 7. UR Logan Gioffre, Missouri 8. UR Benji Alanis, Northern Colorado Originally this weight was awarded 6 AQ spots but with Carter Young and Jesse Vasquez out it is down to a tight 4 spots now. A new landmine is dropped into the brackets with Teague Travis for OK State. He made the round of 16 at 157 last season and was the starter in November but suffered an injury in his second match. Last season, he had several ranked wins, including over All-American Ed Scott. He is drawn in against the sixth seed Paul Kelly, putting him in an intriguing spot for the postseason. Top seed Colin Realbuto has been on a tear lately with an 11-match win streak. His only conference loss actually came at CKLV to Carter Young, and he recently beat Paniro Johnson in a barnburner in their dual. Potential semis opponent Gabe Willochell could be a match to look out for, as Realbuto beat him 13-12 this season. Paniro Johnson is a returning Big 12 champ from 2023 and is 13-1 since dropping from 157. He’s had some tight matches but has come out on top, including a 4-2 win over Willie McDougald and a 4-1 win over Logan Gioffre. Paul Kelly is a true freshman for CBU but seems to be a level behind the top five, getting majored by Willochell and Drexler recently. Teague Travis is a wildcard on this side of the bracket, if he can get the win over Kelly then he is a threat against the top four. Logan Gioffre is coming in as the seventh seed but was an NCAA qualifier last season and has had some tight matches with quality opponents. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him or Travis break through with an upset somewhere and crash the semis or end up in the third-place match. Semifinal Projection: Colin Realbuto over Gabe Willochell Paniro Johnson over Willie McDougald Finals Pick: Paniro Johnson over Colin Realbuto Projected Qualifiers: Paniro Johnson, Colin Realbuto, Gabe Willochell, Willie McDougald. 157lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #12 Cody Chittum, Iowa State 2. #14 Caleb Fish, Oklahoma State 3. #6 Ryder Downey, Northern Iowa 4. #18 Cobe Siebrecht, South Dakota State 5. #19 Jared Hill, Wyoming 6. #22 Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado 7. J Conway, Missouri 8. Drayden Morton, California Baptist This weight is another one filled with plenty of parity and a number of podium contenders. Chittum leads the way with wins over Fish and Downey, but just took a loss to Conway. He beat the fourth seed Siebrecht, but in a narrow 9-8 decision. Siebrecht has struggled with injuries this season but beat fifth-seeded Jared Hill 5-3 in the dual. If Chittum is on, then he could be in line to make the finals for the second consecutive year. On the other side of the bracket is likely Fish or Downey. Fish won this matchup in overtime in the dual with some wild scrambles. Downey is a returning Big 12 champ whose only losses are to Chittum, Fish, and Antrell Taylor. They’ll both have tough quarters matches against opponents they’ve beaten but narrowly this year. Zerban was ranked as high as #2 last season and all of his losses have been within a takedown, including a 2-0 loss to Downey. Conway has wins over Chittum and Zerban, and a close 5-1 loss to Fish this season. Either of these wrestlers could shake things up on either side of the bracket. Semifinal Projection: Cody Chittum over Cobe Siebrecht Caleb Fish over Ryder Downey Finals Pick: Caleb Fish over Cody Chittum Projected Qualifiers: Cody Chittum, Caleb Fish, Ryder Downey, J Conway, Jared Hill, Vinny Zerban 165lbs - 7 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #3 Terrell Barraclough, Utah Valley 2. #4 Peyton Hall, West Virginia 3. #6 Cameron Amine, Oklahoma State 4. #12 Drake Rhodes, South Dakota State 5. #15 Cam Steed, Missouri 6. #16 Nicco Ruiz, Arizona State 7. #21 Jack Thomsen, Northern Iowa 8. UR Aiden Riggins, Iowa State A stacked weight class returns only one top-eight seed from last season in Peyton Hall. Terrell Barraclough comes in with his only loss coming to Jack Thomsen at CKLV. He’s beaten both Hall and Amine, but hasn’t seen either of his likely semis opponents. Rhodes has quietly put together an excellent season, with his only losses coming to Cam Amine, Bubba Wilson, and Andrew Sparks in his first season at SDSU. Steed is also a first-year starter, biding his time behind Keegan O’Toole at 165. He had injury issues in the first semester but rolled through Ruiz and Riggins with narrow losses to Hall and Amine recently. He is a dark horse podium threat and could make things interesting with any of the top four seeds. On the other side of the bracket, it seems likely for a third Hall vs Amine matchup. Hall has come out on top twice this season but they’ve been close. Ruiz could be a tough quarters match for Amine, as he beat him in an overtime match this year. He was injured against Steed and hasn’t competed since, so his health could change things. Thomsen has the win over Barraclough, but was majored by Hall in the dual. This is a weight that could have massive swings for NCAA seeding with an upset or two. Semifinal Projection: Terrell Barraclough over Cam Steed Peyton Hall over Cam Amine Finals Pick: Terrell Barraclough over Peyton Hall Projected Qualifiers: Terrell Barraclough, Peyton Hall, Cam Amine, Cam Steed, Drake Rhodes, Nicco Ruiz, Jack Thomsen 174lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #3 Dean Hamiti, Oklahoma State 2. #1 Keegan O’Toole, Missouri 3. #14 Gaven Sax, Oklahoma 4. #17 Jared Simma, Northern Iowa 5. #7 Cade DeVos, South Dakota State 6. #27 Brody Conley, West Virginia 7. #19 MJ Gaitan, Iowa State 8. Riley Davis, Wyoming This is another with two heavy favorites to make the finals and several wrestlers in the same tier battling it out. With seven AQ spots it feels likely that most should make it, but crazy things seem to happen at conferences. Leading the way is Dean Hamiti and Keegan O’Toole who will finally get an opportunity to match up in the finals. O’Toole returned from injury and got a fall for his 100th win on Senior Night, but will have a tough semis matchup. He’ll either get returning All-American and Big 12 champ Cade DeVos, or bloodround finisher Jared Simma. DeVos has won his last seven, but lost to Simma in a classic 6-5 decision. Hamiti will likely see returning Big 12 finalist Gaven Sax in his semis, which was a 4-0 decision win for him in the dual. Sax’s length and scrambling made the match close and could make it interesting in the rematch. Brody Conley and MJ Gaitan both have some upset potential but have tough draws. They’ve had up-and-down seasons but flashed with good wins and certainly could make things interesting in the right matchups. This weight doesn’t have the same depth so I’m not expecting anyone to sneak in, but with seven spots it’s possible. Semifinal Projection: Dean Hamiti over Cade DeVos Keegan O’Toole over Gaven Sax Finals Pick: Keegan O’Toole over Dean Hamiti Projected Qualifiers: Keegan O’Toole, Dean Hamiti, Gaven Sax, Cade DeVos, Jared Simma, MJ Gaitan 184lbs - 7 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #2 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa 2. #3 Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State 3. #5 Bennett Berge, South Dakota State 4. #9 Evan Bockman, Iowa State 5. #17 Deanthony Parker Jr., Oklahoma 6. #30 Eddie Neitenbach, Wyoming 7. #25 Dennis Robin, West Virginia 8. #10 Colton Hawks, Missouri A weight that is simultaneously top-heavy and deep, this is a strong challenger for the best conference weight class. It would be surprising to see anyone but Parker Keckeisen and Dustin Plott in the finals, with Keckeisen the heavy favorite after majoring Plott this season. Bennett Berge could potentially change that outlook, as the last time he faced Plott it was a 9-6 overtime loss in their dual a year ago. The big wildcard at this weight is Colton Hawks at the eighth seed. An injury kept him sidelined for most of the second half of the season, and a 1-2 record with losses to Keckeisen and a 1-0 loss to Bockman in his return. The eighth seed means he’ll get a quarterfinal matchup with Keckeisen, so look out for Hawks trying to make a run on the backside against a bevy of tough opponents. Outside of Hawks, I think this weight could go pretty chalk with rankings. Neitenbach was someone I highlighted as a sleeper as a true freshman with some solid wins. #31 Aidan Brenot is unseeded but is another sleeper that could surprise some. With seven spots and nine ranked wrestlers, this weight could get wild on the backside. Semifinal Projection: Parker Keckeisen over Evan Bockman Dustin Plott over Bennett Berge Finals Pick: Parker Keckeisen over Dustin Plott Projected Qualifiers: Parker Keckeisen, Dustin Plott, Bennett Berge, Colton Hawks, Evan Bockman, Deanthony Parker, Eddie Neitenbach 197lbs - 4 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #6 Luke Surber, Oklahoma State 2. #11 Joseph Novak, Wyoming 3. #12 Wyatt Voelker, Northern Iowa 4. #14 Zach Glazier, South Dakota State 5. Ian Bush, West Virginia 6. Nathan Schon, Iowa State 7. Brian Burburija, Air Force 8. Bradley Hill, Oklahoma This weight only got four automatic spots but it feels appropriate given the rankings. The top four are tough, however, as all are returning qualifiers and podium contenders. The top seed Surber has had a breakout year with his only losses being an early season 4-3 decision to Andy Smith and a recent 10-1 major by Stephen Buchanan. He’s beaten the other top four seeds, but they’ve been tight. A 7-4 decision over Novak, a 4-3 decision over Voelker, and even a 6-5 decision over Ian Bush. He’ll have some battles to make the finals here and hasn’t faced Glazier this season, but lost 4-1 last year in the dual against Iowa. On the other side, it feels likely to see Novak vs Voelker, as two young wrestlers with plenty of upside. Novak got the win at CKLV, in a 5-2 overtime win. Either of these wrestlers could win the conference and I wouldn’t be shocked. Novak hasn’t lost since an injury default against Surber at CKLV, and Voelker ironically hasn’t lost since the 4-3 decision to Luke Surber. This weight doesn’t have the same depth so it’s hard to expect anyone to break through with only four spots and the top seeds all ranked in the top 15. Ian Bush is an interesting one, however. He started the year at 184 but moved up to 197 in January. Since moving up he hasn’t had any ranked wins but an overtime loss to Novak, a 6-5 loss to Surber, and a 7-3 loss to Voelker. Close losses don’t mean anything right now, but if he can flip just one then he could put himself in an interesting position. Semifinal Projection: Luke Surber over Zach Glazier Joey Novak over Wyatt Voelker Finals Pick: Joey Novak over Luke Surber Projected Qualifiers: Joey Novak, Luke Surber, Wyatt Voelker, Zach Glazier 285lbs - 4 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: 1. #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, Oklahoma State 2. #6 Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State 3. #15 Lance Runyon, Northern Iowa 4. #22 Seth Nitzel, Missouri 5. #23 Juan Mora, Oklahoma 6. #32 Daniel Herrera, Iowa State 7. #33 Luke Rasmussen, South Dakota State 8. UR Sam Mitchell, Wyoming This is another weight where there is a heavy favorite but some intriguing battles to qualify. Wyatt Hendrickson has been nothing short of dominant with his new team with an 89% bonus rate. He only beat Schultz by a decision early this season, but it was 11-5 in the dual. He has a good chance to bonus his way through the tournament. He’ll likely see Seth Nitzel in the semis, who has won his last five including wins over Herrera and Mora. Schultz has been solid in his new conference with his only conference loss to Hendrickson. He’s had some close matches with others, but has come out on the winning side including Runyon and Herrera. Runyon has a tough quarters matchup with Herrara, a true freshman who just beat him 3-1. It’s a tossup match but Herrara looked good in their last matchup. With only four spots, it could get tight in consolations. Runyon has a tough quarters match with Herrera which has upset potential early. Nitzel has a tough quarters opponent in Mora, but he majored him 8-0 in the dual this year. Rasmussen is a wildcard, as he had won his last seven before dropping his last two. This feels like a weight that could get multiple At-Large bids with ranked wrestlers. Semifinal Projection: Wyatt Hendrickson over Seth Nitzel Cohlton Schultz over Daniel Herrera Finals Pick: Wyatt Hendrickson over Cohlton Schultz Projected Qualifiers: Wyatt Hendrickson, Cohlton Schultz, Seth Nitzel, Lance Runyon

The DI postseason is upon us! It all gets underway on Thursday, as the Pac-12 kicks off the festivities with their Championship event. With eight different conference tournaments going on across four days, it can be difficult to find how and when to watch everything. InterMat is here to help. We have links to watch each conference tournament, plus we’ve also added start times for each round. If separate links for each round or mat are needed, then they’ve been included. All times listed are Eastern! Thursday - March 6th Pac-12 Championships: Corvallis, Oregon - FloWrestling 3:30 PM - Semifinals 9:00 PM - Finals Friday - March 7th EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - FloWrestling 10:00 AM - First Round 12:00 PM - Quarterfinals 4:00 PM - Consolations 6:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolations MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - First Round 2:00 PM - Quarterfinals/Consolations 5:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolations SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - Pig Tails and First Round 3:00 PM - Consolations 5:00 PM - Semifinals 7:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals Saturday - March 8th Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma 11:00 AM - 1st Round and Quarterfinals - ESPN+ 6:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolation Quarterfinals - ESPN+ Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois 11:00 AM - First Round/Quarterfinals/Consolations - Big Ten Network and BTN+ 6:00 PM - Consolations - BTN+ 8:00 PM - Semifinals - Big Ten Network EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - FloWrestling 10:00 AM - Consolations/7th Place Matches 12:00 PM - 1st/3rd/5th Place Match MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey - ESPN+ 11:30 AM - Consolation Quarterfinals 1:00 PM - Consolation Semifinals 3:00 PM - 1st/3rd/5th/7th Place Matches SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - Consolation Finals 2:30 PM - Finals 4:30 PM - True Second Place Matches Sunday - March 9th ACC Championships: Durham, North Carolina 10:00 AM - First Round - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 1:00 PM - Consolation Quarterfinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 2:00 PM - Semifinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 4:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 6:00 PM - Consolation Finals - ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2) 8:00 PM - Championships Finals - ACC Network and ACC NX Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1:00 PM - Consolation Quarterfinals - ESPN+ 9:00 PM - Championship Finals - ESPN+ Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois 1:00 PM - Consolation Semifinals/7th Place - B1G+ 5:30 PM - 1st/3rd/5th Place Matches - Big Ten Network and B1G+ Ivy League Championships: Princeton, New Jersey ESPN+ (Mat 1), ESPN+ (Mat 2) 10:00 AM - First Round 12:00 PM - Semifinals 2:30 PM - Consolation Semifinals 4:00 PM - 3rd/5th Place Matched 6:30 PM - Championships Finals

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