Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Freshman LJ Araujo Making Early Impact For Nebraska Wrestling

LJ Araujo’s top-position prowess has helped the Nebraska freshman get off to a fast start for the Huskers.
He’s largely flown under the radar at 165 pounds so far this season, but Nebraska’s #13 LJ Araujo has put together an impressive freshman season so far.
After redshirting at 174 pounds a year ago, Araujo is down at 165 as a redshirt freshman and has an 8-1 record. Seven of his wins have come against wrestlers who are either ranked now or were ranked at the time, highlighted by a pin over #8 Max Brignola of Lehigh, a 4-3 win over #14 Maxx Mayfield of Missouri, and a 5-3 decision over #22 Gunner Filipowicz of Army.
Araujo’s lone loss was a 10-1 major decision loss to #12 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State at National Duals — a match where Araujo suffered a second hamstring injury that weekend.
According to Nebraska associate head coach Bryan Snyder, Araujo is now at his ideal weight class, although he may still grow into 174. Araujo dropped to 165 this year, while last year’s 165-pound All-American #8 Christopher Minto moved up to 174. According to Snyder, Minto arrived on campus smaller but has gotten much bigger while they anticipated Araujo getting bigger based on the size of his dad, yet that hasn’t materialized to this point. “(Araujo) is now in the right weight class. He can still probably grow into 65 a little bit,” Snyder said. “We kind of saw the writing on the wall a little bit, and those guys did too. It was a good move for the program and for (Minto) and LJ.”
“It was perfect — I was too small at ‘74,” Araujo said. “I still don’t have to cut much. All the guys give me crap on the team like ‘You’re not even cutting that much weight and you went down a weight class.’ I just planned on being a ‘74-pounder when I got to college, … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/14926580-freshman-lj-araujo-making-early-impact-for-nebraska-wrestling

December 16, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ironman Wrestling Preview and Seeds: Five Potential No. 1 vs. No. 2 Showdowns Highlight a Loaded Field

With nearly every top-16 team headed to Cuyahoga Falls, this year’s Ironman Tournament is stacked with elite seeds, national No. 1 contenders, and multiple finals that could pit the very best against each other.
Time constraints are going to keep this tight and concise with not a lot of digging in. Our focus for this will be the teams from the top 16 that will be at Ironman. It’s everyone of them except the California teams.

Faith Christian Academy Loaded With Top Seeds, Waters Eyes Another Crown

No. 1 Faith Christian Academy of Pennsylvania has two top-seeded wrestlers, Nick Singer (175 pounds) and Adam Waters (190), amongst their eight seeded grapplers. Six are in the top ten.
If the seeds play out as expected, Waters, who is our No. 1 190-pounder will square off with No. 2 Jimmy Mastny from Illinois’ Marian Central Catholic in an attempt to earn his second consecutive Ironman crown. Joe Bachmann has moved up to 150 pounds, where he is seeded second.

Bishop McCort’s Stars Headline the Field as Bassett Hunts Fourth Ironman Title

No. 2 Bishop McCort’s Bo Bassett is the number one seed at 150 and will be going for his fourth Ironman crown. Bassett and Bachmann sit at numbers one and two at 150 pounds in our latest national rankings. Melvin Miller, who is seeking his first Ironman title as a junior will likely be involved in another one versus two finals at 165 pounds with No. 2 Jayden James of Delbarton, New Jersey. … more at … https://www.si.com/high-school/ohio/ironman-wrestling-preview-and-seeds-five-potential-no-1-vs-no-2-showdowns-highlight-a-loaded-field-01kc7pexefz5

December 16, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dates Set for 2026 National Duals Invitational sponsored by Paycom

Following a milestone tournament for college wrestling, the National Duals Invitational sponsored by Paycom today announced that next year’s event will take place Dec. 12-13, 2026, at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The decision comes on the heels of the inaugural 2025 tournament, which delivered exceptional competition, strong attendance, and a championship performance by Ohio State, which claimed the title and $200,000 grand prize.
“We were blown away by the reception of this year’s National Duals Invitational,” said Matt Surber, tournament director. “The college wrestling community was all in, and we were able to support the sport in a historic way. Moving the tournament to December next year gives teams and fans a memorable kickoff to the collegiate wrestling season.”
Last month, the 16-team field, which collectively held more than 60 NCAA team titles and over 450 individual national championships, delivered a slate of marquee matchups that further established the National Duals Invitational as one of the premier events in college wrestling. “I’m a big supporter of a dual-meet championship setup, and the caliber of this year’s performances showed why,” said Ohio State head wrestling coach Tom Ryan. “The only way you make progress long term is by starting with something that makes sense, and this event does. We’re excited to see it continue to grow.”
For updates and more information, visit nationaldualsinvitational.com.
About the National Duals Invitational
The National Duals Invitational is a premier collegiate wrestling event featuring 16 of the top NCAA Division I teams competing for a total purse of more than $1 million. … more at … https://owrestle.com/dates-set-for-2026-national-duals-invitational-sponsored-by-paycom/

December 16, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Girls’ wrestling now the fastest-growing sport in the Country, and it starts young

When Ben Fallon was growing up in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, all he ever wanted to do was play football. Fallon was in fourth grade, and in Western Pennsylvania, pretty much every boy wants to play football. However, his parents had some strong feelings about that sport. “My parents wouldn’t let me play football, and I was just looking for a sport that I could be really physical in and get some of that energy out that I think all fourth-grade boys have,” Fallon said.
Wrestling was a sport in which he competed during middle school, high school and college. It was a passion for the sport he never really lost because, as he says, it shaped his character and his adult life. “Wrestling for me was a place where there’s no one else to blame but yourself when you are out there,” Fallon said. “You get out what you put in, and you own 100% of your success and your failure. And I liked that.”
“What really made me commit so much time and effort and energy was just wanting to not only win but show myself that I could be one of the best,” he said. When he and his wife, Corrine, got married and started having children, Fallon always believed he might find himself coaching a son. Except the son never came. Fallon, 36, smiles broadly. “I thought when my third daughter was born that wrestling was totally off the table for me,” he said. “I was kind of resigned to the fact that we were going to be a soccer family my whole life.”
And he was fine with that. However, that all changed last winter when his wife ran into the local club wrestling coach at Franklin Regional. He casually mentioned they were having “weigh-ins” if their girls wanted to join up. “When Corrine told me, I didn’t even really give my kids an option,” he said. “I just said, ‘Hey, I have good news. We’re going to try wrestling this winter.’ So it wasn’t like something that I had been planning on doing with them because I didn’t even know we had a girls’ program.”
All three girls, 8, 5 and 3, came to the first weigh-in, wrestled and fell in love with it on their own, Fallon swears. Last weekend, they competed as part of the Franklin Regional Junior Wrestling Program in their first tournament.
The girls are not alone. While the sport of wrestling has long been a male-dominated field, it has experienced significant growth among girls in middle and high school over the past decade. College-level female wrestling has also seen a big boom, Fallon said. “In fact, girls’ wrestling is now recognized as the fastest-growing high school sport in the United States, outpacing both football and basketball,” he said. “Here in Pennsylvania, nearly 250 high schools offer competitive wrestling for girls.”
Colin Dunlap, a Pittsburgh-based talk-radio host who spent … more at … https://www.timesrepublican.com/opinion/columnists/2025/12/girls-wrestling-now-the-fastest-growing-sport-in-the-country-and-it-starts-young/

December 16, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment

Bears sing last in dominating performance over Merchant Marine

Under the spotlights in historic Billard Gymnasium, and with a full crowd, Coast Guard handed archrival Merchant Marine a commanding defeat by the score of 40-3. This is the seventh consecutive time that the Bears have defeated KP, a streak dating back to 2018. For the Mariners, they drop to 2-2 on the season. They will travel to the Nassau Open, hosted by Nassau Community College on Saturday December 13th. Coast Guard jumped out early and often, ensuring that Merchant Marine never had a chance. Nikko Beato(San Diego, CA) made his return to the mat in spectacular fashion to start the night with a 19-5 tech fall victory to give his Bears an early 5-0 lead. After Beato, the freshman 133 pounder Marvin Armistead(Reading, PA) brought the already lively Coast Guard crowd into a frenzy with a pin to open up a commanding 11-0 advantage. 141 Dom Moyer(Milford, PA) and 149 Nathan Fitt(Branchville, NJ) with dominating tech victories of their own Moyer’s by a score of 17-2 and Fitt 16-1. For Fitt, his victory was the loudest, and chippiest of the night. After going up by 15 to earn the tech fall, the CGA crowd erupted behind their senior captain.
After 157 Jacob Woodburn(Greensboro, NC) lost a hard-fought 5-4 decision, 165 Landon Kearns(East Brunswick, NJ) got the Bears back in the points with a tight, 4-2 decision win that came down to the wire.  After two straight bouts that went down to the wire, 174 freshman Mason Gourley(Clarion, PA) gave the Bears another comfortable win with a 17-2 tech fall win. Gourley having his hand lifted in celebration by the referee prompted the Coast Guard fans to break into a “He’s a Freshman!” … more at … https://coastguardathletics.com/news/2025/12/10/wrestling-bears-sing-last-in-dominating-performance-over-merchant-marine.aspx

December 16, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment