InterMat Staff

Check here often as David Mirikitani will live blog for the quarterfinals It’s Christmas in March ladies and gentlemen!! Laptop is charged, phone is charged, caffeine is loaded, LET’S GO! Quarterfinals and WBs this morning. ESPN in the house. If you are rooting for a favorite school or your fantasy squad, you already know, this is moving day. Winners in the quarterfinals get 6 points for guaranteed 6th place, 1 for advancement and 1, 1.5 or 2 for bonus. Same for the semis. Melina Cruz absolutely crushed the national anthem and this place is hyped. This is the real March Matness!! Brackets are ready to go. 125 matchups: Lightning Luke vs Seymour in a rematch, Peterson vs VRob, Eddie V vs Strick and Sparkplug vs Ramos. 125 lbs Inside mats frontside, Outside backside, you know the drill. What are you hyped about? Let my man Earl Smith know, he has all the answers. Penn State is undefeated and favored in 9 of the 10 quarters. Seymour to a leg early, LL with a nice shin whizzer. Feeling out process on these mats. Seymour with another shot. 7 B10 teams in the top 10. Peterson and VRob scrambling on 4. VRob clutch last night. Sparkplug scores 1st vs Ramos with a scramble stepover TD. Big :13 here for the rideout. 3 bouts 0-0 at the break. Spratley 3-0. Seymour is up and out. Peterson up and out then VRob with TD to go up 3-1. Ramos R2 to close it to 3-2. Peterson out 3-2, VRob choice next. LL up and out. 1-1. TD will decide it. Spratley makes it 4-2. VRob picks down and he is out. Peterson applying pressure. Ramos cuts Spratley. Down 3 time to go. LL patented lefty swing single and Seymour forward roll out hit for stalling. OT LL and Seymour. Ramos in on a single needs to finish. VRob into the semis!!! Spratley into the semis!! Strick and Eddie V into OT. Stalemate LL and SS. wildness!! Great no score scramble Eddie V and Strick. Warning Eddie V. Rideouts for LL and SS. Seymour out in :12. Eddie V with clutch OT TD to advance. LL down. Has 11 to get out. Restart. SS only has to rid :03 to be ahead. Stall Seymour. LL gets out he wins if not he loses. Seymour wins the rematch!!! Lehigh has an AA. Semi matchups #8 Seymour vs #4 VRob and #3 Ventresca vs #7 Spratley in a rematch that sparkplug won big at their dual at GIA in December prior to Hall of Fame Duals. 133 lbs On to 133. #1 Byrd vs #8 Davis, #21 Rini vs #4 Romney, #14 Fugitt vs #5 McGonagle and #7 Bouzakis vs #2 Ayala. OSU up to 2nd and VT up to 4th and NCST up to 8th with those results. 4 minute break to catch our breath and back at it. McGonagle quick TD and E1. Romney quick TD. Ayala up 9-3 just like that. These 133s aren’t easing into it. At All. Byrd up 3-0. E1 Rini. TD Bouzakis to make it 9-6. Fugitt feet to back for the fall!!! Into the semis!! 10-6 the Drake after 1. Love the Drake to all the Seinfeld fans out there. Drake 14-6 now. Byrd feet to back to blow it open vs Davis. Romney up 6-2. 125 quarters were bonkers nailbiters. 133 massive separation so far. A fall and 3 bigger point spreads. Ayala 17-7 into the 3rd. 20-8 now. Byrd going to win by major 8 big team points for your Fighting Illini. Romney into the semis 8-2 and the Drake wins 23-10. Hopefully you bet the over in that match. Semis are set #1 Byrd vs #4 Romney and #14 Fugitt vs #2 Ayala. 141 on deck. #1 Hardy vs #9 Frost, #5 Happel vs #4 Koderhandt, #3 Mendez vs #6 VomBaur and #10 Composto vs #2 Bartlett. 141 lbs Top 6 seeds still alive. Iowa from off the board to 4th and IL off the board to 5th. Moving day folks. It’s oddly quiet here for now. Defending champ Mendez quick TD and E1 for VomBaur. In 1965 had 10 in the qtrs and same for 1982 IA. in both cases they went 6-4 in the qtrs and ended with 9 AAs. PSU going for 10 AAs to match Minnesota. 2nd TD Mendez. TD Hardy. Hardy has a cradle locked up. Mendez came to wrestle. 3rd 1st period TD. Bartlett E1 to start 2nd period and gets the TD to go up 4-0. Hardy up 7-0 and gets the fall in a tilt that ended up in an inverted mount. Nebraska will move into 2nd with 9 points. Mendez 13-2 all over Vombaur. Koderhandt ties it up. Composto chooses neutral down 4-0 and 1:08 RT. Koderhandt and Happel OT. BB into semis for PSU. Happel in, roll through Koderhandt, almost cradle, short time, no TD. TBs it is. Mendez wins via major. Happel out in :05. Big advantage. Koderhandt smart decision chooses neutral, Happel :04 to avoid a TD for the dub. And he does it. UNI with a semifinalist. They will pass IL and tie IA. Hardy vs Happel 1 v 4 and Mendez v Beau 3 v 2 semis. Chalk at 141 and those matches should be fire. 149 lbs 149 Henson vs JW, Stiles vs D’Emilio, SVN vs Lachlan and Kannon vs Ridge. Lovett strikes 1st at 149 to go up 3-0. D’Emilio with a TD to go up 3-0, Henson with a TD as well, very crafty finish from the champ after great scramble D from JW. Blair vs Sem on mat 5. 3-1 Henson, 6-2 D.D., 7-0 Ridge and 0-0 SVN/Lachlan. JW E1 and TD to go up 4-3. 4-4 now. JW will be a tough out. Super Talented and a unique feel. Henson up and out, Stiles up and out, Ridge up 7-0. Lachlan with E1. 3rd period D’Emilio picks down and he is out to increase lead to 7-3. Stoppage in Lovett match. JW chooses down. Henson trying to get RT. SVN down to start the 3rd and he is out it’s 1-1. SVN gets the TD and the lead. JW out before RT is at 1:00. D’Emilio the 13 seed into the semis. BIG for Ohio State. 4-2 SVN 40 to go. Henson and JW 5-5 20 to go, Ridge in complete control. SVN great level change to ice it. He advances, JW and Caleb in OT. Ridge wins 12-0. Henson in deep and gets it done. Winners find a way. Semis tonight #1 Henson vs #13 D’Emilio and #3 SVN vs #2 Lovett. 157 lbs PSU, NEB, OSU, tOSU, IL, IA, UNI, VT top 8 up to the moment. 157 1 Kasak vs 8 Blaze, 12 Fish vs 20 Chumbley, 3 Trelly vs 11 Matty B, 7 Vinny Z vs 2 Slicedawg. Fish very winnable match that would be huge for the Cowboys. Kasak shot and a stalemate, Chumbley in waterfall vs Fish. Kasak strikes 1st with the TD. Fish was going to RS this year, Teague got injured and he comes out and now both are here in Philly. Slicedawg with the TD and R2 for Zerban. Fish Chumbley 0-0 after 1. Fish down 1st. R2 Fish. 3-1 TK after 1. Trelly down 1st 0-0 after 1. Official review on mat 6. Trelly out quick and TD3 to go up 4-0. Bianchi goes feet to back on Taylor but they rule it OOB. Close call. Fish riding tough. Shapiro up 5-1. Kasak up 3-2 with choice in 3rd. Vinny R2 to make it 5-3. Chumbley down 2-0 and chooses down. Taylor up 4-2. Kasak out. 6-3 Shapiro after 2. Blaze with TD and the lead 5-4. P1 against Fish and R2 Chumbley. It’s 3-2 on the board but RT is locked so it’s 3-3. Blaze is going to upset Kasak as the 2nd PSU 1 seed goes down! Trelly into the semis. 3-3 Chumbley and Fish and Fish has RT. Chumbley gets the TD to take the lead. Up 2 with :07 to go. Chumbley into the semis and Shapiro into the semis. 157 is CHAOS folks. #8 Blaze vs #20 Chumbley and #3 Trelly vs #2 Slicedawg. Team score updates shortly. PSU 2-3 so far in the quarters. 165 lbs 165 let’s set the table people. #1 MM vs #8 Amine, #12 Minto vs #4 Barraclough, #3 Mikey C vs #6 BMant and #7 Garvin vs #2 Hall. Minto vs BClough is interesting to me. BClough super tough on top Minto very crafty on his feet. PSU only up 0.5 points over NEB at this point. Wild. Garvin scores 1st and that is SIGNIFICANT. Hall is a monster on top and now Garvin does not need to choose down. BMant chest to chest with Caliendo. Amine trying to make it a street fight with Mesenbrink. Hands to the face warning against Amine. Minto BClough scoreless so far. BClough chooses down. My guess is Minto will choose neutral. BClough up and out. MM/Amine scoreless after 1. Hall with a TD at the buzzer to go up 4-3. Minto TD, Bclough E1. Now TD BClough to go up 5-3. Hall now up 6-3. MM up and out. Caliendo with the TD and the lead. MM TD to go up 4-0. 33 to go. Minto chose down which idk was a good decision.RT accruing for BClough. MM up 4-0 after 2. Amine down. BMant in striking distance down 3-2. Minto still down, gets the R2. Cuts him and gets TD3 at the buzzer on a go behind for the DUB!! At the moment NEB is leading the tournament, Caliendo into the semis. MM with a saddle in the 3rd period to win 5-0 and into the semis. 1 match left. PSU back in the lead. Hall up 6-5 great defense by Hall from Garvin bodylock. 60 to go. 20 to go and Hall head hands D Garvin trying everything but it won’t be enough. Semis tonight Mesenbrink vs Minto and Caliendo vs Hall. 174 lbs 174 on deck. Keegan vs Wolak, Ruiz vs Devos, Hamiti vs PK and Wask vs Levi. Keegan for TD right away. He is not 100% physically but a complete stud mentally and intellectually. Levi TD3. Hamiti up 3-1. He wrestled Brands in the dual not PK. E1 Wask. Devos up 3-0. Keegan in again, his finish % is soooo good and he gets it. Devos 3-1 lead. Hamiti up and out to make it 4-1. Keegan with NF3 to go up 9-1. PK TD3 and E1 Hamiti. 5-4 DJ. 8-5 Hamiti now. 9-1 Keegan going into the 3rd. Brick in Devos match. Levi up 4-2. PK E1 down 2 now 40 to go. Levi TD to ice it. Hamiti wins 8-6. Lost brick I believe for SDSU. Keegan up 10-1 10 to go and he gets a TD. Top semi will be Keegan vs Devos/Ruiz winner and the bottom is the match a lot of people want to see DJ Hamiti vs Levi Haines. Devos up 4-1 going into 3rd. Ruiz will choose down. Blood for Devos. Ruiz out quickly to make it 4-2. Devos in on a leg, Ruiz sitting corner, Devos shelfing the foot, stalemate. 60 to go. Blood again. NEB is wrestling SO WELL. Very realistic chance to end up 2nd. Devos in on a leg and stalemate. 18 left. Time to run if you are Devos. P1 with 8 to go and Devos wins. 184 lbs 184 quarterfinals: Starocci vs Jaxon Smith, Allred vs DPlott, McEnelly vs Foca and Ruth vs Keckheisen. Keckheisen with TD 30 in to go up 3-0. Plott TD3 and blood time. McEnelly TD3. This kid is special. Quick E1 for Foca. Keckheisen hard ride. Plott on top. Jaxon/Starocci scoreless 2:00 in, now TD Starocci. Plott with another TD. Keckheisen 3-0 and 2:34 RT after 1. McEnelly up and Foca tied at 6s. 3 of these matches seem to be in control with Starocci, Plott and Parker all building leads. Foca good D and it’s 6-6 and Max picks down. He’s out 7-6 lead 90 to go. 60 left. Barnburner finish coming I’d guess. Max with the go behind. E1 Foca. 10-7. 20 to go. McEnelly into the semis and 7 team points for the Gophers. Plott 11-5 and RT lead. Keckheisen with the major and UNI jumps into 4th place. Starocci with a major. Plott will win 12-5. Semis are awesome and chalk! Starocci vs Plott and McEnelly vs Keckheisen. 197 lbs 197: Cardenas vs Sollars, Barr vs Beard rematch, Ferrari vs Stout, Shumate vs Buchanan, 5 B10 guys in this weight. Ferrari greeted with scattered boos. Cardenas quick TD and the lead. Shumate with huge throw of Buchanan but Buchanan rolls through and no points. Ohio State brick. tOSU had a TERRIBLE brick last night at 157 where they took 2 points off the board and lost the challenge smh. Barr TD3 and the lead. Beard is out. NF4 Cardenas E1 Sollars 7-1 lead. Barr is dialing it up on Beard 10-2. Shumate takes the lead 3-0 vs Buchanan. Ferrari up 1-0 going into the 3rd. Stout chooses down. Buchanan R2 to tie it up 3-3. Sollars TD3, still down 8-5 and trying to kill RT. Barr is stacking up points and Ferrari now has RT. Cardenas will survive and advance. Buchanan with NF4 to break the match open. Barr with the major. Cardenas Barr rematch tonight. Ferrari vs Buchanan is 90 away from being a reality. Buchanan was down 3-0, said hold my drink and ran off 18 straight for the tech. Beastmode. Idk about you but I am here for Ferrari vs Buchanan and Barr vs Cardenas. 8.5 points for Iowa. Buchanan 1st ever to AA for 3 schools (WYO, OU, IA). 285 lbs 285 quarters on deck: Olympians Gable vs Schultz (1st time ever this has happened?), Kueter vs Trephan, Kerk vs Heinz57, Trumble vs Captain America. Gable quick TD, Wyatt quick TD, Kerk TD, 285s are off and running. Minnesota will go from 9th to 6th with a win. Wyatt up 6-1 and going for the fall. Steveson 2nd TD. Fall Hendrickson!! 9 points for OSU. Kerk up 4-0 with a lot of RT. Keuter/Trephan scoreless after 1. Trephan down 1st. Gable 9-3 1:10 to go. Trephan with E1 and massive lift to go up 4-0. Trephan was sitting behind Trumble and now in position to AA. E1 Ben. 12-4 Gable. 4-0 Kerk going into the 3rd. Gable is SOOOO freaking good. Schultz is a beast and Gable making it look easy. 20-5 TF. 8.6 points for MINN. Keuter down 4-2 30 to go. Kerk up 4-0 and RT 20 to go. Lehigh with an AA Owen Trephan and Kerk AA as well. PSU went 7-3 this round and has 90.5 points as of 2:55pm. See you guys tonight for the semis!!!

Round of 16 live! Eight mats! Frontsides in the middle! Consis on the outside. You all know the drill. Lilledahl strikes first in the four frontside matches and leads 3-0 after one. Marc Anthony McGowan with a funky scramble and a 3-0 lead as well. Richie Figs up 4-1. Peterson with a TD, it’s 4-4 and Figs needs an escape for the lead. Seymour up 7-1 on Smith. Man, this is fun!! Dean Peterson with a reversal, cradle, and a FALL over Figueroa! There will be a new champion at 125. McGowan up 4-0 going into the third. Seymour beats Caleb Smith and Lighting Luke with the TF. Three new matches and M.A.M. 1 minute from the upset. Ventresca strikes 1st. Stalling McGowan. Caution McGowan. TD VROB at the buzzer. Brick thrown!!! Coaches want to fight each other. Strickenberger is up big on Rivera. Poulin and Spratley tied with Stevo getting RT. Reversal Spratley. Waiting on VROB TD verdict. Spratley up 2-0 1:34 RT Stevo going into 3rd period. VROB wins at the buzzer challenge denied. Strickenberger up 11-5. Eddie V up 5-1. Ramos match scoreless early. Poulin down 2-1. 1:22 to go. No RT. Spratley riding tough. Strickenberger wins a major decision. :15 to go for Spratley. Another brick. Challenging a clasp on top. Braxton Brown vs Davis. Eddie V wins 6-3. Spratley wins. Lucas Byrd vs Ryan Miller. Ramos up 8-0. TD and four-pt NF breaks it open. Max points this round is three pts/win. Ramos wins by major. Super consistent this year. Just the one loss to LL. Davis 4-1 lead over BB. 1st period TD and trade escapes. Great scramble, no points! Angelo Rini early lead over Serrano NoCo. BB reversal 4-3 1:30 to go. Rini up 6-2 now. Potential fifth seed loss. Knox/Romney scoreless 1st period. Byrd in control. Davis is gonna make the one TD hold-up. Rini 6-3 chooses down going into third. Spidle vs Bouzakis. Byrd wins and into the quarters. Evan Frost vs McGonagle starting. Rini going to get the upset. He’s been a step faster every step of the way. Bouzakis strikes 1st. Romney going to hold on vs Knox. Bouzakis' second TD. McGonagle gets the first TD halfway through the period. Nasir Bailey an almost TD vs Zan the man. Frost down 3-0 chooses neutral. Ayala up early 3-0. Bouzakis 8-3 in control. 0-0 Bailey chooses down and he is out. The Drake in complete control. Three TDs to 0. McGonagle chooses down, he’s out it’s 4-0. Drake with TD #4. Bouzakis into the quarters with a decision. McGonagle gets the W. Bailey and Fugitt 1 each 3rd period. Frost vs Alirez. Hardy vs Henson. Zan and Nasir into OT. Ayala in major territory. Hardy up 6-1. Fugitt gets OT TD to beat the three seed. Frost chooses down 0-0. Koderhandt vs Saunders. Hardy up big on Henson. Frost up and out 1-0 in the second. Happel vs Chappell, say that 3x fast. Frost trying to get RT. Alirez has his head on the mat. Up and out and Frost with the TD. Hardy via TF. BIG TD for Frost he is going to BEAT ALIREZ! Koderhandt snakes Josh Saunders for the fall. Happel up 4-1 90 seconds to go. Mendez vs Lemley. Bartlett vs Tagg. Vombaur vs Cedeno. Chappell with a TD and Happel E1 to get the W 5-4. Cedeno in early, great upside down D by Vombaur. Mendez up 3-0. Composto vs Jameson. TD Vombaur. Clasping Mendez. TD Jameson. Tagg gets behind Bartlett and Beau hits standing Granby for an awesome TD to take the lead. Cedeno with a good ride. TD Mendez, up 6-2 after 2. Jesse chooses down. Jameson up 4-0. Cedeno chooses down. Bartlett up 3-1 and RT and he gets it done. Mendez by major. Jameson up 4-0 and RT, Composto chooses neutral. Hits Jameson in a Jonesy and he’s up 6-4. Jameson can tie it with an escape before his RT runs out. Vombaur advances. Composto rides him out for the W. Big hit to OSU trophy chances. Abas vs Henson. Cross W vs JW, Parco vs Stiles, D’Emilio vs Gioffre. Henson up 4-1. Injury time Parco. D’Emilio up 5-4 3rd period. JW 7-2 in control on his feet. Stiles up 1-0. D’Emilio with the W. Henson riding hard. Stiles with a TD up 4-0 on Parco. Webster vs Realbuto. Clark vs SVN. Parco has stopped wrestling, Stiles will advance most likely by major. SVN up early. Alvarez vs Lachlan. Whalen vs Lovett rocking the pink prototypes. Webster up 6-2. Injury time Alvarez. Ohio State climbing in the team standings to second. They won 125 backside and 133, 141, 149 into the quarters. Ridge all over Whalen 11-0. SVN up six with RT locked 1:15 to go. Webster wins 8-3. Kasak vs Chittum. Quick Merkel for the TD. SVN advances. Blaze vs Askey. Lachlan up 4-2 60 to go. Team update OK State third. 125 front, 133 not here, 141 upset loss, 149 TT by major. Lovett by TF. McNeil wins 4-2. Hipolito vs Chumbley, Hipolito is a joy to watch. Blaze/Askey scoreless, not surprised. Cannon vs Fish in the 5/12 matchup. 5-2 Kasak halfway through. Blaze Askey only one escape. Predicting OT now. Kasak opening it up - the kid just keeps grinding. Cannon 4-4 with Fish. Chumbley 1-0. Nebraska up to second now. Caleb L, Van Dee W, Hardy W, Lovett W. OT for Blaze Askey as predicted. Kasak wins 8-3. Swisher vs Trelly Taylor. Chumbley vs Hipolito OT. Crazy scramble Cannon reversed Fish to his back, no backs awarded, brick tOSU. Back points awarded later in different sequences. Very interesting decision here. Blaze wins on RT on OT TB. Hipolito into the rideouts. Trelly WBF! Nebraska is ROLLING. Mesenbrink vs Mosher. Downey vs Bianchi. Chumbley brick thrown wanting danger call. tOSU brick still going. TD Downey. Mesenbrink up early, shocking. Hipolito called for clasping but gets the rideout. If he gets out we will win on RT. Ohio State loses the brick AND loses the backpoints. Absolutely brutal. 7-6 Cannon, on top 1:18 to go, no RT. Chumbley rides out for the WIN!! Another #4 seed goes down to #20. Slicedawg vs Lovett, no Teemer here. Fish vs Cannon into OT. Mesenbrink for the TF. MASSIVE bear hug bomb and Tom Ryan throws a brick asap. Sorting out what is being challenged. Huge call in the match and team race. Fish wins. Down goes # five. Lovett up 4-3 early. Caliendo vs Thomsen. Downey up 4-1. Zerban vs Saldate. TD Caliendo. 4-4 Lovett vs Shapiro after one and Shapiro down first. Downey up 4-2 60 to go. 6-1 Mikey C after one. Downey hangs on barely vs Bianchi. Brick Little Rock wanting the TD. Shapiro TD up 8-4. Zerban Saldate scoreless after one. Saldate out. Zerban in on a single. Caliendo 11-3 in the third. Long brick Downey vs Bianchi. Zerban chooses down, on serve going into the third. Bianchi WINS the brick and advances into the quarters, bad for UNI. Caliendo wins by major, Slicedawg wins by decision. Zerban with a reversal and swipes to go up 4-1. Steed vs Amine in a rematch. Ramirez vs Minto. Zerban in control and will advance to the quarters. Big W for Northern Colorado. Garvin vs Sparks. Will Miller vs Barraclough. Garvin TD. Steed Amine scoreless, quick E1 for Amine. A second stall Steed P1 for Amine. Minto and Ramirez 0-0 after 1. E1 Ramirez. P1 for Amine. 3-0. Steed picks down. E1 Steed. Minto up 7-1; upset brewing. Steed wrestling like he doesn’t know he’s losing. Barraclough up 4-0. Garvin up 7-3. Amine wins 3-1 where no one took a committed leg attack. Minto up 8-1 60 to go. BeauMant vs Scoles. Garvin advances. Minto will major Ramirez the 5 seed 11-1. Sorry peeps had to plug in. Keegan wins an epic 10-8 match vs Norman. BeauMant advances. Devos vs Thompson. Hamiti vs Singleton. Wolak vs Harkins in OT. 24 vs 25. Wolak shows up in March people!! Gets the clutch TD to advance to the quarters. Ruiz vs Ogunsanya. Casella vs PK. Hamiti cruising 6-1, and Devos up 3-1. On a consolation match note, it is hard to watch Jacori Teemer if you’re a fan of his. He is beat up and struggling. Been an absolute pleasure watching him during his career. PK up 3-0. Ruiz gets the first E1. Hamiti all over Singleton 13-2. PK chooses down. Devos 5-2 going into the third. Cassella with a tough ride on PK. Hamiti with the major. Casella 2:00 ride. Ruiz up 4-2 30 to go. Devos beats the fourth seed Thompson. Ruiz advances. SCW vs Starocci, Sax vs Haines. Gaitan vs Wask. PK advances to the quarters. Starocci up 7-0. Levi up 3-0. Penn State has not lost a match, unbelievable. Jaxon Smith vs Heller. Wask up 3-0 on Gaitan. Starocci 15 rip for the TF. Savage. All timer. Jaxon Smith goes big and gets the fall. Alex Clemsen and Maryland have a quarterfinalist. Plott up 3-0 on Fine from Columbia. Haines up 4-0. Interesting matchup on three, Gabe Arnold vs Chris Foca. The teams are 1.5 points apart - so trophy implications. Foca's big sweep single stops the dive roll and gets 7 big points. Wask gets a major and Navy has 2 in the quarters!! McEnelly vs DJ Parker. Berge vs Allred. Foca up 11-1, absolutely cruising. McEnelly up 3-0. The incredibly consistent Dustin Plott gets a major. Foca with 3:00 of RT. McEnelly 3-1 after one. Keckheisen vs Fishback. Foca 12-1 into the quarters. Allred 1-0 vs Berge so far. McEnelly 3-2 and choice into the 3rd period. Sollars vs Brophy in a match absolutely no one had in their brackets. Pinto wins in OT and somehow Kharchla is out of the tournament. Sollars with a quick TD. Keckheisen 3-0 after one. McEnelly gets the major. Berge 4-1, 60 to go, Allred firing shots. Cardenas now vs Bates. Allred gets a FALL to advance. Huge for Nebraska who move into second place. Sollars with a major to advance, IU with 2 in the quarters. Ruth vs Dean. Keckeisen is so good and so consistent, that we almost take him for granted. He will win by major. Penn State is two matches away from going 20-0 which we don’t think has EVER happened. Barr vs Munoz. Beard vs Little in R16 AA battle. No TDs on any of the front-side bouts. Cardenas with the TD to go up 4-0, Nebraska second, OSU third, tOSU fourth, Cornell/Minnesota tied for fifth at 10:07pm EST. Cardenas wins 4-1, he’s into the quarters. Beard up 1-0 via escape. Ruth and Dean in OT. Ruth TD brick or official review. Barr was holding his head. No injury time. Not sure what happened. Munoz up 2-1 heading into the third. Mr. 675 lb deadlift vs Andy Smith. Beard up 4-1 30 to go. Munoz on bloodtime. Beard advances. Barr is out it’s 2-2. Ruth out in three seconds in the rideouts. Ferrari TD end of period, clutch. Munoz stalemated trying to come out the backdoor. Shumate has Zurawski in big trouble. Ruth going to win on RT and advance. Barr and Munoz to OT. Shumate up 6-3. Stout brothers on mat six. What a weird experience. Barr in on Munoz, foot is elevated, will he get the TD, he does!!!!! PSU stays perfect. Buchanan vs Novak. Buchanan’s muscles have muscles smh. Ferrari will advance. The Stout Bros making history tonight. Great scramble Buchanan and Novak and no points scored. Shumate advances in an absolutely huge win for Ohio State. Two cracks at being an AA now. Buchanan up 5-0 and in control. Mac up 4-1 on Luke. Want to see the hug after the match. Keuter early TD vs Feldman. This is their 3rd matchup of the year. Gable is up 7-1, 4 stall calls against Yara. Gable wins by stalling DQ in the 1st period - which I would guess is a first. Mac Stout wins and a nice moment with the brothers. Buchanan gets a TF. Keuter up 6-1. Schultz vs Luffman rematch. Kerkvliet vs Hoffman. Nebraska and OK State with good sessions this evening. Owen Trephan vs Seth Nevills. Schultz Luffman scoreless after 1. Keuter is a terrible matchup for Feldman. Trephan gets the first TD vs Nevills. Kerk up 3-0. HARD mat return by Greco Olympian Schultz. Three NF Schultz. Trephan 3-1 after 1. Schultz getting full 2:00 ride and stall pt. 4-0 going into the 3rd. Keuter wins 8-2 and advances. Trephan up 7-2 going into the 3rd. Schultz choosing down. Kerk 4:00 of RT. PSU goes 20-0, a good day at the office. Ten in the quarters. Schultz advances. Trephan into the quarters. Pitzer vs Trumble ACC rematch. Heidselman vs Colbert. Captain America vs Tinker. Trumble TD, Pitzer headhunts for the R2. Hendrickson up 7-0. Heindselman up 11-1. Trumble E1 up 4-2. Heindselman TF advances. Pitzer down 4-2 chooses down to start the Third. Hendrickson WBF to advance. Trumble putting on a great ride. 36 to go up 4-2 plus locked RT. He rides out for the win. This has been a lot of fun folks. Thank you for the read and the positive feedback. We will be back at Session 3.

The second session has come to an end. Upset after upset. Brothers wrestling off for their place in the championship bracket. It’s never a dull moment in March! It’s March Matness! Dean Peterson (Rutgers) vs. Richard Figueroa (Arizona State) This match was less than boring. You have three-time NCAA Qualifier Dean Peterson, who faced adversity after injuring his knee in the B1G semis, versus 2024 NCAA Champion Richie Figueroa. Now I was skeptical of Peterson’s knee entering this tournament. He looked sharp against Oklahoma’s Lorenzo. He was on fire against Richie Figs. Figueroa got the first takedown to start the scoring. Peterson escaped before the first period ends. Figs takes bottom to start the second and quickly escapes. Peterson gets the next takedown. Figs get hit with the cautionary start. The takedown took them out of bounds. Peterson chooses bottom in the third and escapes. Figs get the takedown. Peterson quickly hits a switch, reverses, cradles Figs, and gets the FALL! Dean Peterson pins returning NCAA Champion Richie Figueroa! Peterson (RUT) def. Figueroa (ASU) fall 5:42 Gabe Arnold (Iowa) vs. Chris Foca (Cornell) Three-time NCAA Qualifier and 2023 All-American Chris Foca is having himself a night. He majored Iowa’s Gabe Arnold 12-1. Foca opens up the match by taking a shot, getting in a brief scramble, and finally getting the takedown. He puts Arnold on his back and racks up near fall all within the first minute of the match. Foca rides him for two minutes in the first. Arnold defers, and Foca chooses down to start the second and gets a quick escape. Foca works for a takedown and gets the leg. Arnold splits to avoid the takedown, taking them out of bounds. They were brought back in and Foca gets the takedown. This results in him racking up another minute of riding time for Foca before the second period ends. He ends the second period with three minutes of riding time. Arnold chose neutral for the third. Both wrestlers had heavy hands throughout the third period. Foca gets hit for stalling for backing out of the circle. They continue to circle hard. Foca was in control of the whole match. He kept the inside control for the entire seven minutes. Foca (COR) def. Arnold (IOWA) maj. 12-1 Max Stout (Pittsburgh) vs. Luke Stout (Princeton) This is the first brother match-up in Division 1 Wrestling Championship history. Both wrestlers started the match with heavy hands, both fighting for that inside control. Each took shots and re-shots attempts. Nothing happened, score-wise, in the first period. Mac Stout chooses bottom to start the second. He gets the escape and fires back with a takedown. Luke Stout is back up on his feet to get the escape. Luke Stout chooses bottom to start the third. Mac Stout rides him a bit, but Luke eventually finds his footing for the escape. Mac ends up beating his older brother 4-2. At least they still hugged it out! Can’t expect a crazy scramble-filled match with brothers. Stout (PITT) def. Stout (PRIN) dec. 4-2

125 lbs #1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) tech #16 Blake West (Northern Illinois) 19-3 #8 Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) dec #9 Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 7-3 #12 Dean Peterson (Rutgers) fall #5 Richie Figueroa (Arizona State) 5:42 #4 Vince Robinson (NC State) dec #13 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) 6-4 #3 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) dec #14 Spencer Moore (North Carolina) 6-3 #6 Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) maj #11 Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) 18-6 #7 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) dec #10 Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) 2-1 #2 Matt Ramos (Purdue) maj #18 Jacob Moran (Indiana) 8-0 133 lbs #1 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) maj #16 Ryan Miller (Penn) 8-0 #8 Braeden Davis (Penn State) dec #9 Braxton Brown (Maryland) 5-3 #21 Angelo Rini (Indiana) maj #5 Dom Serrano (Northern Colorado) 15-7 #4 Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) dec #13 Tyler Knox (Stanford) 4-2 #14 Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) dec #3 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) 4-1SV #6 Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) dec #11 Evan Frost (Iowa State) 5-0 #7 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) dec #23 Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) 9-4 #2 Drake Ayala (Iowa) maj #18 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) 13-4 141 lbs #1 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) tech #16 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) 19-3 #9 Jacob Frost (Iowa State) dec #8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) 6-1 #5 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec #21 Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) 5-4 #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) fall #20 Josh Saunders (Cornell) 3:32 #3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) maj #14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) 11-2 #6 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) dec #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) 4-0 #10 CJ Composto (Penn) dec #7 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) 6-4 #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec #18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State) 4-1 149 lbs #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec #17 Jaden Abas (Stanford) 5-1 #8 Jordan Williams (Little Rock) dec #9 Cross Wasilewski (Penn) 10-3 #12 Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) maj #5 Kyle Parco (Iowa) 9-0 #13 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) dec #29 Jack Gioffre (Virginia) 8-5 #3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) #19 Andrew Clark (Rutgers) 11-1 #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) dec #11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider) 4-2 #7 Kannon Webster (Illinois) dec #10 Colin Realbuto (The Citadel) 8-3 #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) tech #15 Ty Whalen (Princeton) 15-0 157 lbs #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) dec #16 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) 8-3 #8 Joey Blaze (Purdue) dec #9 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) 2-2RTTB #12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) dec #5 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) 10-7 #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) dec #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) 2-1TB #3 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) fall #14 Jude Swisher (Penn) 2:16 #11 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) dec #6 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) 5-4 #7 Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado) dec #23 Chase Saldate (Michigan) 5-1 #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) dec #15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) 10-4 165 lbs #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech #16 Kyle Mosher (Columbia) 22-6 #8 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) dec #9 Cam Steed (Missouri) 3-1 #12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska) maj #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) 11-1 #4 Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) maj #13 Will Miller (Appalachian State) 11-1 #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) maj #19 Jack Thomsen (Iowa) 15-3 #6 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) dec #11 Braeden Scoles (Illinois) 8-5 #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) maj #10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 14-4 #2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) tech #18 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) 20-4 174 lbs #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) dec #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) 10-8 #24 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) dec #25 Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) 4-1SV #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) dec #21 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) 4-2 #13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec #4 Garrett Thompson (Ohio) 9-3 #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) maj #14 Matthew Singleton (NC State) 15-3 #11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) dec #6 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 3-0 #7 Danny Wask (Navy) maj #23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) 12-4 #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec #18 Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) 4-0 184 lbs #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) tech #16 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rider) 15-0 #8 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) fall #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) 2:45 #12 Silas Allred (Nebraska) fall #5 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) 6:42 #4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) maj #20 Nick Fine (Columbia) 12-2 #3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) maj #14 DJ Parker (Oklahoma) 11-3 #6 Chris Foca (Cornell) maj #11 Gabe Arnold (Iowa) 12-1 #10 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) dec #7 Isaac Dean (Rider) 2-2RTTB #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) maj #15 Dylan Fishback (NC State) 14-3 197 lbs #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) dec #16 Evan Bates (Northwestern) 4-1 #24 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) maj #25 Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) 14-4 #5 Michael Beard (Lehigh) dec #12 Stephen Little (Little Rock) 4-1 #4 Josh Barr (Penn State) dec #13 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) 5-2SV #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) dec #19 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) 5-1 #6 Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) dec #11 Luke Stout (Princeton) 4-2 #23 Seth Shumate (Ohio State) dec #26 Brock Zurawski (Rider) 11-6 #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) tech #15 Joey Novak (Wyoming) 16-1 285 lbs #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) disq #16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) #9 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) dec #8 Luke Luffman (Illinois) 7-0 #5 Ben Kueter (Iowa) dec #12 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) 8-2 #4 Owen Trephan (Lehigh) dec #13 Seth Nevills (Maryland) 8-3 #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) dec #14 Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) 4-0 #6 Josh Heindselman (Michigan) tech #22 Brady Colbert (Army West Point) 17-2 #7 Isaac Trumble (NC State) dec #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) 5-2 #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) fall #15 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) 3:51

Dean Peterson (Rutgers) 125 lbs Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) 125lbs Angelo Rini (Indiana) 133 lbs Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 141 lbs CJ Composto (Penn) 141 lbs Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) 149 lbs Joey Blaze (Purdue) 157 lbs Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) 157 lbs Hunter Garvin (Stanford) 165 lbs Chris Foca (Cornell) 184 lbs Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) 174 lbs Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) 197 lbs Isaac Trumble (NC State) 285 lbs

125 #4 Vince Robinson (NC State) v #13 Marc Anthony McGowan (Princeton) #3 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) v #14 Spencer Moore (North Carolina) Consi - #26 Keyveon Roller (Virginia) v #23 Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) 133 #13 Tyler Knox (Stanford) v #4 Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) #6 Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) v #11 Evan Frost (Iowa State) Consi - #26 Kai Orine (NC State) v #10 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) Consi - #12 Ethan Oakley (North Carolina) v #28 Colton Camacho (Edinboro) 141 #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) v #6 Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) Consi - #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) v #28 Danny Pucino (Illinois) Consi - #24 Jason Miranda (Stanford) v #25 AJ Rallo (Bellarmine) Consi - #29 Jayden Scott (North Carolina) v #13 Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) 149 #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) v #17 Jaden Abas (Stanford) #29 Jack Gioffre (Virginia) v #13 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) v #11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider) Consi - #20 Koy Buesgens (NC State) v #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) 157 #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) v #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) Consi - #22 Ed Scott (NC State) v #27 Grigor Cholakyan (Stanford) Consi - #24 Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh) v #25 Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) 165 #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) v #10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) Consi - #25 Nick Hamilton (Virginia) v #24 Cesar Alvan (Columbia) Consi - #28 Mac Church (Virginia Tech) v #21 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) Consi - #29 Derek Fields (NC State) v #20 Gunner Filipowicz (Army) 174 #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) v #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) #24 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) v #25 Dalton Harkins (Army) #12 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) v #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) #14 Matty Singleton (NC State) v #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) Consi - #15 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) v #31 Branson John (Maryland) 184 #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) v #8 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) #15 Dylan Fishback (NC State) v #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Consi - #17 Gavin Kane (North Carolina) v #31 Caden Rogers (Lehigh) 197 #19 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) v #3 AJ Ferrari (CSUB) #6 Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) v #11 Luke Stout (Princeton) Consi - #17 Nick Stemmet (Stanford) v #32 Wolfgang Frable (Army) 285 #7 Isaac Trumble (NC State) v #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) Consi - #24 Nolan Neves (North Carolina) v #25 Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) Consi - #11 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech) v #27 Connor Barket (Duke) Consi - #26 Peter Ming (Stanford) v #23 Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State)

We are looking at round one performances by conference, we see some interesting results. This does not include the pigtail round. We also had our fair share of upsets to start the day. Upsets by weight 125 #18 Jacob Moran (Indiana) over #15 Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) 133 #21 Angelo Rini (Indiana) over #12 Ethan Oakley (North Carolina) #23 Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) over #10 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) #18 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) over #15 Anthony Noto (Lock Have) 141 #21 Dylan Chappel (Bucknell) over #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) #20 Josh Saunders (Cornell) over #13 Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) #18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State) over #15 Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) 149 #17 Jaden Abas (Stanford) over #16 Trae McDaniel (Army) #29 Jack Gioffre (Virginia) over #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) #19 Andrew Clark (Rutgers) over #14 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) 157 #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) over #13 Jared Hill (Wyoming) #23 Chase Saldate (Michigan) over #10 Ethen Miller (Maryland) #15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) over #18 Jacori Teemer (Iowa) 165 #19 Jack Thompsen (UNI) over #14 Drake Rhodes (South Dakota State) #18 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) over #15 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) 174 #24 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) over #9 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) #25 Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) over #8 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) #21 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) over #12 Myles Takats (Bucknell) #23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) over #10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) #18 Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) over #15 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) 184 #20 Nick Fine (Columbia) over #13 Evan Bockman (Iowa State) 197 #24 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) over #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) #25 Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) over #8 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) #19 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) over #14 Zach Glazier (South Dakota State) #26 Brock Zurawski (Rider) over #7 Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) #23 Seth Shumate (Ohio State) over #10 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 285 #22 Brady Colbert (Army West Point) over #11 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s the best day of the year!! 2025 NCAA D1 Nationals are live from the Wells Fargo Center here in Philadelphia, home of your Super Bowl Champion Eagles. We are starting out with the pigtail matches and then the round of 32 in session one. Nolan Wertanen from Michigan with the 1st seven points of the tournament. At 149 Teague Travis has seven matches coming into the tournament and his opponent Wynton Denkins has 43, the most. Cal Baptist gets the first team points with a fall. Defending champion Richard Figueroa on mat six. McGowan and McCrone scoreless after one and McGowan chooses neutral. McCrone is a beast on top. Caleb Smith, a returning All-American, is headed to OT vs Babin from Pitt. Both guys rode for the full two minutes. Super questionable PD call that would have given Babin the win. Smith shoots wins the scramble for a 4-1 victory. Troy Spratley with a tech fall and OSU is 2-0 so far in the morning session. Kurt Phipps the 25 seed with an early 3-2 lead over Davis the 8 seed from Penn State. Angelo Rini the 21 seed from Indiana with the first upset of the day, beating 12 seed Oakley of North Carolina. A first-period takedown was the difference in a low-scoring bout. Tyler Knox with an OT win right in front of us on mat 1. Braden Davis with a last-second TD end of the 2nd period to go up 5-4 and chooses neutral to start the 3rd. Gets a 3rd period TD for the 8-4 win. 125 was complete chalk with the 1 exception of the 18 beating the 15 seed. It sets up some great matchups this evening. Nic Bouzakis vs Kai Orine is a 7 vs 26 seed that is compelling. And as soon as I say that Bouzakis locks up a cradle and pins the 2x All American. Sean Spidle of CMU upsets returning AA Shawver from Rutgers. A third-period TD was the difference. 3 upsets at 133, #21 Rini over #12 Oakley, #23 Spidle over #10 Shawver and #18 Farber over #15 Noto. Nasir Bailey with a 9-8 victory that included four 3rd period stalling calls. Happel gets the Panther Train excited with a fall. Koderhandt the 4 seed at 141 goes 1-1 in regulation as we head to OT. Koderhandt gets to the legs for the winning TD. Jesse Mendez with a TF in his bid to repeat as champion. Composto and Edmond 5-5 with :30 to go. Heading to OT. It is sensory overload right now folks. Josh Saunders the 20th seed with an 8-2 upset over #13 Todd Carter. Dylan Chappell with two third-period TDs to get the upset vs #12 seed Sam Latona of VT. Sergio Lemley with a swim and pin in the 3rd period vs Mosha Schwartz. The third 18th seed vs 15 seed win happens as Tagg from SDSU majors Olivieri from Rutgers. Ridge Lovett survives and advances in a wild 10-8 decision that included him giving up a four NF. Brandon Cannon from Ohio State with a win. The young man was most likely the third-stringer at the beginning of the season behind Sasso and Gallagher. A testament to perseverance. Paniro Johnson the fourth seed heads into OT vs Gioffre from UVA. The 29 seed with an OT TD and a MASSIVE upset over Paniro Johnson of ISU. 141 is in the books. Swisher from UPenn gets the crowd on their feet with a fall. Saldate was down 7-3 going into the 3rd period. An attempted dive roll by Ethen Miller leads to a seven-point move for Saldate and a fall. Probably the most watched 18 seed of the day is multiple-time All-American Jacori Teemer of Iowa. He is down 4-0 with :30 to go in the second period. 149 is in the books, 2 mild upsets 19 beats 14 and 17 beats 16. 157 was also super chalky. #20 Chumbley beats #13 Jared Hill, #23 Saldate pins #10 Miller, and a non-upset of note Lovett from CMU majors Teemer. Matty Bianchi the 11th seed wins an OT bout vs Ed Scott NCST. The first six matches at 165 are all chalk which sets up an 8 vs 9 rematch Amine vs Steed. Maxx Mayfield gets a TD with :19 left to get a W vs Nicco Ruiz of ASU. Cade Devos of SDSU gets a last-second escape to get a 5-4 win vs Braunagel of Illinois. Returning AA Lennox Wolak who has had an uneven year, at best, showed up in March. He gets a third-period TD and beats Kharchla of tOSU. Harkins from Army gets a big win vs Lenny Pinto of Nebraska. #19 Thomsen of UNI beats #14 Drake Rhodes of SDSU 13-8. MJ Gaitan with a major decision over the #10 seed Alex Cramer CMU. 174 is a wrap. We have a #24 vs #25 round 2 matchup, #21 Josh Ogunsanya beat #12 Takats and #23 Gaitan with the victory as well. At 184 Carter Starocci, on a path to become the only 5x National Champion, gets career victory #100. Max McEnelly this year has won all his non-OT matches via major, TF, or fall. He picks up another TF here rd 1. Gabe Arnold starts off his first NCAA tournament with a win. Nick Fine of Columbia WBF over #13 Evan Bockman of ISU. 184 is very chalky besides that. We are off and running at 197. Cardenas the 1st seed gets a major. AJ Ferrari is on the mat. Luke Surber is in a barnburner on mat seven vs Patrick Brophy of the Citadel. Brophy leads 9-7 going into the third period. #24 Gabe Sollars of Indiana with an upset win over #9 Braunagel of Illinois. Sollars and Brophy will matchup round 2 in a #24 vs #25 matchup. Andy Smith sends a flex to the VT faithful as we get a 1st round win and prevents the Ferrari vs Glazier rematch. Freshman sensation Josh Barr jumps out to an early lead. Braunagel vs Surber now becomes a round one wrestleback match tonight. Gable Steveson gets a round one fall. Josh Barrs with a 9-1 major. Seth Shumate the 23 seed with a big upset fall over returning AA Salazar of Minnesota. The Stout brothers are going to wrestle each other this evening. We believe this is the 1st ever match of brothers in the D1 national tournament. Buchanan has a scare giving up back points but survives and advances. Lenny Pinto and Carson Kharchla will meet round 1 WB and 1 of them will do the 0-2 BBQ. Brock Zurawski of Rider with a massive upset of #7 Voelker of UNI. 285 the 1st quarter bracket chalk. Kueter vs Feldman for the 3rd time this evening.

That October to March stretch is a long one. Many guys got beat up this year, and we’ve seen a lot of injuries this season. Some came back to compete for the postseason. Some didn’t recover in time. We’ve got the noticeable injury watch list here. Find out how they competed in this first session. 125 - Dean Peterson (Rutgers), knee Rutgers’ Dean Peterson wrestled Oklahoma’s Antonio Lorenzo in the opening round. Peterson originally hurt his knee in the B1G semis against Nebraska’s Caleb Smith. Peterson gave up a takedown in the first period. Peterson chose bottom to start the second. Lorenzo quickly escaped and was hit twice for stalling, giving Peterson that point. Lorenzo takes bottom to start the third, quickly escaping. Peterson gets the takedown on the edge. Lorenzo gets the escape with Peterson getting the 6-5 win. There was a lot of edge wrestling in this match. Peterson had the knee protected and did his typical defense - dropping to his knees, but nothing out of the ordinary. 157 - Jacori Teemer (Iowa), hamstring/shoulder Iowa’s Jacori Teemer took on Central Michigan’s Johnny Lovett in the opening round at 157 pounds. Teemer originally injured his hamstring in the Iowa/Iowa State dual against Cody Chittum. Not to mention his shoulder is wrapped up, too. Teemer gave up the first takedown in the first period. Teemer couldn’t escape from Lovett. Lovett took bottom at the start of the second and quickly escaped. Teemer and Lovett had a nice scramble in the second period that ended in both guys in neutral. Lovett got another takedown toward the end of the third. Teemer tried to counter with a Peterson, but it was out of bounds. It was beautiful wrestling in that third period from both guys, *chef’s kiss*. Lovett put on a takedown clinic in that match. Teemer hasn’t seemed back to normal since coming back from the hamstring injury, in my opinion. 165 - Drake Rhodes (South Dakota State), knee South Dakota’s Drake Rhodes dropped a nail-biter to Northern Iowa’s Jack Thomsen. It was unknown what his injury was, but he came out with a pretty big knee brace. He led with that foot in neutral as well. Rhodes didn’t wrestle like he was banged up. We’ll get to see more of him in the consi's. 174 - Keegan O’Toole (Missouri), knee Mizzou’s Keegan O’Toole defeated Rider’s Michael Wilson in the opening round via fall. He injured his knee earlier in the season and was out for about two months in total. He moved like butter during this match. He for sure had a bulky brace on his knee, though. You would have never thought he was suffering from a knee injury. He took beautiful shots. He was tough on top. Overall, Keegan looks unstoppable. 174 - Cam Amine (Oklahoma State), knee Oklahoma State’s Cam Amine stayed tough on top to beat Virginia’s Nick Hamilton 2-0. Amine injured his knee, but he did not have it wrapped in this match. Did he ride Hamilton out because he’s still babying that knee? Just a thought. Amine’s two points came from an escape in the second and riding time collected in the third. It’s smart of him to try and preserve that knee for the next two days even if that was not his intention. 174 - Lorenzo Norman (Stanford), face/mask Stanford’s Lorenzo Norman face injury he sustained earlier in the season didn’t stop him from taking out Chattanooga’s Sergio Desiante, 14-3. He took down Desiante three times, one in each period to help secure his win. He will take on Mizzou’s Keegan O’Toole tonight. 197 - Stephen Little (Little Rock), head/concussion Little Rock’s Stephen Little had no issue defeating Campbell’s Levi Hopkins. He sure didn’t wrestle like he had a head injury. He stayed strong throughout, took the shots, and kept heavy hands. Let’s hope he keeps it going as he moves on tonight. 197 - Josh Barr (Penn State), hamstring Penn State’s Josh Barr had his hamstring wrapped up for his match-up with Lock Haven’s Tucker Hogan. Barr did send Hogan into injury time for what looked to be his knee for just a few seconds. Barr defeated Hogan by a major decision. He didn’t give any signs that the hamstring was bothering him. It seemed to be wrapped up tight. 285 - Isaac Trumble (NC State), knee NC State’s Isaac Trumble suffered a knee injury during the ACC Championships two weeks ago. He did not have it wrapped for his first match with Stanford’s Peter Ming, who he teched 18-2. Isaac’s mom tweeted after his injury that he “has never in his entire career missed a match due to injury…” I will be interested to see how his knees hold up this weekend against the best in the country, including himself. 285 - Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers), shoulder Rutger’s Yaraslau Slavikouski strolled up onto Mat 3 with a shoulder brace after injuring it at B1Gs. It was unclear at B1Gs just what his injury was. Funny enough his opponent, Bakersfield’s Jake Andrews has the same brace on the opposite shoulder. Slavikouski injury defaulted out of the B1Gs. He got the first takedown of the match. He kept it at a steady pace throughout, winning 4-2. He’ll meet Minnesota’s Gable Steveson in session two.

Full Results from the first session at the 2025 NCAA Championships 125 lbs #32 Marcello Milani (Cornell) maj #33 Caleb Weiand (Michigan State) 4-1SV #1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) tech #32 Marcello Milani (Cornell) 19-4 #16 Blake West (Northern Illinois) dec #17 Max Gallagher (Penn) 6-5 #9 Caleb Smith (Nebraska) dec #24 Nick Babin (Pittsburgh) 3-0 #8 Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) dec #25 Charlie Farmer (Army West Point) 7-0 #5 Richie Figueroa (Arizona State) dec #28 Koda Holeman (Cal Poly) 12-7 #12 Dean Peterson (Rutgers) dec #21 Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma) 6-5 #13 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) dec #20 Brendan McCrone (Ohio State) 4-3 #4 Vince Robinson (NC State) maj #29 Joey Cruz (Iowa) 12-1 #3 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) dec #30 Gylon Sims (The Citadel) 5-1 #14 Spencer Moore (North Carolina) dec #19 Cooper Flynn (Minnesota) 2-0 #11 Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) dec #22 Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) 4-2 #6 Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) dec #27 Tristan Daugherty (North Dakota State) 7-3 #7 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) tech #26 Keyveon Roller (Virginia) 15-0 #10 Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) dec #23 Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) 9-5 #18 Jacob Moran (Indiana) dec #15 Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) 7-6 #2 Matt Ramos (Purdue) maj #31 Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSU Bakersfield) 11-3 133 lbs #32 Hunter Leake (California Baptist) fall #33 Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) 2:28 #1 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) vs. Hunter Leake (California Baptist) #16 Ryan Miller (Penn) dec #17 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) 8-4 #9 Braxton Brown (Maryland) dec #24 Kyle Burwick (North Dakota State) 3-2 #8 Braeden Davis (Penn State) maj #25 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) 12-4 #5 Dom Serrano (Northern Colorado) dec #28 Colton Camacho (Edinboro) 8-6 #21 Angelo Rini (Indiana) dec #12 Ethan Oakley (North Carolina) 7-1 #13 Tyler Knox (Stanford) dec #20 Blake Boarman (Chattanooga) 6-3SV #4 Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) vs. #29 Tyler Ferrara (Cornell) 7-3 #3 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) dec #30 Derrick Cardinal (South Dakota State) 9-8 #14 Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) dec #19 TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) 12-5 #11 Evan Frost (Iowa State) vs. #22 Tyler Wells (Minnesota) 2-0 #6 Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) dec #27 Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) 1-0 #7 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) fall #26 Kai Orine (NC State) 2:11 #23 Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) dec #10 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 4-1 #18 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) dec #15 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) 9-8 #2 Drake Ayala (Iowa) tech #31 Kade Moore (Missouri) 21-5 141 lbs #32 Nash Singleton (Oregon State) maj #33 Lorenzo Frezza (Columbia) 8-0 #1 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) dec #32 Nash Singleton (Oregon State) 12-3 #16 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) dec #17 Shannon Hanna (Campbell) 9-1 #9 Jacob Frost (Iowa State) dec #24 Jason Miranda (Stanford) 16-1 #8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) dec #25 AJ Rallo (Bellarmine) 5-0 #5 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) fall #28 Danny Pucino (Illinois) 5:51 #21 Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) dec #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) 7-4 #20 Josh Saunders (Cornell) dec #13 Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) 8-2 #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) dec #29 Jayden Scott (North Carolina) 4-1SV #3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) tech #30 Briar Priest (Pittsburgh) 21-5 #14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) fall #19 Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma) 6:23 #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) maj #22 Jordan Soriano (Drexel) 11-1 #6 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) dec #27 Greyson Clark (Minnesota) 2-0 #7 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) dec #26 Eligh Rivera (Princeton) 5-1 #10 CJ Composto (Penn) dec #23 Josh Edmond (Missouri) 8-5SV #18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State) maj #15 Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) 13-3 #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec #31 Jordan Titus (West Virginia) 4-2 149 lbs #33 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) maj #32 Wynton Denkins (Campbell) 11-1 #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec #33 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) 4-0 #17 Jaden Abas (Stanford) dec #16 Trae McDaniel (Army West Point) 11-7 #9 Cross Wasilewski (Penn) fall #24 Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) Fall 6:04 #8 Jordan Williams (Little Rock) fall #25 Malyke Hines (Lehigh) 1:43 #5 Kyle Parco (Iowa) dec #28 Dylan Gilcher (Michigan) 7-2 #12 Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) dec #21 Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) 6-4 #13 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) dec #20 Koy Buesgens (NC State) 5-1 #29 Jack Gioffre (Virginia) dec #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) 5-2TB #3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) fall #30 Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) 4:12 #14 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) vs. #19 Andrew Clark (Rutgers) #11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider) dec #22 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) 4-2 #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) maj #27 Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) 10-0 #7 Kannon Webster (Illinois) maj #26 Kal Miller (Maryland) 8-0 #10 Colin Realbuto (The Citadel) dec #23 Carson DeRosier (The Citadel) 11-6 #15 Ty Whalen (Princeton) dec #18 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) 4-0 #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec #31 Sam Cartella (Northwestern) 10-8 157 lbs #32 Landen Johnson (Northern Illinois) vs. #33 Richard Fedalen (Columbia) 5-3 #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) fall #32 Landen Johnson (Northern Illinois) 1:39 #16 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) dec #17 DJ McGee (George Mason) 8-1 #9 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) dec #24 Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh) 7-2 #8 Joey Blaze (Purdue) dec #25 Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) 7-0 #5 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) dec #28 CJ Hamblin (Oregon State) 9-5 #12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) dec #21 Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) 2-0 #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) dec #13 Jared Hill (Wyoming) 2-0 #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) dec #29 Jimmy Harrington (Harvard) 10-3 #3 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) tech #30 J Conway (Missouri) 20-4 #14 Jude Swisher (Penn) fall #19 Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State) 1:56 #11 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) dec #22 Ed Scott (NC State) 5-2SV #6 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) maj #27 Grigor Cholakyan (Stanford) 12-1 #7 Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado) fall #26 Blake Saito (Brown) 6:49 #23 Chase Saldate (Michigan) fall #10 Ethen Miller (Maryland) 6:50 #15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) maj #18 Jacori Teemer (Iowa) 11-3 #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) tech #31 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) 20-2 165 lbs #33 Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) dec #32 Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) 8-5SV #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech #33 Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) 16-0 #16 Kyle Mosher (Columbia) fall #17 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) 3:29 #9 Cam Steed (Missouri) dec #24 Cesar Alvan (Columbia) 5-4 #8 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) dec #25 Nick Hamilton (Virginia) 2-0 #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) maj #28 Mac Church (Virginia Tech) 11-2 #12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska) maj #21 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) 13-1 #13 Will Miller (Appalachian State) fall #20 Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) 4:59 #4 Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) tech #29 Derek Fields (NC State) 15-0 #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) maj #30 Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) 11-3 #19 Jack Thomsen (Iowa) dec #14 Drake Rhodes (South Dakota State) 13-8 #11 Braeden Scoles (Illinois) fall #22 Enrique Munguia (Rider) 4:27 #6 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) dec #27 Tyler Lillard (Indiana) 7-3 #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) dec #26 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) 7-2 #10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) dec #23 Thomas Snipes (The Citadel) 4-2 #18 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) dec #15 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) 7-6 #2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) tech #31 Cody Goebel (Wisconsin) 19-1 174 lbs #33 Michael Wilson (Rider) dec #32 Jack McGill (Columbia) 4-1SV #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) fall #33 Michael Wilson (Rider) 4:24 #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) maj #17 Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga) 14-3 #24 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) dec #9 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) 4-2 #25 Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) dec #8 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) 6-1 #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) tech #28 Clayton Whiting (Missouri) 17-2 #21 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) dec #12 Myles Takats (Bucknell) 4-1SV #13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec #20 Danny Braunagel (Illinois) 5-4 #4 Garrett Thompson (Ohio) tech #29 Jackson Turley (Rutgers) 16-1 #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) tech #30 Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) 18-1 #14 Matthew Singleton (NC State) dec #19 Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) 4-2 #11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) dec #22 Nick Incontrera (Penn) 4-2 #6 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) dec #27 Jasiah Queen (Drexel) 3-1 #7 Danny Wask (Navy) tech #26 Brody Baumann (Purdue) 15-0 #23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) maj #10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) 13-2 #18 Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) dec #15 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) 5-0 #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) fall #31 Branson John (Maryland) 2:46 184 lbs #32 Caden Rogers (Lehigh) dec #33 TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) 6-3 #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) tech #32 Caden Rogers (Lehigh) 18-2 #16 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rider) maj #17 Gavin Kane (North Carolina) 11-3 #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) dec #24 Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) 2-0 #8 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) fall #25 Jared McGill (Edinboro) 2:48 #5 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) dec #28 Dennis Robin (West Virginia) 8-2 #12 Silas Allred (Nebraska) fall #21 Malachi DuVall (George Mason) Fall 6:23 #20 Nick Fine (Columbia) fall #13 Evan Bockman (Iowa State) 6:49 #4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) tech #29 Kole Mulhauser (Princeton) 18-1 #3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) tech #30 Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) 19-4 #14 DJ Parker (Oklahoma) maj #19 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) 10-0 #11 Gabe Arnold (Iowa) dec #22 DJ Washington (Indiana) 4-1 #6 Chris Foca (Cornell) dec #27 Ross McFarland (Hofstra) 5-3 #7 Isaac Dean (Rider) dec #26 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State) 7-3 #10 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) maj #23 Aidan Bernot (North Dakota State) 10-2 #15 Dylan Fishback (NC State) dec #18 Max Hale (Penn) 10-3 #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) tech #31 Colton Hawks (Missouri) 19-4 197 lbs #32 Wolfgang Frable (Army West Point) dec #33 Carson Floyd (Appalachian State) 12-8 #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) maj #32 Wolfgang Frable (Army West Point) 10-0 #16 Evan Bates (Northwestern) dec #17 Nick Stemmet (Stanford) 13-10 #24 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) dec #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) 6-5 #25 Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) maj #8 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) 18-7 #5 Michael Beard (Lehigh) tech #28 Payton Thomas (Navy) 19-4 #12 Stephen Little (Little Rock) dec #21 Levi Hopkins (Campbell) 10-6 #13 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) dec #20 Camden McDanel (Nebraska) 4-2 #4 Josh Barr (Penn State) maj #29 Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven) 9-1 #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) dec #30 Ian Bush (West Virginia) 8-1 #19 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) dec #14 Zach Glazier (South Dakota State) 4-2 #11 Luke Stout (Princeton) dec #22 Mickey O’Malley (Drexel) 4-3 #6 Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) maj #27 Mikey Dellagatta (Cornell) 12-0 #26 Brock Zurawski (Rider) dec #7 Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) 5-2SV #23 Seth Shumate (Ohio State) fall #10 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 4:12 #15 Joey Novak (Wyoming) dec #18 Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell) 8-1 #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) maj #31 Remy Cotton (Michigan State) 22-9 285 lbs #33 Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) dec #32 Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State) 12-8 #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) fall #33 Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) 1:25 #16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) dec #17 Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) 4-2 #9 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) maj #24 Nolan Neves (Columbia) 8-0 #8 Luke Luffman (Illinois) dec #25 Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) 8-2 #5 Ben Kueter (Iowa) dec #28 Daniel Herrera (Iowa State) 6-0 #12 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) dec #21 Jacob Bullock (Indiana) 4-2 #13 Seth Nevills (Maryland) dec #20 Jordan Greer (Ohio) 5-0 #4 Owen Trephan (Lehigh) tech #29 Ashton Davis (Cornell) 17-2 #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) tech #30 Sam Mitchell (Wyoming) 15-0 #14 Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) maj #19 Cory Day (Binghamton) 10-2 #22 Brady Colbert (Army West Point) dec #11 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech) 8-1 #6 Josh Heindselman (Michigan) fall #27 Connor Barket (Duke) 1:03 #7 Isaac Trumble (NC State) tech #26 Peter Ming (Stanford) 18-2 #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) dec #23 Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) 6-2 #15 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) maj #18 Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) 15-2 #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) fall #31 Max Vanadia (Michigan State) 1:18

Spencer Moore (North Carolina) 125 lbs Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) 133 Sean Spidle (Central Michigan) 133 Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) 141 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) 141 Jack Gioffre (Virginia) 149 Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) 157 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) 174 Patrick Brophy (The Citadel) 197

The following is a statement from Little Rock Head Coach Neil Erisman As the head coach of the Little Rock Wrestling program, I want to confirm that Tyler Brennan will not participate in the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which are set to begin tomorrow in Philadelphia. Tyler was certified as eligible to compete on two separate occasions during the current academic year, with both certifications ratified by the Pac-12 Conference. His eligibility was only called into question less than a week ago, after he had competed throughout the entire season. Neither Tyler nor the Little Rock Department of Athletics had any indication of an issue until it was raised by league officials, following a complaint from another Pac-12 institution. Upon discovery, the matter was thoroughly reviewed. After being declared ineligible by the Pac-12, Tyler sought to have his eligibility reinstated by appealing to the NCAA and its Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. Despite presenting a compelling and well-supported case, the request for reinstatement was ultimately denied. Following that decision, and after carefully considering various options, Tyler and the Brennan family made the conscious choice to not to pursue a legal remedy, instead prioritizing the focus on his teammates and the exceptional wrestlers competing at this national championship event. We are hurting for Tyler and we will continue to offer him our unwavering support. Integrity, commitment, and hard work are the pillars of our program, and Tyler embodies these values. There has never been any malicious intent in our decision to allow a stand-up wrestler to return to our program. Tyler has made significant personal sacrifices to remain at Little Rock this season and pursue his passion for wrestling. Ultimately, his desire has always been to compete with his teammates. We will not condone any unsportsmanlike comments or defamatory remarks directed at an innocent student-athlete who has been solely focused on pursuing his dreams. - Little Rock Wrestling Head Coach Neil Erisman

The miles are run, the hay is in the barn, and so on and so forth. The greatest event in collegiate athletics kicks off in Philly on Thursday. The ACC has a record number in the brackets, sending 46 wrestlers to the big show. For the most part, seeding went as expected--there were a couple glaring exceptions to that in my eyes - mainly with Nick Hamilton at 165 and Lorenzo Norman at 174…but nothing can be done now except outperform the seed. The ACC is in a good spot coming into the tournament and there is a real possibility of a team trophy coming back to the conference. Let’s take a look at how the morning session shapes up on Thursday. 125 #3 Eddie Ventresca (VT) v #30 Gylon Sims (CIT) #4 Vince Robinson (NCST) v #29 Joey Cruz (IOWA) #14 Spencer Moore (UNC) v #19 Cooper Flynn (MINN) #24 Nick Babin (PITT) v #9 Caleb Smith (NEB) #26 Keyveon Roller (UVA) v #7 Troy Spratley (OKST) Big, big early match for Spencer Moore. He will square off with former ACC foe Cooper Flynn. Moore is 0-2 in his career against Flynn, but I like the matchup for Moore. Eddie Ventresca and Vince Robinson will both be expected to take care of business with their 3 and 4 seeds, while Nick Babin and Keyveon Roller will have an uphill battle against Caleb Smith and Troy Spratley, respectively. 133 #6 Connor McGonagle (VT) v #27 Ethan Berginc (ARMY) #12 Ethan Oakley (UNC) v #21 Angelo Rini (IND) #13 Tyler Knox (STAN) v #20 Blake Boarman (CHAT) #26 Kai Orine (NCST) v #7 Nic Bouzakis (OHST) There are some absolute fire matchups at this weight in the opening round--there are no easy matchups, even for 6-seed Connor McGonagle. I like all four of the ACC guys to get through, including a big early “upset” from Kai Orine. Orine has proved in his time in Raleigh that he is always a threat in the NCAA tournament; I don’t expect that to be any different this year. 141 #11 Dylan Cedeno (UVA) v #22 Jordan Soriano (DREX) #12 Sam Latona (VT) v #21 Dylan Chappell (BUCK) #24 Jason Miranda (STAN) v #9 Jacob Frost (ISU) #29 Jayden Scott (UNC) v #4 Josh Koderhandt (NAVY) #30 Briar Priest (PITT) v #3 Jesse Mendez (OHST) Tough weight for the ACC here but I like the matchups for Dylan Cedeno and Sam Latona. Miranda, Scott, and Priest all have decent paths on the backside of the bracket 149 #1 Caleb Henson (VT) v #33 Teague Travis (OKST) or #32 Wynton Denkins (CAMP) #6 Lachlan McNeil (UNC) v #27 Kaden Cassidy (GMU) #17 Jaden Abas (STAN) v #16 Trae McDaneil (ARMY) #20 Koy Buesgens (NCST) v #13 Dylan D’Emilio (OHST) #29 Jack Gioffre (UVA) v #4 Paniro Johnson (ISU) Caleb Henson will begin his NCAA title defense against the winner of the pigtail match - I would guess he will see a well-rested Teague Travis. I like most of the matchups in the opening round for the ACC and think there is a real chance for a couple big upsets. I think McNeil takes care of his first-round match and Abas wins the coin flip 16/17 match. Buesgens will have a tough test, as will Gioffre. That being said…I like the style matchup of Jack Gioffre against Paniro Johnson; Gioffre has a big gas tank and has won several big matches late - which could test Johnson who has shown vulnerability late. 157 #4 Rafael Hipolito (VT) v #29 Jimmy Harrington (HARV) #22 Ed Scott (NCST) v #11 Matty Bianchi (UALR) #24 Dylan Evans (PITT) v #9 Tommy Askey (MINN) #25 Sonny Santiago (UNC) v #8 Joey Blaze (PUR) #27 Grigor Cholakyan (STAN) v #6 Ryder Downey (UNI) This was another weight where seeding wasn’t friendly to the ACC, but it is what it is. I love Hipolito’s first-round match and think it is the start of a deep run in the tournament for him. I also like Ed Scott’s matchup, even if he isn’t favored on paper. Evans, Santiago, and Cholakyan will face a tough slate of matches and will need some upsets along the way to get to the podium. 165 #7 Hunter Garvin (STAN) v #26 Paddy Gallagher (OHST) #25 Nick Hamilton (UVA) v #8 Cam Amine (OKST) #28 Mac Church (VT) v #5 Julian Ramirez (CORN) #29 Derek Fields (NCST) v #4 Terrell Barraclaugh (UVU) I’ve been complaining about this seed since they came out, but Nick Hamilton at 25 is criminal. That being said, I have him winning his opening-round match with an upset over Cam Amine. Hunter Garvin will have a tough match from the sixth seed against Paddy Gallagher, but I think he gets it done. Mac Church and Derek Fields will face top five seeds to open and will have a rough road to navigate. 174 #14 Matty Singleton (NCST) v #19 Jared Simma (UNI) #15 Luca Augustine (PITT) v #18 Gavin Sax (OKLA) #16 Lorenzo Norman (STAN) v #17 Sergio Desiante (CHAT) #21 Josh Ogunsanya (UNC) v #12 Myles Takats (BUCK) #24 Lennox Wolak (VT) v #9 Carson Kharchla (OHST) This could be a big weight for the ACC. I really like how this bracket shapes up, even with Ogunsanya and Wolak getting low seeds. I like the matchups up and down this weight - Ogunsanya will face a tough Myles Takats and Lennox Wolak will need to replicate his performance from last NCAAs to knock off Carson Kharchla. I think we see at least four move through to the second round. 184 #9 Reece Heller (PITT) v #24 Devin Hendricks (BELL) #15 Dylan Fishback (NCST) v #18 Maximus Hale (PENN) #17 Gavin Kane (UNC) v #16 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RUT) Small group here for the ACC, but I like the setup for the conference. All three of these guys have looked strong in the back half of the season and have favorable matchups. I think we see all three win in the opening round and pick up some important momentum. 197 #6 Mac Stout (PITT) v #27 Mikey Dellagatta (COR) #17 Nick Stemmet (STAN) v #16 Evan Bates (NW) #19 Andy Smith (VT) #14 Zach Glazier (SDSU) See notes from 184. This is a similar setup for the conference and I expect a similar result. Mac Stout has been on an absolute tear and I think he continues that throughout the tournament. Nick Stemmet looked great at ACCs and I like his matchup. Andy Smith is capable of making the podium, but he will need to show his best form to make that happen. 285 #7 Isaac Trumble (NCST) v #26 Peter Ming (STAN) #10 Dayton Pitzer (PITT) v #23 Daniel Bucknavich (CSU) #11 Jimmy Mullen (VT) v #22 Brady Colbert (ARMY) # 27 Connor Barket (DUKE) v #6 Josh Heindselman (MICH) We made it all the way to the final weight before we got an ACC v ACC matchup with Isaac Trumble facing Peter Ming. Trumble was a top-5 heavyweight but was clearly hobbled at the ACC tournament, so his health at this tournament will be a big thing to watch. If we have a healthy Trumble, I think we see wins from him, Pitzer, and Mullen in the opening round. Barket will have a tough test in Heindselman but it is definitely a winnable match for him.

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) Two-time Hodge Trophy winner and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson has already cemented his legacy as one of the greatest college wrestlers of all time and perhaps the best heavyweight; however, he came back for another run and to add to his seemingly endless list of accomplishments. Steveson hasn’t lost a collegiate match since the 2019 NCAA semifinals - a streak that spans 66 matches and counting. In winning his fourth Big Ten title he passed Dustin Schlatter’s 65-match streak and trails only Cole Konrad (75) in that category for Gopher wrestlers. Steveson’s four Big Ten titles also put him into rarified air up north. He became the second Minnesota wrestler to hit that mark (Verne Gagne is the other) and the 19th B1G wrestler to accomplish the feat. Looking at his 2024-25 season, Steveson has 13 bonus point wins in his 14 matches. His only match that didn’t include bonus points was a seven-point win over 2024 NCAA champion Greg Kerkvliet in the Big Ten finals. Even though Steveson’s season did not start on time and he didn’t attend every possible event, he still picked up three regular season wins over past All-Americans and another over the wrestler who has earned the sixth seed. The Contenders: #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State), #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) The Conference Champs ACC: #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) Big Ten: #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) EIWA: #4 Owen Trephan (Lehigh) Ivy: #29 Ashton Davis (Cornell) MAC: #14 Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) Pac-12: #15 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) SoCon: #32 Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State) Top First Round Matches #17 Jake Andrews (CSU Bakersfield) vs. #16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) #21 Jacob Bullock (Indiana) vs. #12 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) #13 Seth Nevills (Maryland) vs. #20 Jordan Greer (Ohio) #19 Cory Day (Binghamton) vs. #14 Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven) #11 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech) vs. #22 Brady Colbert (Army West Point) #15 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) vs. #18 Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) This is a unique weight class where the top three wrestlers at this weight seem to be on tiers of their own….and then there’s everyone else. That’s reflected in the records where Greg Kerkvliet has only lost to Steveson and Wyatt Hendrickson is unbeaten but has wrestled neither. Kerkvliet was undefeated in 2023-24 when he won a national title and is a four-time All-American who has lost twice at the national tournament to Steveson. Hendrickson has placed third at the last two NCAA Tournaments for Air Force. He joined Oklahoma State in the offseason and has been as good as ever. Could the move help push him past Kerkvliet? The only time the pair have met in college was during the 2023 NCAA Tournament and Kerkvliet prevailed, 4-2. Outside of the top three, it’s wide open! NC State transfer Owen Trephan is undefeated since moving to Lehigh in December. He captured an EIWA crown after winning a pair of ACC titles with the Wolfpack. Trephan will assume the fourth seed. A third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships gives Ben Kueter the fifth seed. This will be the first NCAA Tournament for the Hawkeyes two-sport star. He’s gotten better as he’s had more mat time. The sixth seed is also from the Big Ten - Josh Heindselman of Michigan. Heindselman was a Round of 12 finisher last year at Oklahoma, he’s been more consistent than ever at his new home. One of the items to monitor is the health of two notable big men. Isaac Trumble was ranked in the top four for most of the season and came into the ACC Championships with a large brace on his leg. Trumble fell in the semis to Dayton Pitzer and injury defaulted his next bout, then forfeited. The leg was obviously bothering him in the Pitzer match. 2024 All-American Yaraslau Slavikouski lost to Heindselman and then forfeited out of the Big Ten Championships. He needed an at-large berth to qualify and was saddled with the #16 seed. If healthy, he’s a podium threat. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #13 Seth Nevills (Maryland) A lot of attention gets paid to the Big Ten contingent at this weight - like many other brackets. One name that may not get as much attention as others in the conference is Seth Nevills. Nevills is now a two-time NCAA qualifier for Maryland and is seeking to earn All-American honors in his final ride. Looking at the brackets, Nevills isn’t in bad shape as the #13 seed. In the first round, he has MAC runner-up Jordan Greer of Ohio. A possible Round of 16 match could have him facing #4 Trephan. The pair have never faced each other (though Trephan has beaten Nevills’ brother AJ) and Trephan hasn’t faced many of the key contenders at this weight. From there…who knows? Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #23 Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) For those without a dog in the hunt at heavyweight, Daniel Bucknavich should be a sentimental favorite. Earlier this year, Cleveland State announced plans to drop its wrestling program (something the school mulled in 2015). Bucknavich was the only Viking wrestler to qualify for the 2025 tournament and he’s now a two-time qualifier. Head coach Josh Moore, the CSU wrestlers, and their fanbase deserve better. As the fight continues against this ruling, it would be great to have Bucknavich make a deep run in Philly! Team Race: I’m sure Minnesota loves having the surest bet in the tournament in Gable Steveson. Not only is he a heavy favorite to capture his third NCAA title, but he’ll likely have a whole lot of bonus points in the process. Gable, some bonus points, and maybe two or three more AA’s put the Gophers in the trophy mix. Some of the teams with potential AA’s at this weight have a lot of potential variance in their results. Kueter/Iowa, Feldman/Ohio State, Mullen/Virginia Tech, Trumble/NC State, and Luffman/Illinois all could get on the podium and finish in the top six….or they could go 2-2. This could be a weight that unofficially decides one of the trophies. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #9 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) #12 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) vs. #4 Owen Trephan (Lehigh) #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #6 Josh Heindselman (Michigan) #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) vs. #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) Projected Semifinals #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #12 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) Projected All-Americans 1st: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) 2nd: Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 3rd: Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) 4th: Josh Heindselman (Michigan) 5th: Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) 6th: Nick Feldman (Ohio State) 7th: Ben Kueter (Iowa) 8th: Owen Trephan (Lehigh) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #15 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly), #11 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech), #10 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh), #8 Luke Luffman (Illinois) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #7 Isaac Trumble (NC State), #19 Cory Day (Binghamton), #13 Seth Nevills (Maryland), #16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers)

The NAIA Women’s Wrestling Championships concluded over the weekend after an incredible slate of finals matches. Life secured their first team title scoring 190.5 team points and crowning 3 champs. After the tournament, Life’s Ashley Flavin was named NAIA Coach of the Year by the NAIA. Grand View finished in the second place spot with 120.5 points, despite not having any wrestlers in the finals, showing the depth of their lineup by scoring points after losses. Close behind were Cumberlands and William Penn with 116.5 and 114 points respectively. Cumberlands' third place finish represents their highest team finish in program history, held up by their six All-Americans, including a national runner-up. William Penn finished the tournament with six All-Americans as well, including two national champs. Here is a recap of the finals matches that capped off an incredible tournament, starting with the first match of the finals at 131 lbs.: 131 lbs: #5 Jumoke Adekoye (Dickinson State) over #3 Xochitl Mota-Pettis (Missouri Valley) 5-3 These two spent a lot of the first period trying to get the offense going, each making some good threats, but it was Adekoye who struck first with a takedown and quick roll-through with under a minute left. Pettis gets a caution point before the period ends, making it 4-1 headed into the second. From there, I was sure Mota-Pettis was about to put up big points with a throw on the edge, but she only gets awarded for the step out and it gets challenged. The call stands and each wrestler continues to look for more offense, but things end 5-3 in favor of Adekoye of Dickinson State. Adekoye becomes the first National Champion in program history for the Blue Hawks. 138 lbs: #1 Zaynah McBryde (Life) tech over #2 Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp (Providence) 10-0 At 138 lbs, the first of three McBryde sisters made her way to the mat to face an incredibly offensive wrestler in Estrella-Beauchamp. After some back and forth in the hand fight, McBryde makes her move and scores a takedown late in the period. After also being awarded an activity point, she scores another takedown to go up 5-0 heading into the second. Quickly after action resumes, she gets the pushout point then a slick throw-by to score again. Now up 8-0 with over a minute left, McBryde is hunting for the tech. With just 8 seconds left, she finds the opening to score again and get the bonus point win in the finals. This was Zaynah’s first national title after a runner-up finish last season. 145 lbs: #3 Esther Kolawole (William Penn) over #1 Jamilah McBryde (Life) 12-5 This was destined to be a competitive match with the returning National Champ Jamilah against Esther, the transfer who was an Olympian for Nigeria. Kolawole scored first with a quick throw by. McBryde goes for a shot of her own and is in deep, but Kolawole leverages to get points of her own. Towards the end of the period, Kolawole scores again with a takedown and exposure to go up 8-0. McBryde then sneaks one in at the end of the first to make it more interesting at 8-2 heading into the second. There is a big scramble in the second and the points are awarded to Kolawole for exposure. However, Life has a successful challenge and the score is 8-3 with about 1:30 left. McBryde forces a step out, but Kolawole responds with another takedown. McBryde gets awarded 1 more, but it is not enough to rally back and Kolawole wins her first national title by a score of 12-5. 160 lbs: #1 Latifah McBryde (Life) over #7 Darby Weidl (Ottawa) 7-2 Life remains on the mat for another one here as Latifah McBryde takes on the #7 seed who had an amazing tournament run, Darby Weidl of Ottawa. This match started pretty low-scoring with both wrestlers doing a great job of neutralizing the other’s offense. McBryde leads 1-0 heading into the second. McBryde is awarded another point early in the second and scores a quick takedown. However, Weidl answers back with a great takedown as well. A scramble ensues and McBryde picks up the reversal. Weidl goes for the ankle, but McBryde defends and scores her own off the attempt to win it 7-2. McBryde had been a runner-up two years in a row leading up to this, and finally made it to the top of the podium. 180 lbs: #1 Ashley Lekas (Texas Wesleyan) tech over #3 Kelani Corbett (Missouri Valley) 12-2 This match got off to a crazy start with a sequence between the two that ended with a takedown and exposure for Lekas, however as they keep scrambling Corbett gets two of her own, making it 4-2 as they get reset. Lekas is then immediately in on a great shot and takes Corbett feet-to-back for 4 more. Lekas scores another takedown after the reset to go up 10-2 with over a minute still left in the period. Not wanting to let this one go to the second, Lekas finds the final takedown she needs for the first-period tech. Lekas’ dominant performance earned her a second National title. 103 lbs: #1 Erin Hikiji (Providence) over #3 Alexis Miller (Oklahoma City) 8-2 This match got off to a low-scoring start, but some action at the end of the period put Hikiji on top with a takedown. However, when she goes to look for a turn, Miller almost gets the exposure herself, but settles in with a reversal only to make it 2-1 headed into the second. Hikiji gets a takedown on the edge. Off the reset, Hikiji hits a beautiful throw by and looks to turn, but Miller’s strong defense puts her on top again. After this scramble, they take it to review and Hikiji appears to need some injury time. After the reset, they award Miller a point and begin in parterre. No score there, but there is still 1:35 left with a 6-2 score. Miller attempts a double but Hikiji catches her head and circles for a takedown. From there, Hikiji is able to hold her off for the win. Hikiji earns the national title after two runner-up finishes. 110 lbs: #2 Stefana Jelacic (Lourdes) over #1 Anaya Falcon (Life) 7-2 Both wrestlers really looked for points early and often in this match. Jelacic is in deep on her first attempt, but Falcon defends well. Falcon gets put on the clock but does not score, giving a point to Jelacic. She adds to it with two takedowns to go up 5-0 heading into the second. Falcon is looking to get back in it but gives up another takedown off her attempt. With about 50 seconds left, Falcon goes big and brings Jelacic down with a huge mat return for two as time expires. This is Jelacic’s second national title after winning at 101 lbs last season. 117 lbs: #1 Christianah Ogunsanya (William Penn) over #3 Salyna Shotwell (Life) 8-0 Ogunsanya is the other Nigerian Olympian who transferred to William Penn this season and has had a dominant season. She continued that here with a big mat return takedown in the first to go up 3-0. Ogunsanya scores another one after that and gets awarded an activity clock point to go up 6-0 heading into the second. The second period has a slower start, but Ogunsanya strikes first with a double and begins working for a lace, but does not get it. Time runs out with Shotwell doing a great job trying to generate offense, but Ogunsanya has some serious defense to keep it 8-0 for the win. 124 lbs: #1 Cristelle Rodriguez (Doane) over #2 Katie Gomez (Cumberlands) 5-5 What an incredible match to end the tournament on, with two age-group World medalists facing off. Gomez shot first and got in clean for the takedown, but Rodriguez flexed some of her defensive skill to square things back up. Gomez gets in again and is successful, leading 3-0 heading into the second. In the second, Rodriguez finds a takedown of her own, but Gomez fires back immediately to keep the lead. In short time, Rodriguez finds a way, gets a takedown for 2 and wins it on criteria. This was such a fireworks finish to an amazing tournament, Rodriguez claimed her second National title in a row and helped Doane to their highest tournament finish in program history. As the NCAA sanctioning for Women’s Wrestling will certainly draw a lot of eyes next season, don’t let these NAIA schools out of your sight when it comes to top competitors. In many tournaments, wrestlers from both will be competing and you could very well be cheering for an NAIA wrestler on Team USA in the offseason.

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) A Big Ten finals win for Jacob Cardenas gives him the top seed at the NCAA Championships for the first time. Cardenas was a two-time All-American for Cornell but was unable to use his final year of eligibility with the Big Red due to Ivy League rules. That led to a move to Michigan where Cardenas emerged as a national title contender early in the year. Cardenas earned bonus points in all five of his bouts at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. It was his second time placing at the toughest tournament of the regular season (he was fourth last year). Cardenas ended up winning his first 14 matches in the Maize and Blue. That streak was stopped by a loss in tiebreakers to Penn State freshman Josh Barr. It remains his only loss of the season. At the 2025 Big Ten Championships, Cardenas got some revenge on Barr with a 4-1 sudden victory win in the semifinals. In the finals, Cardenas handed Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan his only loss of the season. Buchanan was ranked number one in the national and the presumptive favorite to earn a top seed in Philly. The two met last year in the NCAA third-place bout and Buchanan won by a 9-4 score. The Contenders: #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa), #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield), #4 Josh Barr (Penn State), #5 Michael Beard (Lehigh) The Conference Champs ACC: #6 Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #7 Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) Big Ten: #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) EIWA: #5 Michael Beard (Lehigh) Ivy: #11 Luke Stout (Princeton) MAC: #26 Brock Zurawski (Rider) Pac-12: #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) SoCon: #21 Levi Hopkins (Campbell) Top First Round Matches #17 Nick Stemmet (Stanford) vs. #16 Evan Bates (Northwestern) #21 Levi Hopkins (Campbell) vs. #12 Stephen Little (Little Rock) #13 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) vs. #20 Camden McDanel (Nebraska) #19 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) vs. #14 Zach Glazier (South Dakota State) #11 Luke Stout (Princeton) vs. #22 Mickey O’Malley (Drexel) #15 Joey Novak (Wyoming) vs. #18 Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell) All eyes have been focused on this weight class with the addition of AJ Ferrari and the transfers of Cardenas to Michigan and Buchanan to Iowa. The controversial 2021 national champion, Ferrari, started the year ranked number one in the nation at this weight. He gave way to Buchanan after both he and Cardenas wrestled substantially more difficult schedules and remained unbeaten. Though Ferrari remains undefeated heading into the NCAA Tournament, the coaches rankings and the seeding committee agreed and made him the third seed. Buchanan started his campaign in Iowa with a win over All-American Trey Munoz and passed every test after that. He grabbed a title at the Soldier Salute and later handed Barr his first collegiate loss in the Hawkeyes much-anticipated dual with Penn State. Ferrari got a chance to face his toughest competition of the year in the Pac-12 finals opposite returning All-American Stephen Little. Ferrari was able to shut down Little in an odd match with multiple stoppages for injury. I’d expect Ferrari to use his third seed as a motivational tool during his tournament in Philly. Barr was expected to be a 184 lber but had to move up when it was apparent that Carter Starocci would be at the weight in 2024-25. The redshirt freshman never looked undersized or out-horsed at the weight and won his first 12 bouts at the weight - 11 coming with bonus points. That span included a major decision over Michael Beard and a sudden victory win against Little. After losing to Cardenas at Big Ten’s, Barr appeared to suffer a leg injury against Isaiah Salazar and defaulted out of the match. In the early rounds, it will be something we monitor. Beard gets the #5 seed after capturing his second EIWA crown. He’s searching for his third All-American honor, as well. His path is not easy with a potential matchup against the All-American Little in the Round of 16 and Barr in the quarterfinals. One of the stars of Pittsburgh's tough group of upperweights is ACC champion Mac Stout. Stout comes into Philly on a 20-match winning streak and majored both of his opponents at the conference tournament. Stout only has one match against the top five seeds (a loss to Beard), so it’s sort of difficult to get a read on where he stands in the bracket. As brackets were released one of the random quirks that stood out to me was the placement of Stout and his older brother, Luke, the Ivy League champion from Princeton. Should both win their opening matches, and they are favored, we could have a brother versus brother matchup. This year has been one of the breakout variety for Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker. He was a national qualifier last year, as a redshirt freshman, but took the next step this year and won the Big 12 and has emerged as a strong podium threat. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #12 Stephen Little/#13 Trey Munoz We’re actually going to have two here since Stephen Little and Trey Munoz are both from the Pac-12, both seeded next to each other, and both are returning All-Americans. They met in the Pac-12 semifinals and Little was victorious 7-4. With their respective seeds, each will have a very difficult Round of 16 contest. Little could have Beard and Munoz is lined up with Barr. Should they both lose in the Round of 16 and win their first consolation match, they’d meet each other in the consolation Round of 16. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #22 Mickey O’Malley (Drexel) We did this at 174, so let’s do it again at 197! We’re taking a notable wrestler from one of the host schools, assuming he gets that little extra boost from the home fans and some local Jersey supporters. Mickey O’Malley was a 2022 EIWA champion and NCAA Round of 12 finisher at 174 lbs. He missed the entire 2023-24 season due to an injury and has moved up to 197 lbs for his last go ‘round. The Drexel staff has been very deliberate as to how they utilize O’Malley this season. With it being nationals, he’ll be free of any restrictions and ready to make one last run at the podium. Team Race: We haven’t discussed Michigan wrestlers much for the team race this year; however, should Cardenas win this weight, it’s a big chunk of points. Only two others need to get on the podium and the Wolverine could be within striking distance of a trophy. Another team we haven’t mentioned much is Lehigh. Despite missing Ryan Crookham, they are still built for big tournaments. A top-five finish from Beard would help them secure a spot in the top 15 and maybe higher, depending on his teammates. Of course, a finals appearance and title from Buchanan would go a long way for the Hawkeyes. You also have the two Big 12 finalists, Voelker and Surber. They are seeded seven and eight, respectively - by no means a podium lock. Their efforts will be very important and a potential head-to-head matchup could decide a spot in the standings. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) vs. #8 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) #5 Michael Beard (Lehigh) vs. #4 Josh Barr (Penn State) #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) vs. #6 Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) #7 Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) vs. #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) Projected Semifinals #1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) vs. #4 Josh Barr (Penn State) #3 AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) vs. #2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) Projected All-Americans 1st: AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) 2nd: Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) 3rd: Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) 4th: Josh Barr (Penn State) 5th: Michael Beard (Lehigh) 6th: Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) 7th: Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) 8th: Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota), #11 Luke Stout (Princeton), #13 Trey Munoz (Oregon State), #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #15 Joey Novak (Wyoming), #20 Camden McDanel (Nebraska), #12 Stephen Little (Little Rock), #17 Nick Stemmet (Stanford)

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) It’s not every year where you go to the NCAA Tournament knowing you’ll see history. Most of the time it just happens. But that’s the case in 2025 at 184 lbs as Carter Starocci seeks to become the first wrestler to capture five collegiate titles. Of course, that feat has never been attempted before and the reason Starocci is in this position is an extra year of eligibility due to the Covid year (2021). Aside from a pair of planned injury defaults at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, Starocci hasn’t lost an official collegiate match since the 2021 Big Ten finals. With a win in the Round of 16 Starocci will notch his 100th career win against only four losses (injury defaults included). Starocci has been as dominant as ever in his final collegiate campaign, earning bonus points in over 90% of his bouts. His previous high came in 2022-23 when he did so in 2/3 of his matches. Starocci earned bonus points in his first 12 matches of the season before getting slowed down by Iowa’s redshirting freshman Angelo Ferrari. It was a redshirt freshman who pushed Starocci the most in 2024-25. Minnesota’s Max McEnelly got the first takedown against Starocci and took the four-time national champion into sudden victory during their Big Ten finals bout. Starocci was able to refocus and get the win. In November’s unofficial All-Star Classic, Starocci defeated the returning champion at this weight Parker Keckeisen in sudden victory, as well. Keckeisen was undefeated in 2023-24 and hasn’t lost an official match this season. The Contenders: #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa), #3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota), #4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) The Conference Champs ACC: #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Big Ten: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) EIWA: #27 Ross McFarland (Hofstra) Ivy: #6 Chris Foca (Cornell) MAC: #7 Isaac Dean (Rider) Pac-12: #33 TJ McDonnell (Oregon State) SoCon: #24 Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) Top First Round Matches #17 Gavin Kane (North Carolina) vs. #16 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) #5 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) vs. #28 Dennis Robin (West Virginia) #19 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) vs. #14 DJ Parker (Oklahoma) #7 Isaac Dean (Rider) vs. #26 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State) This is the only weight where we have the top five seeds all finishing in that same order. That means based on the action during the regular season and in the conference tournaments, these competitors have created their own natural order. Now, maybe that’s a bad sign and means that chaos will reign supreme in Philly! The returning champion is Keckeisen and his finals opponent from 2024 was Dustin Plott. Keckeisen has maintained control of their clashes winning all three of the bouts this season - one via major decision and the other two were relatively comfortable regular decisions. With the emergence of the freshman McEnelly, Plott gets bumped to the fourth seed, so chances are we don’t get a fourth matchup between the Big 12 foes. Keckeisen ran through the 2024 tournament with bonus points in every match - he has been able to tally bonus just about as frequently as during his title-winning season. McEnelly working his way into the third seed wasn’t necessarily a surprise. He was a perfect 15-0 while redshirting and carried that movement into his first year of official competition for the Gophers. McEnelly started the 2024-25 campaign with six straight tech falls - a streak that was broken by a tiebreaker win over returning All-American Bennett Berge. In his Big Ten season debut, McEnelly majored past conference champion Silas Allred. His potential semifinal matchup with Keckeisen became even more anticipated after the manner in which he competed against Starocci. Berge was the freshman who sort of unexpectedly crashed the party last year and finished fourth at this weight. A 26-5 record this year and a third-place finish in the Big 12 proves that it wasn’t a fluke. Seeded fifth, he’ll get tested early on with Allred in the Round of 16. A couple of Jersey guys have the sixth and seventh seeds with Ivy League champion Chris Foca at #6 and MAC champion Isaac Dean as the #7. Foca is looking to get back on the podium after taking third in 2023. Dean had a breakout season that saw him finish fifth in Vegas despite starting the tournament as a relative unknown. The rest of the Big Ten contingent will be pushing for spots on the podium, as well, with #8 Jaxon Smith, #10 Edmond Ruth, #11 Gabe Arnold, and #12 Allred. Arnold is a freshman and in his first nationals appearance, while Ruth is the only returning AA from the veterans. Smith and Allred have gotten close - both have lost in the Round of 12 at least once in their careers. Finally, coming in as the #9 seed is ACC champion Reece Heller. He went 0-3 in a December dual that included Berge, Smith, and Dean - but those account for his only losses of the year. He’s on a 14-match winning streak, a span that includes a Midlands title. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #15 Dylan Fishback (NC State) Speaking of the ACC, Heller’s conference finals opponent Dylan Fishback is someone to watch coming out of the #15 seed. He has a modest 13-6 record, but none of those defeats would be classified as “bad.” They’ve all come to wrestlers seeded in the top nine in this tournament. For a #15 seed to make the podium, they don’t need to beat a whole bunch of the guys seeded above them, maybe only one or two. Could Fishback be capable of reversing a result or two in Philly or pulling a minor upset? I think so. Despite being positioned next to Keckeisen in the Round of 16, I think he’s bracketed well for such a feat. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #26 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State) If you’re looking for a fun, exciting wrestler to follow in this tournament, Ryder Rogotzke is your guy. Win or lose, points will be scored and big moves will be attempted. Some will land, others won’t. He’s the epitome of the wrestler who isn’t afraid to give up a takedown attempting a hold that might put his opponent on their back and end the match. Rogotzke gets a first-round matchup against #7 Dean. Though Dean is seeded much higher than Rogotzke, it will be his first national tournament and you never know how wrestlers respond. If that is an issue, Rogotzke can certainly take advantage of the situation. Team Race: The top four seeds come from schools that are expected to be in the trophy hunt. A potential Keckeisen/McEnelly semifinal could be huge on that front. But, before that, McEnelley could square off with either Arnold or Foca, both of whom wrestle for contending teams. That quarterfinal and the semi that follows it will be massive. Arnold and Allred are both on trophy-contending teams and they are seeded outside of the top-eight. An All-American finish for either (or both) would be a huge boost to their team. I haven’t talked much about Illinois in this area. They could have an outside shot at a team trophy. Edmond Ruth would be one of the wrestlers they need to get on the podium for trophy hopes to materialize. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) #5 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) vs. #4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) #3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) vs. #6 Chris Foca (Cornell) #10 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) vs. #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Projected Semifinals #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) #3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) vs. #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Projected All-Americans 1st: Carter Starocci (Penn State) 2nd: Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) 3rd: Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 4th: Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 5th: Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) 6th: #12 Silas Allred (Nebraska) 7th: #6 Chris Foca (Cornell) 8th: #9 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #15 Dylan Fishback (NC State), #11 Gabe Arnold (Iowa), #10 Edmond Ruth (Illinois), #8 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #7 Isaac Dean (Rider), #19 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming), #13 Evan Bockman (Iowa State), #17 Gavin Kane (North Carolina)

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) It’s the last go ‘round for Keegan O’Toole who is attempting become only the second Missouri wrestler to capture three NCAA titles. In four previous attempts, O’Toole has never finished lower than third at nationals and he sports a sparkling 104-4 career record. O’Toole gets the top seed here after finishing the regular season and the Big 12 tournament without a blemish on his record. That includes a pair of wins over the #2 and #3 seeds. Both wins were among the most memorable matches of the 2024-25 campaign. Just because O’Toole comes in unbeaten doesn’t mean that this year has been without issue. After beating #2 Levi Haines at the Collegiate Duals, O’Toole was sidelined for two months due to an injury. A dual win against Iowa State was his only action between December and the Big 12 Championships. Even with the long layoff, O’Toole generally looked like his normal self pinning #23 MJ Gaitan and majoring #18 Gaven Sax, before the sudden victory win over Dean Hamiti in the championship bout. The Big 12 win was huge for O’Toole as he gets the top spot in Philly and will make Haines and Hamiti square off for a berth in the finals. The Contenders: #2 Levi Haines (Penn State), #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) The Conference Champs ACC: #14 Matthew Singleton (NC State) Big 12: #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) Big Ten: #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) EIWA: #6 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) Ivy: #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) MAC: #4 Garrett Thompson (Ohio) Pac-12: #29 Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) SoCon: #17 Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga) Top First Round Matches #17 Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga) vs. #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) #9 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) vs. #24 Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) #21 Josh Ogunsanya (North Carolina) vs. #12 Myles Takats (Bucknell) #13 Cade Devos (South Dakota State) vs. #20 Danny Braunagel (Illinois) #19 Jared Simma (Northern Iowa) vs. #14 Matthew Singleton (NC State) #11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) vs. #22 Nick Incontrera (Penn) #23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) vs. #10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) #15 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh) vs. #18 Gaven Sax (Oklahoma) This is a weight where the “Big Three” have seemed to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Barring injury it’s hard to imagine a scenario where some combination of O’Toole, Haines, and Hamiti assume the top three spots on the NCAA medal stand. The bottom half of this bracket features Haines and Hamiti, both only have one loss on the year, and O’Toole is responsible for it. Haines is a two-time NCAA finalist and one-time champion. He moved up two weights in the offseason and has never looked out of place at 174 lbs. His bonus point rate is almost on par with his national title-winning season in 2024. Haines has been able to notch eight wins via fall and five by way of tech fall. Hamiti is using his final year of eligibility at Oklahoma State. He got on the medal stand twice for Wisconsin, but looks even more dominant this year. He captured a Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational title and started his tenure in Stillwater with 22 straight wins. Hamiti’s potential matchup with O’Toole is among the most anticipated pre-finals bouts of the tournament. After the “Big Three” it’s anyone’s guess. For the second half of the season, Carson Kharchla looked like he might assume that role. He was ranked fourth in the country heading into the Big Ten tournament, but suffered a pair of losses to Danny Braunagel and slid to the #9 seed. This weight was one of the deepest at the EIWA Tournament and they have multiple wrestlers who could earn All-American honors. Brevin Cassella and Danny Wask are both seeded within the top eight (sixth and seventh, respectively). Cassella has been ultra consistent, losing only to the wrestlers seeded above. Before meeting in the EIWA finals, he and Wask battled it out for fifth place at the CKLV Invitational. Wask is now seeded 20 spots higher than he was in 2024, when he advanced to the consolation Round of 16 as a freshman. 174 lbs has the highest seeded MAC wrestler of the tournament and is the only bracket with two MAC wrestlers seeded within the top-ten. Ohio’s Garrett Thompson is the conference champion and seeded fourth. He finished in the top-five (3rd) at the CKLV for a second consecutive year. Thompson and Central Michigan’s Alex Cramer squared off four times on the year, with Cramer winning the first two and Thompson getting revenge in their conference dual and in the MAC finals. In the same quarterfinal with Thompson is Ivy League champion Simon Ruiz. He’s a freshman who fell in sudden victory in the third place bout at CKLV against Thompson. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) For the better part of the regular season, Lorenzo Norman was ranked in the top-five at 174 lbs. From November until late-February, Norman’s only defeat came at the hands of Hamiti in the CKLV finals. That streak also included a tournament title at the Midlands. In his final dual of the season, after a layoff of almost a month, Norman was outmatched 15-13 in a shootout to North Carolina’s Josh Ogunsanya. Then at the ACC Championships, Norman went 2-2 and missed out on automatic qualification status. He’d have to rely on an at-large berth. Provided he’s healthy, Norman’s size and length make him one of the more difficult matchups at this weight. As you can see with our predictions, we have believe that the Norman that wrestled for the bulk of the season will be the one on the mat in Philly. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #22 Nick Incontrera (Penn) Speaking of at-large berths, veteran Nick Incontrera needed one to get to the 2025 tournament - his fourth career NCAA event. Last year, Incontrera was seeded #10 and proceeded to win a pair of matches before his elimination. His opening round match is one of many intriguing ones at this weight. He’ll face #11 Patrick Kennedy of Iowa. Kennedy and Incontrera met early in the 2023-24 season and Incontrera posted a 10-2 major decision - one of the best wins over his career. Incontrera will also have the locals behind him as he wrestles for co-host Penn and is from New Jersey. Team Race: The most notable team race component in this weight is Dean Hamiti for Oklahoma State. Should he win the super-match with Haines, it would be a nice little boost for the Cowboys. Other contending teams have wrestlers that are seeded off the podium (Iowa/Nebraska/Ohio State), but are very capable of outwrestling their seeds. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. #8 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) vs. #13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) vs. #11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) #10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) vs. #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) Projected Semifinals #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. #5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) #3 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) vs. #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) Projected All-Americans 1st: Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) 2nd: Levi Haines (Penn State) 3rd: Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) 4th: Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) 5th: Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) 6th: Simon Ruiz (Cornell) 7th: Danny Wask (Navy) 8th: Matty Singleton (NC State) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State), #20 Danny Braunagel (Illinois), #10 Alex Cramer (Central Michigan), #11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #17 Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga), #6 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton), #12 Myles Takats (Bucknell), #9 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)

What a wild tournament! The B1G regular season had some exciting moments, but honestly it was mostly built around consistency. The top guys remained at the top, and I don’t feel like there was a slew of upsets. Sure you’d have an OT match with Vombaur and Mendez, or you’d have a Parco over Lovett result, but that’s about as crazy as it got. Largely I recall the favorites winning where they were supposed to, and that’s just how it seemed to go. Not last weekend though. We had ninth seeds placing third (Bouzakis at 133), an eighth seed in the finals (also Ohio State, with Brandon Cannon letting everyone know that he’s for real), the Braunagel’s jumping levels as a family, Edmond Ruth is comfortable at 184 now, and we can all stop being so excited for Gabe Arnold versus Carter Starocci. It’s funny how a tournament like this can provide such definitive clarity, but this is the time of year when results become impactful and lasting historically. This is the time that matters the most. For as much fun as the regular season is, you can feel the energy is just different when it’s the postseason. In the wake of the B1G tournament, and on the precipice of NCAAs, let’s walk through my thoughts and rewards from last weekend in Evanston. Some of these rewards seem like they’d overlap a bit, and that may be the case, but sometimes with something as impressive and with such crazy depth as the B1G, we need to find angles to single out greatness. It’ll explain as we go through this. Freshman of the Year - This is simple enough - the best Freshman at this tournament. It would seem like a guy like Max McEnelly would be the obvious fit here. An undefeated regular season followed by an OT loss to a guy going for his fifth NCAA Championship. He has clearly proven that he’s a stud and is likely the best freshman, so we can move on right? Wrong. This goes to a guy who won the tournament. That’s my tiebreaker. Winning versus losing. Luke Lilledahl not only won the tournament, but he beat the guy ranked first in the country. A guy who hasn’t lost since last season and has been a consistent presence at the weight all season. Also, Lilledahl is a true freshman. That other distinction goes a long way in me making my decision here. Honorable mention to McEnelly, but this award goes to Luke Lilledahl. Senior of the Year - Why should we just celebrate the young guys? I’m old, so I want to celebrate the old guys also! Especially when we see that sometimes it’s really hard to be old and make it through the grind of one final college wrestling season. Shoutout to Jacori Teemer, who is clearly hampered by injuries and trying to get through the last couple of weeks of his career. Sometimes careers end with a sputter, and sometimes the end with a bang. In this case, Lucas Byrd went out in style. He avenged a loss from earlier in the year, and has been a solid leader on this Illinois team that had a great tournament. Lucas redshirted last season due to injury, and that clearly helped him be able to commit for this final run, which has him positioned for a great run to cap off his final year with the coveted NCAA title. We’ll see if he can finish in Philly as strongly as he did last weekend. Also honorable mention to Ridge Lovett who avenged, in dominant fashion I might add, his loss to Parco from earlier this year. He had a badass tournament getting the championship at 149. A performance as badass as those new combat speeds he was wearing. Those were some nice looking shoes, matched by his wrestling and exciting style. Most improved - I wanted this award to represent the guy who really jumped out at me from this tournament, based on what the regular season had looked like. When I decided to add this category, I did it with Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin 125) in mind. He had the very close match with Ramos, ultimately losing in OT, then battling back to place fourth despite being eighth seeded. It was very impressive, but then I looked closer and realized that he only had five losses all year, and remembered that he’s always been dangerous. Sure he’s improved, but he also is just good, so not sure this is where he should be. A better person for this is another true freshman who had a great tournament. Branson John of Maryland, the twelfth seeded wrestler at 174, who placed sixth in a solid weight class. He had wins over fifth seed Clayton Whiting of Minnesota, sixth seed Jackson Turley of Rutgers, and eighth seed Brody Baumann of Purdue. This true freshman was not supposed to qualify for NCAAs, but he did the thing and is in position to get the always valuable experience from the big show. Maryland continues to develop their talent, and Branson John is a guy who really put it together last weekend. Biggest bummer - It’s not always sunshine and rainbows at these events. With every positive comes a negative. There has to be balance with the force. I don’t want to dwell on anything, or speculate for that matter, but it really sucks that Josh Barr got hurt. He had such an impressive year, and was so close to making the finals in a truly competitive 197 weight class. Barr had put himself in the names you have to mention when talking about NCAA Championship contenders this season. Penn State guys have a documented history of avenging losses from earlier in the year, and he has every bit of ability to have put it together in Philly. I hope he’s able to recover quickly and be a contender in two weeks. Regardless, this is just a bummer. Best wrestler - I really liked Adam Tirapelle’s tweet using the Matrix as a metaphor for guys like Mitchell Mesenbrink, Keegan O’Toole and Gable Steveson’s wrestling this past weekend. It really is the best way to illustrate just how advanced these guys are compared to the rest. It’s often said that there are “levels” to this, and it’s true, but what they are doing doesn’t seem simply like another level. It seems like a different game altogether. In the end this award goes to Gable, not only for dominating from start to finish, but he also beat an undefeated and defending NCAA champion in as convincing a way as I’ve ever seen. He’s so good that it made me actually wonder if it’s even fair that he’s wrestling in the tournament. You know, the toughest conference tournament in the country with the defending NCAA champion in his weight class. The thought crossed my mind that he was too good to compete here. That’s crazy. Best tournament - Brock Hardy probably did the most to help himself out long term. He also did it in a weight class full of absolute hammers, including the defending NCAA champion, the number one ranked wrestler, and having to beat a guy in the finals in Vombaur who is wrestling as well as I’ve ever seen him wrestle. Also his pin in the finals was such an exclamation point on his tournament. He left little doubt out there. It sounds weird, but this might be the first time that I’m really considering him as a title contender at 141. In a weight where it seemed like it was going to be one of three guys (Alirez, Mendez, Bartlett), now we have a fourth to throw into the mix. I’d also like to throw out Brandon Cannon as an honorable mention here. Dude made the finals as an eighth seed at a very deep weight class in 157. He beat the number one seed on his way as well. It’ll be interesting to see where he is seeded at NCAAs, but it’s clear that he’s not someone anyone can look past. It’ll be interesting to see how many coaches in Philly recommend that their wrestler doesn’t pick bottom against Cannon. Best team performance - Penn State broke their record for team points that they set last year at B1Gs. All season I’ve been predicting that they would do it again at NCAAs this year, but I never even considered B1Gs. I honestly didn’t even know that they had set the points record last year, until they broke it this year. There was even a time during the semifinals when Nebraska had taken the lead in team points and the thought crossed my mind on whether Penn State was having as good a tournament as I thought they were, or not. But then the semis happened and Penn State got several finalists, and their guys on the backside largely came through, and they did it again. Oops. Things might be a little different at NCAAs though. As referenced above, the Josh Barr news is a bummer and the injury is likely going to put a ceiling on what he’s able to do in Philly. Also, Braeden Davis has been a bit up and down at times. Maybe I’m higher on him than I should be, but I am always surprised when he loses. It could also be just unfair expectations when surrounded by the rest of the team's success, but regardless. Somehow, on the heels of setting the B1G record for team points, it feels like they won’t break their own record for points at NCAAs.

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) If you did a blind resume test - just looking at results without looking at the actual wrestlers themselves, I have to believe that Mitchell Mesenbrink might be your Hodge Trophy frontrunner. Mesenbrink‘s 4-1 win over the second-ranked wrestler in the country, in the Big Ten finals, was his first regular decision of the season. He also had teched him earlier in the year. That’s a fate that many wrestlers have felt this season against Mesenbrink. In 22 matches he has 16 techs. Those other six matches include two forfeits, a : 01-second injury default, a 14-point major decision win and another major decision. His first 12 actual matches ended via tech (there were two forfeits in the mix). All of that to say, Mesenbrink will be a huge favorite at this weight. It is interesting to think about whether Michael Caliendo can continue to close the gap with Mesenbrink. Last year, they wrestled to a decision in their dual meet and Mesenbrink posted a tech at Big Ten and a major decision at nationals. Mesenbrink is the returning NCAA runner-up at this weight. He made the finals last year after going through All-American Cam Amine in the quarterfinals and Caliendo in the semis. The freshman Mesenbrink pushed two-time champion David Carr to the brink before falling 9-8. That remains his only collegiate loss against 48 wins. Looking ahead in the brackets, Mesenbrink could be in for an interesting match in the second round. He is one of five Askren Wrestling Academy products in the 165 lb bracket (which is insane). One of his fellow club teammates, Noah Mulvaney of Bucknell, is the #17 seed and the pair could renew acquaintances in the Round of 16. He also could see former Penn State teammate Terrell Barraclough if seeds hold into the semis. The Contenders: #2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia), #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa), #4 Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley), #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) The Conference Champs ACC: #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) Big 12: #2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) Big Ten: #1 Mitchel Mesenbrink (Penn State) EIWA: #16 Kyle Mosher (Hofstra) Ivy: #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) MAC: #22 Enrique Munguia (Rider) Pac-12: #21 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) SoCon: #23 Thomas Snipes (The Citadel) Top First Round Matches #25 Nick Hamilton (Virginia) vs. #8 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) #13 Will Miller (Appalachian State) vs. #20 Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) #19 Jack Thomsen (Northern Iowa) vs. #14 Drake Rhodes (South Dakota State) #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) vs. #26 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) #15 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) vs #18 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern) This is a weight class with your top tier of title contenders, but after than, it seems like anything could happen. That could lead to plenty of upsets and unforeseen advancement in the bracket - along with chaos in the consis. I’m eager to see how the Big 12 contingent handles the elite Big Ten wrestlers at this weight. Peyton Hall is a two-time AA who has been lights out this year. Barraclough has been even better than anticipated in his first full year as a starter. He’s responsible for Hall’s only loss of the year. Hall’s opponent in the Big 12 finals was Cam Steed. Steed sat behind Keegan O’Toole last year, but was promising in spurts. This year, he’s shown that he could make a dent at NCAA’s; however, he’s missed a couple chunks of the year with injuries. The Big 12 also has Drake Rhodes who had a breakout season, but was sidelined towards the end of the season and I’m not sure how close he is to 100%. The Ivy League champion, Julian Ramirez, hasn’t seen the top guys either this year. He is perhaps the best senior who has yet to AA before (at any weight). He’ll have a top-five seed for a third straight year, but has lost in the Round of 12 in each of his three previous NCAA trips. The ACC champion at this weight is Stanford’s (that still feels weird to write) Hunter Garvin. He started the year with an extremely tough schedule and fell in a shootout with Hall at the All-Star Classic. The two could meet again in the quarterfinals. A second-round matchup to keep an eye on is Barraclough’s with Appalachian State’s #13 Will Miller. Miller was ranked in the top-eight and only lost once in 2024-25, before his upset via Thomas Snipes. This weight also has a great infusion of talented freshmen. #6 Beau Mantanona, #11 Braeden Scoles, #12 Christopher Minto, and #15 Nicco Ruiz all are capable of finishing on the podium. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #15 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) And since we just mentioned him above - more on Ruiz. The other three freshmen competed pretty regularly down the stretch in the Big Ten. Ruiz is more of a mystery. He was a highly sought-after recruit who turned heads in late-November with an upset win over Cam Amine. In Vegas, he downed Mantanona’s younger brother Brock. Once action resumed after Vegas, Ruiz went on a modest three-match winning streak, one that included a win over #19 Jack Thomsen; however, he was injured against Steed and did not compete until Big 12’s. At Big 12’s Ruiz earned another win over Amine and lost to Hall, then forfeited out. Even with a full regular season and conference tournament, I’m not sure of the expectations for Ruiz. His multiple wins over Amine show that he should be a podium threat. With a first-round win over Maxx Mayfield, Ruiz could get another crack at Hall. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #26 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) Imagine you’re Hunter Garvin and win an ACC weight class that has five automatic qualifiers and you capture a conference title, get the #7 seed, and then get paired up with someone like Paddy Gallagher. Actually, I’m not sure whether Garvin minds or not, but it’s a fun matchup on paper. With plenty of confusion and options at 157/165 lbs for the Buckeyes, Paddy Gallagher only had two duals and one open tournament at 165 lbs before the postseason. That, combined with a seventh-place finish at Big Ten’s, didn’t give Gallagher much seeding criteria at 165 - he the #26 seed. Should Gallagher lose in the opening round to Garvin, his path to the podium doesn’t look that overly daunting (as far as those things go). That also could change with one upset. Gallagher could also win and make that path much easier. Team Race: Of the contenders, Iowa and Cornell are the ones with wrestlers at this weight figuring to play a key role. That means a potential NCAA semifinal between Caliendo and Peyton Hall/Hunter Garvin is huge for the Hawkeyes. Caliendo might be the Hawkeye with the best path to the finals. Ramirez’s side of the bracket isn’t ideal with Mesenbrink; however, he needs to win that quarterfinal bout for his own personal accolades and those points will be helpful to Cornell - along with anything additional. Nebraska and Northern Iowa have wrestlers who aren’t seeded to make the podium (Minto and Jack Thomsen); however, both have shown flashes that they could be capable of such a run. Should either significantly outwrestle their seed, it would be huge for their team score. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. #9 Cam Steed (Missouri) #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) vs. #4 Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) vs. #6 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) vs. #2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) Projected Semifinals #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. #5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) vs. #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) Projected All-Americans 1st: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) 2nd: Michael Caliendo (Iowa) 3rd: Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) 4th: Peyton Hall (West Virginia) 5th: Julian Ramirez (Cornell) 6th: Hunter Garvin (Stanford) 7th: Beau Mantanona (Michigan) 8th: Cam Steed (Missouri) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #15 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State), #11 Braeden Scoles (Illinois), #12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska), #8 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota), #14 Drake Rhodes (South Dakota State), #13 Will Miller (Appalachian State), #18 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern)

We haven’t even reached the 2025 NCAA Championships yet and the transfer season is heating up! This morning, All-American heavyweight, Taye Ghadiali formerly of Campbell, announced that he will use his final year of eligibility back in his home state to compete for the University of Michigan. Ghadiali has qualified for the NCAA Championships on four occasions - three times after winning a SoCon title. In 2024, Ghadiali posted an 8-5 win in sudden victory over the EIWA champion, Nathan Taylor, to earn All-American honors for the first time. He would eventually finish eighth. This year, Ghadiali fell to Isaac Trumble (NC State) by a point in the second weekend of the season, then he downed 2024 All-American and Big Ten finalist Nick Feldman at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Ghadiali competed at the Knockout Classic in late December and was injured and ruled out for the season. Since he only competed in four events in 2024-25, Ghadiali would be eligible for an injury waiver and eligible in 2025-26. Through four-plus years at Campbell, Ghadiali amassed a 91-24 record. What’s impressive is that he wasn’t considered a high-profile recruit and went 7-7 as a redshirt freshman. This will be the third consecutive season where Michigan fills the heavyweight slot with a graduate transfer. 2024’s heavyweight Lucas Davison made the national finals. This year, Josh Heindselman was fourth in the Big Ten and has the sixth seed at nationals.

The 2025 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Philadelphia, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2011, but it’s within driving distance of some of the top wrestling areas in the country. The atmosphere for the national tournament is always great, but I expect these East Coast fans to bring a little extra to the Wells Fargo Center. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Top Seed: #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) I enjoy these weight classes without a returning champion. That means that no matter what happens, we’ll have a new, first-time champ. The clubhouse favorite in that aspect is the Big Ten champion Tyler Kasak. Kasak famously was not pegged to be in the 2023-24 Nittany Lions lineup; however, he was pressed into duty after a season-ending injury to Shane Van Ness. Up a weight (149 lbs) from where he started the year at 141 lbs. Kasak had a good regular season and ended up turning in a memorable first NCAA Tournament. After a first-round upset loss, Kasak battled back through the consi’s to take third place after seven straight wins. This year, Kasak moved up in weight again to 157 lbs. He isn’t catching anyone by surprise though. Kasak has been ranked highly all year and has been seen as a title threat. One of Kasak’s best regular season wins came in mid-January when he downed Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor 9-3. Taylor was an All-American in 2024 at 165 lbs. The only loss on Kasak’s ledger for the 2024-25 season came when he had to injury default out of a match with Maryland’s Ethen Miller. Since that was counted as an official loss Miller took the top seed at the Big Ten Championships. That didn’t matter much for Kasak as he posted a 7-3 win over a solid competitor in Trevor Chumbley before pinning Antrell Taylor in the semifinals. The next day, Kasak was able to clinch his first Big Ten title after a 12-2 major decision over Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon. After almost two full years in a Penn State singlet, Kasak now sports a 42-6 career record. His 2024 run displayed the mental toughness needed to win a title. The Contenders: #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell), #3 Antrell Taylor (Cornell), #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech), #5 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State), #6 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) The Conference Champs ACC: #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) Big 12: #7 Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado) Big Ten: #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) EIWA: #21 Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) Ivy: #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) MAC: #17 DJ McGee (George Mason) Pac-12: #11 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) SoCon: #31 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) Top First-Round Matches #17 DJ McGee (George Mason) vs. #16 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) #21 Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) vs. #12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) #13 Jared Hill (Wyoming) vs. #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) #19 Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State) vs. #14 Jude Swisher (Penn) #23 Chase Saldate (Michigan) vs. #10 Ethen Miller (Maryland) #15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) vs. #18 Jacori Teemer (Iowa) All year, this was viewed as a Big Ten-heavy weight class. Those competitors kind of beat up on each other throughout the regular season and into the conference tournament - so others have risen for the purposes of seeding. Even so, I’d be surprised if any less than five wrestlers from the Big Ten make the NCAA podium. One of the big surprises has been Ohio State freshman Brandon Cannon. He carries a 21-3 record into Philadelphia. The bulk of those wins were amassed in open competition as it wasn’t until the last few weeks of the regular season that Cannon officially supplanted Sammy Sasso as the Buckeyes starter. Cannon has proven himself to be a hammer on top and picked up wins over Tommy Askey, Ethen Miller, and Chase Saldate at the B1G tournament. Askey, Miller, and Saldate, along with Taylor, Joey Blaze, Jacori Teemer, and Chumbley are Big Ten podium threats. Taylor and Blaze both made the podium at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The Husker All-American won the bracket, while Blaze was sixth. In the CKLV finals, Taylor narrowly got by Northern Iowa’s Ryder Downey. It was the first of two matches between the pair this year. In dual competition, Downey returned the favor in sudden victory. Downey was the Big 12 champion in 2024, but he fell in the semifinals this year to Northern Colorado’s Vince Zerban. The conference performance was a stark contrast to Zerban’s 2024 tournament. Then, Zerban entered the tournament unbeaten and fell in a seventh-place performance. One of the contenders that might have surprised some is ACC champion Rafael Hipolito. The redshirt freshman has a strong background in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and took up wrestling later than probably everyone else in this field. That didn’t stop him from cruising in the ACC finals against Ed Scott. It was his second victory of the year over the NC State star. Hipolito was an eighth-place finisher in Vegas. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #18 Jacori Teemer (Iowa) The preseason number one at this weight class was Jacori Teemer, a three-time NCAA All-American who made the finals here last year. Teemer is in his first year at Iowa after spending the rest of his career at Arizona State. The move to Iowa hasn’t been as planned. Teemer suffered a hamstring injury in his third appearance of the season and had to injury default. He’d end up missing about two months and, shortly after his return, lost to Kasak at Iowa’s highly-anticipated dual with Penn State. Because of a limited schedule, Teemer didn’t earn an NCAA allocation for the Big Ten and needed to finish in the top seven at the conference tournament to punch his ticket to Philly. That’s exactly what Teemer did; however, he did suffer losses to Tommy Askey and Miller. Earlier in the regular season, he won a one-takedown match over Askey. With a low conference finish and few notable wins, Teemer was relegated to the #18 seed. That means he’ll have a first-round match with Central Michigan veteran Johnny Lovett. Should Teemer win, he’d likely meet #2 Meyer Shapiro in the Round of 16. Though Teemer was second in 2024 and Shapiro was third, the two have not met. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) We’ve mentioned the depth of the Big Ten a couple of times already. More evidence is Trevor Chumbley getting the 20th seed. Chumbley was one of the victims of Teemer stealing an allocation and needed to rely on an at-large berth. While Chumbley is looking for his first career All-American honor, he’s proven that he can beat some of the key contenders at this weight. This year, Chumbley has wins over Pac-12 champion Matt Bianchi and Big 12 fourth-place finisher Caleb Fish. At the 2023 CKLV, Chumbley logged wins over Shapiro and Blaze. His best NCAA performance came in 2023 when he went 2-2. Team Race: If you’re someone who likes to project team points based on seeds, Teemer wouldn’t provide a whole lot for Iowa. Now, if Teemer finds a way to get onto the podium, that would be key for the Hawkeyes. Shapiro is probably the biggest gun for Cornell, so for them to garner another trophy, they’d probably need a top-three finish from their super sophomore. Hipolito’s seed is big for Virginia Tech’s trophy hopes. He finished the year ranked ninth and was never higher than that point, so a finish somewhere around his seed would be extremely helpful for Tony Robie’s team. Our predictions have Antrell Taylor and Ryder Downey meeting in the quarterfinals and again for third place. It would be great to see these two clash in a medal round match, while their respective teams are neck-and-neck in the team standings. Projected Quarterfinals: #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. #8 Joey Blaze (Purdue) #5 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) vs. #4 Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) #3 Antrell Taylor (Northern Iowa) vs. #6 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) #10 Ethen Miller (Maryland) vs. #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) Projected Semifinals #1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. #5 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) #6 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) vs. #2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) Projected All-Americans 1st: Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) 2nd: Tyler Kasak (Penn State) 3rd: Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 4th: Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) 5th: Rafael Hipolito (Virginia Tech) 6th: Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) 7th: Joey Blaze (Purdue) 8th: Ethen Miller (Maryland) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #7 Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado), #12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State), #11 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock), #9 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #18 Jacori Teemer (Iowa), #19 Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State), #14 Jude Swisher (Penn), #16 Cody Chittum (Iowa State)

We've already released a lot of NCAA content and there's more to come. With some much posted, it's easy to miss out on an article or preview - which is why we have the content hub for the 2025 NCAA Championships. All of our NCAA-related content will be posted here starting today and throughout the tournament. Check back often to make sure you haven't missed anything! Weight Class Previews 125 133 141 149 157 165 174 184 197 285 Podcasts The Tyler Brennan Situation and NCAA Bracket Reactions Miscellaneous Facts, Trends, and Numbers for the 2025 NCAA Championships Five NCAA Bracket Reactions NCAA Brackets Released Top Performances by At-Large Berths at the Last Five NCAA Tournaments NCAA Releases At-Large Selections for the 2025 Tournament

2025 NCAA DIII National Championships Final Results Team Scores 1. Johnson & Wales 83.5 1. Wartburg 83.5 3. Augsburg 74 4. Baldwin Wallace 69 5. Wisconsin-LaCrosse 65 6. Coe 60 6. North Central 60 8. Alvernia 58 9. Coast Guard 40.5 9. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 40.5 Championship Finals 125 - Joziah Fry (Johnson & Wales) dec Christian Guzman (North Central) 10-5 133 - Chase Randall (Coast Guard) maj Bryce Parke (Coe) 16-8 141 - Mark Samuel (Roanoke) dec Sean Conway (Chicago) 9-3 149 - Hayden Brown (Johnson & Wales) dec Angelo Centrone (SUNY-Cortland) 5-0 157 - Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) dec Cooper Pontelandolfo (NYU) 4-2 165 - Matt Lackman (Alvernia) dec Cooper Willis (Augsburg) 6-0 174 - Jared Stricker (UW-Eau Claire) dec Nathan Lackman (Alvernia) 7-1 184 - Marcus Orlandoni (UW-LaCrosse) dec Brandt Bombard (Augsburg) 2-1SV 197 - Massoma Endene (Wartburg) maj Cameron Butka (Wilkes) 11-3 285 - Mitch Williamson (Wartburg) dec Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard) 4-1 Third Place Bouts 125 - Mason Barrett (Averett) dec Zach Beckner (Ferrum) 2-2RTTB 133 - Jaden Hinton (Baldwin Wallace) tech James Day (Wabash) 17-1 141 - Bradley Rosen (North Central) maj Ty Bisek (Concordia-Moorhead) 22-12 149 - Kyler Romero (Wartburg) dec Matt Randolph (Augsburg) 3-1 157 - Eric Kinkaid (Loras) dec Aiden Smith (Adrian) 4-3 165 - Tanner Gerber (UW-LaCrosse) maj Brayden Peet (UW-Whitewater) 15-6 174 - Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) maj Dejon Glaster (Millikin) 20-9 184 - Jack Ryan (SUNY Oneonta) dec Ganon Smith (Elizabethtown) 4-1SV 197 - Charles Baczek (Wabash) dec Joseph Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) 5-0 285 - Josh Harkless (RIT) dec Rayshawn Dixon (Ferrum) 4-2 Fifth Place Bouts 125 - Brayden Parke (Coe) dec Jake Craig (Southern Maine) 4-0 133 - Dominik Mallinder (UW-Whitewater) fall Garrett Totten (TCNJ) 1:54 141 - Josh Wilson (Greensboro) dec Pierre Baldwin (Central) 4-2 149 - Thomas Monn (McDaniel) fall Colby Frost (Southern Maine) 4:09 157 - Peter Kane (Wiliams) maj Tyler Goebel (UW-LaCrosse) 11-2 165 - Andrew Supers (Baldwin Wallace) dec Jake Deaguire (Springfield) 22-21 174 - Hunter Mays (TCNJ) dec LJ Richardson (Coe) 3-2 184 - Kasey Ross (Wartburg) dec Tyler Withers (Merchant Marine) 6-5 197 - Dylan Harr (Johnson & Wales) maj Ian Pepple (UW-Eau Claire) 13-3 285 - Austin Cooley (Schreiner) fall Adolfo Betancur (Johnson & Wales) 2:05 Seventh Place Bouts 125 - Benyamin Kamali (Olivet) dec Keito Shaw (Alvernia) 10-4 133 - Chance Suddeth (Augsburg) fall Connor Kidd (Luther) 1:50 141 - Tommy Thongseng (Wartburg) maj Luke Hoerle (Stevens) 12-3 149 - Michael Conklin (TCNJ) maj Mike Glynn (RIT) 9-0 157 - Ryan Smith (Stevens) dec Clayton McDonough (Coe) 7-3 165 - CJ Shea (Wesleyan) FFT Nicholas Sacco (TCNJ) 174 - Zeb Gnida (Loras) tech Javen Estrada (North Central) 17-1 184 - Jared Voss (Coe) fall Xavier Pommells (Ithaca) 2:24 197 - Ben Kawczynski (UW-LaCrosse) maj Jackson Punzel (Wheaton) 10-0 285 - Mauro Pellot (Alvernia) dec Robby Bates (North Central) 7-5