InterMat Staff

With the U20 World Championships only a few days away, the anticipation of another big tournament for the Americans is building. Specifically in men’s freestyle. We have a loaded squad with four returning Junior world medalists - plus a former U17 medalist. Coming off a dramatic team win from the U17 squad, could the U20 team be next? That certainly could be the case, but there’s also lots of talent spread out around the world. If you’re wondering who are the favorites and who could potentially push some of our homegrown stars, you’re in luck. We’ve combed through the entries and found the wrestlers in the field with hardware from past world championship events. They are listed below, by weight class, along with their American opponents - if they were returning medalists too. We’ve just identified the U17 and U20 medalists, not any continental credentials, or anything younger than U17. Which weight do you think is the toughest? 57 kg Arman Harutyunyan (Armenia) - 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 45 kg Nurdanat Aitanov (Kazakhstan) - 2021 U17 bronze medalist - 48 kg 61 kg Bashir Verdiyev (Azerbaijan) - 2022 U17 silver medalist - 45 kg Marcus Blaze (USA) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 61 kg, 2023 U17 gold medalist - 55 kg 65 kg Omurbek Asan Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) - 2024 U17 gold medalist - 60 kg Abdullah Toprak (Turkiye) - 2023 U20 bronze medalist - 65 kg, 2021 U17 bronze medalist - 55 kg 70 kg Goga Otinashvili (Georgia) - 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 65 kg Kairi Ito (Japan) - 2024 U17 bronze medalist - 71 kg Islam Kazharov (Russia) - 2023 U17 bronze medalist - 71 kg Umut Uslu (Turkiye) - 2024 U17 bronze medalist - 65 kg PJ Duke (USA) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 70 kg 74 kg Ladarion Lockett (USA) - 2024 U20 silver medalist - 74 kg, 2023 U17 gold medalist - 71 kg 79 kg LJ Araujo (Brazil) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 79 kg Mahdi Yousefi (Iran) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 79 kg Alp Arslan Begenjov (Turkmenistan) - 2024 U20 gold medalist - 79 kg 86 kg Abolfazl Rahmani (Iran) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 86 kg Alexandru Bors (Moldova) - 2023 U17 silver medalist - 80 kg, 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 80 kg Ahmet Yagan (Turkiye) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 86 kg Max McEnelly (USA) - 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 92 kg 92 kg Mor Sachin (India) - 2022 U17 gold medalist - 80 kg Toohid Noory (Iran) - 2023 U17 bronze medalist - 92 kg Kamil Kurugliyev (Kazakhstan) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 92 kg, 2022 U17 gold medalist - 92 kg, 2021 U17 bronze medalist - 92 kg 97 kg Konstantine Petriashvili (Georgia) - 2024 U17 gold medalist - 92 kg, 2023 U17 bronze medalist - 80 kg Erfan Alizadeh (Iran) - 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 92 kg Justin Rademacher (USA) - 2024 U20 bronze medalist - 97 kg 125 kg Yusif Dursunov (Azerbaijan) - 2023 U17 gold medalist - 110 kg, 2021 U17 bronze medalist - 92 kg Jaspooran Singh (India) - 2022 U17 bronze medalist - 110 kg Yedige Kassimbek (Kazakhstan) - 2024 U17 silver medalist - 110 kg, 2023 U17 silver medalist - 110 kg

Our All-Quarter Century team takes us out west to focus on the Arizona State program. This is a team that has gone through a couple of head coaches, had its ups and downs, and even was on the chopping block for a brief time in 2008. Despite all of that, there has been a lot to celebrate for the Sun Devils over the last 25 years. Arizona State has been home to some of the biggest stars in college wrestling over the last quarter-century. Eric Larkin is one of only three wrestlers from the West Coast to win the Hodge Trophy. Anthony Robles defied the odds in a Sun Devils singlet. A few matches after Robles’ NCAA championship win, Bubba Jenkins posted one of the most memorable moments in an NCAA final with his fall over a freshman (and ex-teammate) David Taylor. Zahid Valencia earned two NCAA titles, a Senior World medal, and will continue to add to his resume at the 2025 World Championships. In constructing our first, second, and third teams for Sun Devil wrestling this quarter century, we had to get creative from 141-157 lbs. Eric Larkin earned All-American honors at three different weights and won his Hodge at 149, but 141 was the weight with the least amount of options, so that’s where he went. Technically, Bubba Jenkins never wrestled at 149 lbs for ASU, but he spent the bulk of his career at the weight. Putting Jenkins at 149 lbs allows for an NCAA finalist to be inserted at 157 (and they had two options). There were a couple of tough decisions with ASU - namely at 125 and 149 lbs. At 125, we gave the second team nod to Brandon Courtney over Richie Figueroa. Courtney has three All-American finishes and a final appearance. Figueroa has a national title, but missed the podium last year and has transferred, so he won’t be able to put up any more numbers in an ASU singlet. At 149 lbs, looking strictly at the numbers, it would seem like Jason Tsirtsis’ career warrants first-team honors. Since he only wrestled one year at ASU and was seventh, I felt the wrestlers above him had more of a direct impact for the Sun Devils. As always, if you have thoughts or your version of the team, leave them in the comments or InterMat’s forums. Wrestlers considered for the three teams had to compete from 2001 to 2025. For the wrestlers early in this timeframe, their entire collegiate body of work was considered. Only collegiate results were taken into consideration. Even if a wrestler was successful at multiple weights, they were only selected for one weight - typically, it was based on the strongest possible first team. After the three All-Century teams, there are some fun facts about Iowa State’s results over the past 25 years. Here are the programs we’ve already covered Cornell Illinois Iowa State Lehigh Minnesota Missouri NC State First Team 125 lbs - Anthony Robles: Mesa, Arizona - 3x AA (1,7,4), 2011 NCAA champion, 3x Pac-10 champion 133 lbs - Michael McGee: Bolingbrook, Illinois - 3x AA (3,4,6), 2x Pac-12 champion, 2x MAC champion 141 lbs - Eric Larkin: Tucson, Arizona - 4x AA (1,2,3,4), 2003 NCAA champion, 2003 Hodge winner, 4x Pac-10 champion 149 lbs - Bubba Jenkins: Virginia Beach, Virginia - 2x AA (1,2), 2011 NCAA champion, 2011 Pac-12 runner-up, 2009 Big Ten runner-up 157 lbs - Jacori Teemer: Long Beach, New York - 3x AA (2,6,4), 4x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #2 seed 165 lbs - Steve Blackford: Des Moines, Iowa - 3x AA (5,3,4), 2x Pac-10 champion, 2x NCAA #3 seed 174 lbs - Zahid Valencia: Bellflower, California: 3x AA (1,1,3), 3x Pac-12 champion, 2x NCAA #1 seed 184 lbs - Blake Stauffer: Neosho, Missouri: 1x AA (4), 2x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #3 seed 197 lbs - Ryan Bader: Reno, Nevada: 2x AA (7,4), 3x Pac-10 champion, NCAA #4 seed 285 lbs - Cohlton Schultz: Parker, Colorado: 5x AA (3,6,7,2,4), 4x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #2 seed Second Team 125 lbs - Brandon Courtney: Goodyear, Arizona - 3x AA (3,6,2), 3x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #3 seed 133 lbs - David Douglas: Harvey, Illinois - 2x AA (5,7), 2001 Pac-10 champion, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 141 lbs - Chris Drouin: Temecula, California - 1x AA (6), 2x Pac-10 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 149 lbs - Kyle Parco: Danville, California - 4x AA (5,4,8,6), 3x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #2 seed 157 lbs - Brian Stith: Hampton, Virginia - 2x AA (2,6), 2x Pac-10 champion, NCAA #2 seed 165 lbs - Josh Shields: Murrysville, Pennsylvania - 2x AA (6,7), NWCA 1st Team AA, 3x Pac-12 champion 174 lbs - Curtis Owen: Polson, Montana: 1x AA (4), 3x NCAA qualifier, 2003 Pac-10 champion 184 lbs - CB Dollaway: Mt. Gilead, Ohio: 1x AA (5), 2x Pac-10 runner-up 197 lbs - Kordell Norfleet: Chicago, Illinois: 4x NQ, 4x Pac-12 champion, NWCA 2nd Team AA, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 285 lbs - Cain Velasquez: Yuma, Arizona: 2x AA (4,5), 2x Pac-10 champion, NCAA #3 seed Third Team 125 lbs - Richie Figueroa: Sanger, California* - 1x AA (1), 2024 NCAA champion, 2024 Pac-12 champion 133 lbs - Ali Naser: Woodland Hills, California - 1 NQ, 2018 Pac-12 champion 141 lbs - Dana Holland: Glendale Heights, Illinois - 2x NQ, 2x Pac-10 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 149 lbs - Jason Tsirtsis: Crown Point, Indiana - 3x AA (7,3,1), 2014 NCAA champion, 2x Big Ten champion, 1x Pac-12 champion 157 lbs - Rocky Smart: Pleasant Grove, Utah - 3x NQ, 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 165 lbs - Patrick Pitsch: Tacoma, Washington - 4x NQ, 3x Pac-10 champion, 3x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 174 lbs - Anthony Valencia: Bellflower, California - 1x AA (8), 5x NQ, 4x Pac-12 champion, NCAA #2 seed 184 lbs - Nick Frost: Tucson, Arizona - 3x NQ, 2x Pac-10 champion, NCAA #6 seed 197 lbs - Jason Trulson: Fountain Hills, California - 2x NQ, 2008 Pac-10 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 285 lbs - Tanner Hall: Meridian, Idaho: 1x AA (3), NWCA First Team All-American, 2x Pac-12 champion Fun Facts During the last quarter century, Arizona State has had five wrestlers combine to win six national championships. This does not include Tsirtsis who wrestled for ASU, but won a title for Northwestern Arizona State has put wrestlers into the national finals 11 times during this time period ASU has had three four-time NCAA All-Americans during the last 25 years (Larkin, Parco, Schultz). In addition, Brandon Courtney and Jacori Teemer earned NCAA All-American honors three times and was named an AA by the NWCA in 2020. The Sun Devils have put wrestlers on the NCAA podium 49 times since 2001. Six others were named first or second team AA’s by the NWCA in 2020. Arizona State finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Tournament 15 times in the last 25 years. 10 of those were in the top ten. ASU earned NCAA team trophies in back-to-back years under Zeke Jones in 2021 and 2022. Both were fourth place finishes. Both team trophy finishes saw ASU put five wrestlers on the NCAA podium. That is their high during this quarter century. Their 74 points at the 2021 tournament is a high during this time, as well. Arizona State has had four head coaches during this quarter century. Lee Roy Smith for the first year, followed by Thom Ortiz, Shawn Charles, and Zeke Jones Eric Larkin is the only ASU wrestler to have won the Hodge Trophy. He won the award in 2003. Arizona State has won 10 Pac-10/12 titles during this span Individually, Arizona State wrestlers have combined to win 70 Pac-10/12 championships since 2001 Four ASU wrestlers have earned the #1 seed at nationals (Larkin, Robles, Z. Valencia x2) In 2015, Arizona State was credited with signing the #1 overall recruiting class. That group yielded three future DI All-Americans (Z. Valencia, A. Valencia, Shields) The 2011 NCAA Tournament saw a pair of ASU wrestlers earn national titles (Robles, Jenkins). There was only one other year in school history with more than one national champion (1993 - Mollica/Miller) Since 2001, only nine wrestlers from Arizona have earned NCAA All-American honors. Four have wrestled for ASU (Larkin, Velasquez, Robles, Courtney). Five of Arizona State’s six NCAA championships during this span have come against wrestlers from Iowa or Penn State

Northern Iowa filled a vacancy on their coaching staff today as they announced the hiring of Ian Parker. The Panthers had an opening as Lee Roper left in April to become the executive director of Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC. Parker comes to Cedar Falls after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia. In each of his two years in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers sent four wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. UVA had an ACC champion each season, including Dylan Cedeno in 2025, who wrestles at Parker’s collegiate weight (141 lbs). Though he’s a Michigan native, Parker is no stranger to the state of Iowa. He spent his entire collegiate career in Iowa wrestling for Iowa State. Parker qualified for the NCAA Championships on four occasions at 141 lbs. In 2020, Parker won a Big 12 title and was seeded fourth at the NCAA Tournament; however, it was canceled at the outset of the COVID pandemic. The following year, Parker made the Big 12 finals and was seeded seventh at nationals. Parker has also had a lot of recent success on the freestyle circuit. Though he appeared undersized, Parker took third at the 2025 US Open. His run included wins over Doug Zapf, along with collegiate All-Americans Yahya Thomas, Bryce Andonian, and Will Lewan. After falling in the first round of the World Team Trials to 2025 NCAA champion, Ridge Lovett, Parker wrestled back for third and defeated Lovett in his final match. At Final X, Parker won a bout against Andonian to clinch a spot on the 2025 Senior National Team. Also in 2025, Parker was selected to represent the United States at the Pan-American Championships and finished with a silver medal. His lone loss came in the finals to former Iowa State teammate Austin Gomez, who was representing Mexico.

Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 4:00 - Weigh in 11:36 - Housekeeping: Upcoming content + Binghamton coaching search update 17:14 - UFC moving on from PPV model 31:02 - Mason Parris is back! 37:38 - Rutgers gets a new NIL setup 50:12 - Ferrari moving up to heavyweight 59:30 - Create a folkstyle wrestler

The U20 World Championships are rapidly approaching! On Sunday, the first whistles will blow from Sofia, Bulgaria and the men’s freestyle competition will kick off the festivities. The U20 (Junior) World Championships have long been a place for the future stars of USA Wrestling and college wrestling to get to show off for a worldwide audience. With the prolonged success of Penn State at the collegiate level, it’s no surprise that the 2025 men’s freestyle squad has a very Nittany Lion-heavy feel. Two of the ten team members are redshirt freshmen at Penn State. There are three true freshmen. That’s half the squad with Penn State roots. Thinking about the U20 team from a collegiate perspective, it makes you wonder how the composition of the U20 team has changed (or stayed the same) over time. Where did the U20 world team members attend college? That question has been answered below as the U20 world team members have been sorted according to college. A handful made the team while still in high school. Those wrestlers have been grouped under the college they eventually signed with. For wrestlers who have transferred, we have listed them with the school they attended (or would attend) when they made the team. In this exercise, we’ve gone all the way back to 2010 in order to get a good sample size of information. Air Force Wyatt Hendrickson (125 kg - DNP/2021) Arizona State Richard Figueroa (57 kg - DNP/2021) Tanner Hall (96 kg - DNP/2012), (96 kg - DNP/2011) Anthony Valencia (74 kg - DNP/2014) Zahid Valencia (84 kg - Silver/2017), (84 kg - DNP/2016), (84 kg - DNP/2015) Binghamton Louie DePrez (86 kg - DNP/2018) Boise State Jason Chamberlain (66 kg - DNP/2010) California Baptist Mitchell Mesenbrink (70 kg - Silver/2022) Cornell Vito Arujau (57 kg - Silver/2019) Vince Cornella (65 kg - DNP/2022) Gabe Dean (84 kg - Bronze/2014) Mark Grey (60 kg - DNP/2013), (55 kg - DNP/2011) Joshua Saunders (61 kg - DNP/2018) Meyer Shapiro (70 kg - Gold/2023) Illinois Conrad Polz (74 kg - DNP/2010) Indiana DJ Washington (79 kg - DNP/2021) Iowa Sam Brooks (84 kg - DNP/2013) Thomas Gilman (55 kg - Bronze/2014), (55 kg - DNP/2013) Spencer Lee (50 kg - Gold/2016), (50 kg - Gold/2015) Matt McDonough (60 kg - DNP/2010) Ben Kueter (125 kg - Silver/2024), (97 kg - Gold/2022) Jacob Warner (92 kg - DNP/2018) Iowa State David Carr (74 kg - Gold/2019) Ryak Finch (55 kg - DNP/2010) Earl Hall (60 kg - DNP/2012) Lehigh Jordan Wood (120 kg - DNP/2016) Maryland Jaxon Smith (92 kg - DNP/2022) Michigan Adam Coon (120 kg - Bronze/2015) Taylor Massa (74 kg - DNP/2011) Alec Pantaleo (66 kg - DNP/2016) Mason Parris (125 kg - Gold/2019) Minnesota Brayton Lee (70 kg - DNP/2019) Ethan Lizak (50 kg - DNP/2013) Mitchell McKee (60 kg - Silver/2017) Gable Steveson (125 kg - DNP/2018), (120 kg - Gold/2017) Missouri Rocky Elam (92 kg - Gold/2021) Zach Elam (97 kg - Silver/2018) Colton Hawks (86 kg - DNP/2021) Keegan O’Toole (74 kg - Gold/2021) Navy Dan Miller (120 kg - DNP/2011) NC State Trent Hidlay (86 kg - Bronze/2019) Matthew Singleton (79 kg - Bronze/2023) Nebraska Patrick Downey (84 kg - Silver/2012) Destin McCauley (66 kg - DNP/2012) Camden McDanel (97 kg - Bronze/2023) North Carolina Gabe Tagg (61 kg - Bronze/2019) North Dakota State Tyler Lehmann (96 kg - DNP/2010) Northwestern Lucas Davison (97 kg - Silver/2019) Ryan Deakin (66 kg - Silver/2017) Stevan Micic (55 kg - Bronze/2015) Lee Munster (84 kg - DNP/2011) Yahya Thomas (65 kg - DNP/2019) Jason Tsirtsis (66 kg - DNP/2013) Ohio Jeremy Johnson (120 kg - DNP/2010) Ohio State Nic Bouzakis (61 kg - Bronze/2023), (61 kg - DNP/2022) Nick Feldman (125 kg - DNP/2022) Malik Heinselman (50 kg - DNP/2017) Jesse Mendez (65 kg - Silver/2023), (61 kg - DNP/2021) Kollin Moore (96 kg - Bronze/2017), (96 kg - DNP/2016) Nick Roberts (50 kg - DNP/2011), (50 kg - DNP/2010) Kyle Snyder (96 kg - Bronze/2014), (96 kg - Gold/2013) Logan Stieber (60 kg - Silver/2011) Oklahoma Dom Demas (65 kg - DNP/2018) Oklahoma State Christian Carroll (125 kgs - DNP/2023) Alex Dieringer (74 kg - Silver/2013), (74 kg - DNP/2012) Daton Fix (57 kg - Bronze/2018), (55 kg - Gold/2017), (55 kg - Bronze/2016) Josh Kindig (66 kg - DNP/2011) Ladarion Lockett (74 kg - Silver/2024) Austin Marsden (120 kg - DNP/2013), (120 kg - DNP/2012) Chris Perry (84 kg - Bronze/2010) Brayden Thompson (79 kg - DNP/2022) Oregon State Justin Rademacher (97 kg - Bronze/2024) Otero JC Adrian Cordova (50 kg - DNP/2012) Penn State Josh Barr (86 kg - Silver/2024) Beau Bartlett (65 kg - Bronze/2021) Brady Berge (70 kg - Bronze/2018) Marcus Blaze (61 kg - Bronze/2024) Aaron Brooks (79 kg - DNP/2019), (79 kg - Silver/2018) Anthony Cassar (96 kg - DNP/2015) PJ Duke (70 kg - Bronze/2024) Alex Facundo (74 kg - DNP/2022) Mark Hall (74 kg - Gold/2017), (74 kg - Gold/2016), (74 kg - DNP/2015) Luke Lilledahl (57 kg - Gold/2024), (57 kg - Silver/2023) Mitchell Mesenbrink (74 kg - Gold/2023) Connor Mirasola (92 kg - DNP/2024) Zack Ryder (79 kg - Silver/2024) South Dakota State Bennett Berge (86 kg - Bronze/2023), (86 kg - Bronze/2022) Seth Gross (60 kg - DNP/2016) Tanner Sloan (97 kg - DNP/2018) Stanford Nathan Butler (120 kg - Bronze/2015) Jack Darrah (92 kg - DNP/2023) Joey McKenna (60 kg - Silver/2014) Virginia Jabari Moody (50 kg - DNP/2014) Virginia Tech Bryce Andonian (70 kg - Bronze/2021) Joey Dance (55 kg - DNP/2012) Mekhi Lewis (74 kg - Gold/2018) Wisconsin Braxton Amos (97 kg - Gold/2021) Wyoming Jore Volk (57 kg - Gold/2022)

With last week’s announcement of the heavyweight matchup between Wyatt Hendrickson and Mostafa Elders, it appeared that Real American Freestyle’s RAF 01 card was finalized. That changed today as there will be a replacement for Aeoden Sinclair in his bout against two-time Olympic medalist Kyle Dake. 2025 NCAA champion Dean Hamiti will step in to face Dake. About a month after winning his NCAA title, Hamiti was a runner-up at the US Open to Evan Wick. Earlier this month, Hamiti traveled to Poland and earned a bronze medal at the Ziolkowski Memorial. Additionally, over the summer, Hamiti was selected to participate in the PWL9 All-Star dual against a Russian team. Hamiti was one of four Americans to get their hand raised as he pinned Russian Nationals runner-up Mokhmad Nasirkhaev. Hamiti earned All-American honors for Wisconsin as a freshman and sophomore. During that sophomore season, Hamiti won a Big Ten title before finishing sixth for a second time. After missing out on the NCAA podium as a junior, Hamiti transferred to Oklahoma State for his final year of eligibility. In his only year in Stillwater, Hamiti amassed a 27-1 record and was a runner-up at the Big 12 Championships. At the NCAA Tournament, Hamiti took the tough road and downed NCAA champions Levi Haines (Penn State) and Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) to capture his national championship. Hamiti and Hendrickson’s national titles led Oklahoma State to a third-place finish in Philadelphia. With Hamiti in place of Sinclair, the RAF 01 card now looks like this: Matt Ramos vs. Nathan Tomasello (135 lbs) Real Woods vs. Darrion Caldwell (145 lbs) Austin Gomez vs. Lance Palmer (155 lbs) Wyatt Hendrickson vs. Mostafa Elders (285 lbs) Sarah Hildebrandt vs. Zeltzin Hernandez Guerra (120 lbs) Kennedy Blades vs. Alejandra Rivera Arriaga (150 lbs) Kyle Dake vs. Dean Hamiti (190 lbs) Evan Wick vs. Jason Nolf (175 lbs) Bo Nickal vs. Jacob Cardenas (205 lbs) Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Bajrang Punia (155 lbs)

We started the week off with a bang thanks to the Cornell athletic department and head coach Mike Grey. Cornell released their schedule for the 2025-26 campaign earlier today and it’s a good one. Lots of marquee events for a program that typically participates in them. Last week, we started our schedule breakdown with a look at the Little Rock slate for the 2025-26 season. Now, we’ll head northeast to the kings of the Ivy League, Cornell. We’ll start with the actual schedule itself. Rather than reposting it in order, we’ve broken it into three parts. The non-conference duals, conference duals, and special events. Non-Conference January 10th - Lehigh (away) January 10th - Bucknell (away) January 16th - Army West Point (home) January 31st - Arizona State (home) February 14th - Binghamton (home) February 20th - NC State (away) February 22nd - Duke (away) Conference January 25th - Brown (home) January 25th - Harvard (home) January 31st - Columbia (home) February 7th - Princeton (away) February 8th - Penn (away) March 8th - Ivy League Championships (no location given) Special Events November 2nd - Clarion Open (Clarion, Pennsylvania) November 15/16th - National Duals Invitational (Tulsa, Oklahoma) November 23rd - Big Red Invitational (Home) December 5/6th - Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Las Vegas, Nevada) December 21st - Journeymen Collegiate Duals: Illinois, Little Rock (Nashville, Tennessee) January 3/4th - Southern Scuffle: Chattanooga, Tennessee Number of top 20 teams from the 2025 NCAA Championships: (6) #8 NC State, #10 Illinois, #15 Lehigh, #16 Penn, #17 Little Rock, #18(t) Arizona State Cornell always puts together a challenging schedule and this year is no exception. It’s interesting that they will have no standalone, traditional dual meets until January 10th. Of course, one of their first events will be the National Duals Invitational and they’ll wrestle a handful of duals in Tulsa. About a month later, they’ll travel to Nashville for the Collegiate Duals. Another characteristic that stands out in this schedule is that they only have one dual meet against a Big Ten foe (Illinois at the Collegiate Duals). I’m not sure whether this was done intentionally by Cornell or perhaps the Big Ten schools were not necessarily keen on facing a non-conference opponent of Cornell’s caliber. Either way, Cornell should get their share of Big Ten competition at the National Duals Invitational or the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Plenty are slated to be at both events. I’m interested to see Cornell’s representation at the Southern Scuffle. In the early years of the event, they were a mainstay. When the tournament started to fade Cornell did not attend. With a front half of the schedule loaded with high-caliber national events, this might be an opportunity for their non-starters to compete. Or it could be a sign that the Scuffle is back! Looking at the non-conference dual schedule, there’s plenty to like here. Lehigh will likely start the year as a top-ten team. This dual is always fun and intense, but it could have an added element with Lehigh potentially coming in as the favorite. The Army West Point dual will pit former teammates against each other as Big Red alum Troy Nickerson will be in his first year leading the Army squad. Of late, NC State has been a regular on the Big Red school. They’ll go back down to Raleigh, in a hostile environment, to face a team that boasts a returning national champion and three other All-Americans. Turning our attention to the Ivy League, Cornell should come into the year as the favorites - a role they’ve grown accustomed to, however, Penn and Princeton could field dangerous squads. Cornell’s dual against both will come on the same weekend and on the road. Notable Potential Matches for Cornell stars Greg Diakomihalis (125) December 21st: Spencer Moore (Illinois) January 10th: Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) January 16th: Charlie Farmer (Army West Point) February 7th: Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton) February 8th: Max Gallagher (Penn) February 14th: Carson Wagner (Binghamton) February 20th: Vince Robinson (NC State) Meyer Shapiro (157) December 21st: Michael Gioffre/Kannon Webster (Illinois) December 21st: Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) January 10th: Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) January 31st: Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State) January 31st: Richard Fedalen (Columbia) February 8th: Jude Swisher (Penn) February 20th: Jackson Arrington (NC State) Simon Ruiz (174) December 21st: Chris Moore (Illinois) January 10th: Rylan Rogers (Lehigh) January 10th: Myles Takats (Bucknell) January 31st: Nick Fine (Columbia) February 20th: Matthew Singleton (NC State) You could pencil in about five more tough matches per wrestler once you take into account that Cornell is going to the National Duals Invitational and the CKLV; plus, whatever the Clarion Open, Big Red Invitational, and Southern Scuffle brings. Maybe that number could be six-eight more difficult matches. Hopefully, Shapiro will be able to wrestle in Vegas this year. His bracket was incredible in 2023 and could be excellent in 2025. Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), Daniel Cardenas (Stanford), Vince Zerban (Iowa State), Ty Watters (West Virginia), Arrington, and Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) are all top ten caliber opponents who might be in the field. Each of Cornell’s big guns will get tested during their dual with NC State. In addition to the wrestlers mentioned above, the Wolfpack also feature All-Americans Ryan Jack (141) and Isaac Trumble (285). This could be one of the better duals of the year nationally.

Loudoun County

We’re less than a week away from the 2025 U20 World Championships. Action will get underway from Sofia, Bulgaria on Sunday the 17th with four men’s freestyle weights. The U20 (Junior) tournament used to be thought of as a tournament that features tomorrow’s stars. While true, the young talent in 2025 is as good as it's ever been, so the future is now - opposed to maybe four or five years from now. The men’s and women’s freestyle team each feature one wrestler who is also on the Senior World Team. Just over a week ago, the U17 team came home from Greece with 17 total medals across all three styles. I could see this group surpassing that number. For the schedule and the full list of entrants: Click Here Before the action starts, here is a refresher on the American wrestlers who will be competing for the red,white, and blue. Along with each wrestler are a couple of key accomplishments relevant to the world championships. Men’s Freestyle 57 kg: Anthony Knox (NJ/Cornell) 4x New Jersey state champion, #4 overall recruit in 2025, 2024 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament finalist 61 kg: Marcus Blaze (OH/Penn State) 2023 U17 world champion, 2024 U20 world bronze medalist, 2025 Senior national team member 65 kg: Luke Stanich (NJ/Lehigh) 2024 NCAA 5th place, 2024 EIWA champion 70 kg: PJ Duke (NY/Penn State) 2025 Senior world team member, 2024 U20 world bronze medalist 74 kg: Ladarion Lockett (OK/Oklahoma State) 2023 U17 world champion, 2024 U20 world silver medalist, 2025 Senior Pan-American champion 79 kg: Will Henckel (CT/Penn State) 2025 Pan-American U20 champion 86 kg: Max McEnelly (MN/Minnesota) 2025 NCAA 3rd place, 2022 U17 world bronze medalist 92 kg: Connor Mirasola (WI/Penn State) 2025 Pan-American U23 champion, 2025 Pan-American U20 champion, 2024 U20 world 5th place 97 kg: Justin Rademacher (OR/Oregon State) 2024 U20 world bronze medalist, 2025 Senior Pan-American champion 125 kg: Cole Mirasola (WI/Penn State) 2025 Pan-American U20 champion Women’s Freestyle 50 kg: Audrey Jimenez (TX/Lehigh) 2x U20 world silver medalist, 2023 U23 world silver medalist, 2021 U17 world bronze medalist, 2025 Senior World Team member 53 kg: Abbi Cooper (CA/Lehigh) 2024 Super 32 runner-up, 2024 Fargo Junior 3rd place 55 kg: Everest Leydecker (AZ) 2025 Final X participant, 2024 Super 32 champion, 2023 U17 world team member 57 kg: Carissa Qureshi (CA) 2025 Pan-American U20 silver medalist, 2024 U20 world team member 59 kg: Aubre Krazer (PA/Lehigh) 2025 Grand Prix of Spain champion, 2024 U20 World Team Trials finalist 62 kg: Haylie Jaffe (PA/McKendree) 2023 U17 world bronze medalist, 2021 Pan-American U17 champion 65 kg: Daniella Nugent (MA/Oklahoma State) 2025 Grand Prix of Spain bronze medalist, 2025 National Prep champion 68 kg: Jordyn Fouse (PA/Grand Valley State) 2025 Grand Prix of Spain silver medalist, 2024 U20 World Team Trials finalist 72 kg: Jasmine Robinson (TX/Army WCAP) 2024 U20 world champion, 2023 U17 world bronze medalist 76 kg: Naomi Simon (IA/Iowa) 2025 NCWWC national 3rd place, 2023 Fargo Junior champion Greco-Roman 55 kg: Caleb Noble (IL) 2x Fargo 16U Greco champion, 2x UWW U17 Greco All-American 60 kg: Isaiah Cortez (CA/Cornell) 2024 U20 world silver medalist, 2021 Pan-American U17 Greco champion 63 kg: Landon Drury (CO/Northern Michigan) 2023 U20 world 5th place, 2023 Pan-American U20 champion 67 kg: Otto Black (CO/Northern Michigan) 2024 U20 world silver medalist, 2021 U17 world 5th place 72 kg: Joel Adams (NE/Oregon State) 2x U20 world team member, 2022 U17 world champion, 2021 Pan-American U17 champion 77 kg: Leister Bowling (CO/Iowa) 2025 Pan-American U20 champion 82 kg: Arvin Khosravy (CA/Army West Point) 2024 U20 world team member, 2x U17 world team member, 2023 Pan-American U20 champion 87 kg: Nick Nosler (IL/SIU Edwardsville) 2025 Pan-American U20 champion, 2024 U20 World Team Trials finalist 97 kg: Soren Herzog (MN/Air Force) 2024 U20 world team member 130 kg: Shilo Jones (ID/North Dakota State) 2025 Pan-American U20 champion

Valiant Prep

Perry Hall

This morning, Sonny Amato (Rumson-Fair Haven, NJ) the #3 overall junior in the nation, released a revised graphic showing his current top seven school choices. Once the recruiting period for the Class of 2027 opened up, Amato made public a list that included his top 12 schools. Making the top seven are Arizona State, Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Rutgers, and Virginia Tech. The five schools that dropped off Amato’s list are: Cornell, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Penn, and Pittsburgh. Amato won a New Jersey state championship as a freshman at 144 lbs. Last year, Amato was third in the state at 144 lbs. Outside of New Jersey, Amato has placed twice at the Beast of the East - fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore. He also has won NHSCA Freshman Nationals. Looking for clues with his ex-high school teammates - Shay Addison, also of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional is on the Arizona State roster. In MatScouts post-Fargo rankings, Amato came in at #4 in the country at 157 lbs.

Two weeks ago, we had a flurry of action on the coaching carousel front. This week, not so much. We already discussed Penn’s newest hire, Lennox Wolak. One move we haven’t mentioned yet is Bellarmine bringing in All-American Brayton Lee. Lee was a 2021 NCAA sixth-place finisher for Minnesota. As a freshman in 2019-20, Lee won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and was fourth at the Big Ten Championships. He was set to compete at nationals as the seventh seed; however, the tournament was cancelled. After the season, Lee was named a first-team All-American by the NWCA. The 2021-22 season ended prematurely for Lee due to an injury. His 2022-23 campaign never really got going and he struggled to a 4-9 record. Lee finished his career back in his home state of Indiana, wrestling for the Hoosiers. At Indiana, Lee finished fifth in the Big Ten and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for a third time. Lee joins a Bellarmine program that had their first SoCon champion and DI national qualifier(s) in 2025. Having an assistant coach of Lee’s caliber will surely raise the level of talent in the room and get more exposure on the recruiting trail. While you might look at this article for the new coaching hires, we also have DI positions that we’ve been notified as being open. There were a couple of new additions to that portion of the article in this update. Central Michigan has a vacancy as Colin Heffernan has left the staff. CMU has traditionally kept hires in the Chippewa family, so we’ll see if any of their recent grads get a call. We also received word that Eddie Klimara went back home to Illinois. That leaves a vacancy on VMI’s staff. California Baptist is also seeking an assistant. As does Mercyhurst, which recently made the move from DII to DI. The other vacancies were posted in previous editions of this feature. Coaching Changes Army West Point: Troy Nickerson (Head Coach) Bellarmine: Brayton Lee (Assistant Coach) Binghamton: Brevin Cassella (Assistant Coach) Brown: Tyler Grayson (Assistant Coach) Campbell: TJ Dudley (Head Coach) Illinois: Eric Schultz (Assistant Coach) Kent State: Fred Garcia (Assistant Coach) Kent State: Josh Moore (Head Coach) Kent State: Devin Schroder (Assistant Coach) Lock Haven: Gavin Hoffman (Assistant Coach) Lock Haven: Brock Mauller (Assistant Coach) Long Island: Jay Nivison (Assistant Coach) Mercyhurst: Jimmy Overhiser (Head Coach) Missouri: Keegan O’Toole (Assistant Coach) NC State: Malik McDonald (Assistant Coach) North Dakota State: Willie Miklus (Assistant Coach) Northern Colorado: Teyon Ware (Head Coach) Oklahoma State: Kevin Ward (Assistant Coach) Penn: Matt Valenti (Head Coach) Penn: Lennox Wolak (Assistant Coach) Princeton: Ryan Wolfe (Assistant Coach) Purdue: Matt Ramos (Assistant Coach) RTC/Club Lee Roper (Cowboy RTC) Open Appalachian State: Assistant Coach Binghamton: Assistant Coach Binghamton: Head Coach California Baptist: Assistant Coach Campbell: Assistant Coach (x2) Central Michigan: Assistant Coach Drexel: Assistant Coach George Mason: Assistant Coach Lehigh: Assistant Coach Little Rock: Assistant Coach Maryland: Assistant Coach Mercyhurst: Assistant Coach Michigan State: Assistant Coach Northern Colorado: Assistant Coach Northern Iowa: Assistant Coach Oklahoma: Assistant Coach Oregon State: Assistant Coach VMI: Assistant Coach

Entries for the 2025 U20 World Championships have been released by UWW. The U20 World Championships will take place from August 17th-August 24th. The schedule for the tournament is as follows. (The weights listed indicates when their tournament will start. Finals and medal round matches take place the following day). Sunday, August 17th: Men's freestyle 70, 74, 97, 125 kgs Monday, August 18th: Men's freestyle 57, 65, 79, 92 kgs Tuesday, August 19th: Men's freestyle 61, 86 kg, Women's freestyle 57, 59, 68 kg Wednesday, August 20th: Women's freestyle 55, 62, 65, 76 kg Thursday, August 21st: Women's freestyle 50, 53, 72 kg, Greco-Roman 60, 82 kg Friday, August 22nd: Greco-Roman 55, 67, 72, 97 kg Saturday, August 23rd: Greco-Roman 63, 77, 87, 130 kg Freestyle 57kg Arman HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE) Caio DUARTE ARON (BRA) Esad BOZALI (BUL) Jiayu HUANG (CHN) Nika ZANGALADZE (GEO) Karoly BARATH (HUN) Sumit MALIK (IND) Arshia HADDADI (IRI) Riccardo BONANNO (ITA) Irie JACKSON (JAM) Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN) Nurdanat AITANOV (KAZ) Baiaman KERIMBEKOV (KGZ) Inseong BAK (KOR) Ben TARIK (MAR) Ion BULGARU (MDA) Hayden ANCHETA (PHI) Ethan RIVERA (PUR) Nurettin KAPAL (TUR) Mykola BRATOV (UKR) Anthony KNOX (USA) Herbert AKAPIAN (UWW) Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) 61kg Sargis BEGOYAN (ARM) Bashir VERDIYEV (AZE) Erdal GALIP (BUL) Karson BROWN (CAN) Wanxing LYU (CHN) Danoush JOWKAR (GBR) Saba GAMBASHIDZE (GEO) Ajay KAPADE (IND) Ahora KHATERI (IRI) Pasquale LIUZZI (ITA) Takuto OSEDO (JPN) Allan ORALBEK (KAZ) Askat TOKTOMATOV (KGZ) Vasili LAZAREV (MDA) Davaadorj ARIUNBOLD (MGL) Stefan STOJKOV (MKD) Ivan OKSIUK (POL) Omar AYOUB (PUR) Sandro HUNGERBUEHLER (SUI) Robert MESZAROS (SVK) Haci ZADE (TUR) Andrii SHOKALIUK (UKR) Marcus BLAZE (USA) Adlan SAITIEV (UWW) Magomedkhan MAGAMEDKHANOV (UWW) Abdulloh KHABIBULLAEV (UZB) 65kg Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM) Haji KARIMOV (AZE) Denis NAIM (BUL) Khalin RADEV (CAN) Yufei DING (CHN) Janar LIPS (EST) Lazare GUJARAIDZE (GEO) Aik KAZARIAN (GRE) Mozes LASZLO (HUN) ASHWANI (IND) Aliasghar TATHASHTIKEH (IRI) Alessandro NINI (ITA) Reiji UCHIDA (JPN) Yeraly ZHENISSOV (KAZ) Omurbek ASAN UULU (KGZ) Gabriel OJOG (MDA) Janchivdorj TUVDUU (MGL) Kaige BROWN (NZL) Benjamin BOEJTHE (ROU) Samilj DADAJEV (SRB) Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) Viktor BOROHAN (UKR) Luke STANICH (USA) Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW) Sanjarbek RUSTAMBEKOV (UZB) 70kg Artavazd HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) Ismayil RAHIMLI (AZE) Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL) Kade BROWN (CAN) Jinrui LIU (CHN) Tristan FORSMAN MENDEZ (CRC) Denis KODAKOV GIL (ESP) Abdoullah NAKAEV (FRA) Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO) SAGAR (IND) Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI) Daniele GUBBIOTTI (ITA) Kairi ITO (JPN) Sungkar SEIDAKHMET (KAZ) Zalkarbek TABALDIEV (KGZ) Oleg KNISEVSKIJ (LTU) Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) Gabriel SANCHEZ (MEX) Dominik JAGUSZ (POL) Eduard LENARD (ROU) Umut USLU (TUR) Prokip KRALIA (UKR) PJ DUKE (USA) Islam KAZHAROV (UWW) 74kg Omar GULMAMMADOV (AZE) Stiliyan DZHOROV (BUL) Nicholas HOOPER (CAN) Jinpeng ZHU (CHN) Omar MOURAD (EGY) Nikolai TARASSOV (EST) Saba KOBAKHIDZE (GEO) Manuel WAGIN (GER) Parvinder SINGH (IND) Mahdi MAMIVAND (IRI) Raul CASO (ITA) Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN) Dosszhan KUL GAIYP (KAZ) Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ) Titas PIJORAITIS (LTU) Catalin SPINU (MDA) Andrew BARBOSA (MEX) Tolui MUNKHBAT (MGL) Vatan ANNAORAZOV (TKM) Aslan OZTURK (TUR) Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR) Ladarion LOCKETT (USA) Aliaksandr VIARBITSKI (UWW) Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) Umarkhon MUYDINOV (UZB) 79kg Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM) Muradkhan OMAROV (AZE) Leandro ARAUJO (BRA) Ivan ANDONOV (BUL) Loki BIGRAS (CAN) Guanpeng XIAO (CHN) David KODAKOV GIL (ESP) Tristan ALEKSANDROV (EST) Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) Marat KARDANOV (GER) Avraam MOUSTOPOULOS (GRE) AMIT (IND) Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) Daniel SIMONIAN (ISR) Keyvan GHAREHDAGHI (JPN) Yerkhan ABIL (KAZ) Maksat TABYLDYEV (KGZ) Ion MARCU (MDA) Gan BAATARKHUU (MGL) Antoni MAJCHRZAK (POL) David TARTAN (ROU) Alp Arslan BEGENJOV (TKM) Suleyman SANLI (TUR) Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR) William HENCKEL (USA) Muslim MAKHMUDAU (UWW) Said SAIDULOV (UWW) 86kg Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM) Mahammad ABASZADA (AZE) Grigor CHERNAKOV (BUL) Rohit BAL (CAN) Chunchen LIU (CHN) Ali UMKHADJIEV (FRA) Dachi PAPINASHVILI (GEO) Panagiotis POLYCHRONIDIS (GRE) Mukul DAHIYA (IND) Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI) Tomer DROZHNIAK (ISR) Ryogo ASANO (JPN) Kassymzhomart ALIN (KAZ) Elnur AKYBAEV (KGZ) Alexandru BORS (MDA) Bartlomiej NOWAKOWSKI (POL) Nick SCHERRER (SUI) Dovletgeldi MYRADOV (TKM) Ahmet YAGAN (TUR) Pavlo VASKOVSKYI (UKR) Maxwell MCENELLY (USA) Ali SHAMIROV (UWW) 92kg Narek IKILIKYAN (ARM) Anar JAFARLI (AZE) Nikola STEFANOV (BUL) Michealjeet Singh GREWAL (CAN) Hairui YUE (CHN) Teimuraz KOCHKIANI (GEO) Grigorios SARIDIS (GRE) Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN) SACHIN (IND) Toohid NOORY (IRI) Sorato KANAZAWA (JPN) Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ) Serghei VIZII (MDA) Omer MEMEDI (MKD) Orazmuhammet HOJALYYEV (TKM) Hamza KUCUK (TUR) Yehor HOROKH (UKR) Connor MIRASOLA (USA) Aliaksei KULAKOU (UWW) Gadzhimurad GADZHIBATYROV (UWW) Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) 97kg Ravan MUSAYEV (AZE) Andriyan VALKANOV (BUL) Tejvir Singh DHINSA (CAN) Jiawei LI (CHN) Aabdelrahman SHEYATAN (EGY) Ashab DADAEV (FRA) Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO) Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE) Peter ZSIVNOVSZKI (HUN) VISHAL (IND) Erfan ALIZADEH (IRI) Noah LEIBOWITZ (JPN) Samir DURSUNOV (KAZ) Aitenir MAKSATOV (KGZ) Otgonbayar LUVSANDORJ (MGL) Ibrahim BENEKLI (TUR) Kostiantyn ZADOIANCHUK (UKR) Justin RADEMACHER (USA) Aliaksei KHADUNOU (UWW) Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) 125kg Henrik HAYKYAN (ARM) Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE) Dian MANEV (BUL) Chanjot KANG (CAN) Ruijie LI (CHN) Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA) Aleksandre ABRAMISHVILI (GEO) Jaspoorn SINGH (IND) Abolfazl NEZHAD (IRI) Hosei FUJITA (JPN) Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) Zhargalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ) Baejoon JANG (KOR) Narantulga DARMAABAZAR (MGL) Sertac AKSOY (TUR) Ivan MYROSHNYCHENKO (UKR) Cole MIRASOLA (USA) Inal GAGLOEV (UWW) Women's Wrestling 50kg Kamryn MASON (CAN) Shenyu LIU (CHN) Juliette LESCURE (FRA) Josephine WRENSCH (GER) Laura FATH (HUN) SHRUTI (IND) Rinka OGAWA (JPN) Meiramgul AKHMETZHAN (KAZ) Dilnaz ABDYKADYROVA (KGZ) Lonisa REKA (KOS) Adriana DANISEVICIUTE (LTU) Olivia VAN KLEUNEN (NED) Anna YATSKEVYCH (POL) Reka HEGEDUS (SVK) Songul KAVAK (TUR) Diana RYSOVA (UKR) Audrey JIMENEZ (USA) Sviatlana KATENKA (UWW) Violetta BIRIUKOVA (UWW) Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB) 53kg Nikol ALEKSANDROVA (BUL) Brooklyn GLASGOW (CAN) Xiaole HAN (CHN) Lisette BOETTKER (EST) Liliana KAPUVARI (HUN) SAARIKA (IND) Angela CRAPIO CASAROLA (ITA) Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) Dorentina NEZAJ (KOS) Ilona VALCHUK (POL) Ana ROTARU (ROU) Ya Hsin CHEN (TPE) Sevval CAYIR (TUR) Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) Abigale COOPER (USA) Ekaterina CHIKANOVA (UWW) Kseniya KOSTSENICH (UWW) 55kg Nesrin SYULEYMANOVA (BUL) Madisyn GROF (CAN) Huiyi WEI (CHN) Pau GIMENO FRANCO (ESP) Lilya COHEN (FRA) Evdoxia PAPADOPOULOU (GRE) Gerda TEREK (HUN) REENA (IND) Fabiana RINELLA (ITA) So TSUTSUI (JPN) Aliana MAKHAMBETOVA (KAZ) Khaliun BYAMBASUREN (MGL) Amelia TOMALA (POL) Alexandra VOICULESCU (ROU) Tuba DEMIR (TUR) Diana KOTVYTSKA (UKR) Everest LEYDECKER (USA) Kira SOLOBCHUK (UWW) 57kg Agnia KRAKOVSKA (CAN) Xinyu WANG (CHN) Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA) Anna KOEBLO (HUN) TAPSYA (IND) Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) Anna STRATAN (KAZ) Eunso CHO (KOR) Inna ALIMOVA (LTU) Csilla VAN OS (NED) Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR) Tindra DALMYR (SWE) Busra CENGIZ (TUR) Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR) Carissa QURESHI (USA) Darya ILYASEVICH (UWW) Dolzhon TSYNGUEVA (UWW) Sandugash DJENBAEVA (UZB) 59kg Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE) Viktoria BOYNOVA (BUL) Ella FINDING (CAN) YANGJIBAZONG (CHN) Rahma BEDIWY (EGY) Rosa MOLINA (ESP) Eda BALAZS (HUN) NEHA (IND) Sakura ONISHI (JPN) Anel SHOKAYEVA (KAZ) Anna TIELIEGINA (LTU) Madalina PRISACARI (MDA) Erdenebolor LKHAGVASUREN (MGL) Karin SAMUELSSON (SWE) Kai Yi LI (TPE) Sevim AKBAS (TUR) Mariia MIZIURKO (UKR) Aubre KRAZER (USA) Elena KUROVA (UWW) Marta HETMANAVA (UWW) 62kg Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE) Ivena BLIZNAKOVA (BUL) Annika FINES (CAN) Zhengwei MA (CHN) Nella HONKANIEMI (FIN) Naemi LEISTNER (GER) Mairi MANI (GRE) ANJLI (IND) Shirin TAKEMOTO (JPN) Aidana SHORAYEVA (KAZ) Gabriela RUDOI (MDA) Neevis RODRIGUEZ (MEX) Tzu Ling WU (TPE) Busra EFE (TUR) Anna KARBOVSKA (UKR) Haylie JAFFEE (USA) Ekaterina RADYSHEVA (UWW) Karyna FISHCHUK (UWW) Nigina SABIROVA (UZB) 65kg Sara AHMEDOVA (BUL) Mackenzie CAYER (CAN) Sangquzhen GE (CHN) Mouda HAMDOUN (EGY) Leonie STEIGERT (GER) Nikoleta BARMPA (GRE) Viktoria PUPP (HUN) Mansi BHADANA (IND) Momoko KITADE (JPN) Kyzzhibek ZHARKYNBAYEVA (KAZ) Asema ANARKULOVA (KGZ) Narkhajid NYAMSUREN (MGL) Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB) Viktoria FOELDESIOVA (SVK) Saga SVENSSON (SWE) Kang Yu CHIANG (TPE) Beyza AKKUS (TUR) Iryna BORYSIUK (UKR) Daniella NUGENT (USA) Aliautsina SHKURATAVA (UWW) Margarita SALNAZARIAN (UWW) Mukhayyo NARZILLOEVA (UZB) 68kg Joseth MAVUNGU (ANG) Eduarda RODRIGUES BATISTA (BRA) Ilinka STEFANOVA (BUL) Lene MCCRACKIN (CAN) Wenjin QIU (CHN) Laura KOEHLER (GER) Maja MUNK (HUN) SRISHTI (IND) Ray HOSHINO (JPN) Sabina TOREY (KAZ) Gulnura TASHTANBEKOVA (KGZ) Yeonwoo SONG (KOR) Lorena DURAJ (KOS) Odzaya ERDENEBAT (MGL) Dominika POCHOWSKA (POL) Maria PANTIRU (ROU) Masa PEROVIC (SRB) Michaela SEBOEKOVA (SVK) Sheng Fang CAI (TPE) Ayse ERKAN (TUR) Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR) Jordyn FOUSE (USA) Liliana KAZMINA (UWW) 72kg Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE) Emili APOSTOLOVA (BUL) Yawen WEI (CHN) Petra MUELLER (HUN) KAJAL (IND) Ai SAKAI (JPN) Meiramgul MAKSOT (KAZ) Kaiyrkul SHARSHEBAEVA (KGZ) Auguste GENDVILAITE (LTU) Karolina JAWORSKA (POL) Elvira ERSSON (SWE) Haticenur SARI (TUR) Daria KONSTANTYNOVA (UKR) Jasmine ROBINSON (USA) Viktoryia ALISEYENKA (UWW) Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW) 76kg Rupinder JOHAL (CAN) Saihan AO (CHN) Veronika VILK (CRO) Veronika NYIKOS (HUN) PRIYA (IND) Ayano MORO (JPN) Alina YERTOSTIK (KAZ) Aizharkyn ZHANYBEKOVA (KGZ) Tuvshinjargal TARAV (MGL) Evelin UJHELJI (SRB) Elmira YASIN (TUR) Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (UKR) Naomi SIMON (USA) Diana TITOVA (UWW) Sevinchoy POLVONOVA (UZB) Greco-Roman 55kg Armen GEVORGYAN (ARM) Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE) Kaloyan IVANOV (BUL) Huoying SHI (CHN) Filip BARTOSIK (CZE) Koba KARUMIDZE (GEO) Anil MOR (IND) Payam AHMADI (IRI) Daisuke MORISHITA (JPN) Arsen ZHUMA (KAZ) Omur YNTYMAK UULU (KGZ) Abdallah DAHMANI (MAR) Maxim SARMANOV (MDA) Raducu BEDRIAGA (ROU) Nuryagdy DOVRANOV (TKM) Mehmet SARP (TUR) Nazarii BABINSKYI (UKR) Caleb NOBLE (USA) Ivan SOLOMIN (UWW) Rasim IBRAHIMAU (UWW) Jonpulat TULKINBOEV (UZB) 60kg Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM) Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE) Pedro DE SOUZA (BRA) Kristin PETROV (BUL) Augusto VARGAS (CHI) Yunlong HU (CHN) Noa LJUBIC (CRO) Ahmed SHABAN (EGY) Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA) Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO) SURAJ (IND) Mohammadamin ABDEVALI (IRI) Takuma NAKASHIMA (JPN) Salamat MURATULY (KAZ) Kubanych ARINOV (KGZ) Maxim CARAUS (MDA) Kacper SOBCZYK (POL) Dragos DRAGA (ROU) Adam SILVERIN (SWE) Husniddin ULUGBEKOV (TKM) Omer ALTAS (TUR) Maksut SULTANOV (UKR) Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) Danila CHARAPENKA (UWW) Papik DZHAVADIAN (UWW) Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB) 63kg Aleks MARGARYAN (ARM) Tural AHMADOV (AZE) Kristiyan MILENKOV (BUL) Dahua XIONG (CHN) Clisman CARRACEDO (ECU) Al Bara CHOPALAEV (EST) Tsotne BUKIA (GEO) Lukas BENZING (GER) Bende OLASZ (HUN) GAURAV (IND) Javad ABOUTALEBI (IRI) Manato NAKAMURA (JPN) Damir IBRASHOV (KAZ) Emirlan DUISHENALIEV (KGZ) Dumitru RAPESCO (MDA) Ilias LAAOUINA (NED) Ionut MEREUTA (ROU) Dejan BERKEC (SRB) William EKEROT (SWE) Murat RIKOGLU (TUR) Vadym MATROS (UKR) Landon DRURY (USA) Igor PUNCHENKO (UWW) Yauheni SHVED (UWW) Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) 67kg Narek GRIGORIAN (ARM) Isa BEKTEMIROV (AUT) Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE) Lucas MARCIEL DA SILVA (BRA) Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL) Zhengye HAN (CHN) Martin CICHY (CZE) Mohamed ABDELREHIM (EGY) Ilian DOUBACH (FRA) Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO) Kevin KARL (GER) Attila JOZSA (HUN) ANUJ (IND) Gholamreza ABDOVALI (IRI) Takaku SUZUKI (JPN) Alibek TURLYGAZY (KAZ) Zhantoro MIRZALIEV (KGZ) Mingun JEONG (KOR) Octavian CERNETCHI (MDA) Jakub SUCHECKI (POL) Pavel ALEXE (ROU) Dejan BERKEC (SRB) Saya BRUNNER (SUI) Abdullah KESKIN (TUR) Vladyslav POKOTYLO (UKR) Otto BLACK (USA) Erzu ZAKRIEV (UWW) Ihar ZVARYKIN (UWW) Fayozbek ESHMIRZAEV (UZB) 72kg Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM) Seymur GASIMOV (AZE) Sergey STOEV (BUL) Rihao YAN (CHN) Jure RAJKOVIC (CRO) Shaaban IBRAHIM (EGY) Oliver PADA (FIN) Aleksandre RUSITASHVILI (GEO) Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE) Bendeguz FELKAI (HUN) VINIT (IND) Ahmadreza MOHAMADIAN (IRI) Timur NADORGIN (ISR) Daichi TSUTSUMI (JPN) Yussuf ASHRAPOV (KAZ) Kutman TEMIRBEKOV (KGZ) Vladimir PASCARI (MDA) Jorge GOMEZ (MEX) Hubert SIDORUK (POL) Ruben STRAAKEVED (SWE) Ibrahim OZDEMIR (TUR) Anatolii PASNAK (UKR) Joel ADAMS (USA) Rabil ASKEROV (UWW) Ahmad KODIROV (UZB) 77kg Samvel TERTERYAN (ARM) Davud MAMMADOV (AZE) Spartak VALENTINOV (BUL) Wentao RAO (CHN) Miro LEINONEN (FIN) Anri PUTKARADZE (GEO) Dominik BOTOS (HUN) AMAN (IND) Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI) Ruslan NESTERENKO (ISR) Naoki KADODE (JPN) Akzhan YKYLASSOV (KAZ) Raatbek PAIAZBEKOV (KGZ) Constantin TASCA (MDA) Zalan PEK (SRB) Yusuf TOSUN (TUR) Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR) Leister BOWLING (USA) Kiryl VALEUSKI (UWW) Zaur BESLEKOEV (UWW) Amirshoh VAHOBOV (UZB) 82kg Martik PETROSYAN (ARM) Elmin ALIYEV (AZE) Martin SHISHEKOV (BUL) Zheying SONG (CHN) Mihael LUKAC (CRO) Santeri KARPPINEN (FIN) Anri DAVITADZE (GEO) Dominic ARNOLD (GER) Emmanouil NIKOLAIDIS (GRE) Szabolcs SZINAY (HUN) PRINCE (IND) Hamed AZARSHAB (IRI) Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ) Yrisbek KALYEV (KGZ) Oskar LUBERA (POL) Antal VAMOS (SRB) Omer ILDES (TUR) Kyrylo SHNYROV (UKR) Arvin KHOSRAVY (USA) Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW) Azimjon SOATULLAEV (UZB) 87kg Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM) Paul MAIER (AUT) Orkhan HAJIYEV (AZE) Petyo ANGELOV (BUL) Xinyu LIU (CHN) Antonio LUKAC (CRO) Josef CERNY (CZE) Elias LYYSKI (FIN) Luka KOCHALIDZE (GEO) ROHIT (IND) Hamidreza KESHTKAR (IRI) Itzhak NEMSADZE (ISR) Isshin ONITSUKA (JPN) Temirlan TURDAKYN (KAZ) Adilet KENZHEBEKOV (KGZ) Martin LJOSAAK (NOR) Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL) Gabriel STAN (ROU) Branko DUKIC (SRB) Alperen BERBER (TUR) Pavlo TORIANYK (UKR) Nicholas NOSLER (USA) Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (UWW) 97kg Grisha VOSKANYAN (ARM) Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE) Affan SMAJIC (BIH) Yikai KAN (CHN) Andrej RODIN (CRO) Gor AYVAZYAN (GEO) Darius KIEFER (GER) Dimitrios PAPPAS (GRE) Vendel VITAI (HUN) NAMAN (IND) Hadi SEYDI AVENDI (IRI) Ryosei KATAMATSU (JPN) Nurassyl AMANALY (KAZ) Salakhidin AKNAZAROV (KGZ) Jaeno CHOI (KOR) Sebastian WARCHOL (POL) Emir BOZBAG (TUR) Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR) Soren HERZOG (USA) Ilia KOMAROV (UWW) Pavel SAVITSKI (UWW) Amirkhon BERDIKULOV (UZB) 130kg Davit BAGHRAMYAN (ARM) Leonhard JUNGER (AUT) Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE) Yeersheng YEERGEN (CHN) Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO) Dionysios ZOUGRIS (GRE) Koppany LASZLO (HUN) Uttam RANA (IND) Abolfazl FATHITAZANGI (IRI) Kosei MIYAKE (JPN) Kuanysh AMANGELDI (KAZ) Talasbek BOOBEKOV (KGZ) Seunggyu MIN (KOR) Mateusz BIENCZAK (POL) Cemal BAKIR (TUR) Ivan YANKOVSKYI (UKR) Shilo JONES (USA) Ali ILIASOV (UWW) Viachaslau FEDARYNA (UWW)

Jefferson

Christian Brothers

Germantown Academy

South Range

Poway via North Central

Jefferson

Dr. Phillips via Missouri Baptist

Our All-Quarter Century feature moves on to one of the premier programs throughout the history of our sport - Iowa State. The Cyclones have had their ups and downs during this quarter century, still they have managed to capture a handful of NCAA team trophies and have finished second at nationals twice. Oh, by the way, Iowa State had one of the greatest collegiate athletes ever finish his career during the last 25 years. At the time, Cael Sanderson was only the second wrestler to win four DI national championships. He remains the only one to go undefeated. Looking at our first, second, and third teams, there actually weren’t that many crazy decisions compared to other schools. Seeing Joe Heskett on the second team is a bit shocking. He was one of the biggest stars of his era; however, you also have David Carr. A good problem to have for Cyclones fans. One oddity for Iowa State is the lack of superstars at 125 and 149 lbs during this time. We used a couple of wrestlers who were also eligible for consideration at 133 for the second and third team at 125. The first team member at 25 only wrestled one year for ISU. Wrestlers considered for the three teams had to compete from 2001 to 2025. For the wrestlers early in this timeframe, their entire collegiate body of work was considered. Only collegiate results were taken into consideration. Even if a wrestler was successful at multiple weights, they were only selected for one weight - typically, it was based on the strongest possible first team. After the three All-Century teams, there are some fun facts about Iowa State’s results over the past 25 years. Here are the programs we’ve already covered Cornell Illinois Lehigh Minnesota Missouri NC State First team 125 lbs - Andrew Long: Creston, Iowa - 2x AA (3,2), 2010 NCAA runner-up, 2010 Big 12 runner-up, 2011 Big Ten champion 133 lbs - Zach Roberson: Overland Park, Kansas - 3x AA (1,4,7), 2004 NCAA champion, 2004 Big 12 runner-up 141 lbs - Nate Gallick: Tucson, Arizona - 3x AA (1,2,5), 2006 NCAA champion, 3x Big 12 champion, 2x NCAA #1 seed 149 lbs - Bill Maldonado: Hammond, Indiana - 1x AA (6), 2022 Big 12 runner-up 157 lbs - Trent Paulson: Council Bluffs, Iowa - 3x AA (1,4,4), 2007 NCAA champion, 2x Big 12 champion, 2x NCAA #1 seed 165 lbs - David Carr: Canton, Ohio - 4x AA (1,2,3,1), 2x NCAA champion, 4x Big 12 champion, NWCA 1st Team All-American 174 lbs - Jon Reader: Davison, Michigan - 3x AA (1,4,7), 2011 NCAA champion, 2011 Big 12 champion, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 184 lbs - Cael Sanderson: Heber City, Utah - 4x AA (1,1,1,1), 4x undefeated NCAA champion, 4x Big 12 champion 197 lbs - Jake Varner: Bakersfield, California - 4x AA (1,1,2,2), 2x NCAA champion, 2x Big 12 champion 285 lbs - David Zabriskie: Long Branch, New Jersey - 3x AA (1,5,6), 2010 NCAA champion, 3x Big 12 champion, 2x NCAA #1 seed Second team 125 lbs - Earl Hall: Homestead, Florida: 2x AA (7,8), 2x Big 12 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 133 lbs - Nick Fanthorpe: Naperville, Illinois - 1x All-American (7), 2x Big 12 champion, 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 141 lbs - Aaron Holker: Orem, Utah: 2x AA (7,1), 2002 NCAA champion, 2002 Big 12 champion 149 lbs - Jarrett Degen: Belgrade, Montana: 1x AA (7), NWCA 1st Team All-American, Big 12 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 157 lbs - Cyler Sanderson: Heber City, Utah: 2x AA (6,7), 2x conference champion (1x Big 12, 1x Big Ten), 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 165 lbs - Joe Heskett: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio: 4x AA (1,2,2,3), 2002 NCAA champion, 3x Big 12 champion, 3x NCAA #1 seed 174 lbs - Lelund Weatherspoon: Jackson, Michigan: 1x AA (6), 2x Big 12 champion, 4x NCAA qualifier 184 lbs - Kurt Backes: Neshanic Station, New Jersey: 2x AA (2,7), 2x Big 12 champion, 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 197 lbs - Kyven Gadson: Waterloo, Iowa: 3x AA (1,4,6), 2015 NCAA champion, 3x Big 12 champion 285 lbs - Scott Coleman: Manhattan, Kansas: 2x AA (7,8), 2005 Big 12 runner-up Third team 125 lbs - Matt Azevedo: Las Vegas, Nevada: 3x NCAA qualifier, 2001 Big 12 3rd place, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 133 lbs - Evan Frost*: Metairie, Louisiana: 1x AA (6), 2024 Big 12 runner-up 141 lbs - Nick Gallick: Tucson, Arizona: 2x AA (3,5), 2x Big 12 champion 149 lbs - Mitch Mueller: Iowa City, Iowa: 4x NCAA qualifier, 3x Big 12 runner-up, 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 157 lbs - Cole Sanderson: Heber City, Utah: 4x NCAA qualifier, 2001 Big 12 runner-up, 2x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 165 lbs - Travis Paulson: Council Bluffs, Iowa: 3x AA (5,6,6), 2007 Big 12 runner-up, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 174 lbs - Tanner Weatherman: Huxley, Iowa: 4x NCAA qualifier, 3x Big 12 runner-up, 3x NCAA Round of 12 finisher 184 lbs - Marcus Coleman: Ames, Iowa: 2x AA (5,7), 2023 Big 12 runner-up 197 lbs - Zach Thompson: Cleveland, Ohio: 2x AA (2,8), 1999 Big 12 champion, NCAA Round of 12 finisher 285 lbs - Yonger Bastida*: Trinidad, Cuba: 1x AA (5), 2024 Big 12 champion, NCAA Round of 12 finisher, NCAA #2 seed *= Still active Fun Facts 11 wrestlers have combined to win 14 NCAA titles during this span That doesn’t include the first two of Cael Sanderson’s historic undefeated career Sanderson won two of his three Hodge Trophy’s during this quarter century. He is the only Cyclone to win the Hodge and the only wrestler to have won it three times Sanderson and his protege, Jake Varner, were both Olympic gold medalists from Iowa State this quarter century Iowa State has put 21 wrestlers in the NCAA finals since 2001 Iowa State has 68 wrestlers who have earned a spot on the NCAA podium since 2001 They also had three first-team All-Americans and two second-team team from the canceled tournament in 2020 Iowa State has finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships 20 times over the last 25 years Iowa State has earned five NCAA team trophies this quarter century. The finished second in the nation in 2002 and 2007 The Cyclones highest NCAA point total during this run was in 2002 when they had 104. It was on the strength of three national champions and five total All-Americans The 2002 team is the only one during this period that featured three NCAA champions Iowa State’s highest All-American output came in 2008 when they had seven. Only one was higher than fifth place, resulting in a tie for fifth place as a team In 2024, David Carr became the third ISU wrestler in this quarter century to win multiple national titles (Varner, Sanderson) 8 Iowa State wrestlers have combined to earn the #1 seed at nationals on 13 occasions this quarter century Two #5 seeds have won NCAA titles for the Cyclones since 2001 (Holker, Roberson) 2 Iowa natives have won NCAA titles for Iowa State during the last 25 years (Gadson and Paulson) Iowa State has produced four, four-time NCAA All-Americans during this time (Sanderson, Heskett, Varner, Carr). They also had Willie Miklus, who earned All-American honors as a senior after getting on the podium three times for Missouri Sanderson and Carr are the only four-time Big 12 champions for Iowa State since 2001 Iowa State wrestlers have claimed 40 Big 12 titles since 2001 Iowa State has had four head coaches during this quarter century - Bobby Douglas, Cael Sanderson, Kevin Jackson, and Kevin Dresser Each of the four head coaches earned at least one NCAA team trophy

Yesterday, FloWrestling’s “Bader Show” featured an interview with Izzy Martinez, who in addition to coaching his club, and in the UFC, is one of the key figures involved with Real American Freestyle (RAF). The bulk of the interview centered around RAF and their upcoming first show, RAF 01. The event will take place on August 30th in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Wolstein Center. Aside from match announcements and signings, the general public hasn’t learned too much about RAF; however, Izzy was able to connect some of the dots during his interview with Mark Bader. Here are some of the highlights of the interview - items that may not have been known by wrestling fans prior to this interview. By and large, USAW/UWW freestyle rules will be used. Martinez doesn’t want world class wrestlers to have to learn an entirely new set of rules while simultaneously chasing world/Olympic titles. One of the differences between USAW/UWW and RAF will be that RAF matches will be three two-minute periods rather than two three-minute periods. They believe this will allow the commentators and production team to add more color and perhaps show replays. The other main difference between the current international rules and RAF is that the RAF match criteria will be “last wrestler to score” in the event of a tie. In an attempt to make things easier to comprehend for new fans (and most hardcore fans), you don’t have to worry about remembering who had two step-outs compared to one takedown. There will be an “Izzy Farm System” for wrestlers that may not be quite ready for a card that includes world medalists and NCAA champions There will be belts awarded and champions in each weight class - eight for the men and four for the women At RAF 01, seven men’s belts will be awarded and two women’s belts. I imagine there will not be a belt awarded at 155 lbs since there are two matches at that weight on the card (Gomez/Palmer, Diakomihalis/Punia) The possibility of performance-related bonuses is out there. Izzy likened it to UFC Fight of the Night or Knockout of the Night bonuses. The event will feature a day-before weigh-in in conjunction with a press conference Izzy would not rule out Gable Steveson being involved with a future event and seemed rather optimistic about the possibility. Izzy said there have been efforts to talk to Jordan Burroughs about competing; however, he is more interested in picking Martinez’s brain regarding youth coaching. Martinez did say Burroughs basically has an “open invitation” to RAF. Future events Martinez mentioned include one on the first weekend of October, a November event in Pennsylvania, and a New Year’s Eve event Martinez did not say which bout will be considered the main event; however, he did mention that Olympic medalists Sarah Hildebrandt and Kennedy Blades’ bouts will be featured prominently They are working to ensure that Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer will be available at the event There will be an afterparty for the RAF 01 event, which will have a famous performer involved Ben Askren was initially slated to compete, but his health issues have put a damper on that. Even so, Askren has been very involved in behind-the-scenes brainstorming On air, Bader agreed to a match with UFC Hall of Famer Clay Guida with a “Hair vs. Hair” stipulation where the loser gets their hair cut. Wrestlers will be encouraged to show personality, celebrate, and conduct themselves like other sports regularly do Martinez and those behind the scenes have been impressed as they have received more interest from mainstream sports media outlets than they initially expected at this point in time As a reminder, here are the confirmed matchups for RAF 01 Matt Ramos vs. Nathan Tomasello (135 lbs) Real Woods vs. Darrion Caldwell (145 lbs) Austin Gomez vs. Lance Palmer (155 lbs) Wyatt Hendrickson vs. Mostafa Elders (285 lbs) Sarah Hildebrandt vs. Zeltzin Hernandez Guerra (120 lbs) Kennedy Blades vs. Alejandra Rivera Arriaga (150 lbs) Kyle Dake vs. Aeoden Sinclair (190 lbs) Evan Wick vs. Jason Nolf (175 lbs) Bo Nickal vs. Jacob Cardenas (205 lbs) Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Bajrang Punia (155 lbs)

On Tuesday, Little Rock released its schedule for the 2025-26 season. Since we don’t have many as of yet, it’s an exciting prospect in the middle of the August lull. With that in mind, we’ve looked through the Trojan schedule to highlight some of the marquee events, big duals, and potential matchups. We’ll start with the actual schedule itself. Rather than reposting it in order, we’ve broken it into three parts. The non-conference duals, conference duals, and special events. Non-Conference November 2nd - Central Oklahoma (Home) December 4th - Minnesota (at Mequon, Wisconsin) December 7th - Indiana (Home) January 10th - Edinboro, SIU Edwardsville (at Edwardsville, Illinois) January 31st - Missouri (Home) February 6th - Oklahoma State (Away) Conference January 23rd - Oregon State (Away) February 8th - CSU Bakersfield (Home) February 14th - Cal Poly (Home) March 5th - Pac-12 Championships (No location given) Special Events November 9th - TigerStyle Invite (Columbia, Missouri) November 15th - Paycom National Duals Invitational (Tulsa, Oklahoma) December 21st - Collegiate Duals: Cornell, Ohio State (Nashville, Tennessee) January 3rd/4th - Southern Scuffle (Chattanooga, Tennessee) Number of top-20 teams from the 2025 NCAA Championships: (5) #3 Oklahoma State, #5(tie) Minnesota, #5(tie) Ohio State, #7 Cornell, #14 Missouri This is quite the challenging schedule for Erisman’s team. A new face on the Little Rock schedule is Minnesota, who features a squad with four returning All-Americans and no significant holes. The Trojans will see Missouri a couple of times, as they’ll host the Tigers after traveling to Columbia for the early-season TigerStyle Invite. Last year, the teams clashed at the Collegiate Duals - now it’s a regular dual between the schools. Indiana is also a new addition. The Hoosiers may not be a superstar-laden team, but they’ll be very solid and it will be quite competitive. One of the highlights of the dual schedule is a trip to Erisman’s alma mater, Oklahoma State. Last year, Little Rock hosted and put up a good fight before falling 25-13. We’ll have to see how the lineup figures itself out for the Cowboys, but suffice it to say, they’ll be one of the top teams in the nation. Looking at the Pac-12, Oregon State should provide the most significant challenge from a dual standpoint. They could unveil a lineup with seven returning national qualifiers. Cal Poly isn’t quite as deep, but should have some good matchups. For the special events, it works out rather well logistically for Little Rock. They’ll get to participate in four elite events with excellent competition and each is less than 400 miles away from home. As for the events themselves, the Collegiate Duals are the only event where we know Little Rock’s competition. Both Cornell and Ohio State should be in the top ten by the time late-December rolls around. It will certainly be a difficult task for Little Rock, taking on both of those schools, but this is always a scrappy team that puts up a fight. Little Rock has become a regular at the TigerStyle Invite. We don’t have a full list of entrants, as of yet, but it is typically a small individual tournament that has quality over quantity. The headline event is the National Duals Invitational. Aside from Penn State, it will be a who’s who of collegiate powers. There are sure to be some fun matchups that develop at this event. Some of the high-quality programs already on Little Rock’s schedule will be in attendance (Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Cornell, Missouri, Ohio State), along with plenty of others. The Southern Scuffle is the final special event on the calendar. Last year’s tournament was moved away from January 1st and 2nd and seemed to get tougher from the recent incarnations of the event. I’d expect this to be similar to 2025’s tournament. Notable Potential Matches for Little Rock’s All-Americans Matt Bianchi (157) December 4th: Charlie Millard (Minnesota) December 21st: Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) December 21st: Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) January 10th: Ryan Burgos (Edinboro) January 23rd: CJ Hamblin (Oregon State) January 30th: J Conway (Missouri) February 6th: Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) Stephen Little (197) December 4th: Gavin Nelson (Minnesota) December 7th: Gabe Sollars (Indiana) December 21st: Seth Shumate (Ohio State) January 23rd: Justin Rademacher (Oregon State) January 30th: Evan Bates (Missouri) February 6th: Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) We can’t take into account potential matches at the National Duals Invitationals, but I’d imagine Little Rock’s studs will see two or three ranked opponents each at that event. Without even potential teams for the TigerStyle Invite and the Southern Scuffle, we can’t even begin to project matches at this point. Of the events have details for, the Collegiate Duals will provide a significant test for Bianchi. He'll have a two-time All-American (Shapiro) and a Big Ten finalist and Round of 12 finisher (Cannon).