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

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

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

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