InterMat Staff

Westlake

Liberty

Only a few weeks of regular season competition remain, and many teams are making the most of remaining dates testing out lineups, getting in reps against top competitors and getting wrestles ready for intense regional and conference tournaments in the upcoming weeks. Here are some highlights from this week. Xochitl Mota-Pettis makes her collegiate debut Xochitl Mota-Pettis has a slew of international accomplishments under her belt – U.S. Senior Nationals finalist, U23 Nationals Champ, U.S. Open champ, Pan Ams Gold and Bronze. She now looks to add a few collegiate titles as well as part of the #10 Missouri Valley squad. Mota-Pettis made her Viking debut at the Grand View Open this past weekend at 131 lbs, finishing second after taking out #19 Teani Medeiros-Maielua of William Woods, Jamie Laswell of Fort Hays, Annabelle Suto of Cumberlands and Viktorya Torres of McKendree. She won her first three matches via technical fall and looked dominant in the 7-2 decision win over Torres. In the finals, she dropped the 6-3 decision to Mercy Adekuoroye of Wayland Baptist, another wrestler with international success making her college debut. Adekuoroye is a 2x African champion from Nigeria. It is unclear what Mota-Pettis’ college career will look like, but she is listed as a freshman and has not used any eligibility. Regardless of the length of her tenure, she will surely have a huge impact on the Missouri Valley squad and has become an instant front-runner at the weight. Ogunsanya and Kolawole continue to claim titles Last week, Christianah Ogunsanya and Esther Kolawole made their Statesmen debut at the Indiana Tech Open and each claimed titles for #6 William Penn. The two freshmen from Nigeria proved this weekend that it was no beginners' luck, as they each won the top spot at their weights at the Grand View Open. Ogunsanya and Kolawole both went 5-0 on the day, all from technical falls. Ogunsanya’s notable wins included Cailin Campbell of Grand View and #1 at the weight Camile Fournier of Texas Wesleyan. In the finals, Kolawole took out Haylie Jaffe of McKendree. As I mentioned last week, with these two freshman along with America Lopez and Caitlyn Davis as mid-season transfers, William Penn makes an interesting case for creating big waves at NAIA nationals this March. Inaugural Home Dual for Lehigh sparks excitement for the growing sport On Friday, Lehigh hosted their first home dual against Columbia and walked away with a 45-3 dual victory. Lehigh’s women’s wrestling club formed in 2020-21 and hired Coach Brazel Marquez in 2023. Marquez has since been helping the team work towards the goal of becoming the next NCAA Division 1 women’s wrestling team by 2026, aligned with the newly approved NCAA-sanctioned national championship. The team made headlines again when pound-for-pound #1 recruit Audrey Jimenez committed to the team for the 2024-25 season. With 25 talented wrestlers on the roster, you can keep an eye on the Mountain Hawks at their remaining competitions at the Gannon Dual on February 15, the Novice Tournament at the New York City RTC on March 29th, and at Women’s Nationals on April 4-6. North Central brings back hardware from Menlo Invitational The North Central Cardinals sent 13 wrestlers to the Menlo College Invitational and they came back with 8 first place finishes and 3 more in the finals. Madison Avila, Kendra Ryan, Sydney Petzinger, Amani Jones, Sara Sterner, Bella Mir, Brittyn Corbishley and Traeh Haynes all blazed through competition from Menlo, Southern Oregon, Simpson, Providence, and more to claim top spots for their team. Notably, at 138 lbs, two NCC wrestlers, Emma Grimm and Taylor Graveman, met in the finals of their weight class as well and defaulted. A few notable wins include #4 Kendra Ryan taking out All-American Kayla Mckinley-Johnson in the finals. #2 Sydney Petzinger had a tough opponent in the finals as well, ultimately getting the 8-3 decision over 2024 National Finalist Kaelani Shufeldt. At 180 and 207 lbs, the Cardinals were in the business of quick pins. Corbishley had a pin in 1:05 and in 23 seconds. But not to be outdone, Haynes recorded pins in 49, 19, and 12 seconds to secure her top spot. Upcoming events for next week Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all collegiate women’s competitions. Wednesday, February 5 Lindenwood vs Quincy Missouri Valley vs Central Methodist Thursday, February 6 North Central vs Aurora Friday, February 7 Life vs Campbellsville and University of the Cumberlands Indiana Tech vs Lourdes Saturday, February 8 Grand Valley State vs N. Michigan Presbyterian Tri-Dual Midland Warrior Open NCAA Division 3 Invite Indiana Tech vs Siena Heights

The top two teams in the country faced off last week in front of a tremendous crowd and it was electric. Along with one of the most highly anticipated duals of the year taking place, the Big Ten gave us an exciting weekend. Minnesota flexes on Rutgers The Gophers have a very powerful lineup. They are one of a handful of teams with every single starter being ranked and last weekend they showcased their high-level lineup when they hosted Rutgers. Gable Steveson continued his gold medal ways as he maintained his 100% bonus rate by pinning No. 8 Yaraslau Slavikouski. Additionally, young up-and-comer, Max McEnelly remains flawless on the year as well. McEnelly took out Shane Cartagena-Walsh by major decision to notch his 15th win of the season. Minnesota won seven of the 10 bouts, with one of the losses coming at 133 where Dylan Shawver took Tyler Wells with a convincing 8-2 decision. The Gophers have a big matchup with Ohio State this weekend. Fugitt gets the upset, Nebraska wins dual convincingly Wisconsin got off to a great start with wins at 125 and 133. Specifically, the win by Zan Fugitt at 133 over Jacob Van Dee was an unexpected and dominant major decision win that put the Badgers out to a 7-0 lead. But after that, the Huskers ran the table to win eight straight bouts and get the 35-7 victory. Six of the eight wins came with bonus points. Up next, Nebraska will head to Iowa for the Big Ten dual meet of the week. Buckeyes take third in a row against Wolverines The Buckeyes started strong winning the first four matches, including the much-anticipated Jesse Mendez vs Sergio Lemley battle. Lemley couldn’t compete in the dual last season, so that added to the anticipation along with both guys being from the state of Indiana and having wrestled with one another in clubs growing up. Mendez ended up getting the win, as he has done against everyone this season. Overall, Ohio State won six of the 10 matches, and more importantly four of them by bonus points, which is hard to rebound from. Michigan finished the dual with important wins at 197 and heavyweight, but the dual was locked up at 184 with Ryder Rogotzke pinning Jaden Bullock in 91 seconds. Up next for the Buckeyes is Minnesota this Friday night, and for the Wolverines things get more difficult as they travel to State College to take on the top-ranked Nittany Lions. Penn State is the best team I’ve ever seen This season I’m trying to really appreciate what we’re seeing out of Penn State. 165 was basically the best way to illustrate how last week’s dual against Iowa went. Michael Calliendo is the second-best 165-pound wrestler in the country, and he was tech falled by Mitchell Messenbrink. Iowa is the second-best team in the country, and they were dismantled by Penn State. Even going into this, the expectation was somewhere between two or three wins for Iowa, and two wins is what they came away with. Things can change, and we’ve seen guys avenge losses from the regular season in the postseason, but for the time being Penn State left no doubt on who the best team in the country is once again this season. The debate now begins where this Penn State team ranks historically amongst the other greats. Iowa rebounded after the loss with a solid win over Maryland, with a strong finish in the second half of that dual. This also included Gabe Arnold winning over Jaxon Smith at 184, a battle between two other former club partners. Penn State hosts Michigan on Friday, with Iowa hosting Nebraska on the same night. Illinois wins 8/10 against Purdue The Fighting Illini continue to show their depth as they continue their B1G schedule. Illinois winning 8/10 against Purdue is impressive, but also in the way that they did it. They were favored to win the dual, but there were four ranked matchups in this dual, with Illinois winning three of them. Purdue started strong with top-ranked Matt Ramos getting the tech fall in just over two and a half minutes. Their second win of the dual came at 157 with Joey Blaze getting the win over Jason Kraisser, narrowly missing out on the major decision. Both Braunagels claimed ranked wins at 174 and 197 over Brody Baumann and Ben Vanadia respectively. Purdue takes on Wisconsin on Friday as Illinois hosts Penn State for Senior Day on Sunday afternoon.

Bishop McCort

The most high-profile and public recruiting battle in the history of our sport came to an end this evening as the top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, announced his collegiate intentions. Bassett gave a verbal commitment to the University of Iowa live on FloWrestling after his Bishop McCort team earned a win in the PIAA AA Dual Tournament. About eight months ago, Bassett started with a graphic that included pictures of over 80 teams to signify all of the programs he was considering in the recruiting process. For the majority of that time, Bassett updated the graphic on a weekly basis eliminating seven, then three, then one school at a time, until he was down to seven. The final seven were Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. Yesterday, Bassett went on FloWrestling’s FRL to talk about the process and mentioned that his final four were Iowa, Oklahoma State, Penn State, and Virginia Tech. Earlier in the process, Bassett said he intended on committing later in the year; however, he had a change of heart and announced he was ready to announce his decision over the weekend. Bassett is expected to be a program-changing recruit who not only competes for a national title from day one, but also brings in other top recruits. One of Bassett’s current high school teammates, Owen McMullen, has already committed to the Hawkeyes. Bassett’s commitment means that Iowa will be in the driver's seat for both of his younger brothers. Melvin Miller is considered the top overall prospect in the Class of 2027 and Keegan Bassett is an excellent high school freshman. One of the benefits of Bassett announcing his commitment to Iowa earlier than he anticipated is the chance for other top recruits in the Class of 2026 to potentially follow suit. Other top-ten uncommitted juniors that have visited Iowa include the Raney twins, #6 Jordyn and #7 Jayden, along with #8 Michael Mocco. On the mat, Bassett won a Pennsylvania AA state championship at 139 lbs in 2024. It was his first opportunity to compete for a state title because of a PIAA-imposed two-year postseason ban for Bishop McCort. On the national scene, Bassett has won the Super 32, the Walsh Ironman, and the Powerade on three occasions. Next year, he could join David Taylor and Zahid Valencia as the only four-time Ironman champion. He has also been selected to appear in FloWrestling’s “Who’s #1” three times and has won on two of those occasions. Bassett has also had success outside of the United States. He was a representative on both the U17 freestyle and Greco-Roman world teams in 2021 and won gold in freestyle. Last summer, Bassett was a member of the U20 freestyle world team and came home from Pontevedra, Spain with a bronze medal at 65 kg. Bassett’s prowess on the mat along with his social media personality have led to reported NIL offers that dwarf any figures currently brought in by collegiate wrestling. We’re looking to confirm the exact amount of Bassett’s offer; however, rumors of it are in the multi-million dollar range. Bassett is the first #1 overall recruit to choose the Hawkeyes since fellow Pennsylvania native Spencer Lee did so in 2017. Coincidentally, Bassett’s first national interview was with FloWrestling in 2016 during Lee’s commitment ceremony to Iowa.

Highlights Princeton wrestles to a perfect 3-0 weekend Penn dominates two conference opponents at home Cornell wins both in-state duals against Binghamton and Columbia McGowan of Princeton earns 3 tech falls in 3 bouts Duals (2/1) Cornell 29 Binghamton 9 125 - Marcello Milani (Cornell) maj Carson Wagner (Binghamton) 10-2 133 - Micah Roes (Binghamton) dec Ethan Qureshi (Cornell) 8-5 141 - Joshua Saunders (Cornell) maj Nate Lucier (Binghamton) 13-1 149 - Ivan Garcia (Binghamton) dec Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 2-1 157 - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) tech Fin Nadeau (Binghamton) 16-1 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec Carter Baer (Binghamton) 4-0 174 - Simon Ruiz (Cornell) tech Roberto Padilla (Binghamton) 16-0 184 - Chris Foca (Cornell) tech Will Ebert (Binghamton) 16-1 197 - Mikey Dellagatta (Cornell) dec Cayden Bevis (Binghamton) 9-4 285 - Cory Day (Binghamton) dec Ashton Davis (Cornell) 3-2 Princeton 24 Drexel 13 125 - Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) maj Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) 17-2 133 - Kyle Waterman (Drexel) dec Danny Jones (Princeton) 12-6 141 - Eligh Rivera (Princeton) dec Deon Pleasant (Drexel) 13-6 149 - Ty Whalen (Princeton) dec Dom Findora (Drexel) 8-2 157 - Jacob Mann (Princeton) dec Luke Nichter (Drexel) 12-6 165 - Cody Walsh (Drexel) dec Zander Silva (Princeton) 6-3 174 - Jasiah Queen (Drexel) maj Xavier Giles (Princeton) 14-4 184 - Ethan Wilson (Drexel) dec Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) 9-7 197 - Luke Stout (Princeton) maj Ibrahim Ameer (Drexel) 9-1 285 - Sebastian Garibaldi (Princeton) fall Dom Petracci (Drexel) 3:37 (2/2) Cornell 40 Columbia 0 125 - Marcello Milani (Cornell) dec Suleyman Bah (Columbia) 4-2 133 - Ethan Qureshi (Cornell) tech Connor Smith (Columbia) 19-3 141 - Joshua Saunders (Cornell) maj Cooper Hornack (Columbia) 15-3 149 - Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) dec Kai Owen (Columbia) 10-3 157 - Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) tech Richard Fedalen (Columbia) 16-0 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) maj Cesar Alvan (Columbia) 14-5 174 - Simon Ruiz (Cornell) dec Jack McGill (Columbia) 10-8 184 - Chris Foca (Cornell) dec Nick Fine (Columbia) 8-2 197 - Mikey Dellagatta (Cornell) fall Joe Curtis (Columbia) 4:22 285 - Ashton Davis (Cornell) maj Billy McChesney (Columbia) 9-1 Princeton 36 Brown 7 125 - Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) tech Jared Brunner (Brown) 19-4 133 - Danny Jones (Princeton) FFT 141 - Eligh Rivera (Princeton) maj Ian Oswalt (Brown) 12-2 149 - Ty Whalen (Princeton) tech Austin McBurney (Brown) 19-4 157 - Blake Saito (Brown) maj Jacob Mann (Princeton) 12-0 165 - Blaine Bergey (Princeton) tech Harrison Trahan (Brown) 16-1 174 - Drew Clearie (Brown) dec Xavier Giles (Princeton) 3-0 184 - Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) maj Andrew Reall (Brown) 12-1 197 - Luke Stout (Princeton) maj Thomas Sandoval (Brown) 14-4 285 - Sebastian Garibaldi (Princeton) dec Alex Semeneko (Brown) 3-2 Penn 43 Harvard 0 125 - Max Gallagher (Penn) fall Isaiah Adams (Harvard) 4:13 133 - Ryan Miller (Penn) tech Logan Brzozowski (Harvard) 19-4 141 - CJ Composto (Penn) maj Jameson Garcia (Harvard) 15-3 149 - Cross Wasilewski (Penn) maj Jaden Pepe (Harvard) 11-2 157 - Jude Swisher (Penn) dec Nolan Leiss (Harvard) 9-3 165 - Andy Troczynski (Penn) dec Cael Berg (Harvard) 7-6 174 - Nick Incontrera (Penn) tech Alex Whitworth (Harvard) 21-4 184 - Max Hale (Penn) maj Matthew Walsh (Harvard) 11-2 197 - Nathan Taylor (Penn) dec Hudson Skove (Harvard) 4-1 285 - John Pardo (Penn) fall Jeffrey Crooks (Harvard) 1:44 Penn 37 Brown 6 125 - Max Gallagher (Penn) tech Jared Brunner (Brown) 19-4 133 - Ryan Miller (Penn) FFT 141 - CJ Composto (Penn) dec Joey Iamunno (Brown) 5-1 149 - Cross Wasilewski (Penn) fall Austin McBurney (Brown) 2:58 157 - Jude Swisher (Penn) InjDef Blake Saito (Brown) 165 - Keegan Rothrock (Brown) dec Andy Troczynski (Penn) 4-1SV 174 - Nick Incontrera (Penn) tech Drew Clearie (Brown) 20-4 184 - Max Hale (Penn) dec Andrew Reall (Brown) 4-3TB 197 - Thomas Sandoval (Brown) dec Nathan Taylor (Penn) 4-3 285 - John Pardo (Penn) dec Alex Semenenko (Brown) 5-2 Princeton 44 Harvard 0 125 - Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) tech Isaiah Adams (Harvard) 24-7 133 - Danny Jones (Princeton) dec Logan Brzozowski (Harvard) 8-1 141 - Eligh Rivera (Princeton) tech Dante Frinzi (Harvard) 21-6 149 - Ty Whalen (Princeton) tech Jaden Pepe (Harvard) 18-3 157 - Jacob Mann (Princeton) dec Nolan Leiss (Harvard) 9-7 165 - Blaine Bergey (Princeton) maj Cael Berg (Harvard) 11-2 174 - Xavier Giles (Princeton) dec Haden Bottiglieri (Harvard) 6-5 184 - Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) tech Luke Rada (Harvard) 15-0 197 - Luke Stout (Princeton) tech Hudson Skove (Harvard) 19-4 285 - Sebastian Garibaldi (Princeton) fall Jeffrey Crooks (Harvard) 1:42

Great Falls

Bismarck

Ashley Ridge

Haddon Township

Logan-Magnolia

Hoxie

Minden

Pleasanton

Holt

York

Boonsboro

Centennial

Williamsport

Lake Charles

Artesia

Comanche

Indian Valley

North Royalton