- CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL RESULTS -

125- Vincent Robinson (Chicago, IL - NC State) dec. Troy Sprately (Eufalo, OK - Oklahoma State) 2-1 OT

133- Lucas Byrd (Cincinnati, OH - Illinois) dec. Drake Ayala (Fort Dodge, IA - Iowa) 3-2 OT

141- Jesse Mendez (Crown Point, IN- Ohio State) dec. Brock Hardy (Brigham City, UT - Nebraska) 12-9

149- Ridge Lovett (Post Falls, ID - Nebraska) dec. Caleb Henson (Cartersville, GA - Virginia Tech) 1-0

157- Antrell Taylor (Millard, NE- Nebraska) dec. Joey Blaze (Perrysburg, OH - Purdue) 4-2

165- Mitchell Mesenbrink (Hartland, WI - Penn State) vs Mike Caliendo (Geneva, IL - Iowa) 8-2

174- Dean Hamiti (Joliet, IL - Oklahoma State) dec. Keegan O'Toole (Hartland, WI - Missouri) 4-1 OT

184- Carter Starocci (Erie, PA- Penn State) dec. Parker Keckeisen (Glendale, WI - Northern Iowa) 4-3

197- Stephen Buchanan (Loyal, WI - Iowa) dec. Josh Barr (Davison, MI -Penn State) 5-2

285- Wyatt Hendrickson (Newton, KS- Oklahoma State) dec. Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, MN-Minnesota) 5-4

MAT NOTES:

Penn State won their 13th NCAA team title, now 12 titles under the tutelage of head coach CaelSanderson. The Nittany Lions set the NCAA all-time scoring record with 177 points and garnered ten All-Americans. As coach Cael Sanderson stated: "The season was a lot of fun, it was a great team and ten All-Americans is super hard to do." They became only the second team in NCAA history to accomplish that feat. In 2001, Minnesota had ten AAs and claimed the team title without having a finalist. 

Cornell tallied 50 points and landed 7th place in the team standings. The Big Red had three All-Americans; sophomore Meyer Shapiro (5th at 157), senior Julian Ramirez (5th at 165) and freshman Simon Ruiz (5th at 174). Senior Julian Ramirez (24-3) lost in the round of 12, to Hunter Garvin (Stanford),16-12, at 165 pounds.

The lone All-American for New York State was junior Stevo Poulin (Shenendehowa HS) who finished in 8th place at 125 pounds for Northern Colorado. His coach is Troy Nickerson, former NYS champion and NCAA champion while at Cornell University. Another NY native, junior Tommy Askey (Pine Bush HS) of Minnesota, lost a heartbreaking bout to Matt Bianchi (Little Rock), 2-1 OT, in the blood round at 157 pounds and fell short of AA accolades.

Winning the loaded 125 pound class was redshirt freshman Vincent Robinson (23-3) of NC State. The fourth-seeded Robinson finished as runner-up in the ACC championships, as he was edged 4-1 OT to junior Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech). Also in the 125-pound bracket was Big Ten champion, freshman Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) and defending NCAA champ, junior Richard Figueroa (Arizona State). Lilledahl finished with the bronze medal and Figueroa failed to place. That aforementioned group will all return for the 2026 season, along with NCAA finalist, sophomore Troy Sprately (Oklahoma State).

 Air Force transfer Wyatt Hendrickson (27-0, 127-11) had one more year of NCAA eligibility due to COVID and was accepted into the Air Force's World Class Athlete Program to train for the 2028 Olympics. This allowed him to delay his active duty requirements and compete for Oklahoma State, he is an Air Force Second Lieutenant. In the last bout and the marquee match of the  evening, the 260-pound Hendrickson scored with a key single leg takedown with 30 seconds remaining to upset two-time NCAA and Olympic champion Gable Steveson (18-1) in their epic 285-pound final. That could ranked up there with one the greatest upsets in the NCAA finals. In 1970, at Northwestern University, sophomore Larry Owings (Washington) upset two-time NCAA champion and previously unbeaten DanGable (118-1) of Iowa State, 13-11, in the 142-pound final.

Of the eleven returning NCAA champions, only two were successful in their repeat bids, Jesse Mendez (30-3) and the unbeaten CarterStarocci. In the field 330 NCAA wrestlers at the 2025 Championships, only three NCAA champions finished unscathed; Mitchell Mesenbrink (27-0), Carter Starocci (26-0) and Wyatt Hendrickson (27-0). Starocci won an unprecedented fifth NCAA title and finished with a stellar 104-4 career record. He was voted the tournament's outstanding wrestler award. Mesenbrink, Starocci and Henderson are in contention for the prestigious Hodge Award.

The combined record of the ten NCAA Division I champions was 261 wins and just 15 losses.

The attendance for the six sessions was 109,995 and 18,826 fans witnessed the finals at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia.

The only high school with two finalists was Arrowhead HS, Hartland, WI, as former teammates, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Keegan O'Toole reached the finals. Mesenbrink won his first NCAA crown and two-time champion O'Toole (20-1) lost in overtime to his nemesis Dean Hamiti (27-1) in the championship bout. Hamiti also defeated reigning NCAA champ, LeviHaines (Penn State), 4-2, in the semifinals, and recently earned the AWN's Hammer Award.

As usual, PA had the most NCAA qualifiers with 41, but at the 2025 NCAA meet it was NJ and IL with a leading eight All-Americans by home state. Rounding out the top states were; PA (6), WI (6), MN (5), IA (5), OH (4), OK (4) and MI (4).Two states crowned two national champions, both IL and WI had that impressive accomplishment.

Two wrestlers who finished with bronze medals have some noteworthy achievements.Tyler Kasak (Doylestown, PA- Penn State) and Max McEnelly (Waconia, MN - Minnesota). Kasak (23-2), a sophomore, lost his first match in the 2024 NCAAs and reeled off seven consecutive wins to take third. This year, he was defeated in the semifinals, and earned the bronze, including a 4-2 decision over highly-regarded Meyer Shapiro of Cornell. McEnelly (25-2), a redshirt freshman, lost to Carter Starocci, 8-5 OT, in the Big Ten finals, and at the '25 NCAA meet he dropped a 4-1 OT verdict to Northern Iowa's Parker Keckeisen (28-1) in the semifinals, he later edged Oklahoma State's Dustin Plott, 6-5, for third place.

The 2026 NCAA Championships will be held at the Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH, on March 19th-21st.

​

​3rd and 4th Place Matches
125- Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) pinned Matt Ramos (Purdue)  6:18
133- Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) dec. Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin)  7-3
141- Beau Bartlett (Penn State) md. CJ Composto (Pennsylvania)  11-2
149- Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) md. Dylan D`Emilio (Ohio State) 15-4
157- Tyler Kasak (Penn State) md. Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) 8-0
165- Peyton Hall (West Virginia) md. Christopher Minto (Nebraska) 13-5
174- Levi Haines (Penn State) md. Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 11-3
184- Max McEnelly (Minnesota) dec. Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 6-5
197- AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) dec.  Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) 2-0
285- Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) dec. Isaac Trumble (NC State) 5-3

5th and 6th Place Matches 
125- Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) dec. Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh)  11-4
133- Braeden Davis (Penn State) pin. Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech)  2:33
141- Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec. Josh Koderhandt (Navy) 7-2
149- Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) dec. Ethan Stiles (Oregon State)  8-4
157- Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) md. Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado)  11-0
165- Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) dec. Hunter Garvin (Stanford)  1-0
174- Simon Ruiz (Cornell) dec. Cade DeVos (South Dakota State)  2-1
184- Chris Foca (Cornell) dec. Jaxon Smith (Maryland)  7-4
197- Joseph Novak (Wyoming) md. Stephen Little (Little Rock)  8-0
285- Owen Trephan (Lehigh) med.for. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) fft.

​7th and 8th Place Matches 
125- Caleb Smith (Nebraska) md. Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) 18-5
133- Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) dec.Tyler Knox (Stanford) 7-2
141- Jacob Frost (Iowa State) md. Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) 17-3
149- Sammy Alvarez (Rider) sv. Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State)  9-6 OT
157- Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) dec. Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State)  4-2
165- Cam Steed (Missouri) pin. Cameron Amine (Oklahoma State) 2:08
174- Matthew Singleton (NC State) dec. Danny Wask (Navy) 3-1
184- Silas Allred (Nebraska) dec. Donnell Washington (Indiana) 4-2
197- Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) md. Camden McDanel (Nebraska) 12-3
285- Joshua Heindselman (Michigan) dec. Ben Kueter (Iowa) 2-1