One dark horse at every weight at the 2026 NCAA DI Championships

Photo: Braxton Brown of Maryland is a No. 23 seed at 133 pounds. Photo by Sam Janicki.

By Tristan Warner

In WIN’s Volume 32 Issue 6, which published on March 4, just before the conference qualifiers, WIN Editor Tristan Warner selected one postseason dark horse at every weight class who could make a potential run for the podium in Cleveland. The criteria in that article specified that only wrestlers that were NOT ranked in WIN’s Feb. 24 rankings update could be considered.

Now that postseason qualifiers have wrapped up and NCAA brackets are in-hand, let us revisit that same topic. The new criteria for consideration is wrestlers seeded ABOVE No. 20. In other words, only wrestlers seeded No. 21-33 were eligible for consideration.

Without further ado, based on the above-specified criteria, who does WIN Editor Tristan Warner think has the best shot to make a run for the podium in Cleveland at each weight class? Keep in mind, selections were made with the pairings and potential paths to the Top 8 in mind given the brackets.

125: No. 23 Nicolar Rivera, Wisconsin

It is no secret that Rivera was a Blood-Rounder in 2025 after entering the NCAAs as a No. 11 seed. Ranked within WIN’s Top 20 all season, Rivera fell to a No. 23 seed after not placing in the Top 8 at Big Tens and losing three matches via bonus points. The Badger has a decent path in the bracket, depending on whether or not he can get past a tough Marc-Anthony McGowan from Princeton, the No. 10 seed, in the opening round.

133: No. 23 Braxton Brown, Maryland

Four-time NCAA qualifier Braxton Brown has been ranked all season by WIN and was a Top-10 ranked 133-pounder last season. The Texas native had a rough Big Tens, hence the low seed, but still has notched some significant wins in 2025-26. He was also a matter of seconds away from winning the Southern Scuffle before Northern Colorado’s No. 9-seed Dominick Serrano scored a buzzer-beating takedown to win it. Most importantly, Brown’s first-round matchup is against No. 10 Maximillian Leete of American, who Brown pinned in a December dual meet.

141: No. 21 Tyler Wells, Oklahoma

Another former Blood-Rounder, then at Minnesota and at 133, Wells enters as a No. 21 seed and drew No. 12 Luke Simcox of North Carolina. An interesting stat on Wells is that in a total of nine losses this year, his cumulative point deficit was 14 points. In other words, almost every single loss was by one or two points. He can wrestle with the best of them and has a potential path to the podium, which would be huge for Roger Kish’s Sooners.

149: No. 23 Maxwell Petersen, NDSU

Petersen is the first name on this list through the first four weights who was also selected in the pre-conference tournament article. Despite not having a great showing at Big 12s, Petersen has flashed potential and has a decent path to putting himself in the Blood Round. His teammate, Gavin Drexler, placed eighth in this weight class last season after entering as a No. 22 seed.

157: No. 21 Charlie Millard, Minnesota

This is the case of a borderline Top-10 wrestler all season receiving a curiously low seed. Millard has been in the All-American conversation all season. First round, he drew Iowa State’s No. 12 Vinny Zerban, who medically withdrew from the Big 12s not even two weeks ago.

165: No. 25 Mac Church, Virginia Tech

Church’s prospects to make the podium will undoubtedly be very challenging, but the same can be said for every other No. 21-No. 33 seed at this weight. For a guy seeded 25th, though, if he can get past returning All-American and eighth-seeded Matty Bianchi of Little Rock, who received an at-large bid after losing at the Pac-12s, Church will likely face No. 9 seed Bryce Hepner from UNC, who he has split matches with. Church dropped a 2-0 decision at the ACCs but beat Hepner in a dual meet on Feb. 13.

174: No. 23 Luca Augustine, Pitt

The third former Blood-Rounder on this list, Pitt’s Luca Augustine dropped a heartbreaker in last year’s Blood Round to Iowa’s Pat Kennedy, in a match he led for the majority of the match, shortly after the Panther received the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award for possessing the highest cumulative GPA of all 330 contestants. His opening round match against No. 10 Myles Takats, who he narrowly lost to last season and earlier this season, could be an on-paper upset brewing.

184: No. 29 Nick Fox, Northern Iowa

The UNI Panther didn’t become a starter for the Panthers until late in the season but made an immediate impact with wins over Zack Ryder and Brian Soldano. He will have a tough opening-round matchup against No. 4 James Conway from Franklin & Marshall, but the Panther is situated nicely in a quadrant of the bracket with more questions than answers, and could benefit even if on the backside.

197: No. 21 Rune Lawrence, West Virginia

The redshirt freshman was a four-time Pennsylvania state champion and was among the top recruits in the nation in the class of 2024. Despite taking 11 losses, Lawrence has wins over No. 4 seed Sonny Sasso and four other qualifiers in this bracket, including a fall over No. 8 Deanthony Parker of Oklahoma. He also lost 7-6 to No. 5 Joey Novak of Wyoming at Big 12s.

285: No. 22 Trevor Tinker, Cal Poly

The Mustang, who went 2-2 at the 2025 NCAAs, won the Pac-12 title after missing over two months of the season. Tinker defaulted out of the Midlands in late December and did not resurface until the conference tournament. Injury questions aside, he received a nice draw with a winnable match against Northern Illinois No. 11 Devon Dawson, and once someone gets on a roll at NCAAs … who knows what can happen.