2026 NCAA DI Men’s Championships: Session II Highlights

Photo: Danny Wask of Navy, who entered as a No. 15 seed, scored the upset of the night when he took down Cornell’s undefeated and second-seeded Simon Ruiz at 174 pounds. Photo by Justin Hames.

CLEVELAND – Thursday night’s session of the 2026 NCAA DI Men’s Wrestling Championships unfolded before 16,777 fans in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena as the 10 respective weight classes were whittled down to 24 wrestlers.

The session got off to a rocking start at 125 pounds when Oklahoma State’s No. 5 Troy Spratley hit a four-point move in the second period to take a lead over defending NCAA champion Vincent Robinson of NC State, which he would never relinquish. Spratley took an 8-5 decision in a rematch of last year’s championship bout.

Two No. 2 seeds fell in Round-of-16 action Thursday night, as 174-pounder Simon Ruiz fell at the hands of Navy’s returning All-American Danny Wask, while Iowa State’s No. 2-seed Rocky Elam was defeated by Rutgers’ Remy Cotton at 197 pounds.

Columbia’s Cesar Alvan sent shockwaves through the arena when the Lion tossed and pinned Oklahoma State true-freshman star and fourth-seeded Ladarion Lockett in the sudden-victory period at 165 pounds.

No. 29 Colton Hawks of Arizona State was another wrestler making headlines, as the Sun Devil entered the tournament with a 7-9 record but defeated No. 4 Sonny Sasso (Virginia Tech) and No. 13 Bennett Berge (SDSU) to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.

Four sets of brothers advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals, including native Ohioans Marcus and Joey Blaze, who represent Penn State and Purdue, respectively. Kyler and Kaleb Larkin of Arizona State, Beau and Brock Mantanona of Michigan, as well as and Angelo (Iowa) and AJ Ferrari of Nebraska will wrestle for a spot in the semifinals Friday at 12 p.m. ET.

Penn State wrapped up Session II in first place with 40.5 team points, while Nebraska pulled into second with 27.0 points. Iowa is in third with 25.5, while Oklahoma State (25.0) and Ohio State (23.0) rounded out the Top-5 teams.

Session III gets underway from Rocket Arena with quarterfinal action and consolation second-and-third-round wrestling Friday at 12 p.m. ET.

Top-10 Team Scores

1- Penn State 40.5

2- Nebraska 27.0

3- Iowa 25.5

4- Oklahoma State 25.0

5- Ohio State 23.0

6- Iowa State 21.5

7- Arizona State 17.0

8- Stanford 15.0

t9- Cornell 14.0

t9- Michigan 14.0

t9- Virginia Tech 14.0

Session II Highlights

125:

• OK State’s No. 5 Troy Spratley avenged his NCAA finals loss from last season, hitting a four-point move in the second period to rally from behind in an 8-5 decision over NC State’s Vincent Robinson.
• Indiana’s Jacob Moran scored one of the biggest upsets of the night in dominating fashion, as the Hoosier majored No. 3 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State, 10-2.

133:

• The Top-4 seeds, all freshmen, won by tech falls to advance to the quarters.
• No. 5 seed Kyler Larkin, also a freshman, trailed Penn’s Evan Mougalian but stepped over the Quaker for a late fall.

141:

• All Top-8 seeds advanced, as No. 1 Jesse Mendez earned a tech fall and No. 2 Sergio Vega slapped on a tight cradle for a late fall.

149:

• No. 12 Carter Young of Maryland and No. 20 Chance Lamer of Nebraska will square off with a semifinal berth on the line, as Young upset No. 5 Koy Buesgens (NC State) while Lamer took down No. 4 Collin Gaj (Virginia Tech).
• Penn’s No. 3 Cross Wasilewski survived a few overtime scares, as UNI’s No. 14 Caleb Rathjen was in deep on two shots, but the Quaker scored off a perfectly timed ankle pick in the sudden-victory period.
• No. 11 Lachlan McNeil of Michigan reached the quarters with a decision over No. 6 Caleb Tyus (SIU-Edwardsville).

157:

• No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State won a gutsy battle of Colorado natives, scoring two third-period takedowns to mount a come-from-behind victory over Stanford’s No. 9 Daniel Cardenas.

165:

• No. 12 Cesar Alvan of Columbia stunned the crowd with a defensive throw off of No. 5 Ladarion Lockett’s overtime single-leg attempt, which resulted in a fall for the Lion.
• Freshmen EJ Parco of Stanford and Will Denny of NC State punched their tickets to the quarters, as Parco took out No. 11 Ryder Downey (UNI) and Denny topped Lehigh’s No. 7 Max Brignola.

174:

• Navy’s Danny Wask scored the upset of the night, defeating Cornell’s previously unbeaten Simon Ruiz, 9-5.
• Michigan’s No. 9 Beau Mantanona topped OK State’s No. 8 Alex Facundo, preventing a matchup of former Penn State teammates in the quarters against Levi Haines.
• Iowa State’s MJ Gaitan was victorious over returning All-American and sixth-seeded Matthew Singleton of NC State.

184:

• Brian Soldano stayed hot for the Oklahoma Sooners, as the New Jersey native defeated fourth-seeded James Conway of Franklin & Marshall, 4-1.

197:

•  No. 29-seed Colton Hawks of Arizona State entered the tournament with a 7-9 record, but the Sun Devil reeled off consecutive victories to punch his ticket to the quarters. After beating No. 4 Sonny Sasso, Hawks kept the momentum rolling with a 5-1 decision over No. 13 Bennett Berge of South Dakota State.
• Nebraska’s No. 11 Camden McDanel avenged an early season loss to Oregon State’s Justin Rademacher with a 13-5 major decision.
• No. 2 Rocky Elam of Iowa State fell at the hands of Rutgers’ Remy Cotton, 10-2.

285:

• Oklahoma got another quarterfinalist when Juan Mora upset No. 5 Nick Feldman, 4-2.
• Rutgers kept the momentum rolling in the upper weights, as No. 27 Hunter Catka upset No. 11 Devin Dawson of Northern Illinois, 2-1 TB.