Pre-Seeds and Brackets Announced for the 2025 ACC Wrestling Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced the pre-seeds and brackets for the upcoming 2025 ACC Wrestling Championship, which will be held this Sunday, March 9, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Five teams had at least one wrestler earn a No. 1 seed, led by Virginia Tech with four top seeds, including 2024 NCAA National Champion and 2023 ACC Champion Caleb Henson at 149 pounds. The other three Hokies to earn a top seed were Eddie Ventresca at 125 pounds, Sam Latona at 141 pounds and Rafael Hipolito at 157 pounds. Latona was the 2021 ACC Champion at 125 pounds.
North Carolina, which shared the 2024 ACC Regular Season Dual Meet Championship with both Virginia Tech and NC State, had two wrestlers seeded No. 1 in Ethan Oakley at 133 pounds and Joshua Ogunsanya at 174 pounds. NC State, the six-time defending ACC Champions, had one No. 1 seed in Isaac Trumble at 285 pounds.
The other three No. 1 seeds came by way of Stanford’s Hunter Garvin at 165 pounds and Pitt’s Reece Heller and Mac Stout at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively.
The two-time defending 133-pound champion Kai Orine of NC State is the No. 4 seed in the weight class this year, while fellow two-time champion (2022 and 2025) Ed Scott of the Wolfpack is the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds for this year’s championship. The 165-pound defending champion and Most Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s championship in Virginia’s Nick Hamilton is the No. 2 seed at that weight this year, while the 184-pound defending champion in Virginia Tech’s Thomas Stewart, Jr. came in at the No. 4 seed in the weight class this year.
ACC pre-seeds for this year’s tournament were generated by WrestleStat.com and a vote of the league’s seven head coaches. With seven competing teams in the ACC this year with the addition of Stanford, the No. 1 seeds will get a bye into the quarterfinals at all 10 weight classes.
The complete 2025 ACC Wrestling Championship Brackets … more at … https://theacc.com/news/2025/3/4/pre-seeds-and-brackets-announced-for-the-2025-acc-wrestling-championship.aspx
Seeking three-peats at NJCAA Championships are Western Wyoming (men), Indian Hills (women)
The NJCAA National Wrestling Championships takes place in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on March 7th and 8th, 2025, in the Mid-America Center. Included are the Men’s National Championships and the Women’s National Invitational.
Men’s National Championships Preview
Western Wyoming, under the direction of coach Art Castillo guided the Mustangs to the school’s first NJCAA title in any sport for the college back in 2023, and then repeated the feat in 2024 for back-to-back titles. Now the Mustangs are poised to three-peat.
Last season, the 2023-24 Mustangs won their second straight NJCAA National Championship with 161 points, which is the fifth highest point total in championship history. They also won their 7th straight Region 9/Plains District Championship. The Mustangs placed seven All-Americans including three National Finalists, including national champion Cody Phelps at 133 pounds. Phelps was named the NJCAA Most Outstanding wrestler,
The Mustangs graduated an astounding six two-time All-Americans from last year’s squad. The Mustangs return two starters from last year in Council Bluffs. Dmarian Lopez, who finished third at 285 lbs. and Tristan Stafford, who was a Region 9 Champ and a National Qualifier at 149 pounds.
The 2024-25 recruiting class has many new faces and has wealth of talent. A new stables of Mustangs include 25 state titles and five Fargo placings and they are a highly decorated class. A few of the newcomers for the Mustangs are 4x Colorado State Champ and Colorado wrestler of the year, D’Mitri Alarcon. Green River Wyoming’s first ever 4x State Champ, Kale Knezovich. 2X Wyoming Champ Jake Hammer. 2X Colorado Champ Jake Glade. 2X UT State Champ Luke Schroeder. 2X Iowa State Champion, Blake Allen, 2x Idaho Champ Ryker Gibson, … more at … https://www.themat.com/Seeking-three-peats-at-NJCAA-Championships-are-Western-Wyoming-(men),-Indian-Hills-(women)
2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship Recap – Day 1
PARK CITY, Kan. – The 2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championships completed its first day of action at Park City Arena, with two full sessions of high-level competition setting up Friday’s quarterfinal round. With team title contenders emerging and upsets reshaping brackets, the race for individual and team championships is heating up.
At the end of Day One, Grand View University leads the team standings with 51.0 points, followed by Southeastern (37.0), Life (34.5), Providence (33.0), and Doane (26.5).
Day Two begins Friday, March 7, at 11:00 a.m. … more at … https://naia.prestosports.com/sports/mwrest/2024-25/Releases/Day_1_Recap
2025 SoCon Championships Preview
Hey besties,
Welcome to the postseason – the Southern Conference will certainly spice things up this year with a two-day tournament and nine-man brackets. But first, let’s talk about allocations. Each of the ten weight classes has received one allocation for the NCAA Championships, with 133, 141, and 197 classes earning two bids at their weights, which almost always includes a round of true second-place matches at the conclusion of the championship round.
The team race will be fun to watch – The Citadel and Bellarmine are both contenders for top-three placements. Bellarmine has the #1 seed at 184 (Devan Hendricks) and heavyweight (Daulton Mayer). Speaking of heavyweight, Campbell’s Taye Ghadiali entered the transfer portal this week listed as ‘Do Not Contact,’ after ending his season due to injury in December. Pivoting back to the team race – App State and Campbell ended the regular season as co-champions, Campbell losing to The Citadel 11-24, only to turn around and defeat App State 21-15. In our pre-conference tournament rankings, App State has three ranked wrestlers, #7 Will Miller (165), #28 Luke Uliano (174), and #30 Carson Floyd (197). The same for Campbell, #24 Anthony Molton (125), #21 Shannon Hanna (141), and #21 Levi Hopkins (197). All six of these wrestlers are the #1 and #2 seeds in their weights as well.
This season was full of twists and turns, which is why it wouldn’t color me surprised to see some upsets and rematches this weekend.
While I can’t predict the future, I’d like to make some fun predictions for the weekend: … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/socon/2025-socon-championships-preview-r100082/
Nine teams in Southern Conference to compete for championships on Friday and Saturday
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference has released the seeds for the 2025 Explore Asheville SoCon Wrestling Championship, the league office announced Wednesday. The championship is set to begin Friday, March 7, and conclude on Saturday, March 8, at Kimmel Arena on the campus of UNC Asheville. Nine squads will compete for the 2025 SoCon title with 13 NCAA allocations available for the NCAA Championships.
The SoCon earned two NCAA allocations each at 133 pounds, 141 pounds and 197 pounds. The remaining weight classes earned one allocation each, which is the automatic qualifier for the conference tournament champion.
App State seeks to defend its last two tournament titles under veteran head JohnMark Bentley. The Mountaineers finished with a share of the conference’s regular season title, with their only loss coming to Campbell on Feb. 23. Overall, App State went 8-4 on the season.
Campbell, shares the conference regular season title with App State, dropping one conference dual to The Citadel on Feb. 14. The Camels concluded their regular season campaign with a 7-1 conference record and 11-9 record overall.
Campbell’s Levi Hopkins (197) is looking for this third-straight title.
Hopkins, Anthony Molton (125), and Shannon Hanna (141) enter the championship as the No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes for Campbell. The Camels remaining seeded wrestlers include Logan Heil (133, No. 3), Wynton Denkins (149, No. 4), Chris Earnest (157, No. 3), Domonic Baker (165, No. 3), Riley Augustine (174, No. 5), Brant Cracraft (184, No. 9), and Landon Sargent (HWT, No. 4).
App State holds two No. 1 seeds with Will Miller (165) and Luke Uliano (174) earning top spots. The Mountaineers’ remaining seeded wrestlers include Bryson Terrell (125, No. 4), Chad Bellis (133, No. 4), Aldo Hernandez (141, No. 5), Kaden Keiser (149, No. 3), Jeremiah Price (157, No. 2), … more at … https://soconsports.com/wrest/article/blt0f1e5cf902abb9d5/
DI Postseason Live Streaming Guide (3/6 – 3/9/2025)
The DI postseason is upon us! It all gets underway on Thursday, as the Pac-12 kicks off the festivities with their Championship event. With eight different conference tournaments going on across four days, it can be difficult to find how and when to watch everything. InterMat is here to help.
We have links to watch each conference tournament, plus we’ve also added start times for each round. If separate links for each round or mat are needed, then they’ve been included.
All times listed are Eastern!
Thursday – March 6th
Pac-12 Championships: Corvallis, Oregon – FloWrestling
3:30 PM – Semifinals
9:00 PM – Finals
Friday – March 7th
EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – FloWrestling
- 10:00 AM – First Round
- 12:00 PM – Quarterfinals
- 4:00 PM – Consolations
- 6:00 PM – Semifinals/Consolations
MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey – ESPN+ - 12:00 PM – First Round
- 2:00 PM – Quarterfinals/Consolations
- 5:00 PM – Semifinals/Consolations
SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina – ESPN+ - 12:00 PM – Pig Tails and First Round
- 3:00 PM – Consolations
- 5:00 PM – Semifinals
- 7:30 PM – Consolation Semifinals
Saturday – March 8th
Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 11:00 AM – 1st Round and Quarterfinals – ESPN+
- 6:00 PM – Semifinals/Consolation Quarterfinals – ESPN+
Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois
- 11:00 AM – First Round/Quarterfinals/Consolations – Big Ten Network and BTN+
- 6:00 PM – Consolations – BTN+
- 8:00 PM – Semifinals – Big Ten Network
EIWA Championships: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – FloWrestling
- 10:00 AM – Consolations/7th Place Matches
- 12:00 PM – 1st/3rd/5th Place Match
- MAC Championships: Trenton, New Jersey – ESPN+
- 11:30 AM – Consolation Quarterfinals
- 1:00 PM – Consolation Semifinals
- 3:00 PM – 1st/3rd/5th/7th Place Matches
SoCon Championships: Asheville, North Carolina – ESPN+
- 12:00 PM – Consolation Finals
- 2:30 PM – Finals
- 4:30 PM – True Second Place Matches
Sunday – March 9th
ACC Championships: Durham, North Carolina
- 10:00 AM – First Round – ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2)
- 1:00 PM – Consolation Quarterfinals – ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2)
- 2:00 PM – Semifinals – ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2)
- 4:30 PM – Consolation Semifinals – ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2)
- 6:00 PM – Consolation Finals – ACC NX (Mat 1), ACC NX (Mat 2)
- 8:00 PM – Championships Finals – ACC Network and ACC NX
Big 12 Championships: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Big Ten Championships: Evanston, Illinois
- 1:00 PM – Consolation Semifinals/7th Place – B1G+
- 5:30 PM – 1st/3rd/5th Place Matches – Big Ten Network and B1G+ … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/47_streaming-guide/di-postseason-live-streaming-guide-36-392025-r100074/
2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship Official Brackets Finalized
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The official brackets (PDF) for the 2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championships have been finalized ahead of event starting tomorrow morning. The Battle For The Red Banner is hosted by Visit Wichita at Park City Arena in Park City, Kansas and concludes on Saturday, March 8th. To purchase tickets for the three-day event, click HERE.
All matches at the national championships for Sessions I through V will be stream live via FloWrestling. Access to the live results and brackets can be found through TrackWrestling. The championship bouts on Saturday, during Session IV, will air on the NAIA Network and the Urban Edge Network.
Four schools will arrive in Wichita with a full roster of 12 wrestlers, in Cumberlands (Ky.), Grand View (Iowa), Southeastern (Fla.), and Life (Ga.). Providence (Mont.), Indiana Tech, and Doane (Neb.) will make the trip with 11 wrestlers; while Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) and Southern Oregon will travel with ten wrestlers each. In total across the ten weight classes, 280 wrestlers were selected to compete for a chance at being named a national champion in their respective weight class.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference leads all other conferences with 62 total wrestlers qualifying … more at … https://naia.prestosports.com/sports/mwrest/2024-25/Releases/Final_Brackets
2024-25 high school individual state champions list-March 4: 22 more states
Once again, USA Wrestling will publish regular updates on the 2024-25 state high school champions for both boys and girls.
Winning a state high school title is an amazing achievement for a high school student-athlete. We will post the champions from official state high school championships for boys, as well as the girls who have won official state high school titles, as well as the recognized state competitions which are not run by their state high school association. We will also post the team champions at the state level as available. As available, we will include the state champion’s year in school and final record.
As we move into March, the state high school season is still finishing strong, with 22 different states hosting championships.
This past week, the public school state championships that were held were : Arkansas Boys and Girls State Championships in Little Rock, the California Boys and Girls State Championships in Bakersfield, the Delaware Boys State Championships in Lewes, the Connecticut Boys State Open and Girls State Championships in New Haven, the Illinois Girls State Championships in Bloomington, the Kansas Boys and Girls State Championships (5A-Overland Park, 4A-Wichita, 3A-Salina, 2A – Hays), the Kentucky Boys and Girls State Championships in Lexington, the Massachusetts Boys and Girls All-State Championships in Methuen, the Michigan Boys and Girls State Championships in Detroit, the Minnesota Boys and Girls State Championships in St. Paul, the Missouri Boys and Girls State Championships in Columbia, the New Hampshire Meet of Champions and Girls State Championships, the New York Boys and Girls State Championships in Albany, the Oklahoma Boys and Girls State Championships in Oklahoma City, the Oregon Boys and Girls State Championships in Portland, the Rhode Island Boys and Girls State Championships in Providence, the South Dakota Boys and Girls State Championships in Rapid City, the Vermont Boys State Championships in Barre, the Virginia Boys and Girls State Championships (Class 1 & 2 in Bristol, Class 3 in Lynchburg, Class 4, 5 & 6 in Virginia Beach, Girls in Glen Allen), the Wisconsin Boys and Girls State Championships in Madison, and the Wyoming Boys and Girls State Championships in Casper. … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2025/march/04/2024-25-high-school-individual-state-champions-list-as-of-march-4-22-more-states-host-championships
This Week in Women’s Collegiate Wrestling (3/4/2025)
This weekend, 6 conferences of NAIA women’s wrestling programs battled it out for qualifying spots at the National tournament in March. NAIA nationals will be held on March 14-15 in Park City, Kansas. Similar to the men’s NCAA DI conferences tournaments, each conference is allocated a certain amount of automatic bids per weight. Now that those automatic spots have been filled, a committee will select additional wrestlers to receive at-large bids until the field is complete with 210 wrestlers for nationals. The regional champs were:
Cascade Collegiate Conference champion – #5 Southern Oregon
Great Plains Athletic Conference champion – #10 Doane
Heart of America Conference champion – #2 Grand View
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference champion – #11 Ottawa
Mid-South Conference champion – #1 Life … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/women/this-week-in-womens-collegiate-wrestling-342025-r100070/
NCAA DI Rankings Updated (3/4/2025)
We didn’t intend on publishing a new set of rankings for the week; however, there have already been some significant personnel changes ahead of the conference tournaments.
First and foremost, All-American and previous #1 Ryan Crookham announced he will indeed miss the 2025 postseason. He has been removed and Drake Ayala heads into the Big Ten Championships as the top-ranked wrestler in the country. Ayala is 15-1 and is riding a 14-match winning streak. He has 2024-25 wins over #2 and #3, I don’t think anyone should have an issue with Ayala at #1.
Inserted in the lineup for Lehigh at 133 is Matty Lopes. He’s been good in limited action and makes his first rankings appearance.
149 lbs also has a few tweaks. With the Big 12 releasing their brackets already, two notable names have been omitted. Carter Young for Oklahoma State and Jesse Vasquez for Arizona State. Teague Travis will replace Young and Mykey Ramos replaces Vasquez. The Big 12 will also lose two allocations at 149 lbs. That brings them down to four at 149 lbs.
Also, there was a change at 285 lbs. Army West Point will be going with Brady Colbert in place of Lucas Stoddard. From what I’m hearing Tuesday morning, the EIWA should be able to keep the allocation earned by Stoddard, since Colbert would fit within the criteria.
Obviously, from a team standpoint, Lehigh slips significantly in the tournament rankings without Crookham’s points. For the full rankings: Click Here … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/ncaa-di-rankings-updated-342025-r100069/
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 