MAT NOTES:

The last time the NCAA's were in Philadelphia in 2011, Penn State (107.5 points) won their first title under coach Cael Sanderson. Prior to that, the Nittany Lions won the team title in 1953. Rounding out the top teams were; Cornell (93.5), Iowa (86.5), Oklahoma State (70.5) and American University (65).

Fourth-seeded Kyle Dake (Cornell) defeated Frank Molinari (Penn State) for the 149-pound title. Big Red head coach Mike Grey (Cornell) finished 6th at 133 pounds. Other champions were MOW Anthony Robles (125) of Arizona State, BubbaJenkins (Arizona State) who pinned David Taylor (Penn State) at the 4:14 mark of their 157-pound bout and JordanBurroughs (Nebraska ) who rolled through the 165-pound bracket.

Hofstra had two All- Americans, Lou Ruggirello (Valley Central HS) - 7th at 133 and PJ Gillespie (Long Beach HS) - 8th at 165 pounds.

The attendance for the finals in 2011, was 17,687 fans, and the total for six sessions was an NCAA record 104,260 spectators. Currently there are 77 schools in Division I that have wrestling programs, 66 schools are represented at the '25 NCAA meet. The first New York State wrestler to hit the mats is Stephan Moncherry (19-9), a former state champion from Middleton HS, he will meet Purdue's Hayden Fillpovich in a pigtail match in the loaded 285-pound weight class. The winner of that bout will face NCAA and Olympic champion, Gable Steveson (14-0) of Minnesota.

For the first time in NCAA Division I wrestling history, two brothers met in the tournament. The Stout brothers who hail from Mt. Lebanon, PA, met in the second round. Pitt's Mac Stout (25-2) edged Luke (15-3) of Princeton, 4-2, in their 197-pound bout. Mac advanced to the quarterfinal round, he will face former NCAA champion AJ Ferrari (19-0) of Cal-State Bakersfield. Luke will now be in the consolation bracket with hopes of All-American accolades.

Of the eleven NCAA champions in the 2025 field, two suffered defeat on the first day of competition, Arizona State's Richard Figueroa (17-3) was pinned by Rutgers Drew Peterson (22-6) with a tight cradle in their 125-pound bout and Andrew Alirez (17-2) was defeated by Iowa State's Jacob Frost (32-7), 6-1, at 141 pounds.

The Big Red of Cornell sit in 7th place with 16.5 points and advanced three wrestlers into the quarterfinals. Second -seeded Meyer Shapiro (13-1) at 157, Simon Ruiz (23-5) at 174 and Chris Foca (21-1) in the loaded 184-pound class.

Shapiro defeated Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan),10-4, Ruiz had a 4-2 decision over Josh Ogunsanga (Navy) and Foca posted a solid 12-1 major decision over Iowa's Gabe Arnold. Friday's quarterfinal match-ups at 12 noon:

*Shapiro vs Vinny Zerban (20-4) - Northern Colorado

*Ruiz vs Cade DeVos (21-7) - South Dakota State

*Foca vs Max McEnelly (22-1) - Minnesota

The attendance for the morning session at the Wells Fargo Center was 18,085 fans, the NCAA record was in 2012 in St. Louis with 18,694 spectators.

Nine unbeaten wrestlers advanced to the semifinals, Caleb Henson (21-0), Mitchell Mesenbrink (25-0), KeeganO'Toole (19-0), Carter Starocci (24-0), Parker Keckeisen (27-0), AJ Ferrari (20-0), along with a trio of 285-pound grapplers, Gable Steveson (17-0), OwenTrephan (24-0) and Wyatt Hendrickson (25-0). 

SEMIFINAL RESULTS:

125- Vincent Robinson (NC State) dec. Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) 4-2

         Troy Sprately (Oklahoma State) dec. Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) 6-4 OT

133- Lucas Byrd (Illinois) dec. Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) 2-0

         Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec. Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) 6-1

141- Brock Hardy (Nebraska) dec. Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) 11-4

         Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) dec. Beau Bartlett (Penn State) 2-1 OT

149- Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec. Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) 6-2

         Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec. Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) 14-8

157- Joey Blaze (Purdue) dec. Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) 4-2 OT

        Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) dec. Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) 7-2

165- Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) maj.dec. Christopher Pinto (Nebraska) 13-2

         Mike Caliendo (Iowa) dec. Peyton Hall (West Virginia) 14-10

174- Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) dec. Cade DeVos (S Dakota State) 7-6

         Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) dec. Levi Haines (Penn State) 4-2

184- Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec. Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 9-3

         Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) dec. Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 4-1 OT

197-  Josh Barr (Penn State) dec. Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) 5-3

         Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) dec. AJ Ferrari (Cal State Bakersfield) 3-0

​285- Gable Steveson (Minnesota) maj.dec. Owen Trephan (Lehigh) 13-5

         Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) dec. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 8-2