National Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductees
Sun Devil Wrestling Head Coach Lee Roy Smith to be inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Coach Smith will be one of four distinguished members to be inducted into the class of 2026
STILLWATER, Okla. – The National Wrestling Hall of Fame announced on Thursday afternoon that former Sun Devil Wrestling Head Coach Lee Roy Smith will be inducted as a distinguished member of its 2026 Hall of Fame class. The Class of 2026 will be honored and officially inducted during the 49th Honors Weekend on June 5 and 6, 2026, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Ben Askren, Tervel Dlagnev, and Shannon Williams-Yancey, as distinguished members, will join Smith. Also joining the hall will be Meritorious Official honoree Zach Errett; Order of Merit recipient James L. Porter, MA, LAT, ATC; Medal of Courage recipient Patrick Morrissey; and Outstanding American honoree Retired United States Army Major General Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
“The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is honored to announce the Class of 2026, an illustrious group whose enduring contributions exemplify the foundational principles of our sport. Every Hall of Fame class is special, but this one is even more so as it includes Lee Roy Smith, who will be retiring next year after more than 20 years of superb leadership as executive director of the Hall of Fame,” said John Harris III, National Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors Chairman.
Smith becomes the third member of his family to be inducted as a Distinguished Member, joining brothers John Smith and Pat Smith, who were inducted in 1997 and 2006, respectively. The Smiths are the second family to have three Distinguished Members, joining the Peery family: father Rex Peery, inducted in the Charter Class of 1976, and brothers Ed Peery and Hugh Peery, both inducted in 1980. There are seven other sets of brothers who have been inducted as Distinguished Members: Ed Banach (1993) and Lou Banach (1994); Tom Brands (2001) and Terry Brands (2006); Stanley Henson (1978) and Josiah Henson (2006); Cliff Keen (1976) and … more at … https://thesundevils.com/news/2025/10/30/former-sun-devil-wrestling-head-coach-lee-roy-smith-to-be-inducted-into-national-wrestling-hall-of-fame
WIN’s Feb. 24 rankings update includes final Top 20 dual teams; OK State strengthens hold on No. 2 spot in TPI
Photo: Oklahoma State’s Zack Ryder (pictured at the 2025 NWCA All-Star Classic), returned to the Cowboy lineup last weekend and earned a 2-1 SV decision over Iowa’s Gabe Arnold at 184 lbs. Photo by Sam Janicki.
NEWTON, Iowa — The 2025-26 regular season is in the rearview, as WIN’s Feb. 24 rankings update reflects the updated Tournament Power Index (TPI) and individual rankings heading into the conference tournaments while also providing the final set of Top 20 dual-meet teams.
In this week’s TPI, Oklahoma State (93) pulled away from the field slightly as the clear No. 2, while the logjam of programs ranked No. 2 through No. 5 remains. Ohio State (86.5), Nebraska (85.5) and Iowa State (84), all separated by just a total of 2.5 points, will all be vying for a team trophy in Cleveland. Penn State remains No. 1 with 152 total TPI points.
WIN’s TPI projects where programs could finish at the 2026 NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held March 19-21 in Cleveland. The following is a breakdown of those individual TPI points per ranking: 20 for 1st, 16 for 2nd, 13.5 for 3rd, 12.5 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 9 for 6th, 6.5 for 7th and 5.5 for 8th. Wrestlers ranked 9-12 earn two points each, followed by one and a half points for wrestlers ranked 13-16 and one point for those ranked 17-20.
Penn State features five top-ranked wrestlers with Nittany Lions Luke Lilledahl (125), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174) and Josh Barr (197) headlining their respective weight classes. Also ranked No. 1 are three defending national champions in Lucas Byrd of Illinois (133), Jesse Mendez of Ohio State (141) and Antrell Taylor of Nebraska (157). … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2026/02/24/wins-feb-24-rankings-update-includes-final-top-20-dual-teams-ok-state-solidifies-no-2-spot-in-tpi/
Top-ranked Nittany Lions go wire-to-wire, finish regular season as lone unbeaten
Manheim, Pennsylvania – Penn State closes the regular season as the unanimous No. 1 team in the country, finishing 15-0 to headline the final NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Coaches Poll of the regular season, released Tuesday.
The Nittany Lions capped their dual slate with a 50-0 win over Princeton and will head into next season riding a Division I-record 86 straight dual meet victories. Third-ranked Oklahoma State closed at 15-1 after a 32-11 win over then-No. 7 Iowa in front of 12,629 fans and a worldwide audience on ESPN’s flagship channel. It’s the fourth-largest crowd in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
It’s the 12th dual meet crowd over 10,000 fans at a Division I men’s dual event this year, surpassing the previous high of 10 set last season. Penn State, Iowa, Iowa State and Oklahoma State hosted all 12 of those events, with Iowa hosting half of them. Oklahoma State held three duals with over 10,000, Penn State two and Iowa State one.
Iowa State secured the No. 4 spot with a 20-14 victory over then-No. 14 Missouri to finish 12-2, while fifth-ranked Nebraska wrapped its dual schedule at 13-6 following a 32-6 win over Utah Valley.
Virginia Tech finished sixth at 11-3 after a 26-17 win over Duke. Eighth-ranked NC State edged Cornell 19-18 to close at 15-4.
Rutgers finished 14-5 and 11th after a 45-3 win over Hofstra. Michigan moved to 12th at 9-6 with a 34-6 victory over Central Michigan. Pittsburgh climbed to 13th after a 37-0 shutout of Virginia.
North Carolina dropped to 15th after a 28-6 loss to 18th-ranked Stanford. West Virginia secured the No. 16 position with a 21-15 win over Lock Haven.
Northern Iowa edged Wisconsin 16-15 in a ranked matchup to finish 17th. Stanford’s win over North Carolina pushed the Cardinal to 18th. Wisconsin fell to 19th.
Indiana closes the regular season ranked 20th after a 20-16 win over Purdue. South Dakota State dropped to 21st following a 20-13 loss to North Dakota State. Wyoming, Oklahoma and Oregon State … more at … https://nwcaonline.com/news/2026/2/24/national-wrestling-coaches-association-top-ranked-nittany-lions-go-wire-to-wire-finish-regular-season-as-lone-unbeaten.aspx
Intermat’s NCAA DI Rankings Updated (2/24/2026)
That’s it! The 2025-26 regular season is finished. As always, the season seems to fly by when you’re not cutting weight and getting beat up every day. Even though last weekend was the last week of competition for most schools there were still plenty of results that had an impact on rankings. Below, we’ll mention some of the more notable moves for the week.
125 lbs
We had a flip of the 6 and 7 spots as Troy Spratley avenged his early-season loss to Dean Peterson. Also flipping spots at 20 and 21 as Ezekiel Witt was victorious over Brady Roark in the Battle of the Dakotas. ACC wrestlers Kysen Terukina and Keyveon Roller both suffered losses and were dropped a bit. Terukina’s was to Provo; however, the totality of his body of work, probably warranted a drop. Roller lost to an unranked opponent he had beaten earlier in the season.
133 lbs
With no one losing above Jax Forrest and him technically beating an opponent that was already below him almost led us to keep him at his #6 position. Comparing resumes with Kyler Larkin, his best wins (Seidel, Ayala), trumped Larkins (Knox, Figueroa). You could probably say the same about Evan Frost, but we’ll hold off for now. The three will be in the Big 12 Championships together, so they’ll sort it out soon.
141 lbs
There had to be some work done at this weight around the 10-14 range. Stanford freshman Jack Consiglio pinned UNC freshman Luke Simcox. The Consiglio/Simcox/Jack trio have all beaten each other; so we’ll go with Jack pinning Consiglio, who just pinned Simcox – rewarding the wrestlers with the better margin of victory.
149 lbs
Previously #2 ranked Jaxon Joy was shocked by Koy Buesgens in the final week of the season. Because of this Caleb Tyus moves into the #2 spot and Joy only drops a spot based on his body of work and the lack of another great option to overtake him. Buesgens stays put, he has recently losses to the two wrestlers currently above him. Jacob Frost drops out of the top ten … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/ncaa-di-rankings-updated-2242026-r100834/
Northern Iowa wrestling rallies for senior day win over Wisconsin
Panthers overcome early deficit to close out regular season with 16-15 win over Badgers.
OFFICIALS – Eric Boucher, Ben Marshall
ATTENDANCE – 3,190
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The 18th ranked UNI wrestling team closed out the 2025-26 dual schedule in style on Sunday, rallying from an early deficit to defeat No. 16 Wisconsin by a score of 16-15 inside the McLeod Center in non-conference action.
After the Badgers won the first four matches of the day, Northern Iowa responded with victories in five of the remaining six bouts, kicked off by a bonus-point win from Maximus Brady at 141 pounds after UNI trailed 12-0. The Panthers finish the regular season with an 11-8 record and 4-3 mark against Big 12 Conference opponents.
Prior to the dual, the Panthers recognized its senior class of wrestlers, including Jack Thomsen, Cael Rahnavardi, Julian Farber, Connor Thorpe, Adam Ahrendsen, Ethan Basile, Garrett Funk, RJ Weston and Caleb Rathjen.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Moving up a weight class to open the dual at 197 pounds, CJ Walrath came up short in an 8-2 loss to No. 20 Wyatt Ingham, while Ahrendsen faced a challenging ride from No. 10 Braxton Amos at heavyweight in a 6-1 loss.
Trever Anderson challenged No. 18 Nicolar Rivera but fell short in an 8-5 loss at 125, as Farber battled No. 13 Zan Fuggitt at 133 pounds. After a high-scoring first period with both wrestlers tied up at 8-8, Fuggitt took a one-point lead on a second period escape with Farber tying the match in the third on locked hands, but was unable to score an escape as Fuggitt rode out Farber for riding time in a 10-9 win over the Panther senior.
Brady put the Panthers on the board in a dominant performance at 141 pounds against Peter Tomazevic, scoring a pair of takedowns in the first frame. The offense continued for Brady with a third takedown and a solid ride to extend the lead, while adding two more takedowns in the third period along with a stalling point en route to a 17-4 major decision, Brady’s team-high tying 18th win of the season.
Rathjen kept the Panther Train rolling at 149 pounds, jumping out to a 4-1 lead on No. 10 Joseph Zargo. After Zargo tied the match with a takedown in the final seconds of regulation, it took Rathjen only 17 seconds of overtime to score the winning takedown for a 7-4 sudden victory decision and his third career win over Zargo.
Following a 6-3 win for No. 23 Luke Mechler … more at … https://unipanthers.com/news/2026/2/22/wrestling-uni-wrestling-rallies-for-senior-day-win-over-wisconsin
No. 3 Oklahoma State outscores No. 7 Iowa wrestling 32-11
Final scores
In front of a pack house full of Cowboy faithful, No. 3 Oklahoma State put on a show, topping the No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes 32-11 behind electric performances from their underclassmen.
🤼 MORE COLLEGE WRESTLING 🤼 🚨 Alerts and updates on Bleacher Report
🎥 Wrestling on YouTube 🍎 Follow on Apple News
True freshman Jax Forrest put up the statement result of the night when he teched two-time NCAA finalist Drake Ayala and then confidently declared in his post-match interview that he’s coming for the title. The spring semester has been all about Forrest, and he showed he’s not slowing down one bit.
Teammate and fellow true freshman Sergio Vega followed Forrest’s performance with a fall over Kale Peterson to give the Cowboys a 14-0 lead, thanks to his six team points, Forrest’s five team points and a three-point decision win from No. 7 Troy Spratley over Iowa’s No. 6 Dean Peterson.
The Hawks and the Cowboys split 149 and 157 pounds with Iowa’s Ryder Block winning the lighter of the two weights by tech and Oklahoma State’s Landon Robideau winning by decision over No. 14 Jordan Williams, 5-1.
Iowa looked to come roaring back after gutsy wins from All-Americans Mikey Caliendo and Patrick Kennedy in the second half of the dual at 165 and 174 pounds, but the effort wasn’t enough. This rivalry dual belonged to the Cowboys.
TEAM HISTORY: Oklahoma State | Iowa
Oklahoma State ran away with the win after No. 9 Alex Facundo topped Gabe Arnold in overtime at 184 pounds, freshman Cody Merrill pinned Iowa’s Brody Sampson and Konner Doucet pinned Iowa. The confetti fell all night long in Gallagher-Iba, and the Cowboys will now head into the postseason with confidence and poise as they look to improve upon their third-place team finish last season.
| WEIGHT | BOUT RESULT | TEAM SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 125 | No. 7 Troy Spratley over No. 6 Dean Peterson, 5-3 | 3-0, OSU |
| 133 | No. 6 Jax Forrest over No. 9 Drake Ayala, 19-3 | 8-0, OSU |
Huskers Defeat Utah Valley in Regular Season Finale
Three consecutive bonus-point victories to open the dual powered the No. 5 Nebraska wrestling team to a 32-6 win over Utah Valley on Saturday night, closing the regular season on a four-dual win streak. The Huskers claimed eight bouts and used two tech. falls, a major decision and a pin to improve to 13-6 (5-3 Big Ten) on the season, while Utah Valley fell to 5-8 (3-4 Big 12). Starting at 157, No. 3 Antrell Taylor opened against Ian Fritz with a takedown. Taylor remained in control, adding two more takedowns and a four-point nearfall to end the first period. A takedown in the second pushed the lead to 19-3, securing the tech. fall at 3:14, his sixth of the season. With the win, Taylor completed a 20-win regular season and secured his 70th career victory.
At 165, No. 7 LJ Araujo took the mat against Zyon Trujillo. The redshirt freshman recorded a takedown and a four-point nearfall in the opening period before adding a reversal and a three-point nearfall. Araujo secured the second-period pin, his second of the season, to extend the Husker lead to 11-0.
Next on the mat at 174, No. 4 Christopher Minto faced Hudson Rogers. Minto scored first with a takedown in the first period and added an escape and another takedown in the second. Rogers battled back with two escapes and a takedown to cut the deficit to 8-5, but Minto responded with two third-period takedowns and riding time to secure the 15-7 major decision, his sixth major of the season.
Tyler Eise wrestled in his second dual of the season at 184 against Caleb Uhlenhopp. The pair were scoreless through the first period and exchanged escapes in the second and third to tie the score at 1-1. Uhlenhopp used a late takedown to claim the 4-1 decision.
At 197, No. 10 Camden McDanel met Kael Bennie. McDanel recorded a first-period takedown while Bennie added an escape. The wrestlers exchanged reversals in the second along with a penalty point and escape for McDanel. Bennie added two escapes in the third, but McDanel sealed the 10-5 decision with another takedown.
Holding a 18-3 lead after intermission, No. 3 AJ Ferrari faced No. 30 Jack Forbes at heavyweight. Ferrari opened with a first-period takedown before an action-packed third period, where he added four more takedowns, an escape and a two-point nearfall to secure the 19-4 tech. fall with riding time.
At 125, Kael Lauridsen and Bridger Ricks were scoreless through the first period. Ricks scored an escape, but Lauridsen answered with a takedown and a four-point nearfall to take control and earn a 8-2 decision, giving Nebraska a 26-3 lead heading into the final three bouts.
No. 10 Jacob Van Dee faced Geronimo Rivera at 133. After a scoreless first period, Van Dee grabbed a lone escape in the second and added a third-period takedown to secure the 4-1 decision.
The Utah native, No. 4 Brock Hardy, met No. 19 Haiden Drury at 141. Hardy used a takedown in the first period to set the tone, added an escape in the second and held on with riding time to claim the 5-2 victory. With the win, Hardy sits at 105 career victories heading into postseason competition.
In the final bout at 149, No. 19 Chance Lamer took on No. 11 David Evans. Lamer opened with a takedown, but Evans battled back. The match was tied 5-5 late in the third before Evans secured the winning takedown in the closing seconds to take the 8-5 decision. … more at … https://huskers.com/news/2026/02/22/huskers-defeat-utah-valley-in-regular-season-finale
NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 17 Roundup: That’s A Wrap
The world’s finest collection of noteworthy happenings from the 17th week of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 wrestling season.
Every year, I say the season is going to go by faster than you think it will, and does anyone ever believe me? Yeah, probably, I guess. I’ve never actually sought out confirmation when making rhetorical statements like that.
But guess what? The season did end, and it did go by fast! So I hope you cherished every week of the regular season (I know I did), and I also hope you enjoy the final Roundup of noteworthy weekly happenings during the 2025-26 NCAA D1 wrestling season!
Week 16 Rankings | Week 17 Box Scores
Roundups: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16
There is technically still one more dual this week, assuming you’re reading this Monday before noon, as that is when VMI is scheduled to wrestle Presbyterian. If it’s after that, then the season is officially dunzo. It is finito, terminated, shuffled off this seasonal coil. Either way, it’s time for the recapping to begin.
The Dual of the Century of the Week
Good Revenge, Cowboy – Oklahoma State Downs Iowa 32-11
You all knew this was going to be DotCotW. The hype was simply too strong to deny.
FloWrestling had boots on the ground with our very own Christian Pyles and Connor Petros in attendance, slinging content. Christian managed to sneak a peak of the insane crowd gathering outside historic Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Gallagher-Iba was sold out, with 12,629 rabid Cowboy fans in attendance. And they were all in a big mood by the time things started cooking in the arena. Everyone should experience a big Oklahoma State dual in their lives, and make sure you arrive in time for their iconic run out to Marilyn Mason’s Beautiful People.
This was a rematch of a semifinal bout of the National Duals Invitational presented by Paycom, and it’s interesting to see how different the lineups for both teams were on Sunday compared to the mid-November dual.
Here’s the NDI box score:
Iowa 18, Oklahoma State 16
125: #10 Dean Peterson (Iowa) over #2 Troy Spratley (OK State) Dec 5-4 .. morre at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/15475275-ncaa-d1-wrestling-week-17-roundup-thats-a-wrap
NCAA Wrestling Award Standings
NCAA women’s wrestling award standings update for the 2026 season
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released the standings for the 2026 NCAA Women’s Wrestling Awards. These will be awarded in March during the very first Women’s Wrestling Championship.
The three awards will honor the Most Dominant Wrestler as well as the student-athletes that have accumulated the most falls and the most technical falls throughout the course of the regular and postseasons.
For falls and tech falls to be counted for the awards they must come against opponents from other NCAA women’s varsity programs. Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.
This is the second week of standings of the Most Dominant Wrestler award, which is a 16-match minimum to qualify for the standings.
The Most Dominant Woman Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of team points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled.
Points per match are awarded as follows:
- Fall, forfeit, injury default or DQ = 6 points (-6 points for a loss)
- Tech falls = 5 points (-5 points for a loss)
- Major decision = 4 points (-4 points for a loss)
- Decision = 3 points (-3 points for a loss)
🤼♀️ NEW HERE? Here’s everything you need to know about NC women’s wrestling
The leaderboard for Most Dominant Wrestler remains the same. First is Savanna Witt of Eastern with an average of 4.73. Next is Fort Hays State’s 180-pounder Isabella Renfro with a 4.68 average. Talisha Lewis rounds out the top three with an average of 4.56.
Ella Gahl of Manchester remains in the lead with 22 falls in 41:01. … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-women/article/2026-02-18/ncaa-womens-wrestling-award-standings-update-2026-season
And …
NCAA men’s wrestling award standings update for the 2026 season
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released updated standings for the 2026 NCAA Men’s Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships.
The inaugural NCAA Men’s Wrestling Awards were presented at the 2012 wrestling championships. The three awards, given in each division, honor the Most Dominant Wrestler as well as the student-athletes that have accumulated the most falls and the most technical falls throughout the course of the regular and postseasons.
For falls and tech falls to be counted for the awards they must come against opponents in the same division (i.e. Division III vs. Division III). Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.
This is the second week of standings for the Most Dominant Wrestler award, which is a 16-match minimum to qualify for the standings.
The Most Dominant Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of team points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled.
Points per match are awarded as follows:
- Fall, forfeit, injury default or DQ = 6 points (-6 points for a loss)
- Tech falls = 5 points (-5 points for a loss)
- Major decision = 4 points (-4 points for a loss)
- Decision = 3 points (-3 points for a loss)
RANKINGS: Latest DI NWCA Coaches Poll
Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink continues to lead Division I with a 5.28 average and in second is Jesse Mendez of Ohio State with a 4.89 average.
Still in the lead for Division II is heavyweight Isaiah Vance with a 4.85 average. Taking second this week is Tiffin’s 165-pounder Nolan Gessler.
Division III top leaders stay the same. 157-pounder Trent Mahoney … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-02-18/ncaa-mens-wrestling-award-standings-update-2026-season
Appalachian State Leans On Sustained Culture Of Winning As Postseason Nears
Appalachian State’s track record of SoCon success is something coach JohnMark Bentley points to in an effort to get the Mountainers climbing toward March.
With roughly 50 days left in the NCAA men’s wrestling season, athletes around the country can feel a heightened sense of urgency with each passing moment. The season will be over before you know it — and for some, their college careers.
But amidst that ticking clock (and mounting pressure), Appalachian State head coach JohnMark Bentley wants his wrestlers to know they’re at a place perfectly suited to ready them for what’s ahead. That place — nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Boone, North Carolina — has been under Bentley’s stewardship for 17 years now.
During that tenure, the four-time national coach of the year finalist has amassed nearly half (13/28) of the program’s regular season/tournament titles as a member of the Southern Conference. He’s also helped produce 64 individual NCAA qualifiers, including four of the eight wrestlers in App State history to earn NCAA All-American honors. “We can point to the ratings and stuff that we’ve won over the last several years, (the) last decade, and you can talk about those and say, ‘Hey guys, this is evidence that we know how to prepare you for the postseason, and you can have confidence that you’re in a program that has a culture of sustained winning,” Bentley said. “I think just having our guys take confidence in that, like hey, you’re going to be the best version of yourself in March. “That’s how this program’s always been built. And yeah, there’s been some ups and downs throughout the season and competition, but that’s going to help prepare you for March. And you can take confidence in that because there’s results to back it up.”
Staying In The Fight
Sporting a 6-5 dual record to date (3-0 in the SoCon), the Mountaineers, like most teams, have had their highs and lows this season. Coach Bentley has regularly tested his guys against the best programs in the region, and this year is no different.
Of App State’s five dual losses, three have come against ranked power conference foes, including #9 NC State, #11 Virginia Tech and #17 West Virginia. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/15319073-appalachian-state-leans-on-sustained-culture-of-winning-as-postseason-nears
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 