Tomorrow night is one of the crown jewels of the college wrestling season, the All-Star Classic. The event returned to college wrestling in the 2022-23 season and had been the place for marquee matchups to occur. When previous iterations of the event started to die out, it was because intriguing matchups didn’t always take place. One of the benefits of having NIL is that there is now some added incentive for athletes to participate.
Like the 2023 Classic, this event has a handful of women’s matches - each featuring opponents from different championship divisions doing battle. Also, there is a clash between a top-ranked wrestler from the D2 and D3 ranks. Each is an impressive national champion, in their own right.
Finally, there is a full slate of bouts between DI competitors. One is a rematch of the 2024 NCAA finals, others could end up being previews of NCAA semifinals and finals, while the main event features two of the best wrestlers in college wrestling today.
Here’s a match-by-match look at what to expect from the 2024 All-Star Classic.
110 - #1 Emma Baertlein (Southern Oregon) vs #4 Kendra Ryan (North Central)
The women’s collegiate matches bring a sense of intrigue as each of these matches features a woman from an NAIA school against one from the NCWWC. In this contest, we have Kendra Ryan who is a three-time NCWWC All-American, and Emma Baertlein, who has earned All-American honors twice herself. Ryan was the top seed at nationals last season and suffered her only two losses of the year at the national tournament - taking fourth. Baertlein was knocked off in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with four straight wins to take third and avenged her loss with a fall in the third-place bout.
124 - #1 Amani Jones (North Central) vs #2 Maya Davis (Grand View)
Two-time NCWWC finalist and one-time champion Amani Jones has to be considered the favorite in this contest. Less than a month ago, Jones returned from Tirana, Albania with a bronze medal from the U23 World Championships. It was her second piece of international hardware after earning a bronze the previous year at the U20 level. Maya Davis is a two-time NAIA All-American and one of the faces of a young Grand View program. She is one of only three wrestlers in Grand View women’s history to appear in the national finals. Davis’ NAIA national championship loss came at the hands of 2024 U20 world champion Cristelle Rodriguez (Doane).
131 - #1 Victoria Baez-Dilone (King) vs #1 Carolina Moreno (Southern Oregon)
The first of two women’s #1 versus #1 matches pits 2024 NCWWC runner-up Victoria Baez-Dilone against three-time NAIA champion Carolina Moreno. Before coming to King University, Baez-Dilone was a two-time Junior College champion for Umpqua CC. Baez-Dilone has extensive international experience wrestling for Spain - she competed at the 2024 World Championships and was a U20 European bronze medalist in 2019.
In 2023, Moreno became the first Southern Oregon woman to win multiple national titles. This year, she’ll attempt to become the first woman to win four NAIA national titles. Coincidentally, Baez-Dilone met McKendree’s Cam Guerin in the 2024 NCWWC finals, as Guerin was attempting to win her fourth title.
145 - #1 Jamilah McBryde (Life) vs #2 Aine Drury (King)
The next two matches will pit one of the McBryde sisters, of Life University, against a star from King University. A real Georgia versus Tennessee rivalry (Though the McBryde sisters are from New York and both King wrestlers are from California). Jamilah McBryde was the only Life wrestler to win a national title in 2024 and has earned All-American honors on two occasions (3rd in 2023). Aine Drury was an NCWWC national runner-up in 2024 and then made the finals of the U23 World Team Trials. Though she fell in the Trials, Drury was able to earn a gold medal at the Pan-American U20 Championships.
160 - #1 Cheyenne Bowman (King) vs #1 Latifah McBryde (Life)
The only woman to appear in last year’s All-Star Classic and this one is Latifah McBryde. In the 2023 ASC, McBryde fell 8-3 to Iowa’s Marlynne Deede. Going back to collegiate competition, McBryde has made the NAIA national finals in each of her first two seasons competing for the Running Eagles. Outside of collegiate wrestling, McBryde has made the finals of the U20 Trials. Like McBryde, Cheyenne Bowman is also a two-time college national runner-up, with both of hers coming at the NCWWC division. Bowman also has a fifth-place finish in her freshman season.
197 - #1 (D2) Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) vs #1 (D3) Massoma Endene (Wartburg)
Last year’s All-Star Classic had a #1 vs #1 matchup with a top-ranked wrestler from the DII ranks taking on one from DIII. That will happen again with Derek Blubaugh and Massoma Endene squaring off. Endene has won the past two DIII national titles at 197 lbs for Wartburg. He’s proven he can compete with the best in the nation by winning the U23 World Trial Trials and downing DI Round of 12 finisher Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) in the process.
Derek Blubaugh was one of the stories of the DII national tournament in 2024. He turned the tables on Central Oklahoma’s Dalton Abney after Abney had defeated him in the national finals in each of the previous two years. In doing so, Blubaugh became only the second national champion ever for Indianapolis and the first since 2011.
197 - #5 Stephen Little (Little Rock) vs #10 Zac Braunagel (Illinois)
With Stephen Little being a redshirt freshman during the 2023-24 season and Zac Braunagel taking an Olympic redshirt that year, these two haven’t squared off in college before. Expect this to be one of the more physical bouts of the evening. Both wrestlers are brawlers (meant to be a compliment). Little showed flashes of becoming an impact wrestler while redshirting in 2022-23, but wrestled at an All-American level from day one last season.
Little comes into this match fresh off a title at the TigerStyle Invite - an event he’s won for the second straight season. Braunagel was second in the top pool at the Journeymen Collegiate Challenge on Sunday having suffered a one-point loss to All-American Michael Beard.
285 - #3 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) vs #9 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell)
We’ve got another chapter in the budding rivalry between Nick Feldman and Taye Ghadiali. The two first met last season in Vegas at the CKLV Invitational and Feldman had to injury default out of their bout. Luckily, it didn’t prove to be serious and Feldman returned to action at the Collegiate Duals. The two later clashed in the consolation quarterfinals at the NCAA Tournament, a match after each clinched All-American honors. Feldman got this win, 10-4.
The top recruit in the high school Class of 2022, Feldman, has lived up to his pre-college billing and looks to take a gigantic step towards NCAA title contention in 2024-25. He’s looked the part early with three tech falls in four matches. His only bout that went the distance was a solid 7-3 win over EIWA champion Nathan Taylor (Lehigh).
Ghadiali can put up the points himself and has a pin and a tech in his first two bouts of 2024-25. He was kept in check on Saturday at WrangleMania against U23 World Champion Isaac Trumble of NC State. Ghadiali dropped a tight 2-1 decision. I don’t see this being the case Saturday night and both wrestlers lighting up the Rec Hall scoreboard.
125 - #2 Jore Volk (Wyoming) vs #5 Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State)
Here we go! Round four in a rivalry between these two Big 12 foes. The last time Jore Volk and Tanner Jordan were on the mat together it was in the seventh-place bout at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Volk won that chapter with a 4-0 shutout. Two weeks earlier, the pair met in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championships and Volk kept Jordan off the scoreboard in a 1-0 win. About a month before the postseason, Jordan got the back-and-forth started with a 2-1 win.
Last weekend, Jordan got his 2024-25 season off to a strong start with a tournament title at the Bison Open. In Fargo, Jordan racked up three bonus-point wins over freshmen opposition.
Volk has appeared in both of Wyoming’s duals this season. He started the campaign with a solid 2-0 win over a ranked opponent in Campbell’s Anthony Molton. Last week, he pinned Western Wyoming’s Sefton Douglass.
With the familiarity between these two, it will likely come down to who made an adjustment to their game over the offseason. Even so, I’d expect this to be a low-scoring, tactical affair based on their previous meetings.
133 - #2 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) vs #3 Lucas Byrd (Illinois)
Another match between a Little Rock wrestler who earned All-American honors as a freshman last season, and an Illinois wrestler that came off redshirt. This bout may not get as much attention and hype as the others, but could be an NCAA finals-type preview. 133 lbs is a weight class without a returning champion or finalist (at the same weight) so it’s relatively wide open and either of these wrestlers is capable of wrestling on the raised stage on Saturday night.
Nasir Bailey is headed into his second year at Little Rock. It’s scary to think how good he may become after a full year in the Little Rock room. This will be Bailey’s first significant test of the 2024-25 campaign. He’s rolled through a pair of D2 opponents in Little Rock’s only duals this season. While this match won’t officially count on either wrestler’s record, Bailey has been lights out in dual competition. His only dual loss in the 2023-24 season came by two points to the defending (and eventual) NCAA champion, Vito Arujau (Cornell).
Lucas Byrd got on the NCAA podium in each of their first two seasons wrestling at Illinois. He was fifth both times before falling a match shy of All-American honors in 2023. Byrd was injured in the 2023 preseason and never stepped on the mat last year. Unlike Bailey, he has faced some stiff competition thus far. Of his six wins, Byrd has defeated ranked opponents like #20 Julian Chlebove (Arizona State) and #21 Brett Ungar (Cornell).
141 - #2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs #3 Beau Bartlett (Penn State)
If our last match “could” be a preview of the NCAA finals - this one is a rematch of the 2024 title bout at 141 lbs. Jesse Mendez took the rubber match between him and Beau Bartlett last year in Kansas City. Bartlett looked dangerously close to securing a takedown; however, Mendez wrestled through the position and finished a takedown late in regulation. He defeated Bartlett by an identical 4-1 score in the Big Ten finals. Earlier in the season, Bartlett got the best of Mendez during the school’s dual meet.
Mendez has been relatively busy in the early going this season and looks even more dynamic than the version of him that captured an NCAA title in 2024. He crushed All-American Luke Stanich (Lehigh) 14-3 to claim a title at the season-opening Clarion Open. Thursday, he rolled to a 23-7 tech fall over 2024 SoCon champion Isaiah Powe (Chattanooga).
Penn State has yet to take the mat, so we haven’t been exposed to Bartlett yet in the 2024-25 season. Bartlett “took one for the team” and wrestled up at 149 lbs during his first two years in State College and had a decent amount of success. Down at 141 lbs, he’s proven to be one of the best in the country. Before his NCAA finals appearance in 2024, Bartlett was third in the nation in 2023.
It can’t be assumed that this is an NCAA finals preview as 2023 national champion Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) also lurks at this weight. The winner probably stays on the opposite side of the bracket of Alirez, for those that are into that type of thing in November.
149 - #2 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs #3 Ty Watters (West Virginia)
The last time that we saw Shayne Van Ness in action was almost a year ago at the All-Star Classic. There he cruised over multi-time All-American Kyle Parco (Arizona State), 5-1. A little more than a week after the dual, the Penn State staff announced that Van Ness would miss the remainder of the season due to an injury. At that point, Van Ness had only wrestled in three matches, at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, and had earned falls in each of those three contests. As a redshirt freshman, Van Ness finished with a 24-7 and was third in the nation.
Speaking of freshmen on the podium, Ty Watters did it last year as a true freshman and was fourth in the country. That placement made him the first Mountaineer freshman to crack the top-eight since Zeke Moisey made the national finals in 2015. Watters’ mettle has already been tested in 2024-25 as he held off two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) in sudden victory to claim a Southeast Open title during the first weekend of the regular season. Last night, Watters posted an impressive 16-1 tech fall over #22 Sammy Alvarez (Rider).
157 - #3 Peyten Kellar (Ohio) vs. #5 Tyler Kasak (Penn State)
With Van Ness out for the year it was Tyler Kasak who stepped up (and moved up - a weight class) to handle duties at 149 lbs for Penn State. Like Van Ness, he finished his first year of competition in third place. Unlike his teammate, Kasak did it the hard way by losing his opening match at nationals and battling back with seven straight wins - the last coming over Watters. There is a bit of uncertainty about Kasak’s role this season. Veteran Alex Facundo has cut down to 157 lbs and Kasak has a redshirt available; however, that’s a different story for a different day.
Kasak will get greeted in his first match at 157 lbs by Ohio’s All-American Peyton Kellar. Kellar generally flew under the radar for the 2023-24 season, but opened eyes in Kansas City by defeating Peyton Robb (Nebraska) and pinning Ed Scott (NC State) and Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). Kellar already has amassed a 6-0 record for the year. Last weekend, he won the Michigan State Open and notched wins over quality opponents like #13 Chase Saldate (Michigan) and #18 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan).
This matchup has the potential to be one of the more fun, high-scoring matches of the evening.
165 - #3 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) vs. #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford)
Speaking of action and scoring points, if you’re into that type of thing, Hunter Garvin is your guy. He’s proven to be someone who gets into exciting scraps and generally wrestles better under the bright lights and when the stakes are the highest. Garvin came into the 2024 NCAA Championships as the #20 seed, but notched wins over multiple-time AA’s Cam Amine (Michigan) and Peyton Hall.
Despite the head-to-head win at nationals, Garvin has dropped a few slots after his loss on the first weekend of the season to Terrell Barraclough. He suffered another loss on Saturday back in his hometown, against Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo. Garvin did jump out to an early lead, but Caliendo stormed back for a 17-12 win.
Hall got on the NCAA podium for a second time last season, but seemed poised to improve upon his seventh-place finish. He already sports a 7-0 record after picking up five wins in the first week of the season at the Southeast Open. Since then, he’s posted tech falls in his only two duals.
Went these two met in the 2024 NCAA consolation quarterfinals, it was 14-4 in favor of Garvin. While the Cardinal sophomore may take Saturday’s match, I’d be surprised if the margin of victory is that wide again.
174 - #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs #3 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State)
This will mark Levi Haines’ unofficial debut at 174 lbs. Haines was an undefeated national champion at 157 lbs last season and made the national finals the previous year, as a true freshman. Haines has already shown that he can compete in this weight range as he beat two-time NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole at 79 kg in the World Team Trials consolations in September. Sometimes, too much can be made about a freestyle result, but the fact is that very few wrestlers have defeated O’Toole in any weight and in any style over the past few years.
Before we worry about O’Toole or anyone else, Haines will have to deal with the highest returning All-American from the 2024 174 lb national tournament - he is Cade DeVos. 2023-24 was truly a breakout season for DeVos. Before that season, he had never finished higher than third at the Big 12 Championships and was a bloodround finisher. DeVos showed he was capable of much more with a title at the CKLV Invitational, a Big 12 title, and then the #2 seed at nationals. He would end up fifth in a weight class that had three past national champions slot in ahead of him.
184 - #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
This is the main event and the most anticipated All-Star match since Kyle Dake moved up to 165 lbs to take on David Taylor early in the 2012-13 season. In one corner is Carter Starocci, who is chasing history by attempting to become the first collegiate wrestler to win five national titles. Starocci won his fourth in that brutal weight class that featured DeVos and he had to do it the hard way. Just to make the national finals, Starocci downed past champions Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) and Shane Griffith (Michigan). He’d win by defeating freshman Rocco Welsh (Ohio State). None of those final three opponents were able to score on the Penn State star.
Coming into the 2024 national tournament, Starocci’s status was uncertain -at best. He suffered a knee injury late in the year and injury defaulted out of his two Big Ten matches and was saddled with the ninth seed in Kansas City. Those injury default losses were the first on his record since the 2021 Big Ten finals, where he was beaten by Iowa’s Michael Kemerer.
In the other corner is the incumbent and champion at this weight, Parker Keckeisen. In a normal circumstance, Keckeisen would undoubtedly be the number one wrestler at this weight. Keckeisen earned his national title in impressive fashion, tallying bonus points in each of his five NCAA matches. It was the perfect finishing touches on a perfect season for the Panther wrestler. A year before, Keckeisen made the national finals but was defeated by Starocci’s teammate, Aaron Brooks.
Before the return of Gable Steveson, you could make the case that these were the two best pound-for-pound wrestlers in college today. Still, it’s an incredible matchup. From what we’ve seen over the past year, it’s difficult to fathom anyone being able to score on either of these wrestlers. I’m glad that both wrestlers are laying on the line early in the season and are giving us a potential preview of what could come in March.
James Island Charter
The Hill School
West Field
Columbus
Wadsworth
Wadsworth
Bishop Watterson
Mount Vernon
Perkins
Skutt Catholic
Wilson
Gabriel Richard
Reynolds
Ellwood City
St. Plus X
North Hunterdon
Parkwood
Pisgah
Earlham
Grand River Academy
Garner-Hayfield-Ventura
Skutt Catholic
Buchanan
Bettendorf
Tomorrow night is one of the crown jewels of the college wrestling season, the All-Star Classic. The event returned to college wrestling in the 2022-23 season and had been the place for marquee matchups to occur. When previous iterations of the event started to die out, it was because intriguing matchups didn’t always take place. One of the benefits of having NIL is that there is now some added incentive for athletes to participate. Like the 2023 Classic, this event has a handful of women’s matches - each featuring opponents from different championship divisions doing battle. Also, there is a clash between a top-ranked wrestler from the D2 and D3 ranks. Each is an impressive national champion, in their own right. Finally, there is a full slate of bouts between DI competitors. One is a rematch of the 2024 NCAA finals, others could end up being previews of NCAA semifinals and finals, while the main event features two of the best wrestlers in college wrestling today. Here’s a match-by-match look at what to expect from the 2024 All-Star Classic. 110 - #1 Emma Baertlein (Southern Oregon) vs #4 Kendra Ryan (North Central) The women’s collegiate matches bring a sense of intrigue as each of these matches features a woman from an NAIA school against one from the NCWWC. In this contest, we have Kendra Ryan who is a three-time NCWWC All-American, and Emma Baertlein, who has earned All-American honors twice herself. Ryan was the top seed at nationals last season and suffered her only two losses of the year at the national tournament - taking fourth. Baertlein was knocked off in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with four straight wins to take third and avenged her loss with a fall in the third-place bout. 124 - #1 Amani Jones (North Central) vs #2 Maya Davis (Grand View) Two-time NCWWC finalist and one-time champion Amani Jones has to be considered the favorite in this contest. Less than a month ago, Jones returned from Tirana, Albania with a bronze medal from the U23 World Championships. It was her second piece of international hardware after earning a bronze the previous year at the U20 level. Maya Davis is a two-time NAIA All-American and one of the faces of a young Grand View program. She is one of only three wrestlers in Grand View women’s history to appear in the national finals. Davis’ NAIA national championship loss came at the hands of 2024 U20 world champion Cristelle Rodriguez (Doane). 131 - #1 Victoria Baez-Dilone (King) vs #1 Carolina Moreno (Southern Oregon) The first of two women’s #1 versus #1 matches pits 2024 NCWWC runner-up Victoria Baez-Dilone against three-time NAIA champion Carolina Moreno. Before coming to King University, Baez-Dilone was a two-time Junior College champion for Umpqua CC. Baez-Dilone has extensive international experience wrestling for Spain - she competed at the 2024 World Championships and was a U20 European bronze medalist in 2019. In 2023, Moreno became the first Southern Oregon woman to win multiple national titles. This year, she’ll attempt to become the first woman to win four NAIA national titles. Coincidentally, Baez-Dilone met McKendree’s Cam Guerin in the 2024 NCWWC finals, as Guerin was attempting to win her fourth title. 145 - #1 Jamilah McBryde (Life) vs #2 Aine Drury (King) The next two matches will pit one of the McBryde sisters, of Life University, against a star from King University. A real Georgia versus Tennessee rivalry (Though the McBryde sisters are from New York and both King wrestlers are from California). Jamilah McBryde was the only Life wrestler to win a national title in 2024 and has earned All-American honors on two occasions (3rd in 2023). Aine Drury was an NCWWC national runner-up in 2024 and then made the finals of the U23 World Team Trials. Though she fell in the Trials, Drury was able to earn a gold medal at the Pan-American U20 Championships. 160 - #1 Cheyenne Bowman (King) vs #1 Latifah McBryde (Life) The only woman to appear in last year’s All-Star Classic and this one is Latifah McBryde. In the 2023 ASC, McBryde fell 8-3 to Iowa’s Marlynne Deede. Going back to collegiate competition, McBryde has made the NAIA national finals in each of her first two seasons competing for the Running Eagles. Outside of collegiate wrestling, McBryde has made the finals of the U20 Trials. Like McBryde, Cheyenne Bowman is also a two-time college national runner-up, with both of hers coming at the NCWWC division. Bowman also has a fifth-place finish in her freshman season. 197 - #1 (D2) Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) vs #1 (D3) Massoma Endene (Wartburg) Last year’s All-Star Classic had a #1 vs #1 matchup with a top-ranked wrestler from the DII ranks taking on one from DIII. That will happen again with Derek Blubaugh and Massoma Endene squaring off. Endene has won the past two DIII national titles at 197 lbs for Wartburg. He’s proven he can compete with the best in the nation by winning the U23 World Trial Trials and downing DI Round of 12 finisher Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) in the process. Derek Blubaugh was one of the stories of the DII national tournament in 2024. He turned the tables on Central Oklahoma’s Dalton Abney after Abney had defeated him in the national finals in each of the previous two years. In doing so, Blubaugh became only the second national champion ever for Indianapolis and the first since 2011. 197 - #5 Stephen Little (Little Rock) vs #10 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) With Stephen Little being a redshirt freshman during the 2023-24 season and Zac Braunagel taking an Olympic redshirt that year, these two haven’t squared off in college before. Expect this to be one of the more physical bouts of the evening. Both wrestlers are brawlers (meant to be a compliment). Little showed flashes of becoming an impact wrestler while redshirting in 2022-23, but wrestled at an All-American level from day one last season. Little comes into this match fresh off a title at the TigerStyle Invite - an event he’s won for the second straight season. Braunagel was second in the top pool at the Journeymen Collegiate Challenge on Sunday having suffered a one-point loss to All-American Michael Beard. 285 - #3 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) vs #9 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) We’ve got another chapter in the budding rivalry between Nick Feldman and Taye Ghadiali. The two first met last season in Vegas at the CKLV Invitational and Feldman had to injury default out of their bout. Luckily, it didn’t prove to be serious and Feldman returned to action at the Collegiate Duals. The two later clashed in the consolation quarterfinals at the NCAA Tournament, a match after each clinched All-American honors. Feldman got this win, 10-4. The top recruit in the high school Class of 2022, Feldman, has lived up to his pre-college billing and looks to take a gigantic step towards NCAA title contention in 2024-25. He’s looked the part early with three tech falls in four matches. His only bout that went the distance was a solid 7-3 win over EIWA champion Nathan Taylor (Lehigh). Ghadiali can put up the points himself and has a pin and a tech in his first two bouts of 2024-25. He was kept in check on Saturday at WrangleMania against U23 World Champion Isaac Trumble of NC State. Ghadiali dropped a tight 2-1 decision. I don’t see this being the case Saturday night and both wrestlers lighting up the Rec Hall scoreboard. 125 - #2 Jore Volk (Wyoming) vs #5 Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) Here we go! Round four in a rivalry between these two Big 12 foes. The last time Jore Volk and Tanner Jordan were on the mat together it was in the seventh-place bout at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Volk won that chapter with a 4-0 shutout. Two weeks earlier, the pair met in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championships and Volk kept Jordan off the scoreboard in a 1-0 win. About a month before the postseason, Jordan got the back-and-forth started with a 2-1 win. Last weekend, Jordan got his 2024-25 season off to a strong start with a tournament title at the Bison Open. In Fargo, Jordan racked up three bonus-point wins over freshmen opposition. Volk has appeared in both of Wyoming’s duals this season. He started the campaign with a solid 2-0 win over a ranked opponent in Campbell’s Anthony Molton. Last week, he pinned Western Wyoming’s Sefton Douglass. With the familiarity between these two, it will likely come down to who made an adjustment to their game over the offseason. Even so, I’d expect this to be a low-scoring, tactical affair based on their previous meetings. 133 - #2 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) vs #3 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) Another match between a Little Rock wrestler who earned All-American honors as a freshman last season, and an Illinois wrestler that came off redshirt. This bout may not get as much attention and hype as the others, but could be an NCAA finals-type preview. 133 lbs is a weight class without a returning champion or finalist (at the same weight) so it’s relatively wide open and either of these wrestlers is capable of wrestling on the raised stage on Saturday night. Nasir Bailey is headed into his second year at Little Rock. It’s scary to think how good he may become after a full year in the Little Rock room. This will be Bailey’s first significant test of the 2024-25 campaign. He’s rolled through a pair of D2 opponents in Little Rock’s only duals this season. While this match won’t officially count on either wrestler’s record, Bailey has been lights out in dual competition. His only dual loss in the 2023-24 season came by two points to the defending (and eventual) NCAA champion, Vito Arujau (Cornell). Lucas Byrd got on the NCAA podium in each of their first two seasons wrestling at Illinois. He was fifth both times before falling a match shy of All-American honors in 2023. Byrd was injured in the 2023 preseason and never stepped on the mat last year. Unlike Bailey, he has faced some stiff competition thus far. Of his six wins, Byrd has defeated ranked opponents like #20 Julian Chlebove (Arizona State) and #21 Brett Ungar (Cornell). 141 - #2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs #3 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) If our last match “could” be a preview of the NCAA finals - this one is a rematch of the 2024 title bout at 141 lbs. Jesse Mendez took the rubber match between him and Beau Bartlett last year in Kansas City. Bartlett looked dangerously close to securing a takedown; however, Mendez wrestled through the position and finished a takedown late in regulation. He defeated Bartlett by an identical 4-1 score in the Big Ten finals. Earlier in the season, Bartlett got the best of Mendez during the school’s dual meet. Mendez has been relatively busy in the early going this season and looks even more dynamic than the version of him that captured an NCAA title in 2024. He crushed All-American Luke Stanich (Lehigh) 14-3 to claim a title at the season-opening Clarion Open. Thursday, he rolled to a 23-7 tech fall over 2024 SoCon champion Isaiah Powe (Chattanooga). Penn State has yet to take the mat, so we haven’t been exposed to Bartlett yet in the 2024-25 season. Bartlett “took one for the team” and wrestled up at 149 lbs during his first two years in State College and had a decent amount of success. Down at 141 lbs, he’s proven to be one of the best in the country. Before his NCAA finals appearance in 2024, Bartlett was third in the nation in 2023. It can’t be assumed that this is an NCAA finals preview as 2023 national champion Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) also lurks at this weight. The winner probably stays on the opposite side of the bracket of Alirez, for those that are into that type of thing in November. 149 - #2 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs #3 Ty Watters (West Virginia) The last time that we saw Shayne Van Ness in action was almost a year ago at the All-Star Classic. There he cruised over multi-time All-American Kyle Parco (Arizona State), 5-1. A little more than a week after the dual, the Penn State staff announced that Van Ness would miss the remainder of the season due to an injury. At that point, Van Ness had only wrestled in three matches, at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, and had earned falls in each of those three contests. As a redshirt freshman, Van Ness finished with a 24-7 and was third in the nation. Speaking of freshmen on the podium, Ty Watters did it last year as a true freshman and was fourth in the country. That placement made him the first Mountaineer freshman to crack the top-eight since Zeke Moisey made the national finals in 2015. Watters’ mettle has already been tested in 2024-25 as he held off two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) in sudden victory to claim a Southeast Open title during the first weekend of the regular season. Last night, Watters posted an impressive 16-1 tech fall over #22 Sammy Alvarez (Rider). 157 - #3 Peyten Kellar (Ohio) vs. #5 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) With Van Ness out for the year it was Tyler Kasak who stepped up (and moved up - a weight class) to handle duties at 149 lbs for Penn State. Like Van Ness, he finished his first year of competition in third place. Unlike his teammate, Kasak did it the hard way by losing his opening match at nationals and battling back with seven straight wins - the last coming over Watters. There is a bit of uncertainty about Kasak’s role this season. Veteran Alex Facundo has cut down to 157 lbs and Kasak has a redshirt available; however, that’s a different story for a different day. Kasak will get greeted in his first match at 157 lbs by Ohio’s All-American Peyton Kellar. Kellar generally flew under the radar for the 2023-24 season, but opened eyes in Kansas City by defeating Peyton Robb (Nebraska) and pinning Ed Scott (NC State) and Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). Kellar already has amassed a 6-0 record for the year. Last weekend, he won the Michigan State Open and notched wins over quality opponents like #13 Chase Saldate (Michigan) and #18 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan). This matchup has the potential to be one of the more fun, high-scoring matches of the evening. 165 - #3 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) vs. #7 Hunter Garvin (Stanford) Speaking of action and scoring points, if you’re into that type of thing, Hunter Garvin is your guy. He’s proven to be someone who gets into exciting scraps and generally wrestles better under the bright lights and when the stakes are the highest. Garvin came into the 2024 NCAA Championships as the #20 seed, but notched wins over multiple-time AA’s Cam Amine (Michigan) and Peyton Hall. Despite the head-to-head win at nationals, Garvin has dropped a few slots after his loss on the first weekend of the season to Terrell Barraclough. He suffered another loss on Saturday back in his hometown, against Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo. Garvin did jump out to an early lead, but Caliendo stormed back for a 17-12 win. Hall got on the NCAA podium for a second time last season, but seemed poised to improve upon his seventh-place finish. He already sports a 7-0 record after picking up five wins in the first week of the season at the Southeast Open. Since then, he’s posted tech falls in his only two duals. Went these two met in the 2024 NCAA consolation quarterfinals, it was 14-4 in favor of Garvin. While the Cardinal sophomore may take Saturday’s match, I’d be surprised if the margin of victory is that wide again. 174 - #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs #3 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) This will mark Levi Haines’ unofficial debut at 174 lbs. Haines was an undefeated national champion at 157 lbs last season and made the national finals the previous year, as a true freshman. Haines has already shown that he can compete in this weight range as he beat two-time NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole at 79 kg in the World Team Trials consolations in September. Sometimes, too much can be made about a freestyle result, but the fact is that very few wrestlers have defeated O’Toole in any weight and in any style over the past few years. Before we worry about O’Toole or anyone else, Haines will have to deal with the highest returning All-American from the 2024 174 lb national tournament - he is Cade DeVos. 2023-24 was truly a breakout season for DeVos. Before that season, he had never finished higher than third at the Big 12 Championships and was a bloodround finisher. DeVos showed he was capable of much more with a title at the CKLV Invitational, a Big 12 title, and then the #2 seed at nationals. He would end up fifth in a weight class that had three past national champions slot in ahead of him. 184 - #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs #2 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) This is the main event and the most anticipated All-Star match since Kyle Dake moved up to 165 lbs to take on David Taylor early in the 2012-13 season. In one corner is Carter Starocci, who is chasing history by attempting to become the first collegiate wrestler to win five national titles. Starocci won his fourth in that brutal weight class that featured DeVos and he had to do it the hard way. Just to make the national finals, Starocci downed past champions Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) and Shane Griffith (Michigan). He’d win by defeating freshman Rocco Welsh (Ohio State). None of those final three opponents were able to score on the Penn State star. Coming into the 2024 national tournament, Starocci’s status was uncertain -at best. He suffered a knee injury late in the year and injury defaulted out of his two Big Ten matches and was saddled with the ninth seed in Kansas City. Those injury default losses were the first on his record since the 2021 Big Ten finals, where he was beaten by Iowa’s Michael Kemerer. In the other corner is the incumbent and champion at this weight, Parker Keckeisen. In a normal circumstance, Keckeisen would undoubtedly be the number one wrestler at this weight. Keckeisen earned his national title in impressive fashion, tallying bonus points in each of his five NCAA matches. It was the perfect finishing touches on a perfect season for the Panther wrestler. A year before, Keckeisen made the national finals but was defeated by Starocci’s teammate, Aaron Brooks. Before the return of Gable Steveson, you could make the case that these were the two best pound-for-pound wrestlers in college today. Still, it’s an incredible matchup. From what we’ve seen over the past year, it’s difficult to fathom anyone being able to score on either of these wrestlers. I’m glad that both wrestlers are laying on the line early in the season and are giving us a potential preview of what could come in March.