All The Upsets From College Wrestling Conference Weekend!
All the upsets we could find from conference weekend of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 college wrestling season!
Conference weekend was absolutely insane! Here are all the upsets we could find from the NCAA qualifying tournaments of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 college wrestling season!
Week 17 Rankings | Upsets: Week 17 | Week 16 | Week 15 | Week 14 | Week 13 | Week 12 | Week 11 | Week 10 |Week 8 | Week 7 | Week 6 | Week 5 | Week 4| Week 3 | Week 2 | Week 1
Please note that there were no wrestling competitions in week 9 of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 college wrestling season, hence there is no upset article for week 9 of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 college wrestling season.
All the usual caveats apply. What looks like upsets strictly according to the rankings this weekend may not look like upsets by the end of the year!
Major Upsets
133: #31 Blake Boarman, Purdue over #1 Lucas Byrd, Illinois 7-3
165: Anthony Berg, Cal Poly over #5 Matt Bianchi, Little Rock 8-6
285: Shilo Jones, North Dakota State over #7 Christian Carroll, Wyoming 4-1 SV
149: #28 Lucas Kapusta, Lock Haven over #2 Caleb Tyus, SIU Edwardsville 2-1
184: #30 Caleb Campos, American over #5 James Conway, Franklin & Marshall 8-5
184: Mahonri Rushton, Northern Colorado over #10 Brian Soldano, Oklahoma 6-4
174: Collin Carrigan, North Carolina over #13 Luca Augustine, Pittsburgh 4-3
157: #33 Colton Washleski, Virginia over #12 Dylan Evans, Pittsburgh 5-2
165: #32 Peyten Kellar, Oklahoma over #12 Maxx Mayfield, Missouri 2-1
149: Andrew Clark, Rutgers over #14 Ryder Block, Iowa 4-0 … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/15608892-all-the-upsets-from-college-wrestling-conference-weekend
These are the 6 teams that qualified their full lineups for the 2026 DI men’s wrestling tournament
Six teams will bring all ten athletes to NCAAs, with four of those teams punching their tickets via conference finishes and two teams — Nebraska and Iowa State — needing a wild card for the tenth athlete.
Here are the profiles of each of these deep, talented squads:
Penn State Nittany Lions
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the team to beat heading into the 2026 NCAA tournament. Last year, Penn State set the NCAA scoring record and put all ten athletes on the podium.
Braeden Davis’ seventh-place bracket win over Billy DeKraker 8-1 at this year’s Big Ten tournament ensured that all ten Nittany Lions will return to nationals with the hopes of chasing and surpassing their achievements from last year. With a program record of seven Big Ten champions, there’s an argument to make that this is the best team in program history.
PENN STATE HISTORY: Complete history of the program and its records
Five Penn State wrestlers — Luke Lilledahl, Shayne Van Ness, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines and Rocco Welsh — will enter NCAAs undefeated as likely top seeds. Mesenbrink and Haines will chase their second titles, while Welsh will aim to return to the finals and Lilledahl and Van Ness will look to improve on previous All-American finishes and earn the opportunity to compete on Saturday night.
Complete Penn State roster:
125 pounds: Luke Lilledahl (1st at Big Tens)
133 pounds: Marcus Blaze (2nd at Big Tens)
141 pounds: Braeden Davis (7th at Big Tens)
149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness (1st at Big Tens)
157 pounds: PJ Duke (1st at Big Tens)
165 pounds: Mitchell Mesenbrink (1st at Big Tens)
174 pounds: Levi Haines (1st at Big Tens)
184 pounds: Rocco Welsh (1st at Big Tens)
197 pounds: Josh Barr (1st at Big Tens)
285 pounds: Cole Mirasola (5th at Big Tens)
Ohio State Buckeyes
After picking up Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Big Ten Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, Ohio State has exactly the kind of momentum the Buckeyes need heading into NCAAs. Taking down Penn State is a tall task, but the Bucks make a strong case to be the nation’s second-best team and could put up some serious team points in Cleveland. Ohio State’s strength at Big Tens came from its depth and grittiness, particularly on the backside of the bracket. Nic Bouzakis, Carson Kharchla, Luke Geog and Nick Feldman all rallied from losses to finish third, and similar kinds of performances from these four could help all of them fight for podium spots at nationals. Bouzakis and Geog have yet to earn All-American honors in their careers, but put themselves in prime position to do so with their conference results. Returning Ohio State All-American Ethan Stiles also stepped up at Big Tens and finished second — Ohio State fans likely expect a similar finish from him at nationals. … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-03-10/these-are-6-teams-qualified-their-full-lineups-2026-di-mens-wrestling-tournament
The first NCAA women’s wrestling champions are crowned. How bright is the sport’s future?
The NCAA’s inaugural National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships wrapped up Saturday in Coralville, Iowa.
Let’s meet the overall champion and the winners of each weight class, understand why there are so many Division II and Division III wrestling programs and learn about how the national championships translate to the Olympics.
Milestone moments, first champions:
Meet the overall champion and the winners of each weight class.
McKendree is the first team national champion in women’s wrestling. McKendree, under coach Alexio Garcia, bested second-place Iowa 171-166 for the title. North Central (Illinois) finished third with 123.5 points, while Grand Valley State (110.5) finished fourth.
Individual champions:
- 103 pounds: Valarie Solorio, Iowa.
- 110 pounds: Audrey Jimenez, Lehigh.
- 117 pounds: Yu Sakamoto, McKendree.
- 124 pounds: Xochitl Mota-Pettis, Quincy.
- 131 pounds: Cameron Guerin, McKendree.
- 138 pounds: Katerina Lange, Grand Valley State.
- 145 pounds: Bella Mir, North Central (Illinois).
- 160 pounds: Kennedy Blades, Iowa.
- 180 pounds: Kylie Welker, Iowa.
- 207 pounds: Tristan Kelly, McKendree. … more at … https://www.ncaa.org/news/2026/3/9/media-center-the-first-ncaa-womens-wrestling-champions-are-crowned-how-bright-is-the-sports-future.aspx
The Southern Conference and ESPN Announce Multi-Year Media Rights Extension
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference and ESPN announced today a multi-year extension of their media rights agreement, continuing a longstanding relationship that will provide unprecedented national linear and digital exposure for SoCon athletics across ESPN’s industry-leading networks through the 2031-32 academic year.
The extended agreement represents an expanded commitment by ESPN, anchored by a robust slate of regular season and championship broadcasts across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU, along with
comprehensive digital distribution through ESPN’s direct-to-consumer services.
Full Breakdown
Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, the SoCon will feature a record number of national regular season and conference championship events on ESPN’s linear networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.
Men’s basketball coverage will see notable expansion under the agreement. The Ingles SouthernConference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship game will be telecast on ESPN for multiple years of the deal, with the semifinal contests presented across ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
For the first time, the league is also guaranteed regular season men’s basketball games on ESPN or ESPN2 … more at …
https://vmikeydets.com/news/2026/3/9/athletics-the-southern-conference-and-espn-announce-multi-year-media-rights-extension.aspx
ACC to Send 43 Wrestlers to 2026 NCAA Championships
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference will send 43 wrestlers to the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, set for March 19-21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The 43 wrestlers are the second most in ACC history since the NCAA adopted this allocation and at-large format. Last year, the ACC sent a record 46 grapplers to the NCAAs.
The ACC secured 39 automatic qualifiers at the 2026 ACC Wrestling Championship on Sunday, March 8, in front of a record-breaking crowd of 4,692 fans at Cassell Coliseum on the campus of Virginia Tech.
On Tuesday, March 10, the NCAA announced its 42 at-large selections, which included four ACC wrestlers.
The ACC’s at-large selections were Pitt’s Dylan Evans (157 pounds), Jared Keslar (165) and Luca Augustine (174), along with Duke’s Connor Barket (285).
The at-large selections join the 288 student-athletes who qualified automatically through their conference tournament finishes. At-large berths were determined by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, ratings percentage index (RPI), coaches ranking and conference tournament finish.
The complete list of at-large selections is available on NCAA.com. … more at …https://theacc.com/news/2026/3/10/wrestling-acc-to-send-43-wrestlers-to-2026-ncaa-championships.aspx
Singleton and Trumble Win ACC Titles, Team Comes in Third
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Led by two individual titles and four more guys on the podium, NC State wrestling finished third with 57 points at the 2026 ACC Wrestling Championship hosted by Virginia Tech on Sunday.
Seven wrestlers for the Pack earned automatic qualification for the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, later this month. The group marks the 11th straight season under Popolizio that at least seven NC State wrestlers have earned bids to the national tournament.
Matty Singleton at 174 lbs and Isaac Trumble at 285 lbs each were crowned individual champions at Cassell Coliseum on Sunday night, while six total landed on the podium at third or better in the red-and-white.
Defending his title at 174 lbs, Singleton defeated the No. 7, No. 6, and No. 4 seeds of his bracket to be crowned champion of the weight yet again after winning his first title last year at the 2025 ACC Wrestling Championship in Durham.
Remaining undefeated this season at 16-0, sixth-year senior Trumble earned his first-ever conference title while dominating his No. 5 and No. 2 seed opponents both by major decision in the heavyweight bracket.
The squad turns its focus to the national tournament, which will be at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio … more at … https://gopack.com/news/2026/3/9/wrestling-singleton-and-trumble-win-acc-titles-team-comes-in-third
2026 DIII men’s wrestling championships: Brackets, schedule, results
The 2026 DIII wrestling championships begins March 13 through 14 at Alliant Energy Power House in Cedar Rapids, IA. The championship qualifiers were announced on Monday, March 2, and brackets were released Friday, March 6 on NCAA.com.
Below you can find the complete schedule of the 2026 DIII wrestling championship.
👉 Click here to see the full list of championship qualifiers
➡️ Watch live: 2026 DIII men’s wrestling championships
2026 NCAA DIII wrestling championship brackets
The official 2026 DIII wrestling brackets were released Wednesday, March 11. Click here to see every bracket weight-by-weight.
2026 NCAA DIII wrestling championships schedule
*All times Eastern … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-03-13/2026-diii-mens-wrestling-championships-brackets-schedule-results
NCAA announces at-large selections for 2026 Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA announced the 42 at-large selections for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships in Cleveland.
The at-large selections, listed in alphabetical order in each weight class, join the 288 student-athletes that qualified through their conference tournament finishes over the weekend. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, ratings percentage index, coaches ranking and conference tournament finish.
Seeding and brackets for this year’s event will be revealed tomorrow, March 11, during the NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships Selection Show on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. ET.
Visit http://ncaa.com/wrestling for more information about this year’s championship. … more at … https://nwcaonline.com/news/2026/3/10/national-wrestling-coaches-association-ncaa-announces-at-large-selections-for-2026-division-i-mens-wrestling-championships.aspx
Top Active NAIA Coaches by dual meet wins
TDR Editor’s notes: The following are a list of the head coaches of NAIA schools by team dual meet wins. It is a preliminary list as many of the latest coaching and school changes have not been included yet. We welcome input, reactions and questions. Please let us know what we need to correct.
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ACTIVE Coaches NAIA – Top 40 with at least 25 wins
1. Franky James (Georgetown Coll./Campbellsville) 255 (4)
2. Nick Mitchell (Grand View College) 211 (14)
3. Corey Ruff (Cumberlands/Lindsey-Wilson) 169 (8)
4. Omi Acosta (Life University) — 132 (12)
5. Tyson Thivierge (Montana State Northern) 125 (1)
6. Jeff Bedard (Reinhardt Univ.) — 123 (12)
7. Jake Stevenson (Morningside College) — 117 (6)
8. K.C. Rock (Embry-Riddle College) – 118 (10)
9. Thomas Pompei (Indiana Institute of Tech.) 117 (13)
10. Rik Dahl (Northwestern College) — 101 (4)
11. Beau Vest (Mo. Valley/Dana-Midland) 99 (16)
12. James Hicks (Cumberland Univ./Darton — 93 (10)
13. Dana Vote (Doane, Midland, Concordia) — 90 (10)
14. Joey Martinez (Menlo) — 88 — now a D-II school
15. James Kisgen (McKendree College) – 84 – now a D-II school
16. Brandon Jorge (Southeastern University) 81 (10)
17. Steven Bradley (Marian University) — 79 (8)
18. Joe Privitere (Briar Cliff) 70 (5)
19. Dustyn Azure (Eastern Oregon) 67 (6)
20. Steve Komac (Providence Great Falls) 67 (12)
21. Chuck Kearney (St. Mary, University of) 66 (11)
22. Zach Mullins (Graceland Univ.) 65 (9)
23. Joel Gibson (Southern Oregon State) 65 (16)
24. Lennie Zalesky (Calif. Baptist Univ.) while NAIA – 55 – now a D-I school
25. Doc Kelly (Lourdes University) 51 (3) school closing in ‘26
26. Sam Hazewinkel (Oklahoma City) 49 (11)
27. Corey Ruff (Cumberlands Univ. of) 48 (8)
28. Jameel Bryant (Lindsey-Wilson College) 46 (9)
29. Wesley Maskill (Rochester Christian University) 44 (5)
30. Marcus Cobbs (Benedictine College) 38 (7)
31. Michael Butterfield (Arizona Christian) 37 (9)
32. Robert Parland (St. Andrews University) 33 school closed in 2025
33. Thomas Carr (Oklahoma Wesleyan Univ./Central Christian) 32 (1)
34. Stryder Davis (Wayland Baptist) 32 (10)
35. Josh Erickson (Hastings College) 30 (6)
36. Casey Mouw (Dakota Wesleyan) 30 (6)
37. Calb McElfresh (Missouri Baptist University) 29 (5)
38. Eric Van Kley (Great Falls Univ.) 29 – now at a D-III school
39. Eric Pack (Allen University) 28 school moved to D-II
40. Bo Bettinson (St. Ambrose) 26 (5)
41. Gregory Barner (Benedictine/Cleary Univ.) 26 (7)
42. Nolan Harris (Corban College) 25 (9)
Top Division III ACTIVE Coaches
TDR Editor’s Notes; The following is an updated listing of active head coaches by wins while on the Division III level. Recently retired coaches are included to show recognitione to their coaching colleagues. We welcome input as we update the lists for other divisions and for All-Time coaches including all divisions. Contact us at martinkfleming@gmail.com
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ACTIVE Coaches(D-III)– Top 50 with at least 90 wins 2026
- Lonnie Morris (Johnson & Wales) 478 (14)
- Roger Crebs (Lycoming College) 474 (9)
- Ron Beaschler (Ohio Northern Univ.) 421 (14)
- Bruce Haberli (New York University) 381 (22)
- Dave Mitchell (Luther College) 347 (7)
- Tim Fader (Wis.-Eau Claire,Whitewater, LaCrosse) 345 (9)
- Martin Nichols (Ithaca College) 342 (13)
- Jon Laudenslager (Wilkes University) 310 (7)
- John Oostendorp (Coe College) 298 (10)
- Jay Jones (Rhode Island College) 294 (5)
- Bryan Brunk (Messiah College) 293 (14)
- Dave Malecek (Wisconsin-LaCrosse St.) 257 (14)
- Sebastian Amato (Trinity College) 243 (8)
- Drew Black (Wesleyan Univ.) 241 (5)
- Jon Egan (Roger Williams) – 235 (14)
- Duane Ritter (SUNY Oneonta State) 231 (8)
- Johnny Johnson (Wisc.-Stevens Point) 229 (5)
- Eric Keller (Wartburg College) – 210 (13)
- Jamie Gibbs (Baldwin-Wallace) – 194 (12)
- Mike Howard (SUNY-Oswego State) 193 (1)
- Jon McGovern (Dubuque University) – 193 (7)
- Joe Galente (College of New Jersey) 189 (17)
- Kevin Bratland (U.S. Coast Guard/North Central) 178 (9)
- Craig Thurber (Thiel College) – 177 (4)
- James Holder (Springfield College) 172 (15)
- Eric Van Kley (Central College,) – 171 (12)
- Steve Marianetti (Elmhurst College) – 163 (6)
- Brandon Bissette (Olivet College) 160 (9)
- Scott Legacy (Vermont St.-Castleton) 149 (15)
- Jason Garriques (Centenary College) 147 (10)
- Greg Ilaria (U.S. Merchant Marine) – 146 (10)
- Al Russomano (Scranton Univ.) 139 (11)
- Mark Harwald (John Carroll/Case West/Mt. Union) 135 (4)
- Joe Favia (Stevens Institute of Tech.) 132 (9)
- Nathan Shearer (Washington & Lee) 128 (10)
- Eric Walker (Elizabethtown College) 125 (6)
- Duane Bastress (York College, Pa.) 123 (7)
- Ryan Birt (Millikan College) 123 (15)
- Nate Yetzer (Roanoke/Ferrum Colleges) 120 (15)
- Scott Honacker (Williams College) 119 (10)
- Tim Fader (Wisc.-Eau Claire) 115 (9)
- Bill Schindel (Adrian/Mount Union) 112 (3)
- Keith Norris (John Hopkins Univ.) 111 (1)
- Blake Roulo (Averett Univ.) 108 (12)
- Mike DeRoehn (Lakeland /Wisc-Platteville, Oshkosh,) 107 (9)
- Jim Moulsoff (Augsburg College) 107 – III (9)
- Tommy Prairie (SUNY-Courtland, Wash.&Jeff./Plymouth) 101 – III (4)
- Matt Morin (Southern Maine) 101 – III (6)
- Mike Sugarmeyer (Western New England) 97 (10)
- Kriss Ballaca (Alvernia Univ.) 94 (17)
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 