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2024: FCW Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers 149 The data has been processed, the charts have been reviewed, and the evaluations are complete. The 2024 breakdown of the Top Fantasy Wrestlers of the 2024 season is here to help you start your 2025 season research. Just like in the past few years, some names are going to be expected, while a lot more may not be. That's the beauty of Fantasy Wrestling, where any wrestler can be the star of the weekend and win the dual for you. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was standard team scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or losses by medical forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season 149 Top-20 Notes: The only NCAA Champion to also finish as the #1 Fantasy Wrestler in their weight, was Caleb Henson. He was a leader in the overall standings for much of the year, amassing two pins, five techs, and two majors in his first 12 matches. But as the regular season came to a close, six of his last nine matches ended in decisions. The wire-to-wire InterMat top ranked 149 lber, Ridge Lovett, finishes at #2 in the fantasy standings, 11 Fpts behind Henson. He did finish with the best PPM of any 149 wrestler in the Top-20, edging out Henson by 0.01 even. Lehigh’s 149 slot seemed to be a revolving door during the season, but it was Kelvin Griffin who got the postseason nod. Despite his 11 losses, and only wrestling in three dual meets, his entry into seven in-season tournaments helped him propel up the standings to #3. Another true freshman success story, Ty Watters, had 10 pins in his first 18 matches of the season (though nine of the ten were ranked higher than 100 on WrestleStat). The best pin of his during the regular season is slotted one rank below him in the Top-20 at #5, Corbyn Munson. Jackson Arrington and Jude Swisher both had 67 Fpts but arrived at it from two completely different paths. Arrington, who finished at #6 on the Top-20, was starter from day one and rattled off six techs in his first six matches. Swisher, #7 on the Top-20 this season, was in a roster battle a weight up until the last 20 days of the season when he dropped to 149. Swisher would wrestle nine matches in 21 days, and in a two day span, travel from Philly, to Lancaster, to Fairfax VA and back (a total of ~375 miles round trip) Mr. All-He-Does-Is-AA Kyle Parco is also Mr. Consistent when it comes to fantasy wrestling as well. In the past four years (2021 to 2024) he has finished in the Top-10 at 149, with his best year being 2022 where he finished 4th. Not counting the COVID year 2021, he's also wrestled at least 20 regular season matches each year. Three redshirts make the list, with Sam Cartella as the best falling 0.5 PPM outside the Top-10. Lucas Kapusta wrestled in only one dual meet for Lock Haven, but represented them at seven tournaments, which helped him finish at #15. And lastly, Kannon Webster wrestled the least number of matches inside the Top-20 with 18. Who Missed The Cut: Four All-Americans missed the Top-20, with Casey Swiderski (ISU) the closest by one Fpt. Road warrior Tyler Kasak (PSU) finished with 41 Fpts, and Quinn Kinner (RID) with 23 Fpts. National finalist Austin Gomez (MICH) only wrestled in eight matches, going 7-1 for a total of 24 Fpts Ethan Fernandez (COR) was the first man out at #21, tying #20 Drew Roberts but falling 0.2 behind in PPM. Nicholas Stonecheck (LHU) takes the #22 spot, also with 43 Fpts, but behind in PPM to Fernandez by 0.1. Other notables to miss the Top-20 include Ethen Miller (MARY) with 38 Fpts, Caleb Rathjen (IOWA) with 33 Fpts, Jordan Wiliams (OKST) with 25 Fpts, Jaden Abas (STAN) with 22 Fpts, and Gabe Willochell (WYO) with 14 Fpts

Late Saturday night, we had an unexpected news drop. The actual information was not totally surprising as there were hints about it earlier in the week; however, a Saturday night announcement tends to be unusual. The news itself is that 2024 Olympian, Roman Bravo-Young, will head west to join Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC. Like first-year Cowboy head coach David Taylor, Bravo-Young is a Penn State alum. While in State College, Bravo-Young was a two-time national champion, a three-time finalist, and a three-time Big Ten champion. Bravo-Young went undefeated in his two title-winning campaigns and was 100-10 in a Penn State singlet. Bravo-Young chose to represent Mexico internationally and qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games after three dominating wins at the Pan-American Olympic Qualifier. In Paris, Bravo-Young drew three-time world bronze medalist Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia in the opening round and ended up losing via tech, 13-3. With Bravo-Young’s addition, Oklahoma State has one of the most impressive sets of lightweight training partners in the nation. Along with Bravo-Young are Daton Fix and assistant coach Thomas Gilman. Both Fix and Gilman have made Senior world finals at least once in their international careers. Bravo-Young and Fix are no strangers to one another, as the former Nittany Lion twice defeated Fix in the NCAA finals, each time by an excruciatingly thin margin. Bravo-Young has hinted at moving to MMA at some point. His move to Stillwater signals that he isn’t ready to leave the wrestling mat quite yet.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Alireza Sarlak (Iran) FFT Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) over Gamal Mohamed (Egypt) Fall 1:30 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Vladimir Egorov (North Macedonia) 8-0 Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) over Diamantino Iuna Fafe (Guinea-Bissau) 7-6 Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) over Meirambek Kartbay (Kazakhstan) 4-1 Spencer Lee (USA) over Wanhao Zou (China) 3-2 Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Aliabbas Rzazade (Azerbaijan) 11-4 Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) over Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico) 13-3 Quarterfinals Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) 12-2 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) 12-0 Spencer Lee (USA) over Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) 12-2 Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) 12-5 Semifinals Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Aman Sehrawat (India) 10-0 Spencer Lee (USA) over Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) 14-4 Repechage Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) over Wanhao Zou (China) Fall 2:24 Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) over Alireza Sarlak (Iran) FFT Bronze Medal Matches Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) 4-1 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) 13-5 Gold Medal Match Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Spencer Lee (USA) 4-2 Notes: Rei Higuchi captured his second career Olympic medal - he has a silver from way back in 2016 in his collection as well. Higuchi now has four World/Olympic medals with two of them being gold. Higuchi is Japan’s first multiple-time Olympic medalist in men’s freestyle since Akira Ota in 1984 (2) and 1988 (2). Of the three wrestlers in this bracket with prior world medals, only Higuchi was able to get on the medal stand. Spencer Lee earned a silver medal in his first Senior-level World/Olympic event. The last three 57 kg representatives for the United States have all wrestled for the University of Iowa. The two finalists generally appeared to be on a level of their own above the rest of the weight class. They combined to outscore their opponents 51-10 (plus a forfeit) on the way to the finals. The United States and India both had Olympic medalists in 2020 and 2024 at this weight; however, neither came from the same wrestler. Thomas Gilman and Ravi Kumar were the medalists in 2020. Sehrawat was the youngest of the medalists at 21. The quarterfinal round saw a pair of past world medalists and favorites lose in relatively one-sided matches. Abakarov was teched by Sehrawat and Harutyunyan was defeated 12-5 by Abdullaev. All four quarterfinal winners posted 12 points in each of their matches. This was the only men’s freestyle weight where Iran did not post an individual win. Sarlak was a very late replacement and ended up forfeiting to Higuchi in the opening round. Three of the eight seeded wrestlers fell in the first round. #3 Kartbay, #6 Zou, #8 Mohamed. As you might expect from 57 kg, this weight class was littered with first-time Olympians. Only Abdullaev, Harutyunyan, Higuchi, and Iuna Fafe and previous Olympic experience. This bracket contained three NCAA champions with Lee (x3), Roman Bravo-Young (x2), and Darian Cruz. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) 7-4 Andreea Ana (Romania) over Mariana Dragutan (Moldova) 5-0 Annika Wendle (Germany) over Maria Prevolaraki (Greece) 3-2 Zeynep Yetgil (Turkey) over Antim Panghal (India) 10-0 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Dom Parrish (USA) Fall 2:05 Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) over Christianah Ogunsanya (Nigeria) Fall 2:19 Qianyu Pang (China) over Mia Aquino (Guam) 10-0 Emma Malmgren (Sweden) over Betzabeth Arguello (Venezuela) Fall 5:06 Quarterfinals Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Andreea Ana (Romania) Fall 4:41 Annika Wendle (Germany) over Zeynep Yetgil (Turkey) Fall 4:22 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) 8-2 Qianyu Pang (China) over Emma Malmgren (Sweden) 10-2 Semifinals Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Annika Wendle (Germany) 10-0 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Qianyu Pang (China) 10-0 Repechage Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) over Dom Parrish (USA) Fall 4:35 Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) over Andreea Ana (Romania) 11-0 Bronze Medal Matches Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) over Annika Wendle (Germany) InjDef Qianyu Pang (China) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) Fall 1:05 Gold Medal Matches Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) 10-0 Notes: Despite being only 20 years old, Akari Fujinami is now a two-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. With four wins at the Olympic Games, Fujinami has a winning streak that has extended to 137 matches. Only one of Fujinami’s four matches went the full six minutes. Lucia Yepez Guzman’s silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Ecuador in any of the three styles of wrestling. This was the most Asian dominated medal stand. Three of the four medalists represent Asian countries. Hyogyong Choe became the first North Korean woman to earn an Olympic medal in wrestling with her bronze medal. China’s Qianyu Pang (China) is now a two-time Olympic medalist (2,3). She is also a four-time World/Olympic medalist. Three of the four medalists are 24 years old or younger. China’s Pang (27) was the oldest of the bunch. Three of the eight seeded wrestlers lost in the first round, #4 Antim Panghal, #5 Maria Prevolaraki, #6 Christianah Ogunsanya. American fans are aware that a pair of world medalists clashed in the opening round as Fujinami pinned Dom Parrish. It was the only first round matchup between past world medalists. Parrish also met Khulan Batkhuyag in repechage. The two met in the world finals in 2022 and Parrish prevailed 4-2. This time the Mongolian picked up a win via fall. This might have been the most lopsided bracket in terms of tiers of talent. Of the 19 matches wrestled at this weight, only five of them went the full six minutes. Along those same lines, 53 kg was the only women’s weight class where there were techs in both semifinal matches. Fujinami and Yepez Guzman are the only wrestlers who made the medal stand at this weight last year at the World Championships and in Paris. Emma Malmgren was one of only two Swedish women in the tournament. Malmgren was the only two pick up a win. Pang, Andreea Ana, and Maria Prevolaraki are the only members of the 53 kg 2020 Olympic bracket that returned in 2024. Yepez Guzman is the only other wrestler in the bracket with Olympic experience (at 50 kg in 2020). Prevolaraki was easily the most experienced wrestler in this field. She competed in the Olympic Games for a fourth time, though she has never medaled.

2x All-American Jacob Cardenas had to transfer in the offseason to use his final year of collegiate eligibility - which led him to the University of Michigan. Cardenas is excited for big duals that come along with wrestling in the Big Ten. Cardenas talks with Kevin Claunch about his career at Cornell - one that featured a head coaching change, international competition, and plenty of wins at 197 lbs. For the full interview:

Bloomsburg got their guy! And it’s a very familiar face - former Husky head coach John Stutzman will be back to lead their wrestling program after holding the same position from 2005-13. Earlier this week, Davidson announced that Stutzman had joined their coaching staff for the 2024-25 season; however, there has been a pivot and Stutzman will be headed back to his old stomping grounds at Bloomsburg. During his first tenure, Stutzman amassed a 97-56-1 with three third place finishes at the old EWL Championships. Stutzman also saw his wrestlers get onto the NCAA podium on three occasions, with Mike Spaid finishing eighth in 2007 and Matt Moley AA’ing twice (8th in 2008 - 6th in 2009). The 2012-13 season saw Bloomsburg go 17-3 in dual action including a perfect 5-0 record in conference duals. It was the first outright conference championship in school history and the team finished the season ranked 15th in the nation. The 17 wins remain a high for the program. After the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Stutzman left to take the reins at his alma mater, Buffalo. Stutzman coached at Buffalo from 2013 until the spring of 2024. At Buffalo, Stutzman pushed 25 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament and put together a 89-107 dual record. Four times in his career, Stutzman has been named his respective conference’s Coach of the Year. Three times in the EWL and once in the MAC. Stutzman’s trademark at Bloomsburg was putting together highly competitive teams that were largely composed of wrestlers that were developed in the room and not necessarily considered blue-chip recruits. He’ll inherit a team that has won four duals in each of the last two seasons. The Huskies did not have a national qualifier in 2024, but sent Josh Mason in 2023. Bloomsburg had been led by Marcus Gordon for the last eight years.

Is this the end of the Golden Age of American wrestling, or just the end of phase one? Patrick It’s more like this is the end of phase three. And phase four will not slow down at all. We’ll have an entire new cast of characters in phase four and they are as legit as it gets. Phase one kicked off in 2012 when Jordan Burroughs brought home gold from London and then dominated the next cycle with a whole bunch of world titles. But a new hero emerged during the wee hours of the night in Rio and Kyle Snyder emerged as the top dog in the second half of the decade. But as Kyle struggles with the supervillain that is Sadulaev, David Taylor starts to stake his claim as the best in the world before putting an exclamation point on his run with Tokyo gold and kickstarting phase three as the new face of American wrestling. And now we head into phase four with no clear leader but with an abundance of talent. It would not surprise me at all if 2028 had six new members of the team heading into LA. There is no way to know what will happen with Spencer Lee in the next four years and he will be pushing 30 by then. Zain wasn’t even going to compete this year so he’s likely gone. Which by the way, if this is it for the Zain Train, it’s a shame that it ends this way with an injury but thank you for all the years of great wrestling that you gave us. You were ferocious on the mat and all class off the mat, maybe our guy comes back for one more year and gets a proper sendoff. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kyle Dake comes back and finishes the story, but for now, I can see him taking some time off. Aaron Brooks is the best candidate to be a top dog now as he moves up a weight before possibly trying to usurp Snyder for the spot he’s owned for a decade now. At heavyweight, I’m calling it now that Gable Steveson will be back in 2028 to reclaim world dominance. So who will be the new players in the next four years? Aside from the insane amount of depth we have already at the senior level, go check out the current U20 team and tell me if we’re in trouble. Just a loaded bunch. I'm headed to the shore this weekend and want to sound Jagger-sharp when discussing Sebastian Rivera. What made the difference in bringing the medal back to Jersey? Salty Walkon The difference is he lives his life. He enjoys every minute of what he does and the moment is never too big for him. Not everybody can party all night at Jenks, then be in Paris a few weeks later and take home hardware. New Jersey wrestlers have a long history of Olympic success and our guy Seabass is keeping that tradition alive. Plus, I bought his shirt and I’m wearing it right now. What is one thing I can't forget to pack for DC? Dysen Gould Clean shower shoes. Crash Davis can explain it to you in Bull Durham. You can leave the Skenes jersey home since I don’t think you’ll need it this October. When Va Tech wrestles Rutgers this season, who will the Hokies send out at 285 to face returning All-American Yara Slavikouski, returning starter Hunter Catka, or Jersey Boy Jimmy Mullen? Mike Abromitis You have to assume Mullen is ready to win the starting job as he’s a prized recruit who has given up football, for the time being, to concentrate strictly on wrestling. But the dual is early in the season and we can’t even be sure Yara will be there. Being a sixth-year guy with a bit of an injury history, the Rutgers big man could be on a bit of a pitch count early in the season. But you’re gonna see Mullen everywhere.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Arkadiusz Kulynycz (Poland) over Ali Cengiz (Turkey) 5-3 Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) over Carlos Munoz Jaramillo (Colombia) 9-0 Nursultan Tursynov (Kazakhstan) over Mohamed Metwally (Egypt) 10-1 Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) over Haitao Qian (China) 7-1 Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over Turpal Bisultanov (Denmark) 5-1 Lasha Gobadze (Georgia) over Bachir Sid Azara (Algeria) 2-1 Aleksandr Komarov (Serbia) over Payton Jacobson (USA) 9-0 David Losonczi (Hungary) over Rafig Huseynov (Azerbaijan) 5-2 Quarterfinals Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) over Arkadiusz Kulynycz (Poland) 10-1 Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) over Nursultan Tursynov (Kazakhstan) 7-3 Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over Lasha Gobadze (Georgia) 8-3 David Losonczi (Hungary) over Aleksandr Komarov (Serbia) 2-2 Semifinals Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) over Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) 3-3 Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over David Losonczi (Hungary) 3-1 Repechage Arkadiusz Kulynycz (Poland) over Carlos Munoz Jaramillo (Colombia) 3-1 Turpal Bisultanov (Denmark) over Lasha Gobadze (Georgia) 6-0 Bronze Medal Matches Turpal Bisultanov (Denmark) over David Losonczi (Hungary) 2-1 Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) over Arkadiusz Kulynycz (Poland) 3-1 Gold Medal Match Semen Novikov (Bulgaria) over Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran) 7-0 Notes: Semen Novikov is Bulgaria’s first Olympic gold medalist in Greco since Armen Nazarian won the 58 kg weight class in 2000. Novikov is Bulgaria’s first Olympic medalist in Greco since Yavor Yanakiev was a bronze medalist at 74 kg in 2008. This weight class had five past world champions in the bracket yet none of them advanced to the gold medal match. Novikov had to beat a pair of past world champions to make the finals (Gobadze, Losonczi). In 2023, Novikov and and Losonczi met in the world semifinals and the Hungarian won 10-0. This year Novikov turned the tables with a 3-1 victory. With his Olympic gold medal, Novikov now has a pair of World/Olympic medals. Alireza Mohmadipiani was the third Iranian to advance to a gold medal match. Mohmadipiani was a 2023 world silver medalist, before getting silver in Paris. Zhan Beleniuk earned his third Olympic medal. He now had one in all three colors. Beleniuk will finish his career with eight world/Olympic medals. With ten returning World/Olympic medalists in this weight class, we knew we’d have some great first round matchups. Half of them featured past medalists clashing. Speaking of monster first-round matches, the final one in the bracket saw 2023 co-world champion Losonczi and two-time world champ Rafig Huseynov battle. Huseynov and Cengiz were a pair of past world champions who fell in round one. #1 Cengiz, along with #6 Bachir Sid Azara and #8 Carlos Munoz Jaramillo were the top-eight seeds that lost in the opening round. Kulynycz accounted for Poland’s only two Greco-Roman wins as he was their only representative.

Led by returning National Champ and Big 12 Wrestler of the Year Parker Keckeisen, the Panthers return a strong lineup featuring seven 2024 qualifiers and two conference champs. The team finished fifth in the Big 12 tournament and went on to finish in the top 15 for the first time since 2019. They only graduated one starter in Tyrell Gordon, but have a NJCAA champ who spent last season adjusting to heavyweight and Division I. With an experienced lineup and no real holes, the Panthers will be looking to break into the top ten for the first time since 1992. 125lbs: Trever Anderson (Soph.) Pull just about any name from a hat at this weight class last season and you’re likely to find a quality win on their record, and Anderson had a handful in a chaotic season. He broke onto the national scene with a win over Jakob Camacho at Collegiate Duals, then had tight losses to wrestlers like Caleb Smith and Troy Spratley. A strong, lanky wrestler who excels from top, Anderson’s 11-12 record shows wins over qualifiers Eli Griffin, Kysen Terukina, and Nick Babin throughout the year. Two barnburner matches at Big 12’s saw him come up short and just miss out on qualifying in his first year. If he can find more consistency next season in a wild weight, Anderson is one of many deep sleeper picks to make an impact. 133lbs: Julian Farber (Senior) After spending time as a backup and scoring some ranked wins, Farber earned his spot in the lineup and didn’t look back, as he qualified for NCAA’s in his first opportunity. He started the year with a runner-up finish at the Daktronics Open before a seventh-place finish at CKLV. His biggest win came at the Collegiate Duals, with an upset over Nic Bouzakis. Other ranked wins included Gable Strickland, Jacob Van Dee, Jace Koelzer, and Hunter Leake in the regular season before a seventh-place finish at Big 12’s. While he didn’t score an AQ spot, Farber earned an At-Large spot to compete in Kansas City. Going into next season Farber is a battle-experienced veteran that has the potential to score some important points for the Panthers. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo 141lbs: Cael Happel (Senior) Heading into his final season, Happel’s career shows a trend of continuous improvement after a bloodround finish in 2024. His first year in the lineup saw him score multiple ranked wins throughout the year, but an 0-2 Big 12 tournament put him as the first alternate for NCAA’s. In 2023, there was a similar situation where after a strong regular season, he found himself needing an At-Large bid for NCAA’s. He had a strong resume to earn one and went on to finish in the round of 16. Happel continued his rise in 2024, with a strong regular season followed by a runner-up finish at Big 12’s, his first time on the conference podium. NCAA’s saw him get upset in the first round by eventual All-American Vince Vombaur before reeling off wins against Tagen Jamison, Sergio Lemley, and Cole Matthews. A narrow loss to Real Woods in the bloodround ended his run, but he returns looking to continue to build in one of the toughest weight classes in the conference. 149lbs: Colin Realbuto (Senior) A seventh-year senior, Realbuto spent last season taking an Olympic redshirt while representing Italy. He had represented the country at the Senior World Championships in 2021 and 2023, getting his first win at 2023 World’s. While he was not able to qualify in 2024, he returns to the Panthers lineup as a podium threat as a two-time NCAA qualifier. The last time we saw Realbuto in folkstyle was 2023, where he had a 20-8 record and 1-2 performance at NCAA’s. In 2022 he made the round of 16 and was third in the Big 12. His record has wins that show his high upside, including over Victor Voinovich, Kellyn March, and Sammy Sasso. A bit of a wildcard for 2025, he returns to a conference weight class that returns all eight placers from last year. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo 157lbs: Ryder Downey (Soph.) One of the biggest surprises of the 2024 season came in Ryder Downey, a four-time state medalist in Iowa who came out of high school unranked. He went 6-4 at 149 against Division I opponents in a mostly unassuming redshirt season in 2023. That changed in 2024, breaking onto the scene at CKLV. He missed the podium there but scored ranked wins over Paddy Gallagher and Trevor Chumbley. Downey went on to beat Peyton Robb, Teague Travis, and Cody Chittum in dual action throughout the year to climb the rankings. At Big 12’s he continued his run, where he and Chittum had one of the longest matches of the year. The two battled into double overtime with Downey taking the title with impressive riding ability. He made the bloodround at NCAA’s, losing to former Big 12 wrestler Jared Franek in a close decision. Downey is a young cornerstone for this roster heading into next season and should be another podium threat. 165lbs: Jack Thomsen (Senior)/RJ Weston (Junior) This weight is the only “question mark” for the Panthers as they return a qualifier from last season. Thomsen won the spot last season after going back and forth with Robert (“RJ”) Weston. Thomsen was an At-Large qualifier with a 12-11 record after spending three years at SDSU. He came on strong late in the year, with wins over Tanner Cook and Cael Carlson to finish sixth at Big 12’s and win his pigtail match at NCAA’s. Weston started the year at 157 but made the move up after losing to Ryder Downey at the Daktronics Open. At 165, he had a strong win over Andrew Cerniglia at the Soldier Salute but struggled against ranked opponents in duals. Thomsen is the favorite after last season, but if Weston commits to 165 next season then there could be another back-and-forth for the starting spot this season. A potential sleeper to look out for is Lance Runyon, a two-time qualifier who has struggled with injuries and missed all of last season. He has been at 174 for three years but redshirted at 165 and with the emergence of Jared Simma last season could be looking for another weight to compete at. 174lbs: Jared Simma (Junior) Another breakout wrestler came at this weight with Jared Simma seemingly coming out of nowhere after going 8-7 the year prior. Simma excelled at having close matches with top-ranked wrestlers like Rocco Welsh and Lennox Wolak, but struggled to break into the rankings. The second half of the season saw him score wins over Tate Picklo and Brody Conley to enter the national conversation. He was seventh at Big 12’s and received an At-Large qualifier bid for NCAA’s. Simma went on a surprise run in Kansas City upsetting Philip Conigliaro and Tyler Eischens. Narrow losses to Shane Griffith and Ben Pasiuk stopped him in the bloodround, but Simma enters next season as an entertaining dark horse. There is the aforementioned Lance Runyon who could reenter the conversation at this weight, but Simma was looking tough to the end of last year. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo 184lbs: Parker Keckeisen (Senior) The returning national champion Keckeisen returns as the favorite to repeat after a 28-0 record with a 90% bonus rate. He became the program’s first undefeated national champion since 1963 and the first four-time Big 12 champ. His career has seen him finish 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd at NCAA’s previously with a career record of 105-5 and undefeated against conference opponents. The biggest challenge to Keckeisen running it back could come in Carter Starocci, who has been rumored to be moving up to 184/197. Last year’s runner-up Dustin Plott is also a threat, but a 14-5 major decision in the finals makes Keckeisen the heavy favorite. 197lbs: Wyatt Voelker (Soph.) Another wrestler who earned an At-Large bid last season, Voelker showed plenty of upside in his first season as a starter. The #70 recruit in 2022, Voelker had a solid redshirt season and made the U20 Greco World team where he finished fifth. Last season, he had wins over wrestlers like Evan Bockman and Luke Surber at Big 12’s before finishing in the Round of 16 at NCAA’s. Voelker continued his international success this offseason as well, making the U23 World team at 97 kg and finishing as runner-up in freestyle at 92 kg where he beat Christian Carroll and Zach Glazier. If Voelker makes a jump this offseason, he could end up becoming another podium threat for the Panthers next year. 285lbs: Jose Valdez (Senior) With the graduation of two-time qualifier Tyrell Gordon, NJCAA standout Jose Valdez is expected to enter the lineup after competing as a backup last season. Valdez was a NJCAA runner-up in 2021 and won a title in 2022. He went on to transfer to Northern Illinois where he competed unattached before transferring to UNI last season. Last year was his first year at heavyweight after competing at 197, and he showed promise. He had wins over Harley Andrews and Luke Rasmussen, two young wrestlers that showed have had good moments. Valdez’s ceiling is a question, but if he can develop like Tyrell Gordon, another former 197, then he could round out the Panthers lineup and turn into another potential qualifier. Previous “Never Too Early Lineup Looks:” Air Force Indiana Iowa State Lock Haven North Carolina Oregon State West Virginia

The data has been processed, the charts have been reviewed, and the evaluations are complete. The 2024 breakdown of the Top Fantasy Wrestlers of the 2024 season is here to help you start your 2025 season research. Just like in the past few years, some names are going to be expected, while a lot more may not be. That's the beauty of Fantasy Wrestling, where any wrestler can be the star of the weekend and win the dual for you. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was standard team scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or losses by medical forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season 141 Top-20 Notes: This season five wrestlers passed the 100 Fpt mark, and Wyatt Henson was one of them. He had the most matches won coming into 2024 NCAAs and was one of the D1 Tech leaders with 14 countable matches being won by the ol’ 15 pt margin. Impressively, he had a stretch where he had seven techs out of eight matches (with that lone non-tech being a FFT good for +6). National Champion Jesse Mendez came in second while national runner-up Beau Bartlett came in fourth. Sandwiched between these two was Chattanooga’s True Freshman Isaiah Powe, who only had two regular season losses (one being a loss by Pin). He also benefited from not seeing any top-ranked competition for the entire regular season as well, which helps. The champion of the EIWA, Joshua Koderhandt was eight Fpts short of fourth place, but just barely edged out Jordan Titus thanks to the one extra match wrestled. That said, Gardner-Webb’s Todd Carter wrestled 35 regular season matches, but finished one Fpt behind Titus. Finishing with 58 Fpts was AA Lachlan McNeil along with Indiana’s Danny Fongaro, but McNeil takes the #8 spot by 0.01 PPM. Fongaro had a great start to the season with only one loss through the Southern Scuffle, but once the Big Ten dual season came around, he went 4-4. Don’t call it a comeback, Anthony Echemendia was dawning a different shade of red this season and was able to All-American after a very strong regular season showing. He also grabbed the #10 spot of Top-141 lbers Two non-starters made the 141 Top-20, Carter Bailey and redshirt Koy Buesgens. Bailey moved up from 125 in his 2023 season and Buesgens being a true freshman. A year out from being the 2023 season's Top 141, Brock Hardy finds himself in 2024 just outside the top 15. The reason? Seven fewer matches wrestled and a string of three losses at CKLV amounting to -11 Fpts. Had he repeated as CKLV champ, conservatively, it would have been a 20-point swing landing him at #5. Originally slated to redshirt the year, and enjoying his time up at 149, Tom Crook found himself taking one for the team and joining the starting lineup with a cut to 141. He finishes at #19 with 42 Fpts. Who Missed The Cut: The #26 seed at NCAAs snuck his way onto the podium but fell way short of breaking into the Top-20 at 141. Vance Vombaur (MINN) tied five other wrestlers with 37 Fpts but finished at #27 due to PPM: Nathan Higley (GMU) was the best with a 2.8 PPM at #25, Sam Hillegas (WVU) with 2.2 PPM, Vombaur with 1.9 PPM, Dario Lemus (MARY) with 1.5 as a True Freshman Redshirt, and 2022 AA CJ Composto (PENN) with 1.5 PPM at #29. Speaking of tired Fpt scores and PPM, The Citadel’s Jacob Silka tied #20 Jordan Hamdan but fell short by 0.2 PPM to be #21. Two wrestlers at opposite ends of their collegiate wrestling career find themselves next on the “Just Missed List” with #22 True Freshman Sergio Lemley (MICH) and #23 six-year Senior Mitch Moore (RUT). Lemley wrestled 20 matches while Moore had only 15, but Moore was only one point behind Lemley’s 40 Fpts. Other notables include #32 Malyke Hines (LEH) with 35 Fpts, #38 Tagen Jamison (OKST) with 33 Fpts, #41 Cleveland Belton (ORST), and #42 Cole Matthews (PITT) with 41 Fpts (and 1.4 PPM to 1.3 PPM, respectively), and #47 Clay Carlson (SDSU) with 28 Pts.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan) over Mohamed El Sayed (Egypt) 9-0 Valentin Petic (Moldova) over Nestor Almanza Truyol (Chile) 4-0 Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) over Ramaz Zoidze (Georgia) 12-1 Parviz Nabisov (Ukraine) over Mate Nemes (Serbia) 3-2 Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) over Andres Montana Arroyo (Ecuador) 3-2 Mamadassa Sylla (France) over Souleyman Nasr (Tunisia) 1-1 Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Ishak Ghaiou (Algeria) 10-0 Luis Orta Sanchez (Cuba) over Kyotaro Sogabe (Japan) 8-0 Quarterfinals Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan) over Valentin Petic (Moldova) 3-1 Parviz Nabisov (Ukraine) over Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) 7-6 Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) over Mamadassa Sylla (France) 3-2 Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Luis Orta Sanchez (Cuba) 9-0 Semifinals Parviz Nabisov (Ukraine) over Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan) 3-3 Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) 10-4 Repechage Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) over Mate Nemes (Serbia) 8-0 Luis Orta Sanchez (Cuba) over Ishak Ghaiou (Algeria) 9-0 Bronze Medal Matches Hasrat Jafarov (Azerbaijan) over Amantur Ismailov (Kyrgyzstan) 8-0 Luis Orta Sanchez (Cuba) over Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) 7-0 Gold Medal Match Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (Iran) over Parviz Nabisov (Ukraine) 6-5 Notes: In his first Senior World-level tournament, 21-year-old Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi claimed the Olympic gold medal. Esmaeili Leivesi was the youngest Greco-Roman gold medalist in 2024. This is the second straight Olympics with an Iranian champion at 67 kg. In 2020, Mohammadreza Geraei captured the gold. Esmaeili Leivesi’s most surprising win came in the quarterfinals over 2020 Olympic gold medalist (60 kg) and 2023 world champion Luis Orta Sanchez (Cuba). Earlier this year, Orta Sanchez defeated him at the Hungarian Ranking Series event, 9-7. With Esmaeili Leivesi’s gold medal and Saravi’s at 97 kg’s, it was the first time since 2012 that Iran had multiple Olympic champions (in 2012 they had three). Parviz Nasibov is now a two-time Olympic silver medalist. Nasibov has medaled at both Olympic events he’s entered yet never medaled at the World Championships - in four tries. There were no easy matches for Nasibov, who won a pair of one-point matches and another decided on criteria to make the finals - before losing by a single point in the gold medal match. Orta Sanchez is now a two-time Olympic medalist and three-time World/Olympic medal winner. Orta Sanchez was the third Cuban to get on the medal stand for Greco this Olympic games, making it the second time in three Olympics that Cuba had three. Hasrat Jafrarov claimed his first Olympic medal. He now has three World/Olympic medals at the Senior level. The first round at this weight class saw an Olympic silver medalist (Nasibov) square off against a 2022 world champion (Mate Nemes). Nemes along with Ramaz Zoidze (Georgia) are past world medalists who lost in the first round. Nemes was the only seeded wrestler to fall in the opening round. He was the #4 seed. Mamadassa Sylla was the only qualifier for the host country and therefore responsible for France’s only win in Greco.

This weekend the first-ever Craig Jones Invitational will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The two weight class winners of the submission grappling event will take home $1 million in prize money. Scattered throughout those two brackets are some names that will be rather recognizable to wrestling fans: Jason Nolf, Pat Downey, and Greg Kerkvliet. Outside of those names, the event is likely to raise some questions for those who do not follow grappling. What exactly is this event? How did it come about? What are the rules? How can I watch it? What chance do the wrestlers have? The following attempts to answer those questions. Event background Since its inaugural event in 1998, the pinnacle of no-gi grappling has been the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championship more commonly known as ADCC. Winners of the event are often considered the best in the grappling world and some have used the event as a launching point for decorated MMA careers. Craig Jones, the founder of the Craig Jones Invitational, is a two-time ADCC medalist. He took second in the under 88 kg division in 2019 and returned in 2022 to score another silver medal, this time in the under 99 kg weight class. Per the ADCC website, the top four placers in the five men’s weight classes are rewarded with the following prize money: $10,000 for first, $5,000 for second, $3,000 for third, and $1,000 for fourth. Jones scoffed at what he considered paltry prizes and decided to launch his own event. Perhaps out of spite, it will take place on the same weekend, and in the same city, as this year’s ADCC. Reportedly, all 32 entries in the CJI, 16 in the under 80 kg division and 16 in the over 80 kg division, will receive $10,001 for simply appearing, while the champions will each take home $1 million. The event will stream live and free on YouTube. Day one starts Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET, and continues Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET. Rules For those not familiar with competitive submission grappling, the rules can vary drastically from one event to another. This event will certainly continue that trend with the implementation of an entirely new set of rules. Tournament bouts prior to the finals will be scheduled for three five-minute rounds, and the finals of each division will be five five-minute rounds. Unlike most grappling competitions, the bouts will be scored on the 10-point must system, which is used in MMA and boxing. The winner of each round will receive 10 points, while the loser will receive nine or fewer based on the level of domination. The judges will use the following criteria, in order, to determine a round winner: initiating action, close submissions, dynamic action, and positional control/dominant control. The full rules document is available here. It is difficult to predict how the new rules will help or hurt the chances of wrestlers with limited submission grappling experience since this will be the first tournament conducted under the regulations. InterMat spoke with combat sports journalist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Raphael Garcia on how this new and innovative ruleset could impact the wrestling-based entrants. “Expert wrestlers may come into CJI with high-level skills in that specific area, but the CJI rules immediately put them at a disadvantage,” Garcia said. “The lack of opportunity to run up the score by taking your opponent down immediately puts you in the wheelhouse of the more experienced submission grapplers and puts you in a position where the danger is most prevalent. This tournament is filled with Jiu Jitsu players that can get off their back and into attacking positions, leaving even the best wrestler on the defensive or worse, locked into a submission they don't know how to escape.” First Round Matches Jason Nolf (+700) vs. Tye Ryotolo (-1000) In the first round of the under 80 kg division, Nolf will take on perhaps the tournament favorite in Tye Ruotolo. Back in June, Nolf made his grappling debut against former NAIA All-American Andrew Simmons. The former Penn State wrestler scored an early takedown and eventually worked his way into a match-ending arm-triangle choke. While that was a solid dip into the pond, he will be jumping into the deep end at CJI. Ruotolo is only 21 years old, but he has already put together an extensive resume highlighted by a bronze medal-winning performance at the 2022 edition of ADCC. He is also the current ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling world champion. Pat Downey (+220) vs. Luke Rockhold (-280) In the over 80 kg division, Downey has drawn one of the most recognizable names in the field. The former Iowa State wrestler will face off against former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. While Rockhold did come up as a grappler, he has been away from the sport for quite some time. He left the UFC in 2022 after three straight losses. Since then, he has dropped a bare-knuckle boxing match against Mike Perry and won a Karate Combat fight over kickboxer Joe Schilling. Daniel Kerkvliet (+350) vs. Fellipe Andrew (-450) In his grappling debut, Kerkvliet will face off against the 2023 IBJJF world champion Fellipe Andrew. The IBJJF, which stands for International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, world event is considered the pinnacle of GI grappling. Andrew won the tournament in the under 94 kg division and followed that up with another victory at the 2024 Pan American Championships. Since losing to Rayron Gracie earlier this year, Andrew has gone on a 12-match winning streak that includes a submission victory over Anderson Munis less than 20 days ago. All odds courtesy of BetOnline.AG. Raphael Garcia is on Twitter (X) at @RGarcia_Sports.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Vinesh Phogat (India) over Yui Susaki (Japan) 3-2 Oksana Livach (Ukraine) over Aktenge Keunimajeva (Uzbekistan) 10-0 Gabija Dilyte (Lithuania) over Alisson Cardozo Rey (Colombia) Fall 4:14 Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) over Evin Demirhan (Turkiye) 7-6 Ziqi Feng (China) over Nada Mohamed (Egypt) Fall 4:16 Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) over Ibtissem Doudou (Algeria) 10-0 Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan) over Anastasia Blayvas (Germany) 6-2 Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia) over Emanuela Liuzzi (Italy) FFT Quarterfinals Vinesh Phogat (India) over Oksana Livach (Ukraine) 7-5 Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) over Gabija Dilyte (Lithuania) 10-0 Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) over Ziqi Feng (China) 7-4 Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia) over Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan) 4-4 Semifinals Vinesh Phogat (India) over Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) 5-0 Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) over Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia) 5-0 Repechage Ziqi Feng (China) over Ibtissem Doudou (Algeria) 10-0 Bronze Medal Matches Ziqi Feng (China) over Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia) 6-4 Yui Susaki (Japan) over Oksana Livach (Ukraine) 10-0 Gold Medal Match Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) over Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) 3-0 Notes: Of course, we had the unusual and unique situation where Vinesh Phogat did not make weight and wasn’t able to claim the silver medal. Based on UWW policies, Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, the opponent Phogat defeated in the semifinals advanced to face Hildebrandt. In previous (and future) weight classes, we’ve looked at some of the unusual happenings related to that respective class. This takes the cake, but we’ll proceed as planned. Sarah Hildebrandt’s win made her American’s fourth-ever Olympic gold medalist in women’s freestyle. Hildebrandt’s win gave the United States two women’s gold medalists (with Amit Elor) for the first time in one Olympic Games. With her gold medal, Hildebrandt is now a two-time Olympic medalist and a six-time World/Olympic medalist. Even with six World/Olympic medals, this is the first gold for Hildebrandt. The gold medal matchup between Hildebrandt and Guzman Lopez was the first Olympic gold medal between two Pan-American wrestlers since women’s wrestling was introduced in 2004. Hildebrandt made the Olympic finals after defeating Otgonjargal Dolgorjav, the opponent who beat her in the semifinals of the last two world tournaments. Hildebrandt is the first non-Japanese wrestler to win a gold medal at the lowest women’s weight since Carol Huynh (Canada) won the 48 kg weight class in 2008. Each of the semifinals at this weight ended by identical 5-0 scores. Guzman Lopez’s medal was the first-ever for Cuba in women’s freestyle. Phogat’s first round upset of Susaki was the first blemish on an 82-0 international record for the Japanese star. Phogat versus Susaki was the only first round matchup between past World medalists. Susaki is now a two-time Olympic medalist and a six-time World/Olympic medal winner. This is the first time since 2019 that a wrestler who is not Japanese has won the 50 kg weight class at the Olympics or World Championships. That 2019 champion was Mariya Stadnik of Azerbaijan. Susaki and Hildebrandt are the two wrestlers that made the medal stand in 2020 and 2024. Stadnik came into this tournament as a four-time Olympic medalist; however, she was unable to make it a fifth time in 2024. Had Phogat made weight on day two, she would have become India’s first Olympic finalist and gold/silver medalist in women’s freestyle. Three of the eight seeded wrestlers in this bracket were defeated in the first round. #1 Susaki, #4 Evin Demirhan, #5 Alisson Cardozo Rey. Three of the four quarterfinal matchups included battles between past world medalists. The only one that didn’t was the bout between Guzman Lopez and Dilyte. For the second consecutive Olympic Games, Oksana Livach came up one match shy of earning a medal. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

It’s officially schedule-release season! Today, Virginia Tech released their schedule for the 2024-25 season and it’s an impressive one. Out-of-conference duals with three teams that could be in the preseason top ten, the toughest tournament in the country, plus the ACC schedule which seems more competitive by the year. Here’s the Hokies schedule for 2024-25 along with what to look for in each event. November 1st: vs Chattanooga @ Roanoke College (Salem, Virginia) Roanoke College is led by ex-Virginia Tech assistant Nate Yetzer and these programs have collaborated in conjunction with each other before, so it’s no surprise to see the Hokies host a dual meet at this location. One of the Mocs best wrestlers is 133 lber Blake Boarman. This works out well as it should be the debut of Connor McGonagle in a Virginia Tech singlet and he’ll have a quality opponent for the dual. Salem is only about 30 minutes away from Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, so expect a very partisan Virginia Tech crowd even with the dual off-campus. November 2nd: Southeast Open (Salem, Virginia) A staple of the Virginia Tech schedule is the Southeast Open. This is another event hosted by Roanoke College, the day after the Hokies dual with Chattanooga. The tournament typically features teams from around the state and region, along with a few others mixed in. Columbia and Ohio have come in the past. November 9th: Mountaineer Invitational (Boone, North Carolina) Appalachian State hosts a small, one-day bracketed tournament which is an opportunity to get some quality matches in against of one the SoCon’s best teams and others from around the region. November 15th: Missouri (Home) Now we’re rolling! Missouri should have some new faces and may not be quite the dual meet matchup as in past years. That being said, you can bet whoever head coach Brian Smith sends out will be very competitive. A potential marquee matchup would be at 174 lbs with two-time national champion Keegan O’Toole, who’s slated to move up from 165, and Columbia transfer Lennox Wolak. Wolak was an EIWA champion and NCAA sixth-place finisher in 2024. Also on the slate, are four-time All-American Rocky Elam and whoever the Hokies send out at 197 lbs, Andy Smith or Sonny Sasso. Other intriguing bouts include Noah Surtin/Eddie Ventresca at 125, Joshua Edmond/Sam Latona at 141, and Colton Hawks/TJ Stewart at 184. Whenever these teams meet, it tends to be a memorable dual. November 22nd: Rutgers (Home) Last year, Virginia Tech traveled to Rutgers for an excellent early-season non-conference dual and now Rutgers returns the favor. The Scarlet Knights could send out a lineup that includes as many as five past All-Americans. The Hokies have four themselves. What about matchups like Dean Peterson/Ventresca, Dylan Shawver/McGonagle, Joey Olivieri/Latona, Jackson Turley/Wolak, Brian Soldano/Stewart, John Poznanski/Smith/Sasso, and Yaraslau Slavikouski/Hunter Catka/Jim Mullen. At the time of this dual, expect both teams to be ranked in the top-15, if not the top-ten. November 24th: Keystone Classic: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania A few days after a tough dual with Rutgers, the Hokies head north to the Keystone Classic. The event is hosted by Penn, who has been a very solid dual team, as of late. Wolak could renew acquaintances with former EIWA/Ivy rival Nick Incontrera at 174. Penn appears to be strongest down low, which matches up with Virginia Tech, who is good just about everywhere. This event typically has a lot of EIWA/Ivy League flair, so expect Virginia Tech to hit some quality competition from that conference. The Classic is a one-day bracketed individual tournament. December 6/7th - Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational It’s the big one! Last season’s edition of the CKLV was one of the toughest regular-season tournaments in the previous decade. The tournament is always tough, but 2023 was even better than usual. That being said, it may have been deemed “too tough” for some programs and they won’t want such a test in December. In 2023, the Hokies put four wrestlers on the medal stand - led by the eventual national champion, Caleb Henson, who was a finalist. They’ll return two other medalists from 2023 (Sam Fisher/Sonny Sasso), plus three others who have placed in the past (Sam Latona/Tom Crook/Andy Smith). Virginia Tech appears to be in excellent shape as a dual and tournament team. Vegas will test the tournament aspect like no other event. December 19th - Oklahoma State: Stillwater, Oklahoma There’s very little downtime to lick the wounds after a tough test in Vegas. The Hokies will have another by heading out to Stillwater to take on first-year head coach David Taylor and the Cowboys. It remains to be seen how Oklahoma State’s lineup will shake out in some places, but a handful of transfers have made Taylor’s first team a trophy contender in year one. The marquee matchup could take place at 184 lbs with Stewart taking on NCAA runner-up Dustin Plott. Although both were All-Americans, they did not meet in 2023-24. Another transfer, Dean Hamiti is expected to go up in weight to 174 lbs, giving Wolak another high-profile opponent. If the dual comes down to heavyweight, the Cowboys have an ace-in-the-hold with bonus-point machine Wyatt Hendrickson. Hendrickson was a two-time All-American for Air Force and a national title contender. He’d likely have either returning starter Hunter Catka or redshirt freshman Jimmy Mullen. January 4th/5th - Southern Scuffle: Chattanooga, Tennessee The news here is that the Scuffle has moved dates. For a while, they’ve held this tournament on January 1st and 2nd. Coaches didn’t love that New Year’s Day date and the tournament had lost elite teams in recent years. With a new date, and a team like Virginia Tech locked in, could it be a sign of an improved field in 2025? January 10th - North Carolina: Chapel Hill, North Carolina The Hokies open up their conference slate by taking on a UNC team that should be much improved during year two of the Rob Koll-era. The marquee matchup comes at 149 lbs as UNC’s two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil is moving up and will face the returning champion in Henson. These two could meet three or four times throughout the year. 184 also has a battle of All-Americans with Stewart and UNC’s Gavin Kane. January 19th - Appalachian State: Boone, North Carolina The Hokies will get another glimpse of a tough Appalachian State program as they head back to Boone for a dual. Wrestling at Appalachian State is probably one of the more underrated atmospheres in college wrestling. Their fans and JohnMark Bentley's scrappy squad will make the Hokies work for everything they get. The match of the night could take place at 165 between Tech’s Connor Brady and Will Miller of App State. Both are national qualifiers. They split matches in 2023-24 with Miller winning at the Keystone Classic and Brady returning the favor in Vegas. January 24th - Duke: Durham, North Carolina Duke has struggled to keep pace with the rest of the conference, so they should not be a threat to the Hokies. That being said, the Blue Devils did sign their best recruiting class in years. I’d expect some of them to work their way into the starting lineup and potentially cause some individual problems. January 31st - Virginia: Home In-state rival Virginia will travel to Blacksburg this year in hopes of knocking off their rivals. The Cavaliers were besieged by injuries in 2023-24 and had to scramble to fill a few weights. If they are healthy, it could be a much more competitive dual. Last year’s clash featured the breakout performance from UVA 133 lber Marlon Yarbrough. He’s no longer a secret and will make for a quality match against McGonagle. The Cavaliers also return surprise conference champion Nick Hamilton at 165 lbs. He downed Brady in the 2024 ACC finals and went on to win a pair of matches in Kansas City. February 7th-9th (TBD) - Stanford: Palo Alto, California These two schools have begun wrestling each other in recent years; however, this will be their first meeting as ACC foes. The Cardinal lineup could be an excellent one if their young wrestlers develop. They’ll have some veterans in the middle with three returning All-Americans from 149-165, Jaden Abas, Daniel Cardenas, and Hunter Garvin. Down low, Stanford features 2023 CKLV champion Nico Provo and CKLV fifth-place finisher Tyler Knox. Both have good matchups from Tech with Ventresca and McGonagle. Stanford’s 197 lber, Nick Stemmet, is a three-time national qualifier who lost to both of Virginia Tech’s 197 lb options in 2023-24. February 14th - Pitt: Home Pitt was a team that was hard to read in 2023-24. They’ll have a new look as a pair of national qualifiers have graduated; however, they still have five qualifiers and a transfer with past NCAA experience. By the time this dual rolls around, we should have a better feel on how this Pitt team will look. Expect tough matchups in the back half of this dual as four of their national qualifiers are from 174-285. February 21st - NC State: Home I love that this is the final dual of the year. That was the case last year, but in other seasons that wasn’t the case. It’s simply one of the best rivalries in college wrestling right now. Lots of animosity, mixed with some respect on both sides. And lots of talent. This entire dual could feature seven or eight great matchups. Really too many to break down in mid-August. One specific match to focus on could come at 149 lbs with Henson and Jackson Arrington. Henson took their dual meeting last season, but Arrington won at ACC’s in sudden victory. Of course, Henson got the last laugh with a national title and Arrington was eliminated in the bloodround. It should be noted that both are true juniors and have a redshirt available, but we’ll know by this time whether or not that’s in play for either/both. March 9th - ACC Championship: Durham, North Carolina It’s been a long time since Duke hosted the conference tournament. I’m glad to see them in the mix. This will be the first ACC Tournament that features Stanford, so it will be even tougher than in year’s past.

The top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, has vowed to keep fans abreast of his recruiting with daily Wednesday updates. Well, today is Wednesday and true to his word, Bassett has posted an updated graphic which has eliminated three more schools from consideration. Earlier this year, Bassett posted a graphic that contained the logos of approximately 80 schools, most of the DI variety, but some DII’s as well, to signify that he’s totally open in the recruiting process. After more than a month of removing schools from the list, he’s down to 29. These three schools were removed from this week's graphic: Bucknell, Virginia, Wyoming The following schools remain on Bassett’s graphic and therefore in contention for his services: Air Force, American, Arizona State, Clarion, Cornell, Iowa, Iowa State, Lehigh, Little Rock, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Penn, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin. These three schools were removed from last week's graphic: Brown, Northern Colorado, Purdue The following schools were removed from the 8/7 graphic: California Baptist, Michigan State, Navy The following schools were removed from the 7/24 graphic: Army West Point, Campbell, Edinboro, Harvard, Illinois, North Dakota State, South Dakota State The following schools were removed from the 7/17 graphic: Cal Poly, Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Millersville, The Citadel, and West Virginia The following schools were removed from the 7/10 graphic: CSU Bakersfield, George Mason, Hofstra, Northwestern, Rider, UW Parkside, West Liberty The following schools were removed from the 7/3 graphic: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Drexel, Kent State, Ohio, and St. Cloud State The following schools were removed from the 6/26 graphic: Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Northern Illinois, Sacred Heart, SIU Edwardsville As you would expect, most traditional DI power programs are still in the hunt for the two-time Super 32 and Ironman champion. Bassett recently competed at the U20 Pan-American Championships and dominated for a gold medal. In three matches, Bassett posted two falls and a tech. Bassett will also be in action later this year at the U20 World Championships - September 2nd-8th in Pontevedra, Spain. Bassett has already been selected to take part in a Who's #1 rematch with Daniel Zepeda. The event will take place close to home, at Pitt-Johnstown, on September 29th. In 2021, Bassett captured gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the U17 Pan-American Championships. That same year, at the U17 World Championships, Bassett claimed a gold medal in freestyle and was 12th in Greco. He’ll compete this year just in freestyle.

The Olympic Games have wrapped up so it’s time to dive back into the college game! Yesterday, we received a nudge in that direction with the announcement that Davidson is hiring a pair of assistant coaches. John Stutzman and Alan Clothier, formerly of the Buffalo coaching staff, will head south to bring plenty of experience to Nate Carr Jr’s team. Editor's Note: On 8/16, Bloomsburg annouced that they have hired Stutzman to fill their head coaching position. Stutzman spent 10 years leading his alma mater Buffalo. Before taking the Buffalo job, Stutzman made his mark by turning a seemingly undermanned Bloomsburg team into a nationally ranked squad that produced three All-Americans and wrestled to a 97-56-1 dual record. At Buffalo, Stutzman’s teams recorded an 89-109 record and he sent 25 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. As recently as 2018-19, Stutzman was named MAC Coach of the Year after producing six national qualifiers and two conference champions. Clothier was a four-time national qualifier who started his career at Appalachian State before ending at Northern Colorado in 2021-22. Clothier’s best season came in 2021 when he was fourth in the Big 12, the #18 seed at nationals and wrestled to a 1-2 finish in St. Louis. After wrapping up his competitive career, Clothier immediately jumped into the coaching ranks. He served as a volunteer assistant for a year at Buffalo before becoming a full-time assistant prior to the 2023-24 season. There are plenty of coaching hires that should be made public soon. Rutgers has a hire that was a badly-kept secret but not officially announced by the school. Campbell and Drexel should be ready to announce assistant coaching hires soon, as well. With the preseason rapidly approaching and the number of vacancies quickly shrinking, we may be coming to the end of the 2024 coaching carousel - that is unless we get some unexpected late movement like last year. Offseason Coaching Movement Air Force: Elroy Perkin (California Baptist Assistant Coach) Appalachian State: Paul Bianchi (Minnesota State Assistant Coach) Appalachian State: Max Maylor (Wisconsin athlete) Army West Point: Taylor LaMont (USAW athlete) Binghamton: Louie DePrez - Assistant Coach (Binghamton athlete) Binghamton: Sam Schuyler - Assistant Coach (Iowa State Graduate Assistant) Brown: Micky Phillippi - Assistant Coach (Brown Director of Ops) Bucknell: Dan Neff - Assistant Coach (Navy Assistant Coach) Buffalo: Donnie Vinson - Head Coach (Cornell Associate Head Coach) Buffalo: Andrew Dunn - Assistant Coach (North Carolina Director of Operations) Buffalo: Hunter Richard - Assistant Coach (Appalachian State Assistant Coach) Campbell: TJ Dudley - Assistant Coach (Brown Assistant Coach) Central Michigan: Ben Bennett (Central Michigan Associate Head Coach) Columbia: Donny Pritzlaff (Rutgers Associate Head Coach) Cornell: Scottie Boykin (Air Force Assistant Coach) Cornell: David McFadden (Drexel Assistant Coach) Davidson: Alan Clothier - Assistant Coach (Buffalo Assistant Coach) Davidson: John Stutzman - Associate Head Coach (Buffalo Head Coach) Edinboro: AJ Schopp - Head Assistant Coach (Purdue Assistant Coach) Gardner-Webb: Keaton Kluever - Assistant Coach (Hofstra athlete) George Mason: Dean Heil - Head Assistant Coach Hofstra: Jamie Franco - Head Coach (Columbia Assistant Coach) Lock Haven: Gavin Hoffman - Volunteer Assistant (Ohio State athlete) Maryland: Ethan Laird - Assistant Coach (DMV RTC athlete) Navy: Barry Davis - Assistant Coach Navy: Ty Eustice - Assistant Coach (Davidson Assistant Coach) NC State: Zack Esposito - Associate Head Coach (USOPTC) North Dakota State: Matt Malcom - Assistant Coach (Bellevue East HS) North Dakota State: Scott Mattingly - Head Assistant Coach (Gardner-Webb Associate Head Coach) Northern Illinois: McGwire Midkiff - Assistant Coach Oklahoma State: David Taylor - Head Coach (NLWC Athlete) Oklahoma State: Thomas Gilman - Assistant Coach (NLWC Athlete) Oklahoma State: Jimmy Kennedy - Associate Head Coach (Penn State Assistant Coach) Penn: Matt Valenti - Associate Head Coach (Penn athletic administration) Penn: Doug Zapf - Assistant Coach (PRTC athlete) Penn State: Nick Lee - Assistant Coach (NLWC athlete) Pittsburgh: Lou Rosselli - Assistant Coach Princeton: Anthony Ashnault - Assistant Coach (NYC RTC athlete) Princeton: Cody Brewer - Head Assistant Coach (Virginia Tech Assistant Coach) Princeton: Nate Jackson (NJ RTC athlete) SIU Edwardsville: Austin Murphy - Graduate Assistant (Campbell athlete) Stanford: Hayden Hidlay (North Dakota State Assistant Coach) Utah Valley: Adam Hall - Head Coach (NC State Associate Head Coach) Utah Valley: Andrew Hochstrasser - Assistant Coach (Utah Club Coach) Utah Valley: Joey Lavallee - Assistant Coach (LWVC RTC athlete) Utah Valley: Timmy McCall - Assistant Coach Virginia Tech: Zach Tanelli - Associate Head Coach (Columbia Head Coach) Wisconsin: Tony Cassioppi - Assistant Coach (HWC athlete) Non-Coaching Roles Maryland: Cole Matthews - Special Assistant to the Head Coach Navy: Ben Barton - Director of Operations North Carolina: Vincenzo Joseph - Recruiting Coordinator (SKWC Athlete) Oklahoma: Mark Hall - Director of Operations (Penn Assistant Coach) Oklahoma State: Bryan Pearsall - Recruiting Coordinator (Penn Associate Head Coach) RTC’s and Wrestling Clubs Navy WC: Peyton Walsh Ohio RTC: Kollin Moore (Ohio RTC Athlete) Ohio RTC: Coleman Scott (Oklahoma State Associate Head Coac) Current Openings Bloomsburg: Head Coach California Baptist: Assistant Coach Campbell: Assistant Coach Central Michigan: Assistant Coach Columbia: Assistant Coach Drexel: Assistant Coach (x2) George Mason: Assistant Coach Oregon State: Director of Operations Penn: Assistant Coach Purdue: Assistant Coach

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) over Seungjun Kim (South Korea) 9-0 Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan) over Kevin Mejia Castillo (Honduras) 5-2 Arvi Savolanien (Finland) over Fadi Rouabah (Algeria) 4-0 Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba) over Lucas Lazogianis (Germany) 7-5 Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Joe Rau (USA) 10-1 Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan) over Mindaugas Venckaitis (Lithuania) 5-1 Mohamed Gabr (Egypt) over Mihail Kajaia (Serbia) 6-1 Abubakar Khaslakhanau (AIN - Belarus) over Roberti Kobliashvili (Georgia) 9-1 Quarterfinals Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) over Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan) 9-5 Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba) over Arvi Savolanien (Finland) 5-2 Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan) 8-0 Mohamed Gabr (Egypt) over Abubakar Khaslakhanau (AIN - Belarus) 4-1 Semifinals Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) over Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba) 5-3 Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Mohamed Gabr (Egypt) 6-0 Repechage Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan) over Joe Rau (USA) 9-4 Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan) over Seungjun Kim (South Korea) 8-2 Bronze Medal Matches Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan) over Mohamed Gabr (Egypt) 2-1 Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba) over Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan) InjuryDefault Gold Medal Match Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) over Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) 4-1 Notes: Mohammadhadi Saravi’s gold medal gives him two career Olympic medals to go along with a 2021 world title and two world bronze medals. In his three matches, prior to the finals, Saravi only surrendered one point and scored 24. The one point was from American Joe Rau. Saravi and his finals opponent, Artur Aleksanyan, are the only holdovers from the 2020 Olympic podium. Aleksanyan took silver in Tokyo and Saravi got bronze. At the 2020 Olympics, Aleksanyan defeated Saravi in the semifinals. Aleksanyan also beat Saravi in the 2022 World semifinals. Aleksanyan made history by becoming only the 11th wrestler to earn medals in at least four different Olympic Games. The man they call “The White Bear” (Aleksanyan) now has 11 World/Olympic medals. Four world titles to go along with his 2016 Olympic gold medal. Only one of those medals is bronze. Aleksanyan is Armenia’s most decorated Olympian (in any sport) and the only one with more than two career medals. The semifinals featured a 2023 World Championship finals rematch between Aleksanyan and Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba). The Armenian won this round, 5-3, while the Cuban won the 2023 world title. Rosillo Kindelan is now a two-time World/Olympic medalist with his bronze medal in Paris. Each of the top-five seeds as this weight won in the opening round, while seeds six-through-eight all lost. Uzur Dzhuzupbekov is the only medalist from the Olympic Games that was not on the 2023 world medal stand. The only past world medalist that suffered a first-round loss in this bracket was Roberti Kobliashvili (Georgia). He medaled at 85 and 87 kg and was in his first world-level tournament at this weight class. Arvi Savolainen was responsible for Finland’s only wrestling win in any style at the 2024 Olympic Games. After Aleksanyan, the only wrestler in this bracket to appear in three different Olympic Games is Uzbekistan’s Rustam Assakalov. Assakalov was eighth in Rio and Tokyo and fell one match shy of his elusive Olympic medal in Paris.

With the Olympics finished, our guys got together to wrap-up the action from Paris. They hit on individual performances, the expectations versus results, the future and much more:

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Nao Kusaka (Japan) over Abd Ouakali (Algeria) 9-0 Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan) over Mahmoud Abdelrahman (Egypt) 9-0 Amin Kaviyaninejad (Iran) over Yosvanys Pena Flores (Cuba) 1-1 Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) over Jonni Sarkkinen (Finland) 8-0 Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) over Kamal Bey (USA) 4-1 Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan) over Jair Cuero Munoz (Colombia) 9-0 Zoltan Levai (Hungary) over Burhan Akbudak (Turkey) 2-1 Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) over Aik Mnatsakanian (Bulgaria) 2-0 Quarterfinals Nao Kusaka (Japan) over Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan) 12-2 Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) over Amin Kaviyaninejad (Iran) 3-0 Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan) over Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) 3-1 Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) over Zoltan Levai (Hungary) 1-1 Semifinals Nao Kusaka (Japan) over Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) 3-1 Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan) over Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) 6-1 Repechage Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) over Jair Cuero Munoz (Colombia) 9-0 Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan) over Abd Ouakali (Algeria) 9-0 Bronze Medal Matches Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) over Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan) 6-5 Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) over Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) 6-5 Gold Medal Match Nao Kusaka (Japan) over Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan) 5-2 Notes: With Fumita already winning a gold medal at 60 kg, Nao Kusaka made it two for Japan in Greco-Roman. The last time Japan had multiple Olympic gold medalists in Greco? How about the Tokyo Games….of 1964. Tsutomu Hanahara (52 kg) and Masamitu Ichiguchi (57 kg) were those gold medalists. Kusaka is now a two-time World/Olympic medalist - he was a bronze medalist at World’s in 2023. Kusaka’s path to gold featured wins over three past world finalists (Vardanyan, Amoyan, Zhadrayev). Silver medalist Demeu Zhadrayev got on the medal stand for the second time in his career at a World/Olympic level event. He was a world silver medalist in 2017…..in Paris. Zhadrayev’s only loss at the 2020 Olympic Games also came to an opponent from Japan - Shohei Yabiku in the opening round. Zhadrayev’s medal is the first for Kazakhstan in Greco at the Olympics since Daniyal Gadzhiyev was a bronze medalist at 84 kg in 2012 in London. Bronze medalist Akzhol Makhmudov claimed his second Olympic medal (silver in 2020) to go along with a pair of world titles. Makhmudov and Kyrgyzstan’s 97 kg representative, Uzur Dhuzupbekov, both finished with bronze medals. It marks the first time that two Kyrgystani Greco wrestlers have medaled in the same Olympics. Coming into this Olympic Games, Kyrgyzstan had only captured three Olympic medals in Greco in their existence. Bronze medalist Malkhas Amoyan earned his first Olympic medal. He now has four World/Olympic medals - a world title in 2021 at 72 kg and back-to-back bronzes at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. Expect to see most of the members from the podium in the medal hunt for the future. Kusaka is 23, while Makhmudov and Amoyan are both 25. Zhadrayev is the outlier at 34. This weight class had two first round matches that pitted past world/Olympic medalist against each other. Zoltan Levai/Burhan Akbudak and Sanan Suleymanov/Aik Mnatsakanian. The first-round matchup between Makhmudov and American Kamal Bey was a rematch of the 2017 Junior World final won by Bey. The pair met the following year at the same tournament and Makhmudov returned the favor in a bronze medal match. This bracket was relatively green in terms of Olympic experience. There was no one in the group that had more than two Olympic appearances. 10 of the 16 wrestlers were making their Olympic debuts.

After winning a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games, Gable Steveson famously left collegiate eligibility on the table in order to launch a professional wrestling career in the scripted world of the WWE. However, the experiment came to an end this past May when the WWE released him from his contract. The timing could not have been worse as the release came less than 15 days after the U.S. Olympic Trials, which prevented Steveson from making another run at gold. Shortly after his release, Steveson started alluding to a potential career in professional football on his social media, and on May 31 he signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills despite never previously playing football. This past Saturday he made his professional debut in the Bills’ 33-6 loss to the Chicago Bears. Per Pro Football Focus (PFF), the former Minnesota wrestler played nine snaps on defense and also saw the field for an additional five snaps on special teams. Following the game, Steveson spoke with SI.com about his first taste of football action. “My first football game ever, definitely a great time,” Steveson told reporters after the game. “Definitely cool to see all the Buffalo Bills fans come out, not the way we want it to end, but it’s preseason and we’re here to grow and we’re here to get better." Steveson also spoke with the Bills’ website about his performance. "Just learning, learning how to play in front of big crowds," he said. "Learning how to see different formations. Chicago brought a new thing that I wasn't used to, so just go out there and then stick to what I know best and that's technique and gap integrity and just fundamentals at the best, so I feel like I did a good job of that. But like you said, there's always room to grow, and we're just at the bottom of the barrel right now, we gotta get to the top." At this point, it still seems like Steveson is still a long shot to make the final Bills 53-man roster. However, the question is, how did this performance improve his chances? It can be difficult to evaluate a player’s performance based only on nine snaps on defense and five snaps of special teams. InterMat is also obviously a wrestling website, and therefore football is decidedly outside of our bailiwick (Author’s note: my fantasy football career is definitive proof of a lack of useful football knowledge). InterMat asked Joe Rozell, who is the Director of Scouting for TEST and a scout for the East-West Shrine Bowl postseason college football all-star game to evaluate Steveson’s performance against the Bears. “Balanced and noticeable trunk/core strength and extremely active hands,” Rozell said. “Sudden mover and can wash through traffic well. Very limited in length but stout. Peeks in the backfield a lot. Will struggle against heavy duo/power gap. Best used as a primarily one gap mover and pass rush/late down piece. Background in wrestling shows in his balance upon contact and violent hip redirection that ties with his hands without being segmented in movement. Promising as a developmental player but I wonder if the limited size will cap his development.” PFF was much less positive in their evaluation. The site uses a 0-to-100 scale to evaluate player performance. In their system, Steveson earned a 33.5 overall game score, which was the second lowest on the Bills. He did score much better evaluating his pass-rushing ability, where he earned a 67 score. Steveson’s next chance to make an impression comes Saturday night as the Bills head to Pittsburgh for a game against the Steelers. The game will air live on NFL Network at 7:00 PM EST. For more information on Rozell and TEST visit testsportsclub.com. He is also on Twitter (X) at @CoachJoeRozell.

The 2024 Olympics wrapped up this past Sunday. Across all three styles, Team USA is bringing home two gold medals and seven total medals. There were several highs and some lows. The following takes a look back at the team’s performance from a statistical perspective. Match Points by Style Team USA finished with two gold medals and four overall medals in women’s freestyle, which was the best haul for the team across all three styles. The team collectively scored 124 points, while only allowing their opponents to score 58. Of the 124 points scored by the team, 68 kg gold medalist Amit Elor was the biggest individual contributor with 31 points scored. Of the 124 points scored by the women’s freestyle team, 77 came via takedowns with another 26 coming off exposures. Defensively, the team was particularly strong in terms of par terre defense. Of the 58 points allowed, only eight came via exposures. The vast majority of points scored against the women’s freestyle team came via takedowns (42). In terms of offense, the men’s freestyle team was not far behind scoring 121 points in the tournament. Of those 121 points, 71 were scored via takedowns with another 32 coming off exposures. However, the squad was not able to match the women’s team from a defensive standpoint. The team allowed 76 points, which was the most surrendered by Team USA across all three styles. 34 points against the men’s freestyle team were scored with takedowns and another 22 were added by exposures. Interestingly enough, the team also allowed 12 step-out points, which is usually a strong point for the squad. It was another disappointing tournament for Team USA in Greco. The American boys who do not grab legs, lost all five of their matches and were outscored 36 to seven. The squad did not score a takedown or a turn across those five matches. The seven points scored consisted of three passive calls, two step-outs, and one two-point caution. Defensively, the Greco team allowed 16 points on turns and another 10 points via takedowns. Most Match Points Kyle Dake almost certainly would have preferred to come home with a gold medal, but he can likely take solace in his bronze medal-winning performance and the fact that he was the highest-scoring wrestler for Team USA. After blitzing his first two opponents, Anthony Montero (Venezuela) and Younes Emami (Iran), by a combined score of 21 to 1 Dake came up short against Daichi Takatani (Japan) in the semifinals. Even in the defeat, his offensive ability was still on display as he put 12 points on the board. In the bronze medal match, Dake trailed by a 4-1 score but exploded for nine points in the final seconds for the medal-winning victory. His 43 points scored across four matches was the most for Team USA across all three styles. Spencer Lee, who won silver at 57 kg, and women’s freestyle gold medalist Amit Elor (68 kg) both finished with 31 points, which was the second most scored. Head-to-head against unofficial champions With many Russian athletes banned from competing in the Olympics, many expected the U.S. to step forward and have a historic event. In the end, one team did have an unusually strong performance, but it was not Team USA. Japan has dominated women’s wrestling for decades, but this year their men’s freestyle team also contributed two golds and a silver while the Greco team also added two golds. All told, Japan finished with 11 medals, which was the most of any country. Japan, as a country, only won 45 medals across all sports, which means the wrestling squad was responsible for nearly 25% of the medals won by the country. At the 2024 Olympics, Team USA came head-to-head against Japan in six matches, and Japan prevailed in five of those contests. The only member of the team who bested a Japanese opponent was Aaron Brooks, who scored an 11-1 victory over Hayato Ishiguro in the quarterfinals at 86 kg. Across those six matches, Team USA was outscored 44 to 30. Removing Brooks’ one victory and the edge for Japan increases to 43 to 19. Medal performance by Games This was the first Olympic Games since 1968 where the U.S. participated and failed to secure a gold medal in men’s freestyle. While that fact he has been getting a lot of attention and headlines, it might not be the best way to evaluate the performance of the team. Despite the lack of gold, the men’s freestyle team still medaled in half of the available weight classes. Since the introduction of women’s wrestling in 2004, the men’s freestyle team has only beaten that percentage twice, in 2012 and the 2020 Games. The advent of the double bronze has made it seemingly easier to bring home a medal, but the number of available weights has also declined.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Round of 16 Amit Elor (USA) over Buse Tosun (Turkey) 10-2 Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) over Feng Zhou (China) 10-3 Nisha Dahiya (India) over Tetiana Sova-Rizhko (Ukraine) 6-4 Sol Gum Pak (North Korea) over Irina Ringaci (Moldova) 10-6 Koumba Larroque (France) over Tayla Ford (New Zealand) 6-0 Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria) over Linda Morais (Canada) 8-2 Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) over Soleymi Caraballo (Venezuela) 10-0 Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) over Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia) 8-3 Quarterfinals Amit Elor (USA) over Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) 8-0 Sol Gum Pak (North Korea) over Nisha Dahiya (India) 10-8 Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria) over Koumba Larroque (France) 6-2 Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) over Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) 8-6 Semifinals Amit Elor (USA) over Sol Gum Pak (North Korea) 10-0 Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) over Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria) 3-1 Repechage Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) over Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia) 6-0 Buse Tosun (Turkey) over Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) 4-3 Bronze Medal Matches Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) over Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria) 3-0 Buse Tosun (Turkey) over Sol Gum Pak (North Korea) 4-2 Gold Medal Matches Amit Elor (USA) over Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) 3-0 Notes: With the win, Amit Elor became America's youngest Olympic gold medalist (20 and 7 months), beating Kyle Snyder by two months. Elor is currently riding an undefeated streak that dates back to the U17 world semifinals in 2019. For the second straight Olympic Games, an American has won the 68 kg weight class - as Tamyra Mensah-Stock won it in 2020. At the time, Elor was the third American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. Elor’s gold medal gives her nine World/Olympic gold medals across four age groups. It’s her third at the Senior level. Silver medalist Meerim Zhumanazarova captured her second Olympic medal. She was a bronze medalist in 2020 and the only woman from that awards stand to make it again in 2024. Kyrgyzstan is still searching for their first Olympic gold medal (in any sport). For the second Olympic Games in a role a women’s freestyler from Kyrgyzstan fell in the finals. Zhumanazarov became the first Kyrgyzstani woman to win multiple Olympic medals (another would follow) in wrestling. She is now a three-time World/Olympic medalist. Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki is a four-time World/Olympic medalist after her bronze medal-winning performance. Ozaki’s four medals have come at three different weights (62, 65, 68). Bronze medalist Buse Tosun (Turkiye) is also now a four-time World/Olympic medalist. Tosun was one of only four Olympic medalists from Europe in women’s wrestling in 2024. The opening round of competition saw a pair of past world champions go down with Tosun and Irina Ringaci losing. Tosun fell to Elor in a rare first round matchup between returning world champs. For the second straight Olympic Games, the American representative drew a world champion in the first round. In 2020, Mensah-Stock was paired with the reigning Olympic gold medalist and 2017 world champion Sara Dosho (Japan). The Olympic podium was relatively young with Elor (20), Zhumanazarov (24), Ozaki (21), and Tosun (28). 2020 Olympic silver medalist Blessing Oborududu was not able to get back to the medal stand as she fell in a bronze medal match to Ozaki. Oborududu was the senior member of this weight class in age (35) and Olympic experience. She was the only wrestler in this bracket participating in her fourth Olympic Games. Feng Zhou was in her third. On the way to the finals, in 2020, Oborududu defeated Zhumanazarov 3-2 in the quarterfinals. This time they met in the semis and Zhumanazarova returned the favor, 3-1. Koumba Larroque’s opening round win (6-0 over Tayla Ford - New Zealand) accounted for the only victory for the host country in women’s wrestling. Five of the eight seeded wrestlers fell in the opening round - including all four on the top half of the bracket. #1 Tosun, #4 Ringaci, #5 Sova Rizko, #7 Caraballo, #8 Zhou. A prospect to watch for the future is North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak. The 18-year-old downed world champion and three-time world medalist, Irina Ringaci, in her first Olympic bout. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com