InterMat Staff

Today, 2021 NCAA champion AJ Ferrari announced via social media that he will wrestle for CSU Bakersfield in the 2024-25 season. Ferrari had recently visited CSU Bakersfield and had also taken a trip to Northern Colorado earlier in the summer. The top overall recruit in the Class of 2020, Ferrari signed with Oklahoma State and immediately became a force at the 197 lb weight class. Ferrari captured an NCAA title after a 19-1 season that saw him defeat Olympic bronze medalist Myles Amine (Michigan) in the NCAA semifinals and Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) 4-2 for a national title. The following year, Ferrari picked up where he left off and jumped out to a 10-0 start. In late January, Ferrari got into a serious car accident and missed the remainder of the season. Shortly after the 2021-22 season, Ferrari was dismissed from the Oklahoma State program. Ferrari did not compete collegiately in any form during the 2022-23 campaign as he was working through various legal issues. It appeared as if Ferrari may be close to a return with Iowa midway through the 2023-24 season. One younger brother, Angelo, had signed with the Hawkeyes, and another, Anthony, was training with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in an attempt to gain admission to the school. That return was brought to an abrupt halt after the Soldier Salute tournament in late-December, when Ferrari appeared to have beaten Iowa’s Zach Glazier, but took a swing at him and was disqualified. He would leave the mat to boos and hit the now-infamous splits, while giving the double middle fingers. Ferrari will join a CSU Bakersfield team that is in need of a boost after failing to have an NCAA qualifier in 2024 and only having one in the two years that preceded it. While there are risks associated with bringing Ferrari in, if he’s anywhere close to top form he’ll be a national title favorite at 197 lbs for the Roadrunners - a program that last had an All-American in 2014. Ferrari’s arrival will make the 197 lb weight class much more intriguing. Both finalists from 2024 have graduated. Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma) is the highest finisher who is returning and four-time national champion Carter Starocci (Penn State) has been rumored to move all the way up from 174 lbs.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Men's Freestyle: 57 kg Men's Freestyle: 74 kg Men's Freestyle: 86 kg Men's Freestyle: 125 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 57 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) over Esther Kolawole (Nigeria) 5-1 Kayla Miracle (USA) over Nesrin Bas (Turkiye) 12-2 Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria) over Johanna Lindborg (Sweden) 8-3 Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) over Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia) 8-7 Grace Bullen (Norway) over Siwar Bouseta (Tunisia) 12-2 Luisa Niemesch (Germany) over Hanbit Lee (South Korea) 3-0 Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) over Ameline Douare (France) 5-2 Sakuri Motoki (Japan) over Kriszta Incze (Romania) Fall :38 Quarterfinals Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) over Kayla Miracle (USA) 6-6 Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) over Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria) 7-3 Grace Bullen (Norway) over Luisa Niemesch (Germany) 10-0 Sakuri Motoki (Japan) over Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) 11-0 Semifinals Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) over Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) 9-2 Sakuri Motoki (Japan) over Grace Bullen (Norway) Fall 4:26 Repechage Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia) over Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria) 3-1 Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) over Kriszta Incze (Romania) 2-0 Bronze Medal Matches Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) over Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia) 6-6 Grace Bullen (Norway) over Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) 11-0 Gold Medal Match Sakuri Motoki (Japan) over Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) 12-1 Notes: This was Sakuri Motoki’s first Senior World/Olympic gold medal. Motoki now has three medals from Senior level World/Olympic competition. This weight class only had two falls in the entire tournament. Both were collected by Motoki. None of Motoki’s four matches went the full six minutes. She was the only women’s freestyle champion who can make that claim. Motoki was one of three 22 year olds in the bracket and the second-youngest of the bunch. Only Turkiye’s Nesrin Bas is younger. Iryna Koliadenko earned her second Olympic medal when she made the finals and left with the silver. Koliadenko took bronze in 2020. She’s the first Ukrainian woman with two Olympic medals in wrestling. Koliadenko now has four World/Olympic medals. Koliadenko made the Olympic finals after beating past world champions in each of her pre-finals bouts (Tynybekova, Dudova, Purevdorj). The first round bout between Koliadenko and Purevdorj was the only of that round between returning world medalist. Her appearance in the gold medal bout made Koliadenko the first Ukrainian to reach the finals since Irina Melnik-Merleni won gold at 48 kg in 2004. Grace Bullen’s bronze medal made her the first wrestler from Norway to medal in women’s freestyle. Bullen is now a three-time World/Olympic medalist. Aisuluu Tynybekova’s bronze medal gives her two career Olympic medals - a silver from 2020 is the other. Kyrgyzstan has now won four medals in women’s wrestling at the Olympics - two belong to Tynybekova. Tynybekova is now a six-time World/Olympic medal winner. Of Tynybekova’s three wins, two came via identical 6-6 scores with criteria in her favor. Tynybekova was easily the most senior member of this bracket. She participated in her fourth Olympic Games. Only five others had prior Olympic experience and none of them had more than one before Paris. For the second straight Olympic Games, Koliadenko and Tynybekova met in the semifinals. Last time, Tynybekkova won via 10-0 tech. This time Koliadenko turned the tables with a 9-2 victory. Tynybekova also defeated Koliadenko in the quarterfinals of the 2023 World Championships, 2-2. The four Olympic medalists at this weight were the same four women who made the medal stand the previous year at the 2023 World Championships. This was the only bracket in women’s freestyle where all eight of the seeded wrestlers won in the first round. That continued to hold as the top four wrestlers advanced to the semifinals. In her second Olympic Games, Kayla Miracle picked up her first Olympic win with a 12-2 tech over Bas. She was eliminated from medal contention when Tynybekova was upset in the semifinals.

The 2023-24 season was a memorable one for Army West Point’s wrestling team. They finished with a 7-4 dual record which was good enough for #25 in the nation. Most important among those seven wins for head coach Kevin Ward was a 17-16 win over rival, Navy. In the postseason, Army finished third in the EIWA with 95.5 points and sent six wrestlers to Kansas City for the NCAA Championships. At nationals, 174 lber Ben Pasiuk broke through and became the program’s first NCAA All-American since Matt Kyler in 2008. Now with that pesky All-American drought having ended and four qualifiers returning, Army could be in for a big year. Not only do they have a strong nucleus returning, but the Black Knights will also get a boost from the bulk of a 2023 recruiting class that was ranked #17 in the nation and spent a year at the Army’s prep school. 125: Charlie Farmer If you follow offseason action in the international styles, you’ll know that Charlie Farmer was one of the stars of summer for Army. Farmer made the finals of the U23 World Team Trials and lost two NCAA qualifier, Max Gallagher (Penn), in the best-of-three series. Farmer posted two techs and a fall before wins over Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) and Alan Koehler (Nebraska) for a berth in the finals. That led to a spot on the U23 team competing at the Pan-American U23 Championship, where Farmer traveled to Colombia and left with a perfect record and a gold medal. Over the past two years, Farmer has gathered plenty of mat time in open competition and has amassed a 31-13 record. During the 2023-24 season, Farmer made his dual debut with a fall against Bucknell. Throughout the 2023-24 season, Farmer picked up a pair of wins over eventual national qualifiers amongst his 20 victories. One of which came against Gallagher during his weight class win at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. During his seventh-place finish at the Southern Scuffle, Farmer met the Black Knights starter, Ethan Berginc, and suffered a close 2-1 loss. Sometimes fans can make the mistake of reading too much into freestyle results and applying them to folkstyle; however, this isn’t the case with Farmer. He probably starts the preseason in the national rankings due to his quality collegiate resume. His presence gives Ward’s team yet another potential national qualifying threat. 133: Ethan Berginc/Conor Collins With Farmer penciled in at 125 lbs, it means that Ethan Berginc will be able to move up to 133 lbs. Berginc has qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of his first two years in West Point - both coming at 125 lbs. He started his career off with a win over a returning All-American in his first start and has been consistent ever since. Judging by his November 2023 record, you might not necessarily think that was the case (4-4). Looking beyond face value, Berginc suffered losses to three wrestlers that either held, or would eventually hold, the #1 national ranking at some point during the season - in a two-week span. After that loaded stretch, Berginc settled into the wrestler that Army fans have grown accustomed to seeing. He was third at the Southern Scuffle and then at the EIWA Championships. Unfortunately, Berginc was not able to pick up his first NCAA win and went 0-2 for a second straight year. For many, the jump from 125 to 133 can be a massive move. There will likely be some growing pains, but ultimately, Berginc should put together similar, if not better, production at the new weight. Also pushing for a spot either here or at 141 is sophomore Conor Collins. Collins went 11-11 last season and had a pair of wins over past national qualifiers (Jake Gliva/Micah Roes). In his only dual of the year, Collins teched Lehigh’s Ethan Smith. 141: Braden Basile One of the best developments for Army from the 2023-24 season was the emergence of freshman Braden Basile. In only his second competition, Basile downed a pair of ranked opponents. A week later, Basile used extra time to defeat Dylan Shawver (Rutgers), an eventual Big Ten champion and NCAA All-American. After a regular season that included a handful of losses, typical of many freshmen, Basile really turned it on in the postseason. In the EIWA quarterfinals, he knocked off past champion Michael Colaiocco (Penn) before keeping returning national champion Vito Arujau (Cornell) to a regular decision in the semis. Basile would finish in third after defeating veteran Kurt Phipps (Bucknell). At NCAA’s, Basile was beaten in the opening round by All-American Evan Frost (Iowa State), but responded with back-to-back major decisions over higher-seeded opponents - the most notable being #9 Dom Serrano (Northern Colorado). Basile will move up to a tough EIWA weight class that includes a pair of former conference champions. Even so, in his limited time on the collegiate mat, Basile has proven he’s a gamer who can rise to the occasion in the biggest of circumstances. Army has plenty of depth here with veterans like Zach Keal, Richard Treanor, and Shane Percelay all ready to step up, if needed. 149: Trae McDaniel Trae McDaniel started the 2023-24 season in InterMat’s preseason rankings and looked very solid through his first two bouts of the year. The second of which was a major decision victory over past national qualifier, Marcos Polanco (Purdue). In his third match, McDaniel had to default out via injury and didn’t return all year. McDaniel gained a preseason ranking on the back of a 29-11 2022-23 campaign that featured a pair of wins over national qualifiers. He would end up fourth in the EIWA, but that was not enough to garner an NCAA at-large berth. If fully healthy, McDaniel could establish himself as a favorite in the EIWA. The conference had five national qualifiers in 2024 and four return. With the Ivy League split, three have left the conference. Only Lehigh’s Kelvin Griffin remains. 157: Dakota Morris At this weight, Army will look to replace 2023 national qualifier Nate Lukez and it appears as if Dakota Morris might be the frontrunner. Morris was busy last season as he saw action in 36 matches during his freshman season. All of them came in open tournaments and most were at 165 lbs - though he did wrestle at 184 in his final appearance of the season. While Morris had a decent amount of losses (13), he did post some excellent wins. Four, in total, over wrestlers that had either previously qualified for nationals or would go on to in 2024. The two most notable were over EIWA third-place finisher Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) and Pac-12 champion Joey Bianchi (Little Rock). Challenging Morris could be a whole cluster of veterans including Micah Hanau, Eddie Hummel, and Oscar Aranda. photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com 165: Gunner Filipowicz/Cooper Haase We’ve already mentioned Basile, but another excellent freshman for Army in 2023-24 was Gunner Filipowicz. Filipowicz spent the first month of the season at 174 lbs, but later moved down to 165 and really took off. His breakout performance came at the Southern Scuffle where he made the finals. Filipowicz got his first official taste of the Army/Navy Star match and ended up playing a huge role in the final outcome. Filipowicz’s win over Andrew Cerniglia put the Black Knights up 7-0 in a dual they ended up winning by a point. Filipowicz ended up qualifying for the NCAA Tournament after a fourth-place finish at the EIWA Championships. After an opening-round upset loss, Filipowicz rattled off four-straight victories to wrestle for third place. In Kansas City, Filipowicz’s freshman year came to an end with a 0-2 showing at nationals. With a full offseason to prepare for 165 lbs, Filipowicz should be positioned to hit the ground running and might be poised for a big year. Another wrestler capable of a potential impact at this weight, or potentially 174 lbs, is freshman Cooper Haase. Coming out of high school, Haase was tabbed the #43 overall recruit in the Class of 2023. Haase competed for Army’s prep school in 2023-24 and put together an impressive 20-7 record. Some of Haase’s high school highlights include a title at NHSCA Junior Nationals and a fourth-place finish at the Super 32. 174: Dalton Harkins Senior Dalton Harkins has been very solid for Army as a three-year starter who has amassed a 65-33 record, but someone who has yet to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Harkins was fifth in the EIWA in 2023 and was the starter at 165 lbs last year, before Filipowicz dropped down. Before that point, Harkins looked like he was well on his way to his first national tournament. Though he competed at 165 lbs for the entire regular season, Harkins was Army’s entry at 184 lbs in the 2024 EIWA Championships. Even as an undersized 184 lber, Harkins did win a pair of matches at the conference tournament before his elimination. Like Filipowicz, Harkins will have the entire offseason to prepare for a weight change, rather than on the fly, in the middle of the season. 174 lbs is a weight class that has been hit hard by graduations and weight changes, so there could be plenty of opportunities for him to shine at the new weight. 184: Andrew Christie/David Barrett As mentioned earlier, Army was in a bind at the end of the season and needed Harkins to move up two weights for the postseason. That means there isn’t an established starter at this weight like most others. It looks like Andrew Christie may get the first crack at locking down the weight class. He also moved up from 165 lbs in the offseason. Christie was 11-8 as a freshman last year. He didn’t see any action in duals but entered seven different open tournaments. While Christie didn’t necessarily have any marquee wins, he did win his bracket at the Journeymen Collegiate Challenge and was 3-1 at both the Cleveland State Open and the Wilkes Open. One of the standouts from competition at Army’s prep school in 2023-24 was David Barrett, who scrapped to an 18-5 record. Barrett tallied a pair of titles in open tournaments and didn’t really have any losses that could be classified as “bad.” Veterans Kyle Swartz and Walker Stephenson could see substantial mat time here, as well. 197: Wolfgang Frable/Jake Gilfoil The returning starter from 2023-24, Wolfgang Frable, is back for his junior season. In his first full year as “the guy” for Army, Frable went 14-18 and came up a match shy of placing at the EIWA Championships. Frable was solid in open competition, but started taking lumps once he was inserted into the Army dual lineup. He won his dual debut but proceeded to drop five straight matches after the victory. At the EIWA Championships, Frable managed a major decision win over Harvard’s Alex Whitworth before his elimination. Army has a lot of potential options at 197; however, one of the more intriguing ones is freshman Jake Gilfoil. Gilfoil is another youngster who had a promising campaign at the prep school. Although his record was 12-6, Gilfoil seemed to show a lot of fight against quality competition in those six losses. Others to consider are Thomas Godbee, Cole Karpinski, and Eli Pack. photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com 285: Lucas Stoddard The third freshman national qualifier (a program record for Army) for the Black Knights in 2023-24 was heavyweight Lucas Stoddard. Even more so than Farmer, Stoddard had a huge offseason. He won the U23 Trials with two first-period techs over the returning EIWA champion Nathan Taylor (Lehigh). In their two matches last season, Taylor prevailed by a tech and major decision. Stoddard also came away from the U23 Pan-American Championships with a gold medal. At that event, he pinned Puerto Rico Olympian Jonovan Smith. Back to the collegiate world, Stoddard was third at the Southern Scuffle and then proceeded to win his next three duals, one of which came over a returning national qualifier. At the EIWA Championships, Stoddard had a bit of a tough go of it and finished sixth; however, the weight class was extremely deep and took eight to nationals. Stoddard drew the eventual NCAA runner-up, Lucas Davison (Michigan) in the first round and ended up going 0-2. With three more years of eligibility and plenty of room to improve, look for Stoddard to emerge as a key player going forward for Army. In addition to Stoddard, there are some really talented freshmen in this weight class for the Black Knights. Brady Colbert and Sam Sorensen are two that might be able to push Stoddard. Both were considered top-200 recruits in the Class of 2023. Previous “Never Too Early Lineup Looks:” Air Force Campbell Indiana Iowa State Lock Haven North Carolina Northern Iowa Oregon State West Virginia

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Men's Freestyle: 57 kg Men's Freestyle: 74 kg Men's Freestyle: 86 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 57 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Amir Zare (Iran) over Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) 5-0 Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) over Zhiwei Deng (China) 2-1 Daniel Ligeti (Hungary) over Ashton Mutuwa (Nigeria) 11-0 Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Jonovan Smith (Puerto Rico) 10-0 Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (Mongolia) over Mason Parris (USA) 10-5 Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Diaaeldin Abdelmottaleb (Egypt) 4-0 Robert Baran (Poland) over Yusup Batirmurzaev (Kazakhstan) 4-1 Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine) 11-0 Quarterfinals Amir Zare (Iran) over Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) 10-0 Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Daniel Ligeti (Hungary) 10-0 Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (Mongolia) 12-2 Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Robert Baran (Poland) 9-2 Semifinals Amir Zare (Iran) over Taha Akgul (Turkey) 2-1 Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) 7-0 Repechage Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) over Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) 5-0 Robert Baran (Poland) over Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine) 3-0 Bronze Medal Matches Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) 7-0 Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Robert Baran (Poland) 9-3 Gold Medal Matches Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Amir Zare (Iran) 10-9 Notes: Geno Petriashvili finally got his elusive Olympic gold medal. Petriashvili has previously earned silver and bronze medals at the last two Olympic Games. With his gold, Petriashvili now has 11 World/Olympic medals - three world titles to go along with his recent Olympic gold medal. Petriashvili has earned a medal at every World/Olympic event since 2015. Petriashvili’s first world title came in 2017….also in Paris. The Olympic final was a rematch of the 2023 World finals won by Amir Zare, 11-0. This year’s matchup between Petriashvili and Zare featured the highest scoring gold medal matchup out of any style in 2024. 19 points (10-9). Zare is now a two-time Olympic medalist. He was a bronze medalist in Tokyo. Zare has won five World/Olympic medals by the age of 23. Iran has had a heavyweight earn a medal in men’s freestyle at the last four Olympic Games. 2012 (silver) and 2016 (silver) by Komeil Ghasemi. After winning his bronze medal match Taha Akgul left his shoes at the center of the mat signifying his retirement. Akgul had an incredible career that now includes three Olympic medals - including a gold medal in 2016. Akgul finished with 11 World/Olympic medals and three world titles to go along with the Olympic gold. His bronze medal made Akgul the oldest medalist in men’s freestyle (33 years old) in the Paris Olympics. We had the unusual sight of double retirement as Akgul’s bronze medal opponent, Aiaal Lazarev also left his shoes on the mat. Lazarev never won a World/Olympic medal, but participated in three Olympic Games and seven Senior World Championships. One of the semifinals matches pitted Georgian, Petriashvili, against an opponent that previously had competed for Georgia, but now represents Azerbaijan in Giorgi Meshvildishvili. Meshvildishvili won his first world/Olympic medal when he got the bronze. This was the only men’s freestyle weight class that had three medalists that were in their 30’s. All but Zare. There was one matchup in this bracket that pitted past Senior World medalists against each other in the opening round - when Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur defeated Mason Parris. Additionally, Zhiwei Deng and Yusup Batirmurzaev, were past world medalists who fell in the first round. Parris (#6) and Deng (#8) were the only seeded wrestlers that were knocked off in their first match.

Did you think that just because classes may start at many schools around the country recruiting news regarding wrestlers in the Class of 2024 has finished? Think again. Yesterday, Oregon State picked up a verbal commitment from a top-100 recruit in the Class of 2024, #75 overall Moses Mirabel (Gilroy, CA). Mirabel had originally committed to Brown University, but apparently has had a late change of plans. Mirabel is a two-time California state placewinner. He finished his career with a state championship at 144 lbs and was fifth at 138 in 2023. For his state title, Mirabel edged top-seeded Joseph Toscano (Buchanan, CA), a returning state finalist and one of the top rising juniors in the nation. In each of the last two seasons, Mirabel placed at the Doc Buchanan Invitational - taking fifth in 2024 and seventh in 2023. The initial recruiting class for the Beavers was quite small due to the large number of recruits signed within the previous two recruiting cycles. Mirabel and #111 Hunter Taylor (Liberty, MO) gave Oregon State a pair of Big Boarders. Mirabel looks like a 149 lber at the next level. While there are plenty of potential options at that weight already in Corvallis, none appear to be slam-dunk, long-term solutions, as of now. On the other end of the spectrum, commitments have started to roll in from the Class of 2026. Well, maybe not “roll in” as of yet, but we’ve got one! Pittsburgh got in early on local product, Elijah Brown. As a sophomore, Brown made the Pennsylvania AAA state tournament at 172 lbs but did not make the medal stand. A few months later, Brown earned a stop sign in Fargo after winning a 16U national championship in freestyle up at 190 lbs. With such rapid growth and two years of high school remaining, Brown will likely wrestle heavyweight for the Panthers. That would work out well for Pitt as current starter, Dayton Pitzer, is entering his redshirt sophomore year. In this instance, Pitzer could finish up while Brown takes a redshirt, himself. Brown is currently not ranked among the Class of 2026 or among his weight class; however, he is someone to keep an eye on going forward. Drexel is another school that has had some recent success on the recruiting trail with a pair of recent commits from the Class of 2025. First, is Christopher Mance III (Lovett, GA) who is ranked #179 amongst rising seniors and #25 in his weight class. Mance is a three-time Georgia state champion with his most recent title coming at 175 lbs. Outside of Georgia, Mance has placed twice at the NHSCA grade-level tournament. He was a finalist as a freshman and fifth after his sophomore year. For now, Mance looks to project at 174 lbs. Coach Matt Azevedo didn’t have to go quite as far from home with the Dragons other recent “get”, Patrick Kelly of Central Bucks West High School, just north of Philadelphia. Kelly was a fourth-place finisher at the 139 lb weight class in Pennsylvania’s AAA classification in 2024. After the state tournament, Kelly went to Virginia Beach and took eighth place at NHSCA Junior Nationals - at 145 lbs. Drexel is coming off a tough season where they were unable to send any wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. While there is some young talent at both Mance III and Kelly’s projected weights, the Dragons need more of these caliber recruits.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Men's Freestyle: 57 kg Men's Freestyle: 86 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 57 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 32 Yones Emami (Iran) over Frank Chamizo (Italy) 9-4 Razambek Jamalov (Uzbekistan) over Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (AIN - Belarus) 8-0 Round of 16 Kyle Dake (USA) over Anthony Montero Chirinos (Venezuela) 10-0 Yones Emami (Iran) over Bacar Ndum (Guinea-Bissau) 10-0 Khetag Tsabalov (Serbia) over Iman Mahdavi (UWW) 10-0 Daichi Takatani (Japan) over Geandry Garzon Caballero (Cuba) 10-0 Viktor Rassadin (Tajikistan) over Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Greece) 8-2 Feng Lu (China) over Amr Hussen (Egypt) 14-4 Razambek Jamalov (Uzbekistan) over Taimuraz Salkazanov (Slovakia) 11-3 Chermen Valiev (Albania) over Turam Bayramov (Azerbaijan) 4-3 Quarterfinals Kyle Dake (USA) over Yones Emami (Iran) Fall 5:37 Daichi Takatani (Japan) over Khetag Tsabalov (Serbia) 10-0 Viktor Rassadin (Tajikistan) over Feng Lu (China) 7-4 Razambek Jamalov (Uzbekistan) over Chermen Valiev (Albania) 6-5 Semifinals Daichi Takatani (Japan) over Kyle Dake (USA) 20-12 Razambek Jamalov (Uzbekistan) over Viktor Rassadin (Tajikistan) 8-2 Repechage Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (AIN - Belarus) over Taimuraz Salkazanov (Slovakia) 6-6 Chermen Valiev (Albania) over Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (AIN - Belarus) 12-2 Bronze Medal Matches Kyle Dake (USA) over Khetag Tsabalov (Serbia) 10-4 Chermen Valiev (Albania) over Viktor Rassadin (Tajikistan) 6-2 Gold Medal Match Razambek Jamalov (Uzbekistan) over Daichi Takatani (Japan) Fall 2:12 Notes: Razambek Jamalov became officially only the second wrestler from Uzbekistan to win an Olympic gold medal in men’s freestyle. Artur Taimazov’s gold medal from 2004 in Athens is the only other. Taimazov won gold medals in 2008 and 2012 that have since been stripped due to a doping violation. Jamalov’s gold medal gave Uzbekistan two medals for the second time in three Olympic Games. They also had two medalists in 2016. At the time, Jamalov’s fall in the gold medal match was the first and only in the Olympic Games. A day later, there was a second fall at 97 kg. Jamalov’s first two bouts came against an Olympic silver medalist (Kadimagomedov) and a world silver medalist (Salkazanov). Though Russia wasn’t officially at the Olympic Games (for wrestling purposes), there were plenty of ex-Russians competing. This weight class led the way with six (Kadimagomedov - AIN/Belarus, Valiev - Albania, Tsabalov - Serbia, Salkazanov - Slovakia, Rassadin - Tajikistan, Jamalov - Uzbekistan) wrestlers who had previously wrestled for Russia, but have since transferred to another country. Daichi Takatani earned his second World/Olympic medal. Takatani’s semifinal match with Kyle Dake was the highest scoring bout of the entire Olympic Games. 32 total points (20-12). With an 8-2 win for Jamalov over Rassadin in the other semifinal - in gave this weight class the highest scoring two semifinals of the entire Olympic Games (42 points). The two met in the 2023 World quarterfinals - a match won by Dake, 7-4. Dake earned his second Olympic bronze medal. He is now a seven-time World/Olympic medalist. Dake has claimed medals at every World/Olympic event since 2018. Between Dake and Jordan Burroughs, an American has earned a medal at every World/Olympic tournament since 2017. At 33 years old, Dake is the second oldest medalist in men’s freestyle in 2024. Both he and Taha Akgul (Turkey - 125 kg) are 33; however, Akgul turns 34 in November. Chermen Valiev’s bronze medal gave Albania their first-ever medal in men’s freestyle. With Valiev’s medal, a wrestler representing Albania has earned a medal in each of the last three years. Zelimkhan Abakarov won world medals in 2022 and 2023. The inclusion of Iman Mahdavi via the Refugee team and Frank Chamizo after a controversial match at the European Qualifier, this bracket contained 18 wrestlers. Both of the Round of 32 matches had past Olympic medalists who suffered losses (Chamizo and Kadimagomedov). Cuba’s Geandry Garzon Caballero (40) was the oldest wrestler in this bracket and the entire men’s freestyle tournament. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

Michigan State head coach Roger Chandler sits down with Kevin Claunch to discuss the upcoming season for the Spartans. Chandler goes in detail throughout the potential MSU lineup and gives some inside information on the contenders at each weight - the Spartans will be very young in 2024-25. The two also do a quick recap of the 2023-24 season and talk about a couple of prominent wrestlers who left the program in offseason. For the full interivew:

The top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, has vowed to keep fans abreast of his recruiting with daily Wednesday updates. Well, today is Wednesday and true to his word, Bassett has posted an updated graphic which has eliminated three more schools from consideration. Earlier this year, Bassett posted a graphic that contained the logos of approximately 80 schools, most of the DI variety, but some DII’s as well, to signify that he’s totally open in the recruiting process. After more than a month of removing schools from the list, he’s down to 26. These three schools were removed from this week's graphic: Penn, Oklahoma, Oregon State The following schools remain on Bassett’s graphic and therefore in contention for his services: Air Force, American, Arizona State, Clarion, Cornell, Iowa, Iowa State, Lehigh, Little Rock, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin. These three schools were removed from last week's graphic: Bucknell, Virginia, Wyoming The following schools were removed from the 8/7 graphic: Brown, Northern Colorado, Purdue The following schools were removed from the 7/31 graphic: California Baptist, Michigan State, Navy The following schools were removed from the 7/24 graphic: Army West Point, Campbell, Edinboro, Harvard, Illinois, North Dakota State, South Dakota State The following schools were removed from the 7/17 graphic: Cal Poly, Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Millersville, The Citadel, and West Virginia The following schools were removed from the 7/10 graphic: CSU Bakersfield, George Mason, Hofstra, Northwestern, Rider, UW Parkside, West Liberty The following schools were removed from the 7/3 graphic: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Drexel, Kent State, Ohio, and St. Cloud State The following schools were removed from the 6/26 graphic: Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Northern Illinois, Sacred Heart, SIU Edwardsville As you would expect, most traditional DI power programs are still in the hunt for the two-time Super 32 and Ironman champion. Bassett recently competed at the U20 Pan-American Championships and dominated for a gold medal. In three matches, Bassett posted two falls and a tech. Bassett will also be in action later this year at the U20 World Championships - September 2nd-8th in Pontevedra, Spain. Bassett has already been selected to take part in a Who's #1 rematch with Daniel Zepeda. The event will take place close to home, at Pitt-Johnstown, on September 29th. In 2021, Bassett captured gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the U17 Pan-American Championships. That same year, at the U17 World Championships, Bassett claimed a gold medal in freestyle and was 12th in Greco. He’ll compete this year just in freestyle.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Men's Freestyle: 57 kg Men's Freestyle: 86 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Hannah Taylor (Canada) 6-1 Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) over Aurora Russo (Italy) Fall 2:34 Helen Maroulis (USA) over Anshu Malik (India) 7-2 Alina Hrushyna (Ukraine) over Anhelina Lysak (Poland) 16-13 Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria) over Chaimaa Aouissi (Algeria) Fall :31 Kexin Hong (China) over Khongorzul Boldsaikhan (Mongolia) 16-12 Giullia Penalber (Brazil) over Rckaela Aquino (Guam) Fall 1:02 Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Sandra Parurzewski (Germany) 9-0 Quarterfinals Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) Fall 4:08 Helen Maroulis (USA) over Alina Hrushyna (Ukraine) 7-4 Kexin Hong (China) over Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria) Fall 5:16 Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Giullia Penalber (Brazil) Fall 2:18 Semifinals Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Helen Maroulis (USA) 10-4 Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Kexin Hong (China) Fall 1:37 Repechage Hannah Taylor (Canada) over Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) 13-0 Giullia Penalber (Brazil) over Sandra Parurzewski (Germany) 13-0 Bronze Medal Matches Helen Maroulis (USA) over Hannah Taylor (Canada) Fall :24 Kexin Hong (China) over Giullia Penalber (Brazil) 10-0 Gold Medal Match Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) 6-0 Notes: Sakurai won her first Olympic gold medal, but had won gold in each of the previous three World Championships. Two at 57 kg and one at 55 kg. It’s remarkable that Sakurai has four World/Olympic titles at only 22 years old. Japan has won every Olympic gold medal possible in this weight range (55/57/58 kg). Yoshida in 2004, 2008, and 2012 at 57 kg. Icho in 2016 at 58 kg. Kawai at 57 kg in 2020. The eight falls at this weight class (in 19 matches) were the most out of any weight class in any style at the 2024 Olympic Games. The quarterfinals featured falls in three of the four matches. Two of the falls occurred in under a minute. Anastasia Nichita accounted for two of the eight falls. Nichita and Sakurai met in a gold medal match for the second straight year. Last year, Sakurai prevailed only by a 3-2 margin. Nichita is now a three-time World/Olympic medalist with a gold medal in 2022 and silvers in each of the last two years. With her silver medal, Nichita is the first Moldovan woman to win an Olympic medal in wrestling. Helen Maroulis’ bronze medal made her the first American woman to win three Olympic medals. Maroulis is now a 10x World/Olympic medalist and she has made 14 World/Olympic teams. At 32, Maroulis was the oldest of the 2024 Olympic medalists in women’s freestyle. Kexin Hong’s bronze medal was her first World/Olympic medal. The first round featured a pair of matches that pitted returning world medalists against each other. Maroulis/Malik and Hrushyna/Lysak.

Gilroy

Let’s go back to the year 2022. It had been five years since an American had won a U17 world title in Greco-Roman. Later that year, Joel Adams would snap that streak with his gold medal at 65 kg. A year later, Jordyn Raney would make it back-to-back years with a championship, as he won the 55 kg weight class. Now, we’ve had three straight years with a Greco gold medalist. The latest winner for the United States is the twin brother of our last champion - Jayden Raney. Today, in Amann, Jordan, Raney faced an opponent that was in Jordyn’s 2023 bracket. However, he did not medal and the two did not meet, in Alpamys Bolatuly of Kazakhstan. Both wrestlers were looking for the home run move and each attempted a headlock. Neither landed the hold; however, Raney came out on top in the flurry for a takedown. Along the way, Raney locked up a gut wrench and turned Bolatuly for a set of exposure points. Not content with a four-point lead, Raney looked to a more folkstyle-centric maneuver which worked just as well. An armbar helped expose and nearly pin Bolatuly. An incredible bridge helped save Bolatuly from a fall. Raney would take a commanding 6-0 lead into the break. Once action resumed, it was Bolatuly who pushed the pace with a takedown off of a throw-by. During the same sequence, Bolatuly locked up a gut wrench of his own and cut the deficit to 6-4. Raney was able to avoid further damage by getting back to his feet. Right around the one-minute mark, Bolatuly had a bear hug and took Raney off his feet at the edge of the mat. Raney actually came down on top of Bolatuly, but Bolatuly was given a point for a step out. His corner disagreed and challenged the call, which was lost and Raney’s lead was now 7-5. During the final :44 seconds of the bout, Raney managed to keep Bolatuly at bay and off the scoreboard, while working to stay engaged and avoid any potential caution calls from the official. The win put the finishing touches on a wild tournament for Raney - one that saw him win by a point in the quarterfinals and pin to win, while trailing in the semis. The tournament might yield a medal for both Raney twins. Jordyn fell in the 60kg semifinals and will wrestle for a bronze medal tomorrow. His opponent will be determined by a repechage bout between Vadym Matros (Ukraine) and Dosbol Shamil (Kazakhstan). Additionally, Dom Munaretto (51 kg) and Joseph Jeter (71 kg) were both pulled into tomorrow’s repechage round. Both will have to win two matches to come away with a bronze medal.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Men's Freestyle: 57 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Aaron Brooks (USA) over Azamat Dauletbekov (Kazakhstan) 4-3 Hayato Ishiguro (Japan) over Fateh Benferdjallah (Algeria) 11-0 Magomed Ramazanov (Bulgaria) over Alexander Moore (Canada) 12-2 Javrail Shapiev (Uzbekistan) over Vladimiri Gamkrelidze (Georgia) 5-1 Myles Amine (San Marino) over Vasyl Mykhailov (Ukraine) 7-4 Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan) over Bat Erdene Byambasuren (Mongolia) 11-2 Dauren Kurugliev (Greece) over Ethan Ramos (Puerto Rico) 11-0 Hassan Yazdani (Iran) over Jayden Lawrence (Australia) 10-0 Quarterfinals Aaron Brooks (USA) over Hayato Ishiguro (Japan) 11-1 Magomed Ramazanov (Bulgaria) over Javrail Shapiev (Uzbekistan) Fall 3:39 Myles Amine (San Marino) over Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan) 16-12 Hassan Yazdani (Iran) over Dauren Kurugliev (Greece) 9-4 Semifinals Magomed Ramazanov (Bulgaria) over Aaron Brooks (USA) 4-3 Hassan Yazdani (Iran) over Myles Amine (San Marino) 7-1 Repechage Javrail Shapiev (Uzbekistan) over Alexander Moore (Canada) 6-1 Dauren Kurugliev (Greece) over Jayden Lawrence (Australia) 10-0 Bronze Medal Matches Aaron Brooks (USA) over Javrail Shapiev (Uzbekistan) 5-0 Dauren Kurugliev (Greece) over Myles Amine (San Marino) 5-4 Gold Medal Match Magomed Ramazanov (Bulgaria) over Hassan Yazdani (Iran) 7-1 Notes: Magomed Ramazanov is the first Bulgarian to win an Olympic gold medal in men’s freestyle since the legendary Valentin Jordanov in 1996 at 52 kg. Ramazanov was the first Olympic medalist of any sort for Bulgaria in men’s freestyle since 2008 when Radoslav Velikov (55 kg) and Kiril Terziev (74 kg) both earned bronze medals. At 31 years old, Ramazanov was the oldest wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal in men’s freestyle this Olympic Games. Because of his previous affiliation with Russia, this was the first time that Ramazanov appeared at an Olympic Games or World Championship event. Hassan Yazdani was injured and barely made it through the gold medal match. Even so, he was able to claim his third Olympic medal (1 gold - 2 silver) and his 10th World/Olympic medal. Yazdani has now earned a medal at every World/Olympic event dating back to 2015. Yazdani was one of five wrestlers in this bracket with prior Olympic experience. He was the only one to have appeared in more than two Olympic Games. For the second straight year, Yazdani and Myles Amine met in the semifinals - in 2023 it was at the World Championships, but in both instances, Yazdani prevailed. Yazdani was the only medal winner from the 2020 Games to get back to the stand in 2024. Amine was the only other 2020 medals that was in the field. Amine and Dauren Kurugliev clashed in a bronze medal matchup. It was their third meeting in just over a year. Each one has been via an excruciatingly close, one-point margin. Amine was victorious at the 2023 Hungarian Ranking Series event, Kurugliev took this meeting and the 2024 European Championships. Kurugliev’s bronze medal is the first for Greece in men’s freestyle since the 2000 Olympic Games when Amiran Kardanov took bronze at 54 kg. Aaron Brooks joined Gable Steveson, J’den Cox, and Kyle Snyder as recent Olympic medalists who also competed in college during the Olympic year. With Brooks’ bronze medal, it marks the third straight Olympics that a wrestle from Maryland came away with a medal in men’s freestyle (Kyle Snyder in 2016/20). Brooks’ medal also gives the top-two recruits from the high school Class of 2018 Olympic medals. Brooks was considered #2 and Gable Steveson was #1. Since 2020, a Penn State grad has captured a medal at 86 kg in every World/Olympic event. Taylor (2020-23) and Brooks (2024). 86 kg is the only weight class in men’s freestyle where the Americans have medaled in each of the last three Olympic Games. (Brooks/2024/bronze), (Taylor/2020/gold), (Cox/2016/bronze). In each of the last three years, Azamat Dauletbekov (Kazakhstan) has been knocked out from gold medal contention by an American. In Paris, he was beaten by Brooks in the opening round. At the last two World Championship events, Dauletbekov was defeated by Taylor in the semifinals. This weight class featured three DI All-Americans with Brooks, Amine (San Marino/Michigan), and Ethan Ramos (Puerto Rico/North Carolina). The quarterfinal bout between Amine and Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan) was the second-highest scoring bout of the entire men’s freestyle tournament. 16-12 in favor of Amine and 28 total points. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

We're almost through August and we currently have no head coaching openings at the DI level after Bloomsburg's job was filled last week. Barring an unforeseen situation leading to a vacancy, there will be no further head coaching changes during the 2024 offseason. With the leaders of each program set, it seemed to be a good time to look back to see when every current DI head coach was hired. Note: We published a similar article in July of 2023 and then had the musical chairs of the North Carolina/Stanford/Princeton opening's so anything is possible! 2024 Bloomsburg - John Stutzman Buffalo - Donnie Vinson Central Michigan - Ben Bennett Columbia - Donny Pritzlaff Hofstra - Jamie Franco Oklahoma State - David Taylor Utah Valley - Adam Hall 2023 North Carolina - Rob Koll North Dakota State - Obe Blanc Oklahoma - Roger Kish Princeton - Joe Dubuque Stanford - Chris Ayres 2022 Brown - Jordan Leen Davidson - Nate Carr Jr. California Baptist - Derek Moore Morgan State - Kenny Monday 2021 American - Jason Borrelli Bellarmine - Ned Shuck Cornell - Mike Grey CSU Bakersfield - Luke Smith Illinois - Mike Poeta 2020 Campbell - Scotti Sentes Navy - Cary Kolat Oregon State - Chris Pendleton The Citadel - Ryan LeBlanc 2019 Maryland - Alex Clemsen 2018 Chattanooga - Kyle Ruschell Cleveland State - Josh Moore Edinboro - Matt Hill Indiana - Angel Escobedo Little Rock - Neil Erisman Michigan - Sean Bormet Presbyterian - Mark Cody South Dakota State - Damion Hahn VMI - Jim Gibson West Virginia - Tim Flynn Wisconsin - Chris Bono 2017 Binghamton - Kyle Borshoff George Mason - Frank Beasley Iowa State - Kevin Dresser Penn - Roger Reina Pittsburgh - Keith Gavin Rider - John Hangey Sacred Heart - John Clark Virginia Tech - Tony Robie 2016 Cal Poly - Jon Sioredas Minnesota - Brandon Eggum Northwestern - Matt Storniolo 2015 Michigan State - Roger Chandler 2014 Air Force - Sam Barber Arizona State - Zeke Jones Army West Point - Kevin Ward Clarion - Keith Ferraro Long Island - Joe Patrovich Northern Colorado - Troy Nickerson Purdue - Tony Ersland 2013 Lock Haven - Scott Moore SIU Edwardsville - Jeremy Spates 2012 Duke - Glen Lanham NC State - Pat Popolizio 2011 Drexel - Matt Azevedo Northern Illinois - Ryan Ludwig 2010 Franklin & Marshall - Mike Rogers Gardner-Webb - Daniel Elliott Northern Iowa - Doug Schwab 2009 Appalachian State - JohnMark Bentley Penn State - Cael Sanderson 2008 Lehigh - Pat Santoro Wyoming - Mark Branch 2007 Mercyhurst - Mike Wehler Rutgers - Scott Goodale 2006 Iowa - Tom Brands Ohio State - Tom Ryan Virginia - Steve Garland 2005 Bucknell - Dan Wirnsberger 2003 Kent State - Jim Andrassy 2000 Nebraska - Mark Manning 1998 Missouri - Brian Smith Ohio - Joel Greenlee 1995 Harvard - Jay Weiss

We’re now going down south to the SoCon to check out one of the perennial conference favorites Campbell. The Camels are led by Scotti Sentes who is heading into his fifth seed as head coach. Campbell returns a squad that features four 2024 national qualifiers and another coming off of an Olympic redshirt. In 2023-24, Campbell went 14-3 in dual competition and finished ranked 22nd in the nation in dual rankings. Some of the Camels notable dual wins include Army West Point, MAC champion Central Michigan, and rivals Appalachian State. While the SoCon tournament was not what Campbell hoped for, they did reach an impressive benchmark at nationals. Looking ahead to 2024-25, Campbell will likely feature an experienced lineup with the potential to challenge the seven national qualifiers that the 2021 team produced. Additionally, could Campbell place multiple wrestlers on the podium or have a multiple-time AA? I guess we’ll have to stick around for the upcoming season to find out. 125: Anthony Molton The Camels spark plug is back at 125 lbs and looking to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career. Molton was 21-5 last season and spent a significant amount of time in the national rankings, but a semifinal loss at the SoCon Championships coupled with a few other upsets at other conference tournaments was deemed too much for him to receive an at-large berth. A factor that may have hampered Molton in his NCAA bid was his lack of elite wins. Molton teched then-undefeated Jack Maida (American) for his first loss of the year; however, Maida struggled after that point and didn’t qualify himself. He also had at least one other dual where a ranked wrestler was not sent out to face him. Back in 2022-23, Molton made fans take notice when he knocked off the eventual NCAA runner-up, Matt Ramos (Purdue) - his old high school teammate. The two met once last season and Ramos prevailed both times. Two of his other five losses in 2023-24 came to eventual All-American Jore Volk (Wyoming). Molton clearly has the goods to make it to Philadelphia and make an impact at the national tournament, he just needs a couple of signature wins and to end the season on a better note. In each of the last two years, Molton has fallen in the SoCon semis. Since coming to Campbell after Fresno State dropped their program, Molton has amassed a very respectable 42-18 record. 133: Dom Zaccone photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com In 2024-25, Dom Zaccone will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a fourth time and capture an elusive SoCon title. In each of the last two seasons, Zaccone has fallen in the conference finals. Last year, 133 lbs was the deepest weight class in the SoCon with three automatic qualifiers and a couple of other fringe qualifiers. Despite this, Zaccone went 6-1 in conference duals with bonus points in five of those wins. His lone loss came to Ethan Oakley (Appalachian State), an opponent who he had defeated earlier in the season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Once at nationals, Zaccone was granted the #22 seed and went 1-2 - the same record he compiled at the 2023 tournament. In the opening round, Zaccone pulled a slight upset by defeating #11 Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) via a 4-1 decision. He’d lose his next bout to the eventual champion, Vito Arujau (Cornell), and then was eliminated by Virginia Tech’s Sam Latona. During the regular season, Zaccone really made his mark with a fourth-place finish at the CKLV. In addition to his win over Oakley, Zaccone defeated two more national qualifiers (Farber and Chlebove) and an impressive true freshman (Tyler Knox). With Oakley moving on to North Carolina, Zaccone will start the year as an odds-on favorite to finally get his SoCon title. 141: Shannon Hanna Two-time national qualifier Shannon Hanna took off the 2023-24 season using an Olympic redshirt in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games for Barbados. Ultimately, Hanna did not make it to Paris but gained invaluable experience in the process. He earned bronze medals at both the U23 and Senior levels, while competing at the Pan-American Championships. Turning our attention back to the collegiate scene, Hanna will be gunning for his third SoCon title in 2024-25. He’s also seeking the chance to make an even bigger impression at the national tournament. Hanna has gone 0-2 in both of his previous trips. Even though Hanna’s focus was on freestyle last season, he did enter three open tournaments and went 9-4 along the way. His most impressive win during the year of open competition was during his title-winning performance at the Patriot Open, where he edged impressive Penn grayshirt Cross Wasilewski by a point. Hanna will jump back into a 141 lb weight class in the SoCon that was won by Chattanooga true freshman Isaiah Powe. He’ll probably need to win the weight class and post a couple of notable victories to get a better NCAA seed than in the past (#22/#27). That would probably position him better for a deep NCAA run. 149: Wynton Denkins The first three weights for Campbell feature veterans who are trying to fine-tune their games and get to a different level of national competition - but, at 149, they could have a young face that is still trying to establish himself in Wynton Denkins. Denkins is a sophomore who stepped in at 141 lbs last year with Hanna out of the lineup. All-in-all, Denkins acquitted himself well and showed flashes of the talent that made him a top-150 recruit in the high school Class of 2023. Denkins finished his first year in Buies Creek with a 15-9 record. During the dual season, Denkins wrestled close matches with the eventual national qualifiers, Powe and Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb). At SoCon’s, Denkins was on the wrong end of a 15-12 shootout against Powe in the semifinals. For the 2024-25 campaign, Denkins is expected to move up to the 149 lb weight class. This is a bracket that sent two qualifiers to Kansas City; however, only one (Jeffrey Boyd - The Citadel) returns. That means 149 could be wide open in the conference and perhaps Denkins is someone who seizes control of the opportunity. 157: Chris Earnest Speaking of second-year sophomore starters, Campbell has another in Chris Earnest. Like Denkins, Earnest was a top-150 recruit from the state of Ohio who found his way into the Camels starting lineup as a true freshman. Earnest’s collegiate career started on a high note with an upset over ranked national qualifier, Nate Lukez (Army West Point), during his debut. From there, Earnest seemed to have a season like many freshmen do - a few losses he’d probably like to have back, but some really good moments, as well. Earnest went 2-2 in a 157 lb CKLV bracket that probably featured the toughest in-season field of any single weight class in a decade. The top-six finishers were all All-American’s at least once in their careers and two 2024 AA’s field to find the medal stand. A pair of losses to Davidson’s Tanner Peake probably derailed Earnest’s NCAA qualification hopes more than any others. Earnest fell to Peak in dual competition and in the semifinals of the SoCon Championships. With a full year in the Campbell room and valuable in-match experience under his belt, I’d expect Earnest to take that next step in 2024-25 and make a serious push for a spot in Philadelphia. Like his teammate Zaccone, one of Earnest’s biggest in-conference hurdles, Tommy Askey, has transferred leaving 157 lbs relatively open in the upcoming season. 165: Dom Baker/Riley Augustine/Kendrick Hodge In just one offseason, Dom Baker went from a true freshman with a record under .500 to someone who earned an automatic qualifying slot for the conference and used it for his first trip to nationals. Baker started his sophomore year slowly with a 1-2 showing at the CKLV Invitational; however, he turned around his fortunes by promptly winning his next six duals. Included in that streak was an opponent who defeated him in Vegas (Stoney Buell - Purdue) and another who went on to earn All-American honors (Hunter Garvin - Stanford). In his first national tournament appearance, Baker went 1-2 with a victory via fall over #23 Derek Fields (NC State). Both wrestlers who defeated him went on to collect All-American honors. Since Baker was immediately inserted into the Campbell lineup, in 2022-23, he has a redshirt to take. It appears as if the tandem of Riley Augustine and Kendrick Hodge will get a chance to establish one of themselves as the starter with the intention of redshirting Baker. If neither does so, Baker can be pulled. Augustine is a senior who has seen plenty of dual action at 174 lbs for Campbell but has never been the postseason entry. Last year, Augustine was 7-5 overall and 3-3 in dual competition. Hodge is a true freshman who was Campbell’s highest-ranked signee in the Class of 2024, coming in at #89 overall. The Florida native was a two-time NHSCA finalist, who capped off his high school career with a Senior National title. 174: Brant Cracraft Sentes’ team will try to replace one of their stalwarts at this weight class in Austin Murphy, who was a two-time SoCon champion and a Round of 12 finisher in 2021. While Campbell has plenty of options at 174 lbs, some of which are from their Class of 2024, veteran Brant Cracraft may have an early edge on the rest of the field. Cracraft is moving up from 165 lbs where he went 3-7 last season. He saw action in three duals last season and was winless in those. Campbell also has veteran Cole Rees and true freshmen Mike Kinzel and Kaleb Wright who could see action at 174 lbs. Rees was 6-15 in 2022-23, but did not see any action last season. 184: Conor Maslanek Another weight where Campbell will be replacing a long-time starter is 184 lbs with Caleb Hopkins who has exhausted his eligibility. In steps veteran Conor Maslanek who is in his fourth year with the program and is a redshirt junior. Maslanek wrestled at 197 lbs during his first two years with the team, but moved down to 184 for the 2023-24 campaign. With Hopkins in the fold, Maslanek didn’t get many opportunities to take the mat in dual competition; however, he was 1-2 when called upon. Maslanek was 11-7 overall. Certainly, the highlight of his 2023-24 season was a win over Navy’s David Key, who went on to earn All-American honors in Kansas City. A win like that should instill confidence in Maslanek and Campbell fans who are looking for a steady replacement for Hopkins. 197: Levi Hopkins photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com The back end of the Campbell lineup has been a strength, of late, and should continue to be one again in 2024-25 with 197 lber Levi Hopkins being one of the reasons for optimism. Hopkins has won SoCon titles in each of the last two years at this weight and even earned a #13 seed at nationals last year. Hopkins got off to a decent start last season, but really turned it on winning 15 of his last 16 regular season matches. During that span, Hopkins tallied eight of his 13 falls. Hopkins really was head and shoulders above the rest of the SoCon, as he notched first-period pins in each of his three matches at the conference tournament. This year, Hopkins will be looking to make more of an impact at the NCAA meet. In Kansas City, Hopkins suffered a slight upset in the opponent round, with a tiebreaker loss to Evan Bockman (then of Utah Valley). He was eliminated in his next match. As is often the case with upperweights, 197 cleared out a bit after last year. That should lead to a good preseason ranking for Hopkins as he tries to prove he’s much closer to the national podium than a 0-2 finish at nationals. In the offseason, Coach Sentes brought in former national runner-up and three-time All-American, TJ Dudley as an assistant coach. Hopkins will likely benefit from a new high-caliber coach around his weight. 285: Taye Ghadiali photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com The first NCAA All-American under Sentes (as head coach) and only the second one in program history was Taye Ghadiali who finished eighth in Kansas City. Ghadiali is a remarkable development story for the Campbell staff as he was a little-known recruit who fought to a 15-11 record after two seasons, then continued to blossom into a national force and an All-American. Ghadiali finished the 2023-24 campaign with a sparkling 36-6 record and claimed his third consecutive SoCon crown along the way. At the national tournament, Ghadiali suffered a loss in the Round of 16 but battled back through the consolations with three straight wins to clinch All-American honors. Two of those victories came against top-ten seeds who were conference champions. The bloodround win was in sudden victory over the fifth-seed, EIWA champion Nathan Taylor (Lehigh). While Ghadiali was far from an unknown commodity heading into the 2023-24 season, he showed the wrestling world what he was capable of in Vegas with a third-place finish at a loaded weight class. Coincidentally, he earned wins over a pair of wrestlers he’d later beat at NCAA’s (Cory Day - Binghamton and Owen Trephan - NC State). Looking ahead to 2024-25, I’d expect more of the same from Ghadiali - lots of wins and lots of bonus points in the process. Ghadiali amassed bonus points in over 70% of his matches last year and racked up 12 falls. We’ll see if Ghadiali can become the first two-time NCAA All-American in program history. Previous “Never Too Early Lineup Looks:” Air Force Indiana Iowa State Lock Haven North Carolina Northern Iowa Oregon State West Virginia

Omaha just got even better! This morning, seven-time World/Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs made an Instagram post that read “Can’t let you guys have all the fun without me. See you in Omaha.” The post was made in conjunction with a handful of pictures of him training. Burroughs will presumably attempt to make his 12th World/Olympic team and his first since winning his seventh World/Olympic title in 2022. The World Team Trials slated for September 14th and 15th in Omaha, Nebraska, are for the non-Olympic weights for the upcoming World Championships. Wrestlers who did not participate in the Games are eligible at those non-Olympic weights. For men’s freestyle, they are: 61kg, 70kg, 79kg, and 92 kg. Burroughs would enter the 79kg bracket which is where he won his world titles in 2021 and 2022. Burroughs last wrestled at 79kgs in Final X 2023 - losing to Chance Marsteller in an epic three-match series. Recently, Burroughs was on the microphone doing commentary for the 2024 Olympic Games. While he sounded like a polished vet, Burroughs also didn’t come off like someone who was ready to retire and even dropped a couple of subtle (or not-so-subtle) hints that he wasn’t done competing. The 2024 Olympic Games marked the 12-year anniversary of Burroughs’ Olympic gold medal-winning performance in London. Another layer of this story is that the Trials are back in Omaha, not far from his long-time home in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska. The location probably didn’t factor into Burroughs’ decision, but likely is an added bonus. We last saw Burroughs in action at the 2024 Olympic Trials on the campus of Penn State University. At the Trials, Burroughs defeated Penn State star Mitchell Mesenbrink in a heated affair, before losing to former Nittany Lion great Jason Nolf. After each bout, Burroughs was met with boos from a large portion of the crowd, likely due to the many interactions between him and Mesenbrink throughout and after their match. For someone nearing the end of their remarkable career, that didn’t seem like the environment that Burroughs would choose for potentially his final matches on American soil. That led many to assume what was confirmed today - JB isn’t done yet and is ready for the Trials!

Rutgers University announced today that they have filled a vacancy on their coaching staff by adding four-time NCAA All-American Mikey Labriola to their coaching ranks. Labriola is a Nebraska graduate who held down the 174 lb weight class for the Cornhuskers from 2019-23. At Nebraska, Labriola amassed a 115-29 record and capped his career with Big Ten and NCAA finals appearances. In both instances, Labriola was beaten by the eventual national champion Carter Starocci of Penn State. Labriola got on the NCAA podium as a redshirt freshman finishing sixth in the nation, while starting the tournament as the 10th seed. A year later, he was seeded 10th at the 2020 NCAA Tournament - the one wiped out by Covid. In 2021, Labriola finished third in the country and he was seventh a year later. During the regular season, Labriola captured a pair of titles at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and was a vital cog on a Nebraska team that won that tournament three straight seasons. Since finishing up at Nebraska, Labriola has moved back to the East Coast to train with the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club. Labriola is originally from Easton, Pennsylvania - in the Lehigh Valley, and went to high school at Bethlehem Catholic. The position at Rutgers will allow Labriola to remain relatively close to home. Rutgers needed an assistant coach after associate head coach Donny Pritzlaff was hired to lead Columbia as their head coach. The Scarlet Knights return a very strong lineup that includes four past NCAA All-Americans and ten wrestlers with prior NCAA experience. Rutgers finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 12-5 record and 20th at the NCAA Tournament in Kansas City. They racked up 22.5 points on the strength of two All-American performances.

Belle Vernon

Lovett

Central Bucks West

Chatfield

2024: FCW Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers 149 The data has been processed, the charts have been reviewed, and the evaluations are complete. The 2024 breakdown of the Top Fantasy Wrestlers of the 2024 season is here to help you start your 2025 season research. Just like in the past few years, some names are going to be expected, while a lot more may not be. That's the beauty of Fantasy Wrestling, where any wrestler can be the star of the weekend and win the dual for you. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was standard team scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or losses by medical forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season 149 Top-20 Notes: The only NCAA Champion to also finish as the #1 Fantasy Wrestler in their weight, was Caleb Henson. He was a leader in the overall standings for much of the year, amassing two pins, five techs, and two majors in his first 12 matches. But as the regular season came to a close, six of his last nine matches ended in decisions. The wire-to-wire InterMat top ranked 149 lber, Ridge Lovett, finishes at #2 in the fantasy standings, 11 Fpts behind Henson. He did finish with the best PPM of any 149 wrestler in the Top-20, edging out Henson by 0.01 even. Lehigh’s 149 slot seemed to be a revolving door during the season, but it was Kelvin Griffin who got the postseason nod. Despite his 11 losses, and only wrestling in three dual meets, his entry into seven in-season tournaments helped him propel up the standings to #3. Another true freshman success story, Ty Watters, had 10 pins in his first 18 matches of the season (though nine of the ten were ranked higher than 100 on WrestleStat). The best pin of his during the regular season is slotted one rank below him in the Top-20 at #5, Corbyn Munson. Jackson Arrington and Jude Swisher both had 67 Fpts but arrived at it from two completely different paths. Arrington, who finished at #6 on the Top-20, was starter from day one and rattled off six techs in his first six matches. Swisher, #7 on the Top-20 this season, was in a roster battle a weight up until the last 20 days of the season when he dropped to 149. Swisher would wrestle nine matches in 21 days, and in a two day span, travel from Philly, to Lancaster, to Fairfax VA and back (a total of ~375 miles round trip) Mr. All-He-Does-Is-AA Kyle Parco is also Mr. Consistent when it comes to fantasy wrestling as well. In the past four years (2021 to 2024) he has finished in the Top-10 at 149, with his best year being 2022 where he finished 4th. Not counting the COVID year 2021, he's also wrestled at least 20 regular season matches each year. Three redshirts make the list, with Sam Cartella as the best falling 0.5 PPM outside the Top-10. Lucas Kapusta wrestled in only one dual meet for Lock Haven, but represented them at seven tournaments, which helped him finish at #15. And lastly, Kannon Webster wrestled the least number of matches inside the Top-20 with 18. Who Missed The Cut: Four All-Americans missed the Top-20, with Casey Swiderski (ISU) the closest by one Fpt. Road warrior Tyler Kasak (PSU) finished with 41 Fpts, and Quinn Kinner (RID) with 23 Fpts. National finalist Austin Gomez (MICH) only wrestled in eight matches, going 7-1 for a total of 24 Fpts Ethan Fernandez (COR) was the first man out at #21, tying #20 Drew Roberts but falling 0.2 behind in PPM. Nicholas Stonecheck (LHU) takes the #22 spot, also with 43 Fpts, but behind in PPM to Fernandez by 0.1. Other notables to miss the Top-20 include Ethen Miller (MARY) with 38 Fpts, Caleb Rathjen (IOWA) with 33 Fpts, Jordan Wiliams (OKST) with 25 Fpts, Jaden Abas (STAN) with 22 Fpts, and Gabe Willochell (WYO) with 14 Fpts

Late Saturday night, we had an unexpected news drop. The actual information was not totally surprising as there were hints about it earlier in the week; however, a Saturday night announcement tends to be unusual. The news itself is that 2024 Olympian, Roman Bravo-Young, will head west to join Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC. Like first-year Cowboy head coach David Taylor, Bravo-Young is a Penn State alum. While in State College, Bravo-Young was a two-time national champion, a three-time finalist, and a three-time Big Ten champion. Bravo-Young went undefeated in his two title-winning campaigns and was 100-10 in a Penn State singlet. Bravo-Young chose to represent Mexico internationally and qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games after three dominating wins at the Pan-American Olympic Qualifier. In Paris, Bravo-Young drew three-time world bronze medalist Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia in the opening round and ended up losing via tech, 13-3. With Bravo-Young’s addition, Oklahoma State has one of the most impressive sets of lightweight training partners in the nation. Along with Bravo-Young are Daton Fix and assistant coach Thomas Gilman. Both Fix and Gilman have made Senior world finals at least once in their international careers. Bravo-Young and Fix are no strangers to one another, as the former Nittany Lion twice defeated Fix in the NCAA finals, each time by an excruciatingly thin margin. Bravo-Young has hinted at moving to MMA at some point. His move to Stillwater signals that he isn’t ready to leave the wrestling mat quite yet.

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 53 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Alireza Sarlak (Iran) FFT Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) over Gamal Mohamed (Egypt) Fall 1:30 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Vladimir Egorov (North Macedonia) 8-0 Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) over Diamantino Iuna Fafe (Guinea-Bissau) 7-6 Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) over Meirambek Kartbay (Kazakhstan) 4-1 Spencer Lee (USA) over Wanhao Zou (China) 3-2 Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Aliabbas Rzazade (Azerbaijan) 11-4 Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) over Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico) 13-3 Quarterfinals Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) 12-2 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) 12-0 Spencer Lee (USA) over Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) 12-2 Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) 12-5 Semifinals Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Aman Sehrawat (India) 10-0 Spencer Lee (USA) over Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) 14-4 Repechage Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) over Wanhao Zou (China) Fall 2:24 Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) over Alireza Sarlak (Iran) FFT Bronze Medal Matches Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) 4-1 Aman Sehrawat (India) over Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) 13-5 Gold Medal Match Rei Higuchi (Japan) over Spencer Lee (USA) 4-2 Notes: Rei Higuchi captured his second career Olympic medal - he has a silver from way back in 2016 in his collection as well. Higuchi now has four World/Olympic medals with two of them being gold. Higuchi is Japan’s first multiple-time Olympic medalist in men’s freestyle since Akira Ota in 1984 (2) and 1988 (2). Of the three wrestlers in this bracket with prior world medals, only Higuchi was able to get on the medal stand. Spencer Lee earned a silver medal in his first Senior-level World/Olympic event. The last three 57 kg representatives for the United States have all wrestled for the University of Iowa. The two finalists generally appeared to be on a level of their own above the rest of the weight class. They combined to outscore their opponents 51-10 (plus a forfeit) on the way to the finals. The United States and India both had Olympic medalists in 2020 and 2024 at this weight; however, neither came from the same wrestler. Thomas Gilman and Ravi Kumar were the medalists in 2020. Sehrawat was the youngest of the medalists at 21. The quarterfinal round saw a pair of past world medalists and favorites lose in relatively one-sided matches. Abakarov was teched by Sehrawat and Harutyunyan was defeated 12-5 by Abdullaev. All four quarterfinal winners posted 12 points in each of their matches. This was the only men’s freestyle weight where Iran did not post an individual win. Sarlak was a very late replacement and ended up forfeiting to Higuchi in the opening round. Three of the eight seeded wrestlers fell in the first round. #3 Kartbay, #6 Zou, #8 Mohamed. As you might expect from 57 kg, this weight class was littered with first-time Olympians. Only Abdullaev, Harutyunyan, Higuchi, and Iuna Fafe and previous Olympic experience. This bracket contained three NCAA champions with Lee (x3), Roman Bravo-Young (x2), and Darian Cruz. photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight. Past weight classes Greco-Roman: 60 kg Greco-Roman: 67 kg Greco-Roman: 77 kg Greco-Roman: 87 kg Greco-Roman: 97 kg Greco-Roman: 130 kg Women's Freestyle: 50 kg Women's Freestyle: 68 kg Round of 16 Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) 7-4 Andreea Ana (Romania) over Mariana Dragutan (Moldova) 5-0 Annika Wendle (Germany) over Maria Prevolaraki (Greece) 3-2 Zeynep Yetgil (Turkey) over Antim Panghal (India) 10-0 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Dom Parrish (USA) Fall 2:05 Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) over Christianah Ogunsanya (Nigeria) Fall 2:19 Qianyu Pang (China) over Mia Aquino (Guam) 10-0 Emma Malmgren (Sweden) over Betzabeth Arguello (Venezuela) Fall 5:06 Quarterfinals Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Andreea Ana (Romania) Fall 4:41 Annika Wendle (Germany) over Zeynep Yetgil (Turkey) Fall 4:22 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) 8-2 Qianyu Pang (China) over Emma Malmgren (Sweden) 10-2 Semifinals Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Annika Wendle (Germany) 10-0 Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Qianyu Pang (China) 10-0 Repechage Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) over Dom Parrish (USA) Fall 4:35 Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) over Andreea Ana (Romania) 11-0 Bronze Medal Matches Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) over Annika Wendle (Germany) InjDef Qianyu Pang (China) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) Fall 1:05 Gold Medal Matches Akari Fujinami (Japan) over Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) 10-0 Notes: Despite being only 20 years old, Akari Fujinami is now a two-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. With four wins at the Olympic Games, Fujinami has a winning streak that has extended to 137 matches. Only one of Fujinami’s four matches went the full six minutes. Lucia Yepez Guzman’s silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Ecuador in any of the three styles of wrestling. This was the most Asian dominated medal stand. Three of the four medalists represent Asian countries. Hyogyong Choe became the first North Korean woman to earn an Olympic medal in wrestling with her bronze medal. China’s Qianyu Pang (China) is now a two-time Olympic medalist (2,3). She is also a four-time World/Olympic medalist. Three of the four medalists are 24 years old or younger. China’s Pang (27) was the oldest of the bunch. Three of the eight seeded wrestlers lost in the first round, #4 Antim Panghal, #5 Maria Prevolaraki, #6 Christianah Ogunsanya. American fans are aware that a pair of world medalists clashed in the opening round as Fujinami pinned Dom Parrish. It was the only first round matchup between past world medalists. Parrish also met Khulan Batkhuyag in repechage. The two met in the world finals in 2022 and Parrish prevailed 4-2. This time the Mongolian picked up a win via fall. This might have been the most lopsided bracket in terms of tiers of talent. Of the 19 matches wrestled at this weight, only five of them went the full six minutes. Along those same lines, 53 kg was the only women’s weight class where there were techs in both semifinal matches. Fujinami and Yepez Guzman are the only wrestlers who made the medal stand at this weight last year at the World Championships and in Paris. Emma Malmgren was one of only two Swedish women in the tournament. Malmgren was the only two pick up a win. Pang, Andreea Ana, and Maria Prevolaraki are the only members of the 53 kg 2020 Olympic bracket that returned in 2024. Yepez Guzman is the only other wrestler in the bracket with Olympic experience (at 50 kg in 2020). Prevolaraki was easily the most experienced wrestler in this field. She competed in the Olympic Games for a fourth time, though she has never medaled.

2x All-American Jacob Cardenas had to transfer in the offseason to use his final year of collegiate eligibility - which led him to the University of Michigan. Cardenas is excited for big duals that come along with wrestling in the Big Ten. Cardenas talks with Kevin Claunch about his career at Cornell - one that featured a head coaching change, international competition, and plenty of wins at 197 lbs. For the full interview: