InterMat Staff

2025 NCAA DII National Championships Final Results Team Scores 1. Nebraska-Kearney 115 2. Augustana 63 3. St. Cloud State 57.5 4. Lander 56 5. Central Oklahoma 55.5 6. Mary 51 7. Central Missouri 43 8. Kutztown 42.5 9. Maryville 39 10. West Liberty 38.5 Championship Finals 125 - Jakason Burks (Central Missouri) dec Zachary Ourada (Nebraska-Kearney) 5-2 133 - Reece Barnhardt (Mary) dec Peter Rolle (Central Oklahoma) 10-4 141 - Johnny Lopez (San Francisco State) dec Khyvon Grace (West Liberty) 8-7 149 - Cael Larson (Augustana) dec Nick James (Nebraska-Kearney) 8-1 157 - Gabe Johnson (Central Oklahoma) dec Joel Jesuroga (St. Cloud State) 4-1SV 165 - David Hunsberger (Lander) maj Jack Haskin (Lake Erie) 10-2 174 - Cole Ritter (Maryville) dec Jacobi Deal (Nebraska-Kearney) 5-1 184 - Ty McGeary (West Liberty) tech Keegan Gehlhausen (Chadron State) 20-4 197 - Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) dec Tereus Henry (Fort Hays State) 5-1 285 - Ryan Herman (Maryville) dec Isaiah Vance (Pitt-Johnstown) 3-2TB Third Place Matches 125 - Jaxson Rohman (Augustana) fall Trevon Gray (Pitt-Johnstown) 2:20 133 - Christian Davis (Lander) maj James Anderson (Ouachita Baptist) 19-6 141 - Sean Solis (Mary) dec Joseph Airola (Nebraska-Kearney) 12-7 149 - Brennan Watkins (King) dec Dean Noble (Western Colorado) 9-8 157 - Aaden Valdez (Adams State) FFT Owen Cline (Colorado Mesa) 165 - Dajun Johnson (UW-Parkside) dec Nick Novak (St. Cloud State) 12-10 174 - Drake Hayward (Minnesota State) dec Bryce Dagel (St. Cloud State) 4-3 184 - Matt Weinberg (Kutztown) fall Damon Ashworth (Central Missouri) 1:44 197 - Jackson Kinsella (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Max Ramberg (Augustana) 4-2 285 - Dorian Crosby (Gannon) dec Crew Howard (Nebraska-Kearney) 4-2 Fifth Place Matches 125 - Shane Corrigan (UW-Parkside) dec Anthony Aniciete (Tiffin) 10-8 133 - Hector Serratos (Nebraska-Kearney) maj Sam Spencer (St. Cloud State) 12-1 141 - Colton Stoneking (Fairmont State) maj Isham Peace (Lander) 12-3 149 - Jackson Hoover (Indianapolis) FFT Chris Donathan (Grand Valley State) 157 - Caleb Meunier (Minnesota State) maj John Ridle (Central Missouri) 8-0 165 - Cory Peterson (McKendree) dec Jace Fisher (Newman) 7-2 174 - Matt Ortiz (McKendree) dec Lawson Losee (Upper Iowa) 7-3 184 - Cade Mueller (Augustana) dec Garrett Wells (Central Oklahoma) 5-2 197 - Nicholas Johnson (Glenville State) dec Wyatt Miller (Grand Valley State) 10-3 285 - Freddie Retter (Kutztown) maj Jake Swirple (Minot State) 12-1 Seventh Place Matches 125 - Dayson Torgerson (Colorado Mesa) maj Colton Drousias (Glenville State) 8-0 133 - Jeremiah Echevarria (Gannon) dec Max Shore (Tiffin) 4-2 141 - Ronan Schuelke (McKendree) maj Luke Kunath (Belmont Abbey) 12-0 149 - Joey Semerad (McKendree) dec Gabriel Onorato (Glenville State) 5-4 157 - Kaden Renner (Mary) fall Casey Barnett (Tiffin) 2:27 165 - Nolan Gessler (Tiffin) dec Bailey Gimbor (Kutztown) 7-5 174 - Josh Kenney (Grand Valley State) dec Dalton Gimbor (Kutztown) 7-3 184 - Kyle Homet (Glenville State) tech Jacari Deal (Nebraska-Kearney) 17-2 197 - Marvelous Rutledge (Lander) dec Dominic Murphy (St. Cloud State) 4-1SV 285 - Tyler Doyle (Colorado Mesa) dec Carter Blough (Grand Valley State) 4-1SV

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: Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) 2024 national champion Caleb Henson is back and ready to become the first Virginia Tech wrestler to win multiple NCAA titles. Henson comes into Philly with a perfect 18-0 record and has won his last 23 collegiate matches. Though he missed some time, Henson managed to win the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Keystone Classic. In the CKLV finals, Henson flipped a result from the finals of the 2023 tournament when he was narrowly beaten by Ridge Lovett. Lovett comes in as the #2 seed at this tournament. Henson managed to win his second ACC crown after getting pushed to sudden victory by North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil. It was Henson’s third sudden victory win of the season. Despite winning the CKLV, Henson has only faced two of the top ten seeds this season, so we could be in for a handful of new matchups and opponents. Henson is extremely well-rounded, so he can rack up points if needed or grind out a match on the match if the situation presents itself. The Contenders: #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska), #3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State), #5 Kyle Parco (Iowa) The Conference Champs ACC: #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) Big 12: #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) Big Ten: #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) EIWA: #16 Trae McDaniel (Army West Point) Ivy: #9 Cross Wasilewski (Penn) MAC: #11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider) Pac-12: #8 Jordan Williams (Little Rock) SoCon: #23 Carson DesRosier (The Citadel) Top First-Round Matches #17 Jaden Abas (Stanford) vs. #16 Trae McDaniel (Army West Point) #21 Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) vs. #12 Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) #19 Andrew Clark (Rutgers) vs. #14 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) #11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider) vs. #22 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) #15 Ty Whalen (Princeton) vs. #18 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) Heading into conference tournament weekend, the Big Ten bracket was difficult to interpret as Kyle Parco beat Ridge Lovett, but lost to Shayne Van Ness. Naturally, Lovett majored Van Ness. Things either sorted themselves out or got more complicated, depending on how you look at the situation. Lovett finally figured out the Parco puzzle that had been tormenting him for a few years. Not only did he beat the Hawkeye, but did so with a major decision. On the other half of the bracket, Van Ness was stunned by redshirt freshman, Kannon Webster. Webster was thought to be one of the best freshmen at this weight and had a few setbacks during the regular season; however, he’s potentially peaking at the right time. Paniro Johnson started the year at 157 lbs and moved down to 149 lbs, so he missed out on some key matchups at the CKLV or in the Cy-Hawk dual. Not to worry, we could get a Johnson/Parco matchup in the quarterfinals, so that could be fun. Since moving down to 149 lbs, Johnson has only lost once - to Northern Iowa’s Colin Realbuto, and he made up for that win with a win over the UNI wrestler in the Big 12 finals. Henson’s path to a potential finals return could be limited by a quarterfinal matchup with either the Ivy League champion (Cross Wasilewski) or the Pac-12 champion (Jordan Williams). Wasilewski hasn’t lost since the Midlands and has eight wins over NCAA qualifiers since then. Williams is on a roll himself. He defeated Chance Lamer and then cooled off red-hot Ethan Stiles to capture a Pac-12 championship. Maybe this is redundant for being at the NCAA Tournament, but everywhere you look in this bracket is a potential landmine. Two-time All-American McNeil is the sixth seed, and All-American Dylan D’Emilio is the 13th seed. Ty Whalen was ranked in the top ten for the bulk of the season; he’s the #15 seed. Look at McNeil’s potential second-round matchup. Either #11 Sammy Alvarez or #22 Gavin Drexler. Alvarez has been excellent in his new home at Rider, while Drexler has been solid in the regular season, but turned it up during a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #14 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) Only two losses on the year, but still a #14 seed for Cal Poly’s Chance Lamer. To be fair to the NCAA seeding committee, Lamer wasn’t available at the CKLV and missed out on some important non-conference opponents. During the regular season, Lamer posted wins over the eventual Pac-12 champion Williams and former conference rival and All-American Jaden Abas. In each of his two previous trips to the NCAA Tournament, Lamer finished in the bloodround. The first came as he was the #22 seed, so I’m sure his #14 seed won’t have much impact on the way he preps for the tournament. If the brackets were to break as I picked, you could see another meeting between Lamer and Williams in the bloodround. Extreme (+20) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #33 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) We’re going to go with the most extreme, longshot possible #33 Teague Travis. Travis is actually not as long of a shot as his seed would indicate. He has a couple of matches early in the season at 157 lbs, but missed a large chunk of the year with an injury. Then he resurfaced at the Big 12 Championships. Travis needed to place in the top four to get to nationals, because he wouldn’t have been eligible for an at-large berth otherwise. Travis ended up in fourth - picking up a win over qualifier Willie McDougald in the process. He also got by SDSU’s at-large contender Avery Allen for his place in the top four. Last year, Travis made the NCAA Tournament at 157 lbs, earned the #16 seed, and went 2-2 in Kansas City. If he’s able to knock off the rust, Travis could be a real threat. Provided he wins his pigtail, he’ll be a much more difficult matchup for top-seeded Caleb Henson than you’d normally expect in the first round. Team Race: This is a weight where the top-five seeds come from teams you’d expect to see in the team trophy hunt. That means that provided the top seeds advance - and that could be a huge assumption, you’ll have some wild team point swings in the semifinals. Last year, Little Rock provided one of the pleasant surprises of the tournament. They won’t catch anyone sleeping this time around; however, if they want to improve upon their 19th-place finish in 2024, having Williams outwrestle his seed would be a huge step in that direction. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. #8 Jordan Williams (Little Rock) #5 Kyle Parco (Iowa) vs. #4 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) #3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. #6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) #10 Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) vs. #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) Projected Semifinals #1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. #5 Kyle Parco (Iowa) #3 Shane Van Ness (Penn State) vs. #2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) Projected All-Americans 1st: Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) 2nd: Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) 3rd: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) 4th: Kyle Parco (Iowa) 5th: Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) 6th: Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State) 7th: Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) 8th: Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #7 Kannon Webster (Illinois), #14 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly), #10 Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa), #9 Cross Wasilewski (Penn) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #33 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State), #22 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State), #12 Ethan Stiles (Oregon State), #17 Jaden Abas (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. Top Seed: Brock Hardy (Nebraska) For those at home trying to guess NCAA seeds, this was probably the one that made you think more than others. Big Ten champion Brock Hardy has three losses on the year - one to second-seeded Beau Bartlett and two others to #5 Cael Happel and #7 Tagen Jamison. Bartlett only had one (not to Hardy), but didn’t make the Big Ten finals. But, we know that the selection committee and their formula for seeding places a heavy emphasis on winning a conference tournament, so I’m okay with it. Hardy will preside over a weight class that features a pair of returning national champions. Hardy is a two-time All-American who has finished sixth in 2023 and third in 2024. He’s looking to take that next step and get past the semifinals and compete for a title. His 2024-25 season started with three straight dual wins and a Navy Classic title before taking third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. It was his third time placing at the nation’s premier regular season tournament - in the past he was sixth and first. After Vegas, Hardy dropped two of three matches (Happel/Bartlett), though the Bartlett bout was by a single point and one of the best matches of the regular season. From there, he’s been perfect - winning his last six regular season duals before the Big Ten title. Just to make the Big Ten finals, Hardy had to take out the returning national champion Jesse Mendez, which he did in a 9-8 thriller. He was previously 0-2 all-time against Mendez. In the title match, Hardy used a cradle to dispose of All-American Vance Vombaur in the first period. Hardy’s Big Ten win gave him the top seed and put him on the top half of the bracket, which puts him away from the three B1G contenders (Bartlett/Mendez/Vombaur). Events out of Hardy’s control, at the Big 12 Championships, saw 2023 NCAA champion Andrew Alirez fall to Tagen Jamison before taking third place. That, and a regular season without many marquee wins, puts Alirez in the eighth seed and makes for a nasty potential quarterfinal against Hardy. Also on Hardy’s half of the bracket is #5 Cael Happel, who has been a difficult matchup for the Husker star his entire career. Happel is 3-4 against Hardy. The Contenders: #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), #3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy), #5 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) The Conference Champs: ACC: #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) Big 12: #5 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) Big Ten: # Brock Hardy (Nebraska) EIWA: #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) Ivy: #10 CJ Composto (Penn) MAC: #16 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) Pac-12: #32 Nash Singleton (Oregon State) SoCon: #13 Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) Top First-Round Matches #17 Shannon Hanna (Campbell) vs. #16 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) #13 Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb) vs. #20 Josh Saunders (Cornell) #19 Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma) vs. #14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) #10 CJ Composto (Penn) vs. #23 Josh Edmond (Missouri) #15 Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) vs. #18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State) All year this was a weight class that had a tier of contenders and then a sharp drop-off after the #11 or #12 spot. That generally seems to be the case as we head into the national tournament. Upsets happen all the time, but it’s difficult to project many of the wrestlers in the top eight not finishing on the podium. One item I’m keeping an eye on is how a few of the champions from the non-Big Ten/12 conferences fare. A lot of people who talk about this bracket tend to overlook #4 Josh Koderhandt or #10 CJ Composto. Koderhandt was fourth at the CKLV with wins (albeit close ones) over #9 Frost and #14 Lemley. Composto won the Midlands and the Keystone Classic but doesn’t have many matches against the upper tier at this weight. Looking at the Big 12 portion, you have to think about Happel and Tagen Jamison, both of whom were seeded highly last year and fell in the opening round and ended up meeting in the first round of consolations. Can they avoid such pitfalls this year? Jamison escaped controversy at the Big 12 weigh-in’s and managed to upset Alirez. He’s had moments where he’s looked like a potential national champion, he just needs to string them together over the course of five matches. With the upsets in the Big Ten semifinals and the seeding uncertainty around Hardy/Bartlett, some people might be overlooking the returning champion, Mendez. When the upper-echelon contenders meet, they tend to have close matches. For the most part, in past years, Mendez has won them. This year, he’s dropped two of those two Bartlett and one to Hardy. I don’t think it’s a sign of anything negative and Mendez can certainly come home with title #2 next Saturday night. Still staying in the Big Ten, one of the best Cinderella stories from the 2024 tournament was Vance Vombaur getting on the podium as the #26 seed. He’s been on a mission to prove that his performance in Kansas City was no fluke and he’s wrestled at a high level all year - culminating in an upset of Bartlett in the Big Ten semifinals. His seed will be 20 slots higher in Philly! The ACC also has a pair of podium threats with Dylan Cedeno and Sam Latona. Cedeno has bounced between 141 and 157(!) during his career and battled various injuries; however, he was in his best form this year losing only once before Philly and knocking off the two-time All-American, Latona, in the conference finals. Latona will always be a difficult matchup because of his length and he knows what it takes to win. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) I said earlier that it’s hard to fathom anyone outside the top 12 crashing the party and making the podium. That’s not entirely true, as Sergio Lemley certainly has the goods to do it. If we’re seeding the tournament on talent and potential, he’s higher than the 14th seed. Using metrics and numbers gets him here. Oftentimes in the Big Ten, you’ll have a weight where four of the top six wrestlers in the nation are from the conference - as is the case at 141 lbs. Someone like Lemley takes a handful of regular-season losses to those contenders, before adding a few at the conference tournament. All of a sudden, his record doesn’t look particularly great and he’s got the #14 seed. I’m calling this a darkhorse podium threat because of the seed itself, but Lemley pulling a slight upset or two and making the podium would not shock me in the slightest. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #23 Josh Edmond (Missouri) To contradict my previous contradiction, it’s hard to identify a 20+ seed at this weight who could threaten for a spot on the podium. That’s largely because the wrestlers in that range haven’t been extremely consistent this season. That also is often the case with wrestlers ranked in that area. With that being said, I’ll go with one of the wrestlers with the highest ceilings in this part of the seeds, Josh Edmond. He did it last year, Edmond advanced to the bloodround and was a sudden victory loss to Vombaur away from earning All-American honors. At the tournament, he posted wins over Wyatt Henson and Composto. Part of the reason Edmond’s seed is lower than you might expect is because of his 0-2 showing at the Big 12 Championships. Hopefully, those results stemmed from a bad day rather than an injury and Edmond can show he’s closer to the podium than the #23 seed. Team Race: This bracket has all sorts of team race implications surrounding it. Title contenders from Nebraska, Penn State, Ohio State, Northern Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma State. What makes this weight even more important in the race is that there’s no heavy favorite (ala a Gable Steveson) atop it. There could be wild swings with a wrestler from this group winning a national title, while another might miss the podium. While this isn’t necessarily team trophy race-related, should Northern Colorado wrestle up to their seeds, they could be looking at a top-20 finish. If Andrew Alirez wrestles way over his #8 seed, which is not far-fetched, the Bears could break the top 15 or even the top-12. Projected Quarterfinals: #1 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. #8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) vs. #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) #3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. #6 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. #10 CJ Composto (Penn) Projected Semifinals: #8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) vs. #4 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) #3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) Projected All-Americans 1st: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) 2nd: Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) 3rd: Beau Bartlett (Penn State) 4th: Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) 5th: Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 6th: Josh Koderhandt (Navy) 7th: Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) 8th: CJ Composto (Penn) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #12 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech), #14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan), #5 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa), Jacob Frost (Iowa State) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State), #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia), #19 Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma), #15 Joey Olivieri (Rutgers)

St. Joseph Catholic Academy

Clearfield

Milan Edison

Saucon Valley

Methacton

Hortonville

Pennsbury

Boiling Springs

Unionville

Tuscarora

Kimball

Gibsonburg

Davenport

Brawley Union

Rock Hill

Bakersfield

Alma-Wabaunsee

Kokomo

Casco Viejo

Grant

Park City

Bishop Carroll