InterMat Staff

We are deep into the collegiate preseason - the first set of preseason rankings have been released. An updated set is on the way for next week and one thing you may have noticed is plenty of wrestlers who have shifted weights between the end of the 2023-24 season and now. Wrestling is unique compared to other collegiate sports because of the weight-cutting/weighing-in aspect. In football, a team can have multiple wide receivers on the field. In basketball, maybe you sub for a backup point guard. Baseball has a handful of starting pitchers and relievers. Once the wrestling postseason starts, you can only have one wrestler per weight class, so coaches and wrestlers need to plan ahead - to field the best possible postseason lineup. That aspect makes getting a potential starting lineup from a wrestling coach much more valuable than in any other sport. Is the team redshirting a good starter in hopes of building him up to a higher-weight class the following year? Did someone wrestle a higher-weight class last season because they couldn’t beat out the starter or for the good of the team? Those are the questions that get answered when you see a potential lineup. Now that we’ve received intel from many of the DI schools, we’re able to figure how who may be moving up and down. We’ve compiled a list of those wrestlers, sorted by weight class, and with some descriptors for you to follow who may be wrestling at a new weight in 2024-25. This isn’t every single wrestler who has changed weights - we’ve tried to limit it to wrestlers who were under strong consideration for the preseason rankings. 125 lbs #19 Ramazan Attasauov (Illinois) - 2022 NCAA Qualifier, Big 12 3rd Place (from 133) #31 Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) - 12-12 in 2023-24 at 133 lbs NR Kale Peterson (Iowa) - (from 133) NR Keyveon Roller (Virginia) - 6-4 in 2023-24 at 133 lbs 133 lbs #7 Drake Ayala (Iowa) - 2024 NCAA Runner-Up, Big Ten 3rd Place, 2x NCAA Qualifier (from 125) #2 (125) Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) - 2x NCAA All-American (3,4), 3x MAC Champion, 3x NCAA Qualifier (from 125) #16 (125) Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) - 3x NCAA Qualifier, Big 12 4th Place (from 125) #17 Cleveland Belton (Oklahoma) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2024 NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2023 Pac-12 champion (from 141) #22 Brett Ungar (Cornell) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2023 NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2x EIWA Runner-Up (from 125) #31 Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, EIWA 3rd Place (from 125) NR Jack Maida (American) - 2023 NCAA Qualifier (from 125) NR Tristan Lujan (Michigan State) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier (from 125) NR Markel Baker (Northern Illinois) - 2023 MAC 4th Place (from 125) NR Colton Camacho (Edinboro) - 2024 ACC 4th Place (from 125) NR Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) (from 125) 141 lbs #8 (133) Kai Orine (NC State) - 2x NCAA All-American (8,8), 2x ACC Champion, 3x NCAA Qualifier (from 133) #9 (133) Chris Cannon (Northwestern) - 2x NCAA All-American (7,7), 2x Big Ten 4th Place, 3x NCAA Qualifier (from 133) #16 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) - 2x NCAA All-American (7,6), 4x NCAA Qualifier, 2021 ACC Champion (from 133) #22 Braden Basile (Army West Point) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier, EIWA 3rd Place, 2-2 at NCAA’s (from 133) #29 Kellyn March (North Dakota State) - 2023 NCAA Qualifier, Big 12 4th Place, 1-2 at NCAA’s (from 149) NR Nash Singleton (Oregon State) - 2023 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational 6th Place (from 149) NR Eli Griffin (California Baptist) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier, 1-2 at NCAA’s (from 125) NR Jayden Scott (North Carolina) (from 149) 149 lbs #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) - 2x NCAA All-American (6,4), 2x ACC 3rd Place (from 141) #7 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) - 2024 NCAA 5th Place, 2024 Big 12 Champion (from 141) #26 (157) Kal Miller (Maryland) - 2x NCAA Qualifier (from 141) NR Koy Buesgens (NC State) - redshirted at 141 lbs 157 lbs #4 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) - 2024 NCAA 8th Place, 2024 Big Ten 5th Place (from 165) #5 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) - 2024 NCAA 3rd Place, 2024 Big Ten 3rd Place (from 149) #17 (149) Ethen Miller (Maryland) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2024 Big Ten 4th Place, 1-2 at NCAA’s (from 149) #28 Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State) - redshirt freshman (from 149) #29 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) - 2023 SoCon Runner-Up (from 149) NR Carter Schubert (Oklahoma) (from 165) NR Dakota Morris (Army West Point) (from 165) 165 lbs #9 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2023 Pac-12 Champion (from 174) #10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) - 3x NCAA Qualifier, Big Ten 6th Place (from 174) #10 (174) MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) - 2024 NCAA Round of 12 finisher, Big 12 4th Place (from 174) #19 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2x Big Ten 6th Place, 2-2 at NCAA’s (from 174) #25 Cesar Alvan (Columbia) - 2023 NCAA Qualifier, Olympie RS to compete for Brazil (from 157) #29 Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) - 2023 NCAA Qualifier, Big 12 5th Place (from 174) NR Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) - Slated to compete in 2023-24 at 157 lbs NR Jay Nivison (Michigan State) - 2022 NCAA Qualifier (from 174) NR Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) - 13-16 in 2023-24 at 157 lbs 174 lbs #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) - 2x NCAA Champion, 4x NCAA All-American (3,1,1,3), 3x Big 12 Champion (from 165) #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) - 2024 NCAA Champion, 2x NCAA All-American (1,2), 2x Big Ten Champion (from 157) #6 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) - 2x NCAA All-American (6,6), 2023 Big Ten Champion, 2x Big Ten finalist (from 165) #8 (184) Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2024 NCAA Round of 12 finisher, 2024 Big Ten 3rd Place (from 184) #12 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2022 EIWA Runner-Up (from 165) #15 Clayton Whiting (Minnesota) (from 184) #16 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) - 3x NCAA Qualifier, 2024 EIWA 3rd Place, 2-2 at NCAA’s, (from 165) NR Dom Baker (Campbell) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier, 2024 SoCon Runner-Up, 1-2 at NCAA’s (from 165) NR Tate Naaktgeboren/Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) (from 184) NR Rylan Rogers (Lehigh) - 4-3 at 184 lbs in 2023-24 NR Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) - 23-8 in 2023-24 between 165/184 184 lbs #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) - 4x NCAA Champion, 2x Big Ten Champion (from 174) #7 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) - 2024 NCAA 7th Place, 2023 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2024 Big Ten Champion (from 174), 2x NCAA Qualifier #9 (197) Silas Allred (Nebraska) - 2x NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2023 Big Ten Champion (from 197) #9 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) - 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2023 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2023 Big Ten 3rd Place (from 197) #16 Evan Bockman (Iowa State) - 3x NCAA Qualifier (from 197) NR Billy Janzer (The Citadel) - 2x NCAA Qualifier (from 197) NR Jared McGill (Edinboro) - 16-4 in 2022-23 at 174 lbs 197 lbs #5 (184) Trey Munoz (Oregon State) - 2x NCAA All-American (3,6), 3x Pac-12 Champion (from 184) #7 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) - 2024 NCAA 6th Place, Big Ten Champion, 3x NCAA Qualifier (from 184) #21 Mickey O’Malley (Drexel) - 4x NCAA Qualifier, 2022 EIWA Champion, 2022 NCAA Round of 12 finisher (from 174) #22 Josh Barr (Penn State) - 15-0 redshirting at 184 lbs #23 Bradley Hill (Oklahoma) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier, Big Ten 5th Place (from 285) #33 Christian Carroll (Iowa State) - redshirted at 285 lbs NR Cade Lautt (North Carolina) (from 285) 285 lbs #25 Sam Mitchell (Wyoming) - 2024 NCAA Qualifier, MAC Runner-Up NR Adam Ortega (The Citadel) - 15-16 in 2023-24 at 184 lbs

125 The lightest weight gives the ACC a solid base to start; it is a deep weight with significant experience across the board. Off the top, 2023 All-American Eddie Ventresca (7th) will be returning to the Hokie lineup after taking a redshirt year last season. Add into the mix a couple multiple-time NCAA qualifiers. Jakob Camacho (NCST) is a four-time qualifier (NQ, R12, R16, R16) who is looking to break through to the podium; Nico Provo (Stanford) has made the trip twice, falling in the round of 16 last year. Nick Babin comes to Pittsburgh from Columbia where he finished in the round of 16 in 2023. Spencer Moore (UNC) has been on the bubble of qualifying in both of his seasons as a starter and I expect a strong season from him as he continues to mature into the weight. Ethan Grimminger (Duke) is looking for a more competitive season for the Blue Devils in his second year in the starting spot. Virginia has a couple options they are deciding between; Kyle Montaperto held the starting spot last year and is being challenged by Keyveon Roller who is dropping down from 133. Preseason Rankings: #8 Jakob Camacho #11 Nico Provo #22 Eddie Ventresca #29 Spencer Moore #30 Nick Babin 133 This is one of the more wide-open weights in the conference. There is a lot of untested youth at this weight, with the most experienced wrestlers transferring into the conference this season. Ethan Oakley (UNC) was a two-time NCAA qualifier (NQ, R16) at Appalachian State and will be looking to make an immediate impact for the Tar Heels. The Hokies also have a talented transfer who is looking for a fresh start after a successful stint at Lehigh. Connor McGonagle was a two-time qualifier at 141 for the Mountain Hawks; he had his best season at 133 in 2022, but it was cut short by an injury in the EIWA tournament. Marlon Yarbrough (UVA) put himself on the national radar with multiple ranked wins last season in his first year as a starter for the Hoos and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Raymond Adams (Duke) enters his second season as a starter, as does a very dangerous Vinny Santaniello (Pittsburgh), while Tyler Knox (Stanford) will see the lineup for the first time after his redshirt season. The biggest change at the weight comes for the Wolfpack. It appears that two-time All-American Kai Orine will be making the move up a weight class to 141, leaving the 133 slot for a couple of talented young wrestlers to battle over. Vincent Robinson was 11-2 in his redshirt year while Jacob Cox was 11-3; both picked up dual wins for the Pack and will be solid options at the weight. Preseason Rankings: #8 Kai Orine* #10 Connor McGonagle #18 Marlon Yarbrough #19 Ethan Oakley #25 Tyler Knox 141 The strength of 133 is moving up to 141 and makes for a very top-heavy weight class with a lot of youth filling out the weight. Sam Latona (VT) is a two-time All-American and four-time qualifier (6, R12, 7, R16); he has always been huge for his weight both at 125 and 133, and will be at a more comfortable weight for his final season. Recently, it was revealed that Kai Orine (NCST) will also be making the move to 141. He is also a two-time All-American and three-time qualifier (R16, 8, 8). Ryan Jack, who was an All-American last season, will take a redshirt year for the Pack. Jason Miranda (Stanford) is another experienced starter who will be looking to make his first NCAA tournament. Anthony Santaniello will make his debut in the starting lineup for the Panthers after going 3-1 in his redshirt season. Christian Colman (Duke) and Jayden Scott (UNC) will both step into their second season in the starting role and are looking to make it to the big show for the first time. The Cavaliers have another weight they are still sorting out, with several options on the table. Jack Gioffre was 13-7 as the starter last season and could potentially get the nod this year, but also may go up to 149. Kyren Butler is another option, as is Dylan Cedeno who started at 157 last season--they are considering him at 141 and 149. I would expect to see several different lineup looks for the Hoos while they sort out their starters at the middleweights. Preseason Rankings: #5 Ryan Jack* #16 Sam Latona #30 Jason Miranda #33 Jack Gioffre 149 The Champ Is Here and will face stiff competition in what is likely the deepest weight in the conference. Reigning NCAA Champion Caleb Henson makes his return for the Hokies after an incredible run to the title last season. Henson is a two-time All-American, placing fifth as a true freshman prior to his NCAA title last year. Also in the mix is another two-time All-American; Lachlan McNeil will be making the move up to 149 after two very successful seasons at 141 where he placed fourth and sixth at the NCAA tournament. The addition of Stanford to the conference adds another All-American to the weight. Jaden Abas is a four-time NCAA qualifier (7, NQ, NQ, R12) who earned All-American honors in his first trip and fell in a tough match in the bloodround last year. Finn Solomon (Pittsburgh) will look to build on an up-and-down season last year that finished with a trip to the NCAA tournament. It looks like redshirt freshman Sean O’Donnell will get the nod for the Blue Devils. Just like 141 for the Hoos, 149 is a weight class in limbo. Michael Gioffre was the starter last season and ended the year with a 9-9 record. He is a potential option for the Hoos; as previously mentioned his twin brother Jack and Dylan Cedeno are also in the mix. Erik Roggie is also a wildcard at this weight. The move of Kai Orine to 141 reverberates up to 149 as well. Jackson Arrington, two-time NCAA qualifier (R12, R12) will take a redshirt year and the weight will likely be filled by redshirt freshman Koy Buesgens who had a stellar redshirt year last year, finishing at 12-2 overall with a 2-2 record in dual appearances. Preseason Rankings: #1 Caleb Henson #6 Lachlan McNeil #8 Jackson Arrington* #13 Jaden Abas #31 Finn Solomon 157 This is an incredibly young weight within the conference that is highlighted by the experience of Ed Scott (NCST), Sonny Santiago (UNC) and Logan Ferrero (Duke) as the only multi-year starters. Scott is an All-American and three-time NCAA qualifier (R12, 5, R12) who is looking to get back on the podium. Santiago made big strides last year and put himself on the national map with a dual win over Ed Scott on his way to his first NCAA appearance. Ferrero will enter his third year as a starter for the Blue Devils and is looking to make the postseason for the first time. Nick Sanko (UVA) will be the likely starter for the Hoos after being a late addition to the ACC tournament last season after an injury to Dylan Cedeno. Sanko has a lot of potential and has consistently improved in his time in Charlottesville. Zach Hanson will make his debut for Stanford after a 7-2 record in his redshirt year; Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh) is the presumptive starter for the Panthers after putting up a 15-11 record his freshman season. The biggest wildcard at the weight is Rafael Hipolito for Virginia Tech. The Hokies replace the unorthodox and dangerous Bryce Andonian with another equally dangerous redshirt freshman in Hipolito. I’m clearly biased as the ACC guy, but I have Hipolito high on the list of people to keep an eye on throughout the country. Preseason Rankings: #6 Ed Scott #22 Sonny Santiago #29 Rafael Hipolito

The beginning of the 2025 Season is upon which means it’s another year of the MatScouts Dynasty Fantasy League. Since 2020, a full fledged Fantasy Wrestling Dynasty League, with some of the most favorite wrestling media members, has drafted and competed head-to-head in regular season duals, then competed for the ultimate prize… The Championship Trophy. The format is simple: 30 man rosters, one starter per weight plus two flex each week. Head-to-Head and Total Points competitions during the regular season where each team can earn NCAA Championship team bonus points towards their final NCAA Team Point total. Standard Fantasy Wrestling Scoring (+3 for a win by decision, -5 for a loss by tech, etc) in Dual Meets, and Modified Tournament Scoring for all Tournaments. In addition to this, we have a Ranked Incentive Bonus Scoring system, where wins against ranked wrestlers earn more points and losses against ranked opponents yields less negative points. The Final Standings depend on that team’s score based on standard NCAA tournament scoring. Past Final Standings: 2021 Season: 1st- Tony DiMarco (me!) 146.5 pts ; 2nd- Eric Knopsnyder 128 pts ; 3rd- Jeff Upson 117.5 pts ; 4th- John Foster 117 pts 2022 Season: 1st- Tony DiMarco (me!) 170.5 pts ; 2nd- Todd Szewczyk 138 pts ; 3rd- Brian Miller 127 pts ; 4th- Dan Seifring 124 pts 2023 Season: 1st- Tony DiMarco (me!) 173 pts ; 2nd- Dan Seifring 157 pts ; 3rd- Brian Miller 134.5 pts ; 4th- Dysen Gould 125.5 pts 2024 Season: 1st- Tony DiMarco (me!) 201.5 pts ; 2nd- Willie Saylor 146.5 pts ; 3rd- Dan Seifring 137.5 pts ; 4th- @Jagger712 136 pts The MatScoutsDynasty League Draft is scheduled for Wednesday Oct 23 at 8:30pm (ET). Here is the draft order for the first round of the draft: 1st Overall Pick: Jeff Upson Team: Team Power 2024 NCAA Pts: 46 Quick Notes: A good mix of upperclassmen with some Sophomores and Freshmen sprinkled throughout, though the scale definitely tilts towards the older side. Immediate needs include depth at 125, 133 & 285 and starter caliber additions for 141 & 157 2nd Overall Pick: Brian Miller Team: One More 2024 NCAA Pts: 67 Quick Notes: The most Seniors on any of the League Rosters (12), coupled with nine Juniors makes this season either a “One More Ride” or a “Tear It Down & Rebuild” kind of vibe. Immediate needs include… depth at every weight that will be there two or three years from now (aka, youth). 3rd Overall Pick: Earl Smith Team: The Ninnie’s Propaganda 2024 NCAA Pts: 93 Quick Notes: Opposite of Team One More, Earl’s roster has the least amount of Seniors coming into the season.Immediate needs include starter caliber wrestlers for 149, 165, & 285, and depth with best available on the board. 4th Overall Pick: Joe Caprino Team: Hoagie Squad 2024 NCAA Pts: 122.5 Quick Notes: Another older team with the majority of starters being Seniors, though half of the weights on his roster have Freshmen ready to take the reigns. Immediate needs include depth at 125, 184, & 197 as well as future plans for 285. 5th Overall Pick: Todd Szewczyk Team: Meeseeks & Destroy 2024 NCAA Pts: 123.5 Quick Notes: Luckily for Todd, O’Toole is moving out to separate and cover more ground with Mesenbrink this season. The middle of the roster is top-heavy with Seniors but some questions on what the roster will look like after 2025. Immediate needs include depth across the board, but more so at 141, 157. And 285 (where Catka will be in a roster battle). 6th Overall Pick: John Foster Team: The Incredible Bulks 2024 NCAA Pts: 126 Quick Notes: A few Senior redshirts coming this season will be throwing him a curveball when it comes to NCAAs, but a contingent of Sophomores ready to step in forms a solid foundation. Immediate needs are 149 (obviously), depth at 133, 165, and 197 for the future. 7th Overall Pick: Jagger712 Team: Jagoffs 2024 NCAA Pts: 136 Quick Notes: Pretty even distribution and depth with a lot of Sophomore and Freshman starters. A huge bonus is the return of AJ Ferrari, who up until now was just a wasted roster spot. Immediate needs include 141, future planning for 149, and depth at 157 through 184. 8th Overall Pick: Dan Seifring Team: Danny B’ Mobbin 2024 NCAA Pts: 137.5 Quick Notes: Juniors and Sophomore abound, Dan is pretty set for the next couple of years, though only one Freshman on the roster does not provide long-term stability. Immediate needs include future plans for 285, depth at the upper weights, and to look for best available on the board at any weight. 9th Overall Pick: Willie Saylor Team: Brain Power 2024 NCAA Pts: 146.5 Quick Notes: The league’s namesake, Willie’s “Trust The Process” movement since 2021 has started to bear fruit. Even distribution of Freshmen and Sophomores look to have a steady foundation with NCAA champion contenders with the seasoned vets. Immediate Needs include depth at 125, 184, & 285, along with future depth at 149 & 165. 10th Overall Pick: Tony DiMarco Team: Cael Chips 2024 NCAA Pts: 201.5 Quick Notes: This might be the season that the reigning 4-time champ doesn’t go home with the trophy. The team is getting older, with the second highest number of Seniors along with a lot of Juniors to boot. Immediate needs include starter caliber wrestlers for 125 and 165, along with future depth needs for 174 through 197. Some youth in the lower weights wouldn't hurt either.

Faith Christian Academy

Northfield Mt. Herman

Prior to the 2023-2024 college wrestling season, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved making takedowns in wrestling worth three points. Obviously there were, and still are, a variety of strong opinions on the change. For example, some fans find the change to be unnecessarily arbitrary, while others believe that takedowns should be worth more due to their relative difficulty and fundamental importance in all styles of wrestling. Regardless of how anyone feels about the change, the NCAA clearly stated its purpose when the rule changes were announced: “Members of the Wrestling Rules Committee, which proposed the change, agreed that increasing the scoring for takedowns by an additional point will enhance the sport by rewarding offensive actions and risk-taking. The committee also agreed there was a need to create a more appropriate point differential between takedowns and escapes and incentivize offense when competitors are in the neutral position.” Clearly, they were able to establish “a more appropriate point differential between takedowns and escapes” since three minus one is more than two minus one. However, in terms of incentivizing offense and risk, was the rule change successful? The use of the word “incentivize” is interesting since incentives were a kind of pop-economic phenomenon in the mid 2000s thanks to the book Freakonomics. In the book, authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner define an incentive as “a bullet, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation.” The book looks at multiple situations where people are incentivized to act in certain ways. For example, sumo stables in Japan are driven to collude and fix matches in order to help their members advance in rank, or teachers who have a financial interest in standardized test scores are motivated to cheat for their students. After one season, the question remains, did the three-point takedown lead to more offense and risk-taking? At this point, it seems like the answer is likely: to be determined. The following looks at the match statistics from the 2023 and 2024 NCAA tournaments. Obviously, there will be more data to compare going forward. However, it is striking how similar most of the data are despite the rule change. Match Points The one place that saw a significant increase overall was the number of match points. In the 2023 NCAA tournaments, there were 5,620 match points scored. This past year, scoring at the final tournament bounced up to 7,070. The point value for a takedown increased by 50% ((3 - 2) / 2) and this resulted in a 25% increase in the number of points being scored. There were 8.89 points scored per match in 2023 and 11.15 per match in 2024. Takedowns At the 2023 NCAA tournament, there were 1340 takedowns scored across all 10 weight classes. The number ticked up to 1407 after the rule change. The 67 more takedowns in 2024 represent a 5% increase in the number of takedowns overall. However, if you look at it on a per-match basis, the change is quite minimal. There were 2.12 takedowns per match scored in 2023 compared to only 2.22 in 2024. On average there were only 0.10 more takedowns per match in this past tournament. Despite the increase in the rate of takedowns per match, the number of matches without a takedown ticked up ever so slightly. At the 2023 NCAA tournament, there were 49 matches without a single takedown, and that number rose to 53 the following year. The count of matches by the number of combined takedowns scored at each tournament. One might have expected that the amount of matches with high numbers of takedowns would have decreased since it takes fewer to reach a technical fall these days. The number of matches with five or more combined takedowns actually increased by 18. The biggest change was the decline in the number of matches with two takedowns. This of course could be the result of randomness, but it could also be a sign that the three-point incentive is working. It is possible that it is a sign of increased risk-taking, or wrestlers could simply be pushing for more major decisions as they are seen as more attainable. The biggest increase in takedowns from the 2023 tournament to 2024 was the second period. The increase was mostly uniform across periods, but the 25 more second-period takedowns represented an 8.39% increase. While it is not a huge change, one could argue that perhaps riding was disincentivized by the three-point takedown but it is also possible that the change is negligible. Near Fall Points Outside of the three-point takedown, the other big addition for last season was the three-point near fall. Prior to the change, a two count in predicament was worth two points and a four count was worth four points. The change brought about a three-point near fall, which, you guessed it, comes after a three-count. Per the NCAA, “the rationale for the rule change includes giving wrestlers a chance to be more creative in attempting to earn points.” There was actually a slight decrease in the number of near falls called. In 2023 there were 181 sets of near-fall points awarded and 164 in 2024. However, on a per-match basis, the number seems to be relatively consistent. Interestingly enough, it looks like the biggest decline was in terms of four-point near falls. In 2023, there were 71 two-point near falls and 110 four-point near falls. After the addition of the three-point near fall, there were only 85 four-point near falls. As previously stated, this is likely too small of a sample to make any definitive statements about the impact of the rule changes. Perhaps after another few seasons of NCAA tournament data, the wrestling community can revisit if the changes are having the intended effect.

Massillon Perry

Paul VI

Tonight, the Cowboy RTC announced the addition of their latest resident athlete Zahid Valencia. Valencia comes to Stillwater after spending his collegiate career at Arizona State (2016-20) and since his graduation, he has continued to train out of Tempe with the Sunkist Kids. Valencia won a pair of NCAA titles competing for the Sun Devils at 174 lbs. Overall, he earned All-American honors three times (3,1,1) and was a three-time Pac-12 champion. Valencia also claimed the Pac-12 Championship on three occasions. Twice Valencia received the number one seed at the NCAA Championships and in 2018 he finished the year as an undefeated NCAA champion (32-0). Since college, Valencia has been active on the Senior level. In 2023, Valencia made the world team at 92 kg and proceeded to claim a bronze medal at the World Championships. He also has a Junior World silver medal from back in 2017. Valencia also has a long (and recent) history with Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor. The two recently met in the best-of-three finals at the 2024 World Team Trials and Taylor swept Valencia in two straight matches to make the world team. Also, in 2022, Taylor defeated Valencia in Final X NYC, 4-2 and 10-0. Valencia joins Daton Fix and Roman Bravo-Young as Senior-level members of the Cowboy RTC.

With just over ten days until the regular season, we have schedules for just about every DI program, which means we can break out the calendar (or the app on your phone) and circle some of the important dates for great dual meets. Here at InterMat, we’re always looking to help and today we’ve pointed out 23 must-watch duals for the first month of the collegiate season. With each dual, we’ve highlighted one bout, in particular; however, there may be multiple great ones on tap or some other reason that makes one deem it an important dual. The duals have been listed in order from closest to farthest away. October 31st - Campbell vs. #25 Wyoming Top Potential Match: 125 lbs - #25 Anthony Molton (Campbell) vs. #3 Jore Volk (Wyoming) Technically, this one is in October but it’s a fun one to start the year off with. We saw these two teams clash in 2023-24 in the barn on Deerwood Ranch. Both teams are great at promotion and will undoubtedly have something up their sleeve for this dual. Last year, these two lightweights met twice early in the season with Volk getting the win both times. Their dual meeting was 12-5, while Molton closed the cap a bit in Vegas during a 5-0 loss. With the recent news regarding Campbell’s funding situation, I hope the wrestling community shows even more interest in this dual than they originally planned. November 2nd - #2 Iowa at #24 Oregon State Top Potential Match: 197 lbs - #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) vs. #4 (184) Trey Munoz (Oregon State) Last year, Oregon State had Operation “Fill Gill” for a home dual against top-ranked Penn State. This year, they’ll host another one of college wrestling’s blue bloods and hope for a huge crowd. Trey Munoz will get his first match at 197 lbs against the top returning placer from the 2024 tournament, Stephen Buchanan. We could have a bout with NCAA seeding implications the first weekend of the year! In addition, there are a lot of uncertainties about the Iowa lineup. A pair of redshirt freshmen (Kale Peterson - 125 and Ryder Block - 141) are down a weight lower than initially expected. Both have solid matchups against good opponents #27 Maximo Renteria for Peterson and Nash Singleton for Block. In addition, Matthew Olguin is expected back at 165 lbs. This is where he’s been best and he’ll have one of the best in the country with #2 Michael Caliendo. The heavyweight showdown could feature a pair of U20 world medalists going at it with Ben Kueter and Aden Attao. November 2nd - Bucknell at #27 Maryland Top Potential Match: 133 lbs - #12 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) vs. #16 Braxton Brown (Maryland) This should be a fun dual with Maryland being ranked and Bucknell unranked - but featuring a lineup that includes four returning national qualifiers. The best mix between the two comes at 133 lbs with two wrestlers who are currently ranked in the top-16. This is the type of match we could see at the NCAA Round of 12, a place where both of these wrestlers have advanced to once in their careers. Another quality matchup comes at 141 lbs with two-time EIWA runner-up Dylan Chappell and redshirt freshman Dario Lemus. Lemus has a solid redshirt season and could be on the cusp of a national ranking. A win over #24 Chappell would help his chances. November 2nd - Navy at Pittsburgh Top Potential Match: 174 lbs - #22 Danny Wask (Navy) vs. #19 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) I had the pleasure of attending this dual last season and it was one of the best of the year. Navy stunned the Panthers with three straight upsets (125-141) and that carried them to a 21-12 victory. Now, Pittsburgh gets to host. The only matchup between returning national qualifiers comes at 174 lbs, where Wask and Augustine will renew acquaintances. The two have split a pair of matches during their collegiate careers - with Augustine getting the 9-7 win in last season’s dual. Another individual match of note comes at 141 lbs, with EIWA champion Josh Koderhandt and redshirt freshman Anthony Santaniello. Santaniello was a huge recruit for the Panthers who was injured in the first event of the year in 2023-24. Also, Santaniello’s older brother Vince attended the Navy Prep school for a year, so I’m sure he’d like to reverse the result from his dual loss to Navy’s Brendan Ferretti. November 3rd - #30 Indiana at Cal Poly Top Potential Match: 285 lbs - #16 Jacob Bullock (Indiana) vs. #22 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) This is a dual between the last team in our preseason rankings (Indiana) and one of the first teams excluded from the ranking (Cal Poly). Obviously, a win for the Mustangs could have these teams flipping positions in the rankings. Looking at potential lineups, this could be a dead heat! It likely will come down to the big guys and that happens to be the best matchup of the day (rankings-wise). Both Bullock and Tinker have NCAA experience and are looking to move closer to the podium. Another toss-up match comes at 133 lbs with Cal Poly’s #22 Zeth Romney and #26 Angelo Rini (Indiana). Romney had a breakout 2023-24 campaign and was a top-12 seed at nationals. Rini has been ranked in the top-15, himself; however, he suffered through an injury-plagued 2023-24 season before graduating from Columbia and transferring to Indiana. November 8th - #15 Stanford at #8 Iowa State Top Potential Match: 149 lbs - #13 Jaden Abas (Stanford) vs. #7 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) This will be the first leg of an Iowa/Iowa State back-to-back weekend for the Cardinal. Stanford has a talented, young team and they’ll get pushed with both duals. This will likely be the first opportunity for Anthony Echmendia to compete at his new weight class and he has a high-quality opponent in Jaden Abas. Also moving down could be NCAA Round of 12 finisher MJ Gaitan. How does he fare at 165 lb against returning All-American (and Iowa native) Hunter Garvin? Redshirt freshman Christian Carroll, one of the top recruits in the Class of 2023, could make his Cyclone debut against a top-20 opponent in Nick Stemmet. We also might have the opportunity to see how Cuban Osmany Diversent fares against a high-quality 125 lber in Nico Provo. Random note. Both teams are led by two of the best program-builders in the nation. Chris Ayres and Kevin Dresser were both hired for their first collegiate head coaching jobs in 2005 - Ayres proceeded to make Princeton a spot for blue-chip recruits to thrive, while Dresser built Virginia Tech into an NCAA trophy-winning team. November 9th - #22 Arizona State vs #12 Illinois (WrangleMania) Top Potential Match: 285 lbs - #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) vs. #13 Luke Luffman (Illinois) I’m very excited to see the Illinois squad for the 2024-25 campaign. The Fighting Illini have ranked wrestlers at nine of the ten weights and featured a totally different lineup than the one they fielded last season. A dual against a strong Arizona State team on the second weekend of the season will be a good barometer for exactly where Illinois stands. The heavyweight battle between Schultz and Luffman features a pair of seniors who have never met on the collegiate scene. Luffman had a solid first half of the 2023-24 season, but missed the remainder of the year due to injury. Schultz has consistently been in the top-five for almost his entire career. Another match to watch features the lightweights, the 125 lbs. Returning NCAA champion Richie Figueroa against Iowa State transfer Ramazan Attasaouv. The Illinois staff is extremely excited about Attasaouv’s prospects this year and Figueroa is about as tough of a test as you could ask for. November 9th - Campbell vs NC State (WrangleMania) Top Potential Match: 285 lbs - #7 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) vs. #10 Isaac Trumble (NC State) These two North Carolina teams will travel up to Bethlehem to do battle at WrangleMania. We’re not sure how the heavyweight class plays out for the Wolfpack, but whoever emerges between Trumble and Owen Trephan will be a podium contender. Perhaps, at this point of the season, the coaching staff will still be sorting out who the starter is. If all things are equal, I think Trumble probably gets the shot at WrangleMania. Ghadiali posted a pair of wins over Trephan last year - one in Vegas and the other at NCAA’s - so the NC State staff might want to give the Camel All-American a new look. With movement in the NC State lineup, we’ll likely get a chance to see freshman Vince Robinson take on SoCon champion Dom Zaccone at 133 lbs and two-time All-American Kai Orine match-up with two-time national qualifier Shannon Hanna at 141 lbs. 174 lbs should present NCAA qualifier Dom Baker of Campbell against Matthew Singleton, a U20 World bronze medalist. In Singleton’s only official NCAA season, he moved down to 165 lbs to help the team out and missed the tournament. Don’t be deceived by his current ranking of #24. November 9th - #15 Stanford at #2 Iowa Top Potential Match: 165 lbs - #3 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) vs. #2 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) What a homecoming for Iowa native Hunter Garvin. First a potential match with NCAA Round of 12 finisher MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) and then #2 Mikey Caliendo a day later. At 149 lbs it’s another chapter in the old West Coast rivalry between Kyle Parco and Jaden Abas. The two have met four times over the years and Parco has come out on top in each instance. 174 lbs could present a glimpse of the future with Gabe Arnold and Lorenzo Norman. Arnold earned wins over two All-Americans (up a weight) during his redshirt year and Norman was seventh at CKLV with a win over NCAA champion Shane Griffith. November 15th - #13 Missouri at #6 Virginia Tech Top Potential Match: 174 lbs - #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. #5 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) Missouri/Virginia Tech is just one of those duals that always delivers. Both teams tend to be in or around the top ten and have plenty of All-American contenders each year - and this year is no different. The dual always seems to come down to the final match or two and fireworks ensue. Two-time national champion Keegan O’Toole moves up to 174 lbs for his final go ‘round and will get an early test from 2024 NCAA All-American and EIWA champion Lennox Wolak. With significant time in the Virginia Tech room, after a transfer from Columbia, expect to see an even better version of Wolak. Despite these teams wrestling regularly, not too many of these potential matches have already happened. One exception is at 197 lbs, where Rocky Elam has dominated the series with Andy Smith. In this instance, you may see redshirt freshman Sonny Sasso get a chance with the four-time All-American. November 15th - #3 Nebraska at #23 North Carolina Top Potential Match: 149 lbs - #5 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) A pair of two-time All-Americans potentially meeting for the first time. Lachlan McNeil got on the medal stand twice for UNC at 141 lbs, but is now going up to 149. The Huskers have the Big Ten champion and the #1 seed for the 2024 NCAA Championships, Ridge Lovett - a 2022 NCAA runner-up. Matches with Joshua Ogunsanya (174) and Gavin Kane (184) could give us the first significant test for Lenny Pinto and Silas Allred at the new, lower weights. November 17th - #4 NC State vs #18 Rutgers (Jersey Jostle) Top Potential Match: 125 lbs - #8 Jakob Camacho (NC State) vs. #12 Dean Peterson (Rutgers) Perhaps my favorite event name of the year; the Jersey Jostle! This dual takes place in Toms River, New Jersey, and also features Princeton and Long Island, but we’re focusing on this meeting between the Scarlet Knights and NC State. The 125 lb weight class was bonkers last year. Upsets were common and maybe only upsets by the numbers. At one point, Camacho was ranked #1 in the country and Peterson was #2. Neither had the postseason success they would have imagined; however, both should be considered high podium threats. This matchup should boost one of them toward that status. As is typically the case when Brian Soldano takes the mat - 184 lbs will be must-watch. Soldano throws the kitchen sink at you every time he takes the match and Dylan Fishback can let it fly himself. I might be disappointed if this isn’t a match where both wrestlers are in double digits. The heavyweight matchup also features one of NC State’s talented tandem against returning All-American Yaraslau Slavikouski. Slavikouski owns a pair of wins over Trephan from the 2022-23 season, so again, we might see how Trephan fares against the veteran. November 17th - #5 Oklahoma State at #24 Oregon State Top Potential Match: 165 lbs - #6 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) vs. #9 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) Oregon State has quite the November home schedule - leading off with Iowa and then taking on Oklahoma State two weeks later. The one individual matchup that really sticks out here comes at 165 lbs. Amine and Olguin are two veterans who have someone never met each other despite being All-American contenders. In Vegas last season, Amine took fourth, while Olguin was seventh. November 21st - #13 Missouri at #12 Illinois Top Potential Match: 197 lbs - #4 Rocky Elam (Missouri) vs. #10 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) A pair of teams that sit right next to each other in the preseason rankings makes for a fun dual. Of course, by the time November 21st rolls around, each might be in a different position. They each could have a loss as both will be tested before this. The best individual matchup from this dual takes place at 197 lbs. A top-ten affair between Elam and Braunagel. Since Braunagel spent part of his career at 184 lbs, the two haven’t squared off yet. With the styles between these two, I think we can expect a very close, physical match by both combatants. November 22nd - #18 Rutgers at #6 Virginia Tech Top Potential Match: 133 lbs: #6 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) vs. #10 Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) This is a dual with some great potential matchups. We’ve focused on 133 lbs with All-American and Big Ten champion Dylan Shawver facing Lehigh transfer Connor McGonagle. McGonagle lost out on the Lehigh starting position last year with a sudden victory loss to super-freshman Ryan Crookham, so he can go with anyone in the country. The 125 lb match is a rematch from last year where Dean Peterson shutout Eddie Ventresca. The match helped elevate Peterson, while it further pushed Ventresca down a slope that led to a season-ending injury. Once again, 184 lbs and Brian Soldano. TJ Stewart should be happy to oblige in a potentially wild affair with Soldano. In a dual that could come down to the final match, do we see New Jersey high school legend Jimmy Mullen get the call at heavyweight versus Slavikouski? November 22nd - #20 West Virginia at Appalachian State Top Potential Match: 165 lbs: #4 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) vs. #14 Will Miller (Appalachian State) A fight for the nickname Mountaineers! The loser gets to go without a name for the rest of the year! That’s not accurate, just my personal stipulation. Appalachian State has proven to be a program that can find diamonds in the rough and turn them into excellent collegiate wrestlers, time and time again. Their highest-ranked wrestler in the preseason is 165 lbs Will Miller - an Alabama native. He captured his first SoCon title in 2024 and won a pair of matches in Kansas City. Hall got on the podium for a second time and has the opportunity to become WVU’s first three-time All-American in two decades. The only time these two have met in college was in the 2022 Southern Scuffle and Hall prevailed with a major decision. Miller has improved greatly since then and should make this a much more competitive match. November 23rd - #8 Iowa State at #2 Iowa Top Potential Match: 149 lbs: #7 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) vs. #4 Kyle Parco (Iowa) The Cy-Hawk Dual is always one of the biggest duals of the season and I’m sure will discuss this in greater detail as it approaches. That’s good because there are plenty of moving parts on both sides of this dual. Iowa State is having some lineup shuffling and Iowa could have some freshmen that we’re unable to truly evaluate right now. Should Anthony Echemendia remain at 149 lbs, he could face four-time All-American Kyle Parco who is on the short list of title contenders in this bracket. While it doesn’t have the rankings cache of 149 lbs, I might be more excited to see how 285 lbs works out. This is a weight we’re fairly certain that both wrestlers should be here, barring injury. Yonger Bastida looked like a potential NCAA champion for most of last season, but suffered an injury at the wrong time of the year and missed the podium. Ben Kueter is focusing solely on wrestling for this season and the sky is the limit for the multi-sport star. Both are offensive-minded big men, so there could be some fireworks in a bout that might decide the dual. November 24th - #22 Arizona State at #5 Oklahoma State Top Potential Match: 125 lbs: #1 Richie Figueroa (Arizona State) vs. #7 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) With Arizona State moving into the Big 12 this is now a conference match. Despite how the two 125 lbers finished their season, with Figueroa on top of the medal stand and Spratley eliminated in the Round of 12, it was Spratley who majored Figueroa in their February dual. That loss was near the end of a late-season funk for Figueroa, one he obviously emerged from in great shape. Looking elsewhere through the projected matches, at 157 lbs we could get the first top-ten test for #27 Kaleb Larkin. Expectations are high for the redshirt freshman and #9 Teague Travis is a great measuring stick of just where Larkin falls in this weight. The dual closes with a matchup between multiple-time All-American heavyweights Cohlton Schultz and Wyatt Hendrickson. Even though both have been staples of the weight class and podium finishers, they have never met. November 24th - #21 Lehigh at Pittsburgh Top Potential Match: 285 lbs: #8 Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) vs. #12 Dylan Pitzer (Pittsburgh) It’s sort of unusual these days to see that Pittsburgh name without a ranking beside it. Last year’s team was full of veterans, so maybe by late November, this year’s team will have the opportunity to establish themselves a bit and they’ll hold a ranking. The back half of this dual is currently where to look for the potential best matches. At 197 lbs, you have #6 Michael Beard and #14 Mac Stout. Despite the two being close in the rankings, Beard won via tech in last year’s iteration of this dual. Keep an eye out for the heavyweight match. Dylan Pitzer owns a pair of wins (one by major decision) over the 2024 EIWA champion, Taylor. Pitzer ended up wrestling through an injury at the end of last year and probably wasn’t himself. He starts the year with a respectable ranking, but could be higher. November 24th - #17 South Dakota State at #10 Northern Iowa Top Potential Match: 184 lbs: #4 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) vs. #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) It’s an early season Big 12 conference match between a pair of tough teams. The two finished next to each other at the 2024 NCAA Championships, with South Dakota State in 13th place with 48.5 points and Northern Iowa right behind with 39.5 points. Three of SDSU’s four All-Americans return, while UNI has their undefeated national champion Parker Keckeisen back. That means there will be a matchup between a pair of top-four finishers as Berge was fourth as a redshirt freshman for the Jackrabbits. Even though the two were in the same Big 12 weight class in 2024 and ended up on the podium, they never met. Right after that is another potentially fun matchup. Iowa transfer and Big Ten runner-up #9 Zach Glazier takes over for two-time All-American Tanner Sloan. He and #15 Wyatt Voelker should make for a good one! November 24th - #14 Michigan at Virginia Top Potential Match: 165 lbs: #12 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) vs. #11 Nick Hamilton (Virginia) Michigan goes on an early-season road trip that takes them to North Carolina for a dual with Duke, followed by Virginia, the home state of their 184 lber Jaden Bullock. Both teams have a few weights they need to sort out and plenty of potential lineup permutations. One weight that looks stable for both teams is 165 lbs. Nick Hamilton had high expectations last season, but dealt with an injury that disrupted most of his regular season. He returned and shocked the league by winning a conference title and punching his ticket to nationals. Hamilton showed he was no fluke, by capturing two wins in Kansas City. He’ll have his hands full with the Wolverines tough redshirt freshman Beau Mantanona. Mantanona was 15-6 last season, while redshirting, and showed he could score points in bunches and might be an All-American threat in year one. November 25th - #12 Illinois at #23 North Carolina Top Potential Match: 149 lbs: #11 Kannon Webster (Illinois) vs. #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) The return of Austin O’Connor to Chapel Hill has the Illinois assistant coach seeing one of his prized pupils taking on a former teammate at 149 lbs. Kannon Webster had an excellent redshirt season (20-1) and was ranked in the top ten at one point in the season. The Illinois staff chose to keep him in redshirt and unleash upon the college wrestling world this season. There are some other potentially fun matches in this dual like the one at 133 lbs with two-time All-American Lucas Byrd and Appalachian State transfer Ethan Oakley. Will the bigger program with a deeper room help Oakley move to All-American contention? 184 lbs has a match between a pair of All-Americans with Edmond Ruth and Gavin Kane. Ruth was the 2024 Big Ten champion at 174 lbs, but is slated to move up this season. Kane made the podium in 2023, but wasn’t able to generate that type of momentum last season. November 26th - #13 Missouri vs #10 Northern Iowa at Hartland, Wisconsin Top Potential Match: 141 lbs: #12 Josh Edmond (Missouri) vs. #7 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) This is a dual that is set up to be a homecoming for stars on both teams. It will be held at Keegan O’Toole’s alma mater, Arrowhead High School; however, Parker Keckeisen is also from Wisconsin. Despite the rankings for both teams, this is the random dual where the stars from each team don’t necessarily match up well with each other. Perhaps the most intriguing individual matchup could be the 141 lb clash with Edmond and Happel. Both are veterans who are looking to earn All-American honors for the first time. The two met once in dual action last season and another time at the Big 12 Championships. Edmond won in the dual and Happel returned the favor in the postseason.

Kaukauna

Woodstown

Dublin Coffman

Pleasant Grove

Mounds View

South Lakes

Kearney

Dom Munaretto photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Now that we’re squarely in the collegiate preseason and the fall weather has set it, another rite of passage is upon us. Football season? Yes, and it’s semi-relevant here, as many fall recruiting weekends are built around football Saturdays, especially, at your Power Five (now four) schools. Sure, there are plenty of recruiting visits in the spring and summer, but we saw almost all of the top recruits from the Class of 2025 commit to schools by the end of the calendar year in 2023, so the Class of 2026 recruits have begun to visit campus and probably will start to commit soon. One of the things that makes following recruiting fun is the cloak-and-dagger secrecy surrounding parts of the process. For every Bo Bassett who routinely keeps the public informed on recruiting decisions, there are plenty of others who don’t discuss it as much. Therefore, it can be difficult to follow which recruit is interested in which school and vice versa. I suppose it’s fun, but you’re left wanting more! In order to try and help our fanbase feel more knowledgeable about the process, we’ll have a weekly column that recaps the recruiting weekend. Who has visited where? Maybe some background information on the recruits or the process from the school. If we've missed a recruit or you'd like to provide info on future visits play let me know: earl@matscouts.com For past versions of this feature: October 8th October 1st September 23rd September 16th September 9th Army West Point Cash Colbert: Paul VI, VA - Class of 2026 Sammy McKissick-Staley: Pittsford, NY: Class of 2026 Grayson Woodcock: Dublin, OH - Class of 2026 It was a productive weekend for the coaching staff at Army West Point. They hosted three Class of 2026 recruits and already have one (perhaps two) verbal commitment. The verbal that has been made public is from Ohio state medalist Grayson Woodcock. Woodcock is a two-time 16U national freestyle medalist who is coming off a runner-up finish over the summer in Fargo. Prior to his commitment, Woodcock’s only other visit on record was to Buffalo. Also from New York is Sammy McKissick-Staley. In 2024, McKissick-Staley made the New York DI state finals before finishing fourth at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals and taking seventh at the UWW U17 Trials in Greco. Like Woodcock, Missick-Staley has also taken a visit to Buffalo. A name that might be familiar to followers of the Army program is Cash Colbert from Virginia. His older brother, Brady, is from the Class of 2024 and is currently a freshman at West Point. Cash was an NHSCA Sophomore National finalist at 195 lbs this year. He was seventh at National Prep’s last season. Buffalo Curtis Nelson: Ridley, PA - Class of 2025 After hitting the Class of 2026 hard, the Buffalo staff brought in an underrated prospect from the Class of 2025, in Curtis Nelson. Nelson is a two-time Pennsylvania AAA state placewinner who was a state finalist in 2024. He could be the coveted career 125 lber. Nelson has already taken a visit to West Virginia earlier this fall. Drexel Oumar Tounkara: New York Military Academy, NY - Class of 2025 A week after making it to the Super 32 podium, senior Omar Tounkara made the trip to Drexel University. Tounkara is a Fargo Junior freestyle All-American and an NHSCA Junior National champion. He’s also a product of New York’s Beat the Streets program. Tounkara could also be a long-term solution at 125 lbs, as his Super 32 placement came at 113 lbs. Gardner-Webb Ryder Smith: Chattanooga Christian, TN - #61 Class of 2026 Gardner-Webb was able to host top-100 recruit Ryder Smith - which would be a coup for the Running Bulldogs. Smith is an NHSCA Sophomore National champion and a finalist in Fargo in 16U freestyle. Smith has already visited Chattanooga and Maryland George Mason Roman Belardo: Jefferson, GA - Class of 2026 Joey Favia: Marmion Academy, IL - Class of 2026 Zach Stewart: Marmion Academy, IL: #79 Class of 2026 A pair of Marmion Academy teammates made the trip to George Mason over the weekend as Joey Favia and Zach Stewart made their way to Fairfax. Both Favia and Stewart were state finalists in Illinois’ 3A division in 2024 - with Stewart winning a state title. Favia is a two-time Fargo 16U freestyle All-American and Stewart was fifth at the Super 32 last weekend. Both wrestlers have taken a visit to the University of Virginia. Stewart has also visited Bellarmine and Princeton. Two-time Georgia champion Roman Belardo also paid a visit to George Mason. Belardo has made the medal stand at the Cheesehead Invitational and the Knockout Christmas Classic. He’s already taken visits to Davidson, Hofstra, and Oklahoma. Indiana Dom Munaretto: St. Charles East, IL - #7 Class of 2026 Nicholas Sorrow: Hudson, MI - Class of 2026 With Indiana having Dom Munaretto on campus over the weekend, it marked the highest-ranked recruit to head to Bloomington this recruiting cycle. Over the summer, Munaretto became a two-time U17 freestyle world champion. He’s also placed twice at the Super 32 and Walsh Ironman. Munaretto has been highly sought after with visits to Arizona State, Illinois, and Ohio State, already. Joining Munaretto was two-time Michigan state champion Nicholas Sorrow. Sorrow has earned 16U freestyle All-American honors in Fargo and Greco AA accolades at the UWW U17 Trials. We already noted Sorrow as having taken a visit to Bucknell. Kent State Brycen Arthur: Parkersburg South, WV - Class of 2025 The Kent State staff have quietly put together a solid Class of 2025 and are looking to add to it with two-time West Virginia AAA state third-place finisher Brycen Arthur. Over the spring, Arthur impressed at the national level with a third-place finish at 220 lbs at NHSCA Junior Nationals. Arthur has already taken a visit to Edinboro, along with D2 Fairmont State and Frostburg State. Little Rock Noah Bull: Layton, UT - #99 Class of 2026 Mason Carlson: Syracuse, UT - Class of 2026 CJ Huerta: Buchanan, CA - #73 Class of 2026 Jadyn Johnson: Melissa, TX - Class of 2025 Little Rock has been able to pull in recruits from all over the country so it’s no surprise that they had a pair of recruits in from Utah, plus another from California, and one from Texas - which has been good to them recruiting-wise. California native CJ Huerta is the highest-ranking member of the group. He is a two-time placewinner in California’s extremely competitive 113 and 120 brackets. Huerta’s best national-level credential is an eighth-place finish at the Doc Buchanan last season. He has already taken visits to Princeton and Wyoming, so he’s obviously open to travel. The Utah contingent includes another top-100 recruit in Noah Bull and Mason Carlson. Over the summer, Bull was a double 16U All-American - highlighted by a stop-sign-winning performance in freestyle (and third in Greco). Bull has already visited Nebraska and Oregon State. Carlson was also a double Fargo 16U All-American in July. He was top-four in both styles. The only previous visit we have on file for Carlson is when he stayed home to take in Utah Valley. The only wrestler from the Class of 2025 in this group is Jadyn Johnson. Johnson was a 2024 Texas state champion. It's the first visit we have on record for Johnson. Maryland Devin Downes: Plainedge, NY - Class of 2026 Liston Seibert: Massillon Perry, OH - Class of 2026 Mateo Vinciguerra: Woodstown, NJ - Class of 2026 Maryland is another school that already received good news from a recruit they hosted over the weekend. Monday afternoon, Mateo Vinciguerra gave Alex Clemsen’s team a verbal commitment. Vinciguerra has yet to place at the New Jersey State Tournament, but had a breakout this offseason. After taking fourth at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals, Vinciguerra was third at 16U freestyle nationals. Last week, he was eighth in the 285 lb weight class at the Super 32. Vinciguerra also took a visit to Penn this fall. Maryland also hosted Illinois native Seth Digby over the weekend. Digby is a Class of 2025 recruit who has already given Maryland a verbal. Also aboard for the weekend were Devin Downes and Liston Seibert. Downes is a New York DI state champion at 170 lbs, who was also fourth at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals. Seibert was third in Ohio’s DI classification last season and made the 16U freestyle finals in Fargo. Downes has already visited Buffalo, while Seibert has taken visits to Ohio State and West Virginia. North Dakota State Waylon Cressell: Warren Central, IN - #68 Class of 2026 Layne Kleimann: Herriman, UT - Class of 2025 Wyatt Kosidowski: Fargo Davies, ND - Class of 2026 William Ward: Fargo West, ND - #109 Class of 2026 Perhaps no wrestler in the country saw their stock rise like Layne Kleimann’s did coming out of the Super 32. Kleimann, a six-time All-American in NDSU’s FargoDome, got on the podium for the first time at the Super 32 - placing fourth at 132 lbs. Kleimann has already taken visits to Army West Point and Utah Valley. After Kleimann, Obe Blanc’s staff focused on a trio of recruits with local ties. Wyatt Kosidowski and William Ward were North Dakota state champions as sophomores at upperweights. Ward was a double All-American at the UWW U17 Trials (sixth in FS, seventh in GR) and made the Fargo Junior podium this year in Greco. Though he won an Indiana state championship last season, Waylon Cressell is originally from North Dakota. He was sixth at the Super 32 last week - a few months after placing in both styles in Fargo. Northern Illinois Nic Enzminger: Bismarck, ND - Class of 2026 Evan Gosz: Fremd, IL - Class of 2025 Jase Jaspers: Mount Vernon, IA - Class of 2026 Anthony Kroninger: Alder, OH - Class of 2025 Brayden Teunissen: Marian Central, IL - Class of 2025 Carson Weber: Joliet West, IL - Class of 2025 Northern Illinois had a good mix of current juniors and seniors in over the weekend. The juniors include Nic Enzminger and Jace Jaspers. Nic was a double Junior All-American this summer in Fargo, winning a title in Greco and finishing fifth at 113 lbs in freestyle. Jaspers is a two-time Iowa state runner-up. We’ve already mentioned in these features how NIU has done well at recruiting in Iowa, of late. Enzminger has already visited Minnesota. This is Jaspers first official visit and he is currently lining up other potential trips. The group of seniors is very heavy on in-state talent with Evan Gosz, Brayden Teunissen, and Carson Weber. Gosz and Weber were in the same state tournament bracket last season - 3A 144 lbs. The two did not meet at the state tournament, but Gosz finished second and Weber was third. Teunissen is a two-time Illinois state finalist, who won a 1A state title last season at 120 lbs. Gosz has taken visits to Bellarmine and Michigan State. Weber has also visited Bellarmine. Teunissen has visited Indiana. NIU also hosted Ohio state medalist Anthony Kroninger. Kroninger has excelled in Greco with a fifth-place finish at the UWW U17 Trials and a third-place showing in 2023 in Fargo’s 16U division. This is the first visit we have for Kroninger. Ohio State Jax Forrest: Bishop McCort, PA - #2 Class of 2026 The Buckeyes hosted one of the top recruits in the nation over the weekend as Jax Forrest made the trip from Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, Forrest unveiled his final list of ten schools and Ohio State was featured, so this isn’t a surprising discovery. Forrest recently won his second Super 32 belt (two go along with two third-place finishes). Over the summer, Forrest also won his second straight Junior freestyle championship in Fargo. He is originally from the Chapel Hill, North Carolina area and has a pre-existing relationship with Ohio RTC coach Coleman Scott. Forrest has already taken a visit to the University of Michigan. Oklahoma State Dreshaun Ross: Fort Dodge, IA - #3 Class of 2026 Carlos Stanton: Sunnyside, AZ - #176 Class of 2025 Sergio Vega: Sunnyside, AZ - #19 Class of 2025 Adam Waters: Faith Christian Academy, PA - #17 Class of 2026 Kellen Wolbert: Oconomowoc, WI - #18 Class of 2026 It was already a successful recruiting weekend for Oklahoma State who had #19 from the Class of 2025, Segio Vega, along for this visit as he was in the process of flipping from Cornell. Also from the Class of 2025 was #176 Carlos Stanton, Vega’s high school teammate and is currently an Iowa State commit. Now focusing on 2026, Oklahoma State had a trio of highly sought-after top-20 recruits in Stillwater. Two-time Fargo 16U national freestyle champion Dreshaun Ross headlined the group of visitors. Ross was slated to represent the USA at the U17 World Championships this year until he suffered a shoulder injury. The two–time Iowa state champion has already visited Iowa State, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, and Oklahoma and is slated to visit Iowa next weekend. U17 Greco world team member Adam Waters was also in attendance. Waters is also a two-time Fargo Junior freestyle third-place finisher and a two-time Pennsylvania AA state champion. He has already visited Arizona State, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech. Waters also has a visit with Rutgers approaching. Last, but not least, is Kellen Wolbert. Wolbert was a UWW U17 finalist in freestyle this year, before taking seventh in Junior freestyle in Fargo. He’s also an Askren Wrestling Academy product - as they’ve emerged to become one of the top clubs in the country, it would be a great pipeline for the new OSU staff to establish. Wolbert has already taken visits to Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. He also has Cornell, Indiana, and Minnesota on his shortlist. Oregon State Mason Ontiveros: Pitman, CA - #37 Class of 2026 Gavin Rangel: Newberg, OR - Class of 2026 Oregon State has been crushing it with their Class of 2026 recruiting (three Big Boarder’s have already committed) and they are stopping any time soon. All three of their current commits are from California and they had another one in town over the weekend in Mason Ontiveros. As a sophomore, Ontiveros was a California state runner-up at 175 lbs. After that, Ontiveros was an NHSCA Sophomore National runner-up, along with a fourth-place finish at the UWW U17 Trials and a seventh-place showing in Fargo in Junior freestyle. He has already taken a visit to Purdue. The Beaver staff also turned their attention to an in-state prospect with Gavin Rangel. Rangel is a two-time Oregon state placewinner and won a championship as a sophomore. This is his first visit of the fall. Penn CJ Betz: Delbarton, NJ - #115 Class of 2026 Siraj Sidhu - Del Oro, CA - Class of 2026 Sammy Spaulding: Camden Catholic, NJ - #105 Class of 2026 Penn has had plenty of recruiting wins in New Jersey and hopes to add more after hosting a pair of New Jersey studs in CJ Betz and Sammy Spaulding. Betz hasn’t placed at the New Jersey state tournament yet, but did finish third at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals at 160 lbs. Spaulding was fourth in the state and a Beast of the East runner-up last season. Betz has already taken a visit to Ivy rival Princeton. Spaulding has done that as well, plus a visit to West Virginia. He’s scheduled to visit the Naval Academy next week. Coming in from California was two-time state placewinner Siraj Sidhu. In 2024, Sidhu was fourth in the 113 lb weight class. He’s also finished top eight twice at the Doc Buchanan. Sidhu has taken visits to Air Force, Cal Poly, and Stanford. Rutgers Dean Bechtold: Owen J. Roberts, PA - #20 Class of 2026 Brandt Harer: Montgomery, PA - #12 Class of 2026 Rutgers continues to invade Pennsylvania in search of blue-chip talent. They hosted a pair of wrestlers who both fit the bill in Dean Bechtold and Brandt Harer. Both have placed twice, in two chances, at the Pennsylvania state tournament. Harer was second then first at the AA level. Bechtold was sixth and then second in AAA. Just last weekend, Bechtold captured a Super 32 title with a win over U17 world champion Michael Mocco. Both of these wrestlers have older brothers who were highly recruited and entering their freshman year of college. Harer’s older brother, Conner, is slated to be Rutgers 157 lber this season. Bechtold’s older brother, Dillon, is in line to start for Bucknell at 184 lbs. Bechtold has visited NC State and Nebraska, while Harer’s only visit thus far has been to Bucknell. SIU Edwardsville Kiernan Meink: Millard South, NE - Class of 2026 SIU Edwardsville does a sneaky-good job on the recruiting trail and getting Kiernan Meink in for a visit fits along those lines. Meink was a Nebraska state champion as a freshman and was third last season. Prior to the 2023-24 season, Meink was a finalist at Preseason Nationals. Meink has already visited Campbell, which is where his older brother Korbin wrestled and was an NCAA qualifier. Stanford James Bechter: Northfield Mt. Hermon, MA - #50 Class of 2026 Mark Effendian: Faith Christian Academy, PA - #88 Class of 2026 Zeno Moore: Lake Highland Prep, FL - #64 Class of 2026 Jarrett Smith: Lowell, MI - #91 Class of 2026 Gabe Swann: Carroll Central, GA - Class of 2026 Joe Uhorchuk: Signal Mountain, TN - #49 Class of 2026 October continued to be a big recruiting month for Stanford as they hosted a group over the weekend that included five top-100 prospects. The highest-ranked of the bunch is Joe Uhorchuk who was fresh off of a third-place finish at the Super 32. It marked the second time that Uhorchuk has finished top-four at the preseason spectacle. Uhorchuk has already visited Army West Point, Brown, Chattanooga, and Princeton. He has family ties to both the Army and Chattanooga programs. The second top-50 recruit of the bunch was James Bechter, an NHSCA Sophomore National champion at 285 lbs and a double All-American from the UWW U17 Trials. Bechter has already placed four times in Fargo. His visit itinerary already includes trips to Brown, Northwestern, and Virginia. Another heavyweight prospect in the group is Mark Effendian. Effendian was also third at the 2024 Super 32. He was fifth the previous year. Effendian is also coming off a third-place finish at the Pennsylvania AA state tournament. His previous visits include Pittsburgh and Princeton. He’s also slated to visit Rutgers in early November. The other two ranked wrestlers in this crew are Zeno Moore and Jarrett Smith. In 2024, Moore finished third at Sophomore Nationals, fifth in Fargo Junior freestyle, and seventh at the Super 32. Smith has earned Fargo All-American honors four times, headlined by a U16 freestyle title at 94 lbs in the summer of 2023. Moore has previous visits to Cornell, NC State, and Oklahoma. Smith has visited Indiana and Virginia. The final recruit of this group and another lightweight star is Gabe Swann of Georgia. Swann won a Junior freestyle national title this year in a bracket where Smith finished third. It was his fourth time earning hardware in the FargoDome. Swann has already taken visits to Brown, California Baptist, Cornell, and West Virginia. Virginia Tech Tyler Dekraker: Faith Christian Academy, PA - #31 Class of 2026 Jake Hockaday: Brownsburg, IN - #33 Class of 2025 Antonio Mills: Mill Creek, GA - #10 Class of 2026 Rylan Seacrist: Massillon Perry, OH - #106 Class of 2026 Virginia Tech continued to push hard with the Class of 2026 and this week focused on the lightweights. Antonio Mills continues to be a hot commodity after taking second at 120 lbs at the Super 32 last weekend. It was the third time Mills had made the Super 32 podium. He’s also a Junior freestyle All-American and an NHSCA Sophomore National champ. Mills has already visited ACC rival NC State and Nebraska. Though he wrestles out of Pennsylvania, Tyler Dekraker is a Virginia native and no stranger to the Virginia Tech program. Dekraker has enjoyed a strong offseason with a third-place showing at the UWW U17 Trials and taking fifth in Junior freestyle in Fargo. Dekraker has already visited Minnesota, NC State, Oklahoma, and Penn State. The final junior of the group is Ohio’s Rylan Seacrist. Seacrist has placed second and fourth in two tries at the DI state tournament. During the 2023-24 high school season, Seacrist was sixth at the Ironman and after that, he was fifth at the UWW U17 Trials. Seacrist has already taken visits to Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, and Virginia. Virginia Tech also hosted Class of 2025 star Jake Hockaday. As of now, Hockaday has a verbal out to Oklahoma - but he also recently visited Nebraska. The two-time Fargo Junior freestyle All-American is reportedly down to those three schools. West Virginia #75 Wyatt Bush: Grundy, VA - Class of 2025 James Lindsay: Bishop Watterson, OH - Class of 2026 Dallas Russell: Jefferson, GA - #26 Class of 2026 Braiden Weaver: Altoona, PA - Class of 2026 West Virginia has been as active as anyone on this list at hosting recruiting visits and last week was more of the same. The Mountaineer staff hosted a trio of juniors one of whom is currently on the Big Board. He is Dallas Russell, an NHSCA Sophomore National champion. Russell is two-for-two in winning Georgia state titles. He has already taken a visit to Oklahoma. Russell has a link to the West Virginia staff as Mountaineer head coach Tim Flynn coached his older brother, Sean, at Edinboro. WVU assistant coach Mitchell Port was an assistant at the time, too. WVU frequently hits neighboring Ohio and Pennsylvania on the recruiting trail and hosted a wrestler from each of those states in James Lindsay and Braiden Weaver. Lindsay was an Ohio state finalist in 2024 and fourth as a freshman. Weaver was fifth in Pennsylvania’s AAA state tournament as a freshman and didn’t place in 2024. Lindsay has visited Indiana and Pittsburgh, while Weaver has visited Clarion. Wyatt Bush is one of the few remaining, uncommitted top-100 recruits from the Class of 2025. Bush is a three-time NHSCA age-group national finalist, winning titles as a freshman and junior. He has taken a visit to the other Mountaineers, Appalachian State, in the spring.

Mike Poeta was named Head Coach of the Illinois wrestling program in April of 2021. Having been a fan of his for many years as a competitor, and in his early days as an assistant with the program, I was very excited about this move. The other day I had the honor of connecting with him to talk through what we can expect from his program heading into this season. I was very excited to talk through the potential for this season, who to watch, plans for their team, new additions to the roster, and some of their additions to the coaching staff. Without further ado, allow me to share some of the highlights from that conversation. Last season was expected to be a strong one for Illinois, but a series of unforeseen events caused the team to call an audible to some postponed plans. In the end, this should end up as a real positive for this group for the 2024/2025 season. I asked Coach Poeta about the messaging to the team as they prepared for this season: “The messaging for everyone was to push yourself and to try to get the best version of everybody. The team we have this year is really lined up to be successful. This is the team we thought we were going to have last year, so I had to be a little more patient. The Braunagels started having a ton of success, and they wanted to take the Olympic year and I wanted to allow them to have that life-changing experience. One of the bright spots from last season was Kannon Webster who showed in his limited action that he could be a real force at 149. Here is what Coach Poeta had to say about their young thoroughbred, along with his thoughts on more experienced returners to the lineup, Lucas Byrd and Luke Luffman: “Kannon Webster was able to wrestle in five events and was able to get up to being ranked seventh in the country. Then you had the unfortunate part of Lucas Byrd and Luke Luffman being hurt, which can happen any year. Losing them, I look at it as having five potential All-Americans, and they were on the bench last year. These guys are the hungriest that they’ve ever been. Luffman physically looks like a different person. He looks more intimidating and tougher. Braunagels spent the year wrestling primarily Greco and came back and their shots were better. Webster is a year older and has another year of maturity, and he’s ready for the best four years moving forward. Lucas Byrd had a bad injury over the summer, so we knew he was going to be out, but he’s very ready. Additionally, Byrd has stepped up as a leader. He seems to have grown into a great leader for the younger guys.” I asked Coach Poeta about Zac Branuagel and the upcoming All-Star Classic opportunity he will have: He has another year of experience at 197 pounds. He moved up the last season in Folkstyle. He had some enormous wins over guys like Jacob Warner (Iowa), Yonger (Iowa State), and Beard (Lehigh) he showed where he could be in the country. He’s more confident in the weight and ready to go. The All-Star Classic is a prestigious invite, and he can look back and be proud to be chosen to wrestle in this event. We are really excited for him. Getting back to Kannon Webster, I asked Coach Poeta about what we can expect to see and where he feels he’s had the most progression. He already has shown that he can compete with the best in the country, but more specifically I wanted to know what he’s seeing day to day that has impressed him the most: “He is composed and more mature. In the beginning, he was hard on himself with any mistakes, but he’s been able to relax and be more calm and patient, and his wrestling is better because he’s not as concerned with a potential mistake. Austin O’Connor was wrestling with him the other day and Kannon had him on the ropes. He’s going toe-to-toe with him.” Great time to talk about the addition of two-time NCAA Champ, Austin O’Connor, returning to his home state of Illinois to help coach the Fighting Illini: “I think he’s a rockstar. He has brought such incredible ownership in wanting the program to be great. He grabs guys and does extra work once or twice daily above the coaching responsibilities that I have for him. Illinois wrestling right now is bad for an introvert. There is never a time when you come into the room and there aren’t other guys in the practice facility. Guys are in here nonstop throughout the day doing stuff on their own. The kids are obsessed on their own and that leads to success. Austin is a big piece of that.” I would be remiss if I didn’t ask Coach Poeta about their returning All-American, Edmond Ruth. I don’t like to be remiss, so I asked him about Edmond and specifically around what he’s been working on coming off of a strong season: “We are trying to get him to unleash his offense a little bit more. He has a great arsenal, and we need him to not keep it in his pocket. He shows such glimpses of greatness, and we want him to give himself more opportunities to score, and to unleash that greatness.” Illinois also will be bolstered by a couple of transfers at 125 and 157 pounds. They were able to bring in two grad student transfers from Iowa State with Ramazan Attasauov and Jason Kraisser. Here coach talks about their impact thus far: “Great situations and great kids. Wrestlers being obsessed, I got here at 7:30am to our facility, and Ramazon was already here working out. Being a 125-pounder, we have an RTC guy from Mongolia, Zane Richards, and Lucas Byrd, he has three world-class guys whenever he wants. Same with Jason, if he looks down he has Kannon Webster, if he looks up he has Danny Braunagel, and AOC the NCAA Champ at his weight class. We are lucky to have them and they are taking advantage of this opportunity.” To wrap it up, I wanted to ask Coach Poetta about the postponed upgrade to their wrestling facilities. He was able to share some excellent news regarding their funds and the future of the Illinois facility upgrades: “The positive part is that we fundraised all the money ourselves, so the money is there and we are ready. We aren’t waiting on a handout, wrestling people take ownership and we worked really hard to get the money ourselves. This will be a facility deserving of these guys, who exemplify what a student-athlete is, and they deserve something in return at that same level. When we are ready to get this going again, it’ll be ready to be built.” I knew ahead of this interview that Illinois was in a great position to challenge for a trophy this season. Upon speaking with Coach Poeta, I’m even more convinced. Their returning guys are all in a great spot to battle for a podium finish, and their transfers have put themselves into a positive environment for one last run at the podium themselves. The future is bright in Champaign, Illinois. Friends of the program should have a bottle of their own Champagne ready to open in March to celebrate a team that is prepared to attack this season and expects results.

The All-330 projections are back for the 2024-25 preseason. The All-330 is a series of educated guesses on who will be the 330 wrestlers who make the trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to compete at the 2025 NCAA Championships. So, how are these different than the national rankings, which go down to #33? There's a little bit of guesswork, projection, and opinion that goes into these, which is generally frowned upon with rankings. In some cases, we think a particular wrestler is poised for a big year (or not-so-big). Another factor for these is conference allocations. Right now we can just speculate allocations for each conference and weight, but you can get an idea of how many each league will get based on rankings. For instance, in a Big Ten weight class with 10 of the top-15 wrestlers in the country (133), you can also assume that the conference probably steals an at-large berth as a lower-ranked wrestler only needs one win to lock up a national qualifying bid. Wrestlers are listed by conference, in alphabetical order, based on school name, so they are not conference rankings. The good news is that if someone is not listed or in the "just missed" category, they have the entire regular season action to go, along with a conference tournament. There's still plenty of time left to change a narrative or impress the masses. 125 lbs The differences between these and the rankings are more evident at 125 than at most other weights. There are a handful of true and redshirt freshmen that are projected to go to Philadelphia, but we don’t have the ability to rank them…yet. The true freshman are the #1 overall recruit from the Class of 2024, Luke Lilledahl and Chris Vargo of Edinboro. Marc-Anthony McGowan was a huge recruit for Princeton last year but was injured in the preseason and didn’t enroll. He’s counted as a true freshman. Freshmen of the redshirt variety include Kale Peterson and Vinny Kilkeary. Peterson had a limited sample size at 133 lbs, but is attempting to go 125 for Iowa. Kilkeary is in a battle for the starting role at 125 lbs for the Buckeyes with 2024 national qualifier Brendan McCrone. Also, we have Iowa State’s Osmany Diversent. With Kysen Terukina moving up to 125 lbs, Diversent looks like he could have the inside track at 125 lbs. Some may be unsure about the Cuban’s transition to folkstyle; however, fellow countrymen Anthony Echemendia and Yonger Bastida didn’t have much of a learning curve. If he’s good, he’s good. One name omitted from the rankings is Clarion’s Joey Fischer. Fischer is moving up to 133 lbs and is possibly taking a redshirt. 133 lbs This was the most difficult weight to project as it is incredibly deep with NCAA qualifier-tier talent. There were nine other quality wrestlers on the list that couldn’t fit in the “just missed” category. The two wrestlers in this projection who are not in the current rankings are Cael Hughes and Mason Leiphart. Whoever starts for Oklahoma State should have a good shot at NCAA qualification, Hughes was a massive recruit for the Cowboys and redshirted last year. He’s likely a beneficiary of new high-quality practice partners. Leiphart has put together a pair of quality seasons for F&M, but has yet to qualify for nationals. Franklin & Marshall has done well of late developing overlooked talent. James Conway and John Crawford may have snuck up on some people last year, I think Leiphart is “that guy” in 2025. 141 lbs NC State will do some weight/redshirt shuffling from 133-149 lbs, so the wrestlers considered at those weights are different from these projections and will be reflected in next week’s preseason rankings update. Here two-time All-American Kai Orine moves up. One factor that may bump someone from the rankings into the “just missed” category is the Pac-12 at 141 lbs. They currently do not have anyone ranked at the weight. We have Nash Singleton as the conference’s representative. Singleton had a solid 2023-24 season at 149 lbs, but didn’t qualify. He would turn out to be a great option for the Beavers and work his way into the rankings anyway. Keep an eye on that second qualifying slot in the MAC. The conference only earned one bid in 2024. If that’s the case again, that might make room for someone in the “just missed” category to secure a spot. 149 lbs With the movement on the NC State front, Koy Buesgens is inserted in place of Jackson Arrington, who is reportedly taking a redshirt. Buesgens was solid at 141 lbs during his redshirt season and made the finals of the U20 World Team Trials Challenge tournament in freestyle. We’re taking a leap with California Baptist’s true freshman Paul Kelly. He has excellent freestyle credentials and will likely get the starting nod for the Lancers in year one. Maryland is noted here with a Miller brother; however, it’s a different one from the rankings. It appears the plan is now to have Kal Miller at 149 lbs and Ethen moves up to 157. A situation we’re watching is Arizona State who will likely start Mykey Ramos, but could turn to true freshman Pierson Manville. Ramos is in the “just missed” category, but Manville might have the potential to make the big tourney in year one. 157 lbs We left 2024 All-American Daniel Cardenas out of the preseason rankings because the Cardinal will start the season under the assumption that he will redshirt. In his place is redshirt freshman Zach Hanson, who had a very good redshirt year himself. Rutgers true freshman Conner Harer is one of the highest-ranked true freshmen who has a path to starting immediately. We see him delivering with an NCAA berth. Recently, we got word that Lehigh intends on redshirting Max Brignola, which leaves this weight without a ranked wrestler from the EIWA. Both Army and Navy give their wrestlers plenty of opportunities in open tournaments to meet good competition, while also padding their W/L record against DI competition. I think that helps starters from both of their squads earn NCAA qualification. 165 lbs It looks like Iowa State’s MJ Gaitan is moving down to 165 lbs in order for the team to field their strongest lineup. He was listed at 174 lbs in the preseason rankings. Illinois is very high on redshirt freshman Braeden Scoles and he was the only starter for the Fighting Illini who was not mentioned in our preseason rankings. Staying in the Big Ten, our rankings had Bryce Hepner as the representative for Ohio State. He’ll be in the mix, along with Sammy Sasso. We’re still not sure “where” Sasso is at this point in time, but he intends on winning the spot and we’re not counting him out. Veterans Luka Wick and Kaya Sement were the last wrestlers added at this weight. Wick is coming off an injury that disrupted his entire 2023-24 campaign, while Sement gets his first shot at being the full-time starter for the Quakers. 174 lbs Last week, he brought you news from Nebraska - that their returning starters at 184 and 197 lbs, were planning on moving down for the 2024-25 campaign. That puts Lenny Pinto here. Also, the movement in the Iowa State lineup leaves an opening at 174 lbs. Tate Naaktgeboren and Aiden Riggins are the most likely candidates to fill the void. The weight is probably more ideal for Riggins, but we’ll see how it plays out. This weight has a lot of depth for the EIWA and MAC. As you can see between their projected qualifiers and those in the “just missed” category. There are also a handful of others from both conferences who have an argument and wouldn’t be a shock to see in Philadelphia. One of them that we’ve bought in on is from one of the Philadelphia schools - Drexel’s Jasiah Queen. He’s one of the more highly-rated recruits of late for the Dragons and had some good moments during a .500 redshirt season. We left Dom Baker out of the preseason rankings because there was the possibility of him taking a redshirt. Now, we’ll likely see him compete at 174 lbs. 184 lbs Aside from the Nebraska movement - Silas Allred at this weight, there isn’t much difference between these projections and our rankings. One minor difference is having AJ Heeg included. Heeg had a really solid redshirt year for Oklahoma State, despite only a few matches against DI competition. 197 lbs After 184 lbs, this is a weight with lots of differences between the rankings and this projection. We mentioned in our lineup battles article, that Virginia Tech’s 197 and 285 lb wrestle-off’s will be among the most intriguing in the nation. We’ve got the youngster going in Sasso, but Andy Smith is a returning Round of 12 finisher. Reading between the lines, with Nebraska’s 184 and 197 lber moving down, you have to assume that Camden McDanel is as good as advertised - maybe better. He’s included. This weight also had a pair of true freshmen in the projections and another in the “just missed” portion. Dillon Bechtold and Tucker Hogan are in, while Max Shulaw lurks in the first out. Bucknell had success with a pair of true freshmen in 2024 (Noah Mulvaney/Myles Takats), could they do it again with Bechtold? Hogan is one of the highest-ranked recruits to sign with Lock Haven in the Scott Moore-era - I see him winning right away. Shulaw has a tough ACC weight class with plenty of tough opponents at every turn. Speaking of Hogan and the MAC, there isn’t a MAC wrestler listed in the preseason rankings, so we have him and Spencer Mooberry going. 197 could also be the deepest weight in the SoCon. It wouldn’t surprise me if a third wrestler earned a qualifying spot. Four seems like it may be too much to ask for; however, there are enough quality wrestlers to make that happen. 285 lbs In the ACC, we’ve gone with the younger guys rather than the returning starters for NC State and Virginia Tech. That might be a tall leap when you’re talking about the two-time defending conference champion and an NCAA Round of 12 finisher, but Isaac Trumble and Jimmy Mullen are excellent in their own right. The Ivy League did not have any ranked wrestlers at this weight, so we’ve chosen Ashton Davis to get the only bid from the conference. Another new face is Navy’s Jamier Ferere. He’ll take over for 2023 EIWA champion Grady Griess. Ferere was 22-7 as a sophomore and finished his season with a dual win over national qualifier Dorian Crosby of Bucknell.

Oklahoma State did it again! The Cowboy staff has seen another notable recruit from the Class of 2025 flip his commitment and give OSU a verbal. The latest is Tucson Sunnyside, Arizona’s Sergio Vega, who was previously committed to Cornell. Just last weekend, Vega was in action at the Super 32. Vega won the championship belt at 138 lbs - after finishing as a runner-up in 2023. Vega was also recently in action at the Who’s Number One dual meet. He defeated rival Drew Gorman (Buford, GA) 12-5 to make his case for a number one ranking at 138 lbs. Vega currently sits at number two in the nation at the weight. His win over Gorman was the second in three months. Vega also prevailed over the Virginia Tech recruit in the Junior National freestyle finals in Fargo. It was his second All-American honor (4th in 2023) in that style and age group. Also in 2024, Vega captured a national title at NHSCA Junior Nationals. The addition of Vega will give Oklahoma State a pair of Sunnyside High School products in the room. Former Penn State two-time national champion, Roman Bravo-Young, has joined the Cowboy RTC while training for international competition. He represented Mexico at the 2024 Olympic Games. Vega is now the fourth top-60 recruit to switch his commitment to Oklahoma State since the hiring of David Taylor as head coach. He is currently ranked #17 overall in the Class of 2025. #16 Cody Routledge (OK), #20 Landon Robideau (MN), and #56 Austin Johnson (PA) are the three others. A verbal from Vega might give Oklahoma State the best Class of 2025 in the country. They have 11 verbals from ten Big Boarder’s. Five of the 11 are ranked in the top-20 among high school seniors. Seven are ranked in the top-100. Vega projects at the 141/149 lb weight class for the Cowboys. There is youth and talent at both weights for Oklahoma State; however, under Taylor, there is a renewed intensity in regaining their billing as college wrestling’s top team, so they’ll need all the firepower they can get. For the current recruits from Oklahoma State’s Class of 2025, Click Here.

Sunnyside

Rockwall

University of Virginia head coach Steve Garland sits down with Robbie Wendell to discuss the Cavaliers heading into the 2024-25 season. Garland's team was ravaged by injuries last year, but persevered. He talks about the season and the reflection that followed for himself and his staff. After years of strong recruiting, Garland is very excited about the depth and potential lineup battles he'll have at most weights this season. They also discuss some important dates on the Cavaliers 2024-25 schedule. Garland even takes a few minutes to acknowledge the impact of the recent retirement of his colleague and friend, UVA's NCAA title-winning basketball coach, Tony Bennett. For the full interview:

Malvern Prep