InterMat Staff

Mariner

We've made it through the holidays and are into 2025. Though the Southern Scuffle is this weekend, for the most part, it's all duals from here on out. A total of 15 duals will be contest along with the Scuffle and Edinboro's Bobby Kauffman Open. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this week. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match (with links). To make this guide even easier to find, we've added a link on our homepage and the latest Live Streaming Guide will appear right under the header articles. All times Eastern Friday, January 3: Purdue at Kent State 6:00 PM BoxCast Pitt-Johnstown at Pittsburgh 6:00 PM ACC Network Extra Cornell at Missouri 7:00 PM ESPN+ (Link has not been posted yet) Cleveland State at Ohio 7:00 PM ESPN+ Air Force at Oklahoma State 8:00 PM ESPN+ Saturday, January 4: American, Appalachian State, Army West Point, Bellarmine, Bloomsburg, Brown, Campbell, Chattanooga, Clarion, Davidson, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Little Rock, LIU, Morgan State, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma, The Citadel, Virginia, Virginia Tech at Southern Scuffle 9:00 AM FloWrestling Bloomsburg, Edinboro at Bobby Kauffman Open 10:00 AM FloWrestling West Virginia at Princeton 7:00 PM ESPN+ California Baptist at Utah Valley 8:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, January 5: American, Appalachian State, Army West Point, Bellarmine, Bloomsburg, Brown, Campbell, Chattanooga, Clarion, Davidson, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Little Rock, LIU, Morgan State, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma, The Citadel, Virginia, Virginia Tech at Southern Scuffle 10:00 AM FloWrestling Armbar at the Armory Binghamton vs. Maryland at Clifton Park, NY 11:30 AM FloWrestling Columbia vs. Lock Haven at Clifton Park, NY 11:30 AM FloWrestling Binghamton vs. Lock Haven at Clifton Park, NY 1:30 PM FloWrestling Columbia vs. Maryland at Clifton Park, NY 1:30 PM FloWrestling Binghamton vs. Columbia at Clifton Park, NY 3:30 PM FloWrestling Lock Haven vs. Maryland at Clifton Park, NY 3:30 PM FloWrestling Oregon State at Ohio State 1:00 PM B1G+ Nebraska at Northern Iowa 2:00 PM FloWrestling

Highlights Penn’s Composto earns gold at Midlands McGowan of Princeton takes 5th at Midlands in season debut Penn’s 10 placers at Midlands good enough for a 3rd place finish Harvard and Princeton each place 2 wrestlers at Midlands (12/29 – 12/30) Midlands – Hoffman Estates, IL Harvard, Penn, and Princeton were all participants in this year’s event. Penn finished the team race in 3rd place while Princeton was 10th. Below are the placewinners from each squad. Harvard Placewinners; 125: #24 Diego Sotelo – 3rd *Key wins over #25 Moran (Indiana), #27 Gallagher (Penn) 165: Cael Berg – 8th *Key win over #27 White (Rutgers) Penn Placewinners: 125: #27 Max Gallagher – 6th *Key win over #29 Holeman (Cal Poly) 125: Brady Pruett – 8th 133: #31 Ryan Miller – 4th *Key win over #33 Spidle (CMU) 141: #10 CJ Composto – 1st *Key win over #18 Olivieri (Rutgers) 141: Evan Mougalian – 7th *Key win over #29 Santaniello (Pitt) 149: #19 Cross Wasilewski – 2nd *Key win over #25 Clark (Rutgers) 157: #20 Jude Swisher – 3rd *Key wins over #22 Evans (Pitt) and #30 Rozynski (Lehigh) 174: #7 Nick Incontrera *Key win over #18 Augustine (Pitt) 184: #23 Max Hale – 3rd *Key win over #27 Squires (Princeton) and #31 Haas (Cal Baptist) Princeton Placewinners: 125: #26 Marc-Anthony McGowan – 5th *Key wins over #27 Gallagher (Penn) and #29 Holeman (Cal Poly) 285: Sebastian Garibaldi – 6th

In each of the previous two months of the 2024-25 season, we have released an article detailing the top duals for the upcoming month. Since we are almost finished with the open tournament season, it’s almost all duals from here on out. That means that January will be filled with too many good duals to highlight in one concise article. Instead, we’re pivoting and focusing on some of the top non-conference duals of the month. These will be few and far between as most schools are diving into conference competition in January. That being said, there are some good ones on the horizon for January. We’ll highlight those duals along with a top match to watch in those respective duals. January 3rd #11 Cornell at #18 Missouri Match to Watch: 184 lbs This is a dual between a Cornell team that was never really at full strength through the first two months of the season and a Missouri team that dealt with more than their share of injuries. Cornell, at least, has veterans Julian Ramirez (165) and Chris Foca (184) back as they had to sit out the first semester due to Ivy League eligibility restrictions. Foca is at the center of the spotlight in this dual as he’ll square off with Colton Hawks in a battle of top-ten opponents. Foca comes in at #8 and Hawks is right behind him at #9. The Big Red star is a 2023 NCAA All-American and both wrestlers came up a match shy of All-American status in 2024. Last year, these two teams clashed in Ithaca and Foca majored Clayton Whiting. That was one of the difference-makers in a 20-16 win for the hosts. January 5th Oregon State at #5 Ohio State Match to Watch: 125 lbs Oregon State already took on Oklahoma State - now they’ll face another OSU in Ohio State. I’m keeping an eye on the 125 lb bout that features a pair of top-15 lightweights in #6 Brendan McCrone and #13 Maximo Renteria. Despite getting pushed by top prospect Vinny Kilkeary, McCrone has a stranglehold on the starting role at this weight, winning 15 of his first 17 bouts this year. Renteria has finally gotten the opportunity to be Oregon State’s full-time starter and responded well. Last season, he managed a win over the eventual national champion, Richie Figueroa - this year he’s shown it wasn’t a fluke, Renteria is a podium contender. Both wrestlers were top-eight finishers at the CKLV as McCrone pinned Renteria for sixth place. Can Renteria even the score? #3 Nebraska at #9 Northern Iowa Match to Watch: 157 lbs Perhaps the most high-profile individual (and team) matchup of this upcoming weekend will be when #3 Antrell Taylor and #5 Ryder Downey renew acquaintances. Almost a month ago, the pair met in the CKLV finals and Taylor managed to hold off Downey, 4-3. In that match, Downey put Taylor on his back for a pair of one-counts and did not receive any nearfall points, but surrendered a reversal to the Husker All-American. That sequence was reviewed and scrutinized but was ruled in Taylor’s favor. It shows just how thin the margin of error is between these two. It’s the type of match we could see again in the NCAA semifinals or perhaps the championship match. Also in this dual are potential matches between #5 Brock Hardy/#8 Cael Happel (141), #16 Jared Simma/#17 Lenny Pinto, and #2 Parker Keckeisen/#5 Silas Allred. January 11th #14 Iowa State vs. Rider (@ Virginia Duals) Match to Watch: 149 lbs The DI portion of the 2025 Virginia Duals will see Iowa State face Rider and Bucknell. While Iowa State is a heavy favorite, Rider has proven that they can be highly competitive and will present a few intriguing matchups in the this dual. We’ll focus on the 149 lb weight class which looks to be in transition for the Cyclones. Anthony Echemendia started the year at the weight and acquitted himself well. Echemendia is currently nursing an injury and is in the process of moving down to 141 lbs again. That means Paniro Johnson is coming down from 157 lbs. A matchup with #15 Sammy Alvarez would go a long way toward determining where Johnson fits in the tier of contenders at 149 lbs. Alvarez had a solid sixth-place showing in Vegas with two wins over national qualifiers and followed it up with a perfect 3-0 day during Rider’s quad with Maryland, Pittsburgh, and South Dakota State. January 12th #23 Lehigh at #11 Cornell Match to Watch: Maybe 125 lbs Since Cornell will qualify for nationals through the Ivy League in 2025, this is no longer a conference match. Even so, it’s good to see these longtime rivals continue their duals with each other. Looking at how these two lineups clash, there isn’t a surefire matchup between their biggest stars. The best matchup could occur at 125 lbs with #12 Greg Diakomihalis and #15 Sheldon Seymour. Diakomihalis hasn’t seen action in over a month, so we’ll have to monitor whether he’s even able to go for Cornell. The Big Red wrestles on Friday, so maybe we’ll have an answer then. Both Diakomihalis and Seymour sat behind some talented teammates in 2023-24. Each probably would have been able to qualify for nationals if they were given the opportunity. Now both are featured prominently in the national rankings and could be outside podium threats. #8 NC State at #4 Oklahoma State Match to Watch: 125 lbs The 125 lber with the best collection of wins throughout the first two months of the season is #2 Troy Spratley. Just this year, he has beaten the wrestlers currently ranked #4-#7 at the weight. Along the way, he finished third at CKLV and posted a win over one of the finalists, Eddie Ventresca, a few weeks after the event. Next up on Spratley’s list happens the be the #8 ranked wrestler, Vincent Robinson. Robinson was one of the pleasant surprises of the first half of the year. He supplanted veteran Jakob Camacho as the Wolfpack starter and has won his first 13 bouts of the year, downing three returning national qualifiers. Robinson entered the CKLV but forfeited out before the quarterfinals. Hopefully, he’ll be able to go this time. In addition to 125 lbs, this dual has interesting matchups at 149, 157, 174, and 184 lbs. The heavyweight matchup is a rematch of the CKLV finals won by Wyatt Henrickson via fall. #27 Pittsburgh at #21 West Virginia Match to Watch: 133 lbs The 2025 edition of the “Backyard Brawl” doesn’t have the marquee matchup that you might expect with a pair of ranked squads, so let's look toward 133 lbs. The 133 lb weight class is very deep and features about 40-45 wrestlers that could qualify for nationals on the right day. The two 133 lbers in this match are both unranked but fit into that category. Jett Strickenberger started the year at 125 lbs and moved up with a couple of bumps along the way. He was 0-2 in Vegas, but posted a solid win over Zan Fugitt in Florida. He’ll have to contend with Vince Santaniello, who was previously ranked and spent significant time in the rankings last year. Santaniello has a rough 2-4 record; however, his four losses have come to four quality opponents. With a close dual anticipated, this could swing the dual from one side to the other. This dual did not occur in 2023-24, so it’s good that both schools were able to make this regional rivalry happen again. Pitt has plenty of homegrown talent and West Virginia recruits well in the WPIAL. #12 Stanford at #18 Missouri Match to Watch: 165 lbs If I had finished this article earlier in the day, as intended, it would have highlighted the 174 lb bout between top-ranked Keegan O’Toole and #5 Lorenzo Norman. Since then, we learned that Missouri will be without O’Toole for the next month, so that match isn’t happening. Hopefully, we’ll get to see the 165 lb contest. Coming into the year, myself and James Hackney had Missouri’s Cam Steed tabbed as a breakout candidate. In the early going, that looked to be accurate; however, Steed suffered an injury that sidelined him for about a month. In his return at the Collegiate Duals, Steed appeared to get knocked out and had to injury default. His opponent would be 2024 All-American Hunter Gavin, who has entertaining matches no matter who he wrestles. These two tangled at the 2023 Southern Scuffle and Steed prevailed with an 11-2 major decision. Of course, more than two years will have passed before this potential rematch, but it’s an interesting side note. Without O’Toole (and Rocky Elam), it should be difficult for the Tigers to pull off the upset. January 16th #15 Little Rock vs Lock Haven (@ Davidson Duals) Match to Watch: 133 lbs I’d love to see a Little Rock/Lock Haven matchup become a regular thing. Lock Haven has been a program that always seems to punch above their weight and Little Rock’s emergence became one of the top stories from the 2024 national tournament. Now, we have two returning All-Americans set to square off at 133 lbs. Nasir Bailey finished fourth in the nation at this weight class, as a true freshman, and was selected to compete in the 2024 NWCA All-Star Match. Bailey has taken a few losses so far this season, but still remains on the short list of national title threats in Philadelphia. Anthony Noto held the #1 ranking at one point last season, down at 125 lbs, but he dropped to the #12 seed in Kansas City after a loss to an unranked opponent in February. No worries for Noto, who wrestled to third place for his second All-American honor. In both instances, he significantly outperformed his pre-tournament seed. With this weight class being a bit wacky nationally, it’s hard to say where either will be ranked two weeks from now. January 17th #27 Pittsburgh at Bucknell Match to Watch: 197 lbs The Panthers step out of the ACC twice in January - this time to take on in-state foe Bucknell. There are quite a few solid matchups in this dual (133/165/174); however, I’ll focus on the 197 lb bout. We just saw it a week ago at the Midlands, as Mac Stout posted a 10-3 win over Dillon Bechtold on his way to a title. Bechtold is a true freshman who has the look of someone who will get better as the year progresses. Will he be able to make the proper adjustments to reverse that result just a few weeks later? Stout, on the other hand, has been Pitt’s most consistent wrestler this season. His Midlands title pushed him up to #12 in the latest set of national rankings. January 19th #20 Arizona State at #12 Stanford Match to Watch: 149 lbs With the craziness that is conference realignment, this is now a non-conference dual rather than a potential matchup for the top of the Pac-12. With Arizona State typically having a large presence from California in their lineup, this will be the only time that the Sun Devils wrestle in Cali in the 2024-25 season. One of the prominent ASU wrestlers from California is Jesse Vasquez, one of only four wrestlers to win four CIF state titles. He’ll face a California native from Stanford in 2021 All-American Jaden Abas. Abas is fresh off a Midlands championship last week. Because Vasquez is in his first year at 149 lbs, this will be their first collegiate meeting. If Nico Provo and Richie Figueroa are both back at 125 lbs for their respective squads, that would be the marquee matchup. Provo has yet to compete and may end up redshirting. Figueroa was injured in mid-November and has yet to return. #6 Virginia Tech at Appalachian State Match to Watch: 165 lbs Appalachian State does have to look very far to get some high-quality out of conference competition. They’ll dual top-ten opponents from the ACC in NC State and Virginia Tech. 165 lbs is where Appalachian State’s top-ranked grappler appears - #8 Will Miller. Miller has a 10-1 record with his only setback coming to a multi-time All-American (Peyton Hall). He’ll have to contend with Mac Church, who jumped up from 141 lbs in the offseason and has generally been able to keep it close with most of his competition. Last year, Miller split matches with the Hokies starter, Connor Brady.

This morning, Missouri head coach Brian Smith provided injury updates on two of his most decorated star athletes - Keegan O’Toole and Rocky Elam. The more pressing of the two is related to Elam who will be unavailable for the remainder of the 2024-25 season due to injury. Elam has not taken the mat at all during the 2024-25 campaign. Smith also noted that top-ranked Keegan O’Toole will miss the entire month of January due to an injury. In the release from Missouri, Smith did not indicate whether or not the team will seek an additional year of eligibility for Elam. Since he has not wrestled at all in 2024-25, it would be likely that he would receive one. In four years of competition for the Tigers, Elam has amassed a 69-17 record. He has earned All-American honors in all four years (6,3,4,5) and has captured a pair of conference titles - one in the MAC and one in the Big 12. Last season, Elam also dealt with injuries and still was able to finish sixth in the nation after earning the #12 seed at nationals. The Tigers will be back in action tomorrow as they host Cornell in their “Beauty and the Beast” event, alongside the Mizzou gymnastics squad. At this time, it’s unclear who will finish the year at 197 lbs for Missouri. Blue chip true freshman Aeoden Sinclair has filled in, but is now up to his five-match limit needed to maintain redshirt status. Junior Jesse Casset has also wrestled at 197 for Smith’s team and is 2-8 on the year.

Soldier Salute and Midlands Recap To wrap up 2024, we saw two huge tournaments in collegiate wrestling, Soldier Salute and Midlands, concluding over the weekend. Many teams will return to competition with NWCA Collegiate Duals next week, so this was a great opportunity for teams to test their depth at different weights to prepare. Soldier Salute The Soldier Salute, held in Coralville, Iowa, took place from December 29 to 30. It featured tough competition from #1 (NCAA) Iowa and #1 (NAIA) Life. Whenever these two teams compete in any capacity, there are always fireworks, and Iowa barely eked out the first-place finish with 5 champions compared to Life’s 3. #7 (NAIA) Indiana Tech put up a strong showing as well, coming in third. At 103, unattached high school wrestler from Wyoming Seminary, Jaclyn Bouzakis secured the tech fall over Life’s #2 (NAIA) Katherine Hernandez. Life also had a head-to-head matchup in the 3rd place match, but did not wrestle-off between Brianna Funakoshi and Macie Anderson. At 110 lbs, freshman for Life#1 (NAIA) Anaya Falcon continued to show her absolute dominance at the weight with a 16-5 tech of Iowa’s #2 (NCAA) Ava Bayless, the 2024 NCWWC National Champ. Falcon has seemed pretty untouchable and this separation from the returning champ shows just how much of a threat she is across divisions. In the 3rd place match, Iowa did let some teammate competition play out between #5 Emilie Gonzalez and Valarie Solorio. Earlier in the tournament, Bayless got the win over Gonzalez, and here Gonzalez won the 6-2 tech over freshman Solorio. Regardless of outcomes here, the depth for the Hawkeyes points to a bright future at the weight. At 117, we got the first of a few Iowa vs Life finals matches. Here, Iowa secured a 6-0 decision with returning NCWWC finalist #1 (NCAA) Brianna Gonzalez over Life’s #5 (NAIA) Salyna Shotwell. Gonzalez seemed to control this match, having defensive answers to Shotwell’s attempts and slick point-scoring of her own to keep it out of reach. At 124, we saw another win from an unattached wrestler as former North Central All-American Mateah Roehl got an 11-0 tech fall over talented freshman from Indiana Tech, #3 (NAIA) Rose Kaplan. Down the line, we saw #6 (NAIA) Ariana Martinez of Life with a 12-2 tech fall over Devlynn Albrech (HS) for 3rd place and #8 (NAIA) Anna Kresja for Life securing 5th place with a tech of her own against Iowa’s Cali Leng. 131 brought another exciting Life vs Iowa matchup, this time with Life having the upper hand. #2 (NAIA) Sarah Savidge got the 10-0 tech over Emily Frost. This was a repeat of the result from U20 Nationals this past spring where Savidge beat Frost, 13-4. Iowa freshman, Cadence Diduch showed out here at 138 lbs claiming the title over #3 (NAIA) Samantha Barragan of Texas Wesleyan in a nail-biter 8-6 decision. Diduch separated early with six unanswered points, but had to score late and hang on after Barragan answered back with six of her own. Barragan was on quite the run in the tournament taking out Iowa’s Lily Luft and Life’s #8 (NAIA) Zaynah McBryde to make the finals. Looking at the brackets, it was not my prediction for the finals, but both wrestlers gritted out through a stacked weight class to have one of the most exciting final matchups of the evening. 145 lbs was more Iowa v Iowa action, with #3 (NCAA) Macey Kilty winning her 8-1 matchup against teammate #1 (NCAA) Reese Larramendy. Larramendy had a huge win in the semis over #1 (NAIA) Jamilah McBryde defeating her 13-0 after several close matches between the two. Kilty, who is a 2x Senior World Medalist had an incredible tournament, winning twice by tech fall, with one coming in about 40 seconds. Larramendy is a returning NCWWC champ for the Hawkeyes, but this win will likely put them at #1 and #2 in the rankings, with Kilty finally taking the #1 spot. Similarly, at 160lbs, Olympic Silver Medalist #2 (NCAA) Kennedy Blades teched her way to the finals where she matched up with NAIA #1 Latifah McBryde who already had a pin and a tech on the day. This was the most exciting finals by far given Blades' slick scoring ability and incredible defense paired with McBryde’s dangerous positional wrestling and big move potential. Although things got interesting a few times, Blades was able to secure the second-period tech, 13-3 to claim another first-place finish for the Hawkeyes. At 180 lbs, fans saw another Hawkeye finals with returning champ #1 (NCAA) Kylie Welker taking on freshman #7 (NCAA) Naomi Simon. Both had two techs to land in the finals including Welker’s win over Margaret Graham of Life. In the finals, it was all Welker however as she recorded her 3rd tech fall of the day. At 207 lbs, Life fans got to see one more win over an Iowa opponent as freshman #3 (NAIA) Savannah Isaac gritted out a close 2-1 decision over Iowa’s 2024 NCWWC runner-up #1 (NCAA) Jaycee Foeller. This upset was a nail-biter, and while low-scoring was a captivating way to end the tournament. Iowa ended up claiming the team title with 215.5 team points, while Life came in second with 199. Any time these two teams square up, it brings out some amazing competition and results keep shifting back and forth. For fans of either team, this was a great showing with standouts from Indiana Tech and #14 (NAIA) Texas Wesleyan making their marks as well. Midlands The spread between top teams at Midlands was more divided with #3 (NCAA) North Central winning first place as a team by a commanding lead. Their 165 team points were followed by only 70 team points from the second-place team, preparatory school Wyoming Seminary. Just a half point behind them with 69.5 was #7 (NCAA) Presbyterian College. Similar to Iowa, North Central had several teammate matchups in the finals, with the Cardinals representing 9 out of the 20 finalists. Additionally, they had 12 wrestlers finish in the top 3. For the purpose of this article, I will be focusing primarily on results from collegiate competitors. Starting at 103 lbs, we had our first of several all-NCC finals with #6 (NCAA) Brianne Graves eking out the 3-2 decision over 2x All-American and 2023 champ, #10 (NCAA) Madison Avila. While you do have to take teammate matchups with a grain of salt, this does shine a light on the available talent for the Cardinals at this weight. Earlier in the season, Graves and Avila had similar tournament success and met in the finals of the Adrian Invite with Avila getting the win at the time. With both ranked in the top 10, North Central is spoiled for choice when it comes to selecting a starter at this weight for duals. At 117 lbs, #2 (NCAA) Sydney Petzinger of North Central won 9-0 against opponent #4 (NCAA) Caitlyn Jackson of Lindenwood. Petzinger is a 3x All-American and went 5-0 on the day with every match except for the finals being a bonus point win. Jackson was Lindenwood’s highest placer on the day and had two tech falls before running into 2024 National Finalist Kaelani Shufeldt (unattached), whom she beat in a close 3-2 decision. Moving on to 131 lbs, Aurora’s U20 world medalist #3 (NCAA) Alexis Janiak took down Virginia Foard (unattached) in a 4-3 decision in the finals. Foard has similar international success with 2 age-level Pan Am golds under her belt. Lindenwood’s Cayden Condit took 5th place at the tournament where she had a tech fall and a fall before losing the decision to Foard, then getting a two-minute pin on the backside for the 5th place spot on the podium. At 145 pounds, #7 (NCAA) Sydney Perry of North Central got the 6-3 decision win over teammate Sarina Bertram. Both had matches against other teammates along the way to the finals with Riley Aamold and Clare Waite also finishing in the top 5 at 145 for the Cardinals. This of course does not factor in #4 Bella Mir who also competes for North Central who did not participate in this tournament. This may be the weight with the most depth for the Cardinals. Presbyterian claimed their lone title of the tournament at 160 lbs, with talented freshman #4 (NCAA) May Cuyler shaking things up with a 10-7 decision against North Central’s previous multiple-time All-American #7 (NCAA) Tiera Jimerson. This match was electric with back-and-forth action leaving the two tied 4-4 heading into the second period. Jimerson struck first when action resumed, but Cuyler answered right back with 2 of her own. Jimerson scored a point, but Cuyler had the answers, tacking on 4 more with under 10 seconds left in the match. Cuyler improves to 16-1 on the season and only looks to be honing her craft. She will continue to be a dangerous podium threat come March. In another North Central finals match, #5 (NCAA) Shenita Lawson got the better of #3 (NCAA) Brittyn Corbishley with a pin in the finals between the two Cardinals. This is another weight with two top-5 ranked wrestlers for North Central and it showed in the dominance each wrestler had getting to the finals. Corbishley had two falls plus a decision and Lawson had a tech fall, fall, and decision before the two met up. Corbishley was actually up on Lawson headed into the second, but Lawson caught Corbishley shooting to put her on her back. Both wrestlers are lethal if they find the positioning they are going for, and in this match, that favored Lawson. North Central finished strong at 207 lbs claiming the 1st, 3rd, and 5th place spots with #10 (NCAA) Dasia Yearby, Traeh Haynes, and Caroline Ward winning respectively. Yearby took out returning All-American teammate Haynes in the semis to move on to the finals where she pinned Jade Herzer of UW-Stevens Point in just under 40 seconds. Wrap up Things are still slow as winter break for students continues until mid-January, but teams have to be ready to hit the ground running when schedules resume as National Duals are the first thing back for most. I plan to preview it once brackets are released. So far, we know these are the teams planning to compete: NAIA: Baker University, Campbellsville University, Doane University, Grand View University, Hastings College, Indiana Tech, Life University, Lourdes University, Missouri Baptist University, Oklahoma City University, Southern Oregon University, Texas Wesleyan University, University of Cumberlands, University of Providence, University of Saint Mary, William Penn University NCAA: Adrian College, Aurora University, Colorado Mesa University, Elmira College, Emmanuel College, King University, Lock Haven University, McKendree University, North Central College, Presbyterian College, Sacred Heart University, Schreiner University, University of Iowa, University of Mount Olive, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Wartburg College Results this week in major NCAA, NCWA, and NAIA competitions Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all collegiate women’s competitions. Soldier Salute VIEW RESULTS Midlands VIEW RESULTS Upcoming events for next week Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all collegiate women’s competitions. Saturday, January 4 - Red Lady Open

Independence

Pueblo Central

Coatesville

Berks Catholic

William Penn Charter

Oak Park-River Forest

Yorkville

Del Norte

Chiawana

Pope John XXIII

Cumberland Valley

Parsippany Hills

Highlights Navy’s Koderhandt named Most Outstanding Wrestler at Soldier Salute Bucknell places six at Midlands to earn 7th place team finish F&M and Lehigh each place one wrestler at Midlands Navy sees 7 on podium at Soldier Salute (12/29 – 12/30) Midlands – Hoffman Estates, IL Bucknell had a full contingent at this event. Lehigh and Franklin & Marshall had limited wrestlers. Below are the individual placers. Bucknell finished in 7th place as a team. Below is a list of placewinners: 133: #28 Kurt Phipps – 7th 141: #19 Dylan Chappell – 3rd 157: Cade Wirnsberger – 8th 174: #31 Myles Takats – 3rd *Key wins over #18 Augustine (Pitt) and #22 Cramer (CMU) 197: #29 Dillon Bechtold – 5th *Key wins over #13 Bates (Northwestern) and #18 Poznanski (Rutgers) 285: Logan Shephard – 4th *Key win over #30 Caves (CMU) F&M Placewinners: 141: Bryce Kresho – 6th Lehigh Placewinners: 157: #30 Logan Rozynski – 4th *Key win over #20 Swisher (Penn) (12/29 – 12/30) Soldier Salute – Coralville, IA Navy was the lone EIWA participant in this season’s event. The team’s finish was 6th place. See below for individual place finishers. Navy Placewinners: 125 (silver bracket): Nick Treaster – 3rd 141: #6 Josh Koderhandt – 1st *Key wins over #7 Vombaur (Minnesota) 157: Jonathan Ley – 4th 157: Charlie Evans – 7th 165: Dylan Elmore – 6th 174: #15 Danny Wask – 2nd *Key win over #16 Simma (UNI) 197: Payton Thomas – 5th

There was plenty of end-of-year wrestling over the past two weeks, with duals just before Christmas and some great tournaments before New Year’s. The Big 12 flexed its depth with some of the mid-major programs getting solid wins. The Collegiate Duals saw banged-up Missouri and Iowa State teams battling solid nonconference opponents. Then the Soldier Salute and Midlands had a mixed bag for the Big 12, with a handful of teams competing at both. Utah Valley and California Baptist score ranked wins While it’s been a few weeks, I wanted to highlight two teams that have quietly been putting together great seasons. With Adam Hall and company at the helm, the Wolverines put together a 20-14 upset over Oregon State. They won six matches and got bonus points at multiple weights for the win. In their third season of Division I, California Baptist is putting together their best season yet. They’re quietly on a four-dual win streak, and reeled off back-to-back ranked wins over West Virginia and Cal Poly. Currently sitting at 5-2 on the year, the Lancers have already matched their wins over Division I teams from last season with eight duals to go. Iowa State and Missouri bring banged-up squads to Collegiate Duals Throughout this season both the Cyclones and Tigers have had issues in the lineups, with injuries playing a large role. The Cyclones went 2-1 at the event, beating Lock Haven and North Carolina before a loss to Ohio State. They were missing Kysen Terukina, Evan Frost, Anthony Echemendia, Christian Carroll, and Yonger Bastida. Terukina and Bastida both competed in some, but not all, of the duals. Terukina went 2-0 against Lock Haven and North Carolina, while Bastida went 1-0 against North Carolina. Missouri went 1-2, narrowly beating Binghamton between losses to Little Rock and Penn State. Gage Walker officially had his redshirt pulled with the news of Noah Surtin medically retiring. Logan Gioffre appears to have made a move up to 157 and just went 0-2 at the Soldier Salute. Cam Steed returned only to injury default in his first match against Little Rock, appearing to lose consciousness from a head collision. Rocky Elam’s status is still in limbo, and with Aeoden Sinclair only having one date left, the Tigers gave up bonus points in their dual losses. There was a bright spot for them, however, with Keegan O’Toole beating Levi Haines in a thrilling overtime match. Midlands Highlights: The only Big 12 teams that brought some starters this year were California Baptist and West Virginia. Eli Griffin for CBU missed out on placing, going 2-2. Drayden Morton finished 5th at 165, he didn’t score any ranked wins but had a narrow overtime loss to Hunter Garvin. Nathan Haas finished sixth, including a win over Donnell Washington. West Virginia didn’t bring their full squad but had two placers. Ian Bush was fifth, he reeled off five wins in a row after a wild 21-18 loss to Donnell Washington in the second round. Bush actually avenged the loss to Washington, lost to Brian Soldano 12-11, then beat the aforementioned Haas for his finish. True freshman Rune Lawrence was eighth at 197 as their second placer. Soldier Salute Highlights: No Big 12 team sent a full contingent to the Soldier Salute, but the teams that did saw some solid results. At 125 Kysen Terukina won a title, beating Missouri’s redshirting freshman Mack Mauger with a takedown at the buzzer. 149 saw Colin Realbuto finish third and Gabe Willochell finish fourth, with Realbuto getting a statement tech fall in the medal match. Jared Hill of Wyoming had a breakout performance at 157, beating top ten Tommy Askey of Minnesota in the semis in rideouts. UNI’s Jared Simma finished third, with a narrow 3-1 loss to Navy’s Danny Wask in the semis. While neither are the starters this year, two Big 12 true freshmen stood out at 197. Oklahoma State’s Cody Merrill and Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair both defeated Isaiah Salazar to finish third and second respectively. Upcoming Competitions: Air Force: AT Oklahoma State (Jan. 3) Arizona State: AT California Baptist (Jan. 12) California Baptist: AT Utah Valley (Jan. 4) Iowa State: AT West Virginia (Jan. 8th) Missouri: Cornell (Jan. 3) Northern Colorado: Southern Scuffle (Jan. 4) North Dakota State: Southern Scuffle (Jan. 4) Northern Iowa: Nebraska (Jan. 5) Oklahoma: Southern Scuffle (Jan. 4) Oklahoma State: Air Force (Jan. 3) South Dakota State: Mid Major National Duals (Jan. 10) Utah Valley: California Baptist (Jan. 4) West Virginia: Princeton (Jan. 4), Iowa State (Jan. 8th) Wyoming: Mid Major National Duals (Jan. 10)

Two of the three major holiday tournaments have concluded and the ACC had some stellar performances. Stanford kicked off their first Midlands in the ACC by bringing home the team title and three individual titles. Pittsburgh also had a strong showing at the Midlands, finishing fourth as a team and earning two individual titles. North Carolina sent a small contingent of starters to the Soldier Salute, finishing with one finalist and four placers. #22 Stanford Stanford used their time in Hoffman Estates to put the conference on notice that they are a legitimate threat to win the ACC in their inaugural season. The Cardinal will be loading a lot of hardware on the plane back to Palo Alto. They crowned three individual champions in #10 Tyler Knox (133), #8 Jaden Abas (149), and #7 Lorenzo Norman (174) On top of their gold medals, Knox was named the Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler and Norman was the Jack Leese Champion of Champions. Knox has been fantastic this season and looked strong throughout the tournament, notching two bonus point wins before beating #32 Ryan Miller in the semifinals. He then had a very impressive showing in the finals with a controlling 10-3 win over #16 Dylan Shawver. Abas has seemingly shaken whatever early-season jitters he had and has been on an absolute tear. He was solid all weekend, taking out a sneaky good #19 Cross Wasilewski in the finals. Lorenzo Norman has put the country on notice this season; after his statement at the Midlands, his record stands at 14-1 with his lone loss a tight 4-3 decision to a reinvigorated #3 Dean Hamiti. Norman opened the tournament with tech fall, pin, tech fall before beating #23 Alex Cramer in the semifinals. He made a big impression with a decisive win over #5 Nick Incontrera in the finals. They also had podium performances from seven wrestlers to separate themselves in the team race. #13 Hunter Garvin (165) placed third after dropping his semifinal bout in sudden victory to the eventual champion, Tyler Lillard. #22 Nick Stemmet (197) and Jason Miranda (141) both finished in 4th place while Peter Ming (285) finished in fifth. They rounded out the tournament with seventh-place finishes from #28 Grigor Cholakyan (157) and Brock Byers (197) and an eighth-place finish from Collin Guffey (174). Pittsburgh The Panthers turned in an impressive team performance despite losing two key starters to injury in the tournament. #18 Reece Heller (184) added a second Midlands title after being atop the podium in 2023. Heller earned three bonus point victories in his four matches, including a ranked win over #29 Shane Cartegena-Walsh in the finals. #15 Mac Stout (197) claimed his first Midlands title with impressive and consistent performances on both days; he beat #32 Dillon Bechtold 10-3 in the semifinals before taking out #26 Gabe Sollars 13-9 to stand on the top step of the podium. Kade Brown (149) had an amazing run to finish in third that included ranked wins over Malyke Hines and Andrew Clark. #26 Finn Solomon also placed at 149, ending the day in sixth after medically forfeiting his final two bouts. #20 Luca Augustine (174) started off the tournament strong, knocking off #22 Jackson Turley in the quarterfinals before an injury ended his tournament early; he finished in sixth after medically forfeiting the second day. The final placer for the Panthers was #22 Dylan Evans (157) who earned fifth; he won a battle over #28 Grigor Cholakyan in SV in the quarterfinals and dropped a tight match to eventual champion #21 Johnny Lovett in the semis before battling back to win his fifth-place bout 2-1. #28 North Carolina The Tar Heels took a small squad made up of a few starters and several back-ups to Iowa for the Soldier Salute. Lachlan McNeil (149) had a great tournament, running through the first three rounds and beating #17 Colin Realbuto in the semifinals to meet #4 Kyle Parco in the finals. The final match is worthy of a rewatch, but McNeil dropped the bout 8-5 to finish as the runner-up. McNeil continues to improve as he settles into 149 and I expect him to be in the thick of a very competitive weight class within the conference. #19 Josh Ogunsanya (174) made his second appearance for the Tar Heels after his debut at the Collegiate Duals. He looked great in the opening rounds before dropping the semifinal match to Iowa’s #8 Patrick Kennedy; he won a match on the backside, but fell in the third-place bout to #15 Jared Simma of Northern Iowa. Also placing for the Tar Heels were Laird Root (157) and Collin Carrigan (165) who both finished in eighth. The ACC will be represented by three teams in the Southern Scuffle to finish off the holiday tournaments. Duke, Virginia, and Virginia Tech are all scheduled to be represented in Chattanooga this weekend.

Cleveland

Northern Bedford

Arlington Martin