2026 NCAA DI Men’s Championships: NCAA Session I Highlights

Photo: No. 20 Daschle Lamer of Oregon State defeated No. 13 Carter Baer of Binghamton in Thursday’s opening round, as he and his brother, Chance—who wrestles for Nebraska—became one of five sets of brothers to advance to the Round of 16. Photo by Sam Janicki.

CLEVELAND – The opening session of the 2026 NCAA DI Men’s Wrestling Championships took place on Thursday afternoon from Cleveland’s Rocket Arena. In a round that is typically littered with upsets, the Round of 32 remained largely status quo save a few losses suffered by Top-8 seeds.

Five sets of brothers advanced to tonight’s Round of 16, 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 Chance (Nebraska) and Daschle Lamer (Oregon State) and Angelo (Iowa) and AJ Ferrari of Nebraska will wrestle for a spot in the quarterfinals this evening.

Penn State wrapped up Session I in first place with 22.5 team points, while Iowa is in second with 15.0. Ohio State and Oklahoma State are tied for third with 14.5, and Iowa State maintains a one-point lead over sixth-place Nebraska with 14.0 points.

The attendance for session one was 16,625.

Session II gets underway from Rocket Arena with Round-of-16 action and consolation first-round wrestling tonight at 7 p.m. ET.

Session I Highlights

125:

• West Virginia’s Jett Strickenberger avenged two losses from the Big 12 tournament by majoring NDSU’s Ezekiel Witt, 13-5.
• In a back-and-forth frenzy, Iowa State’s No. 13 Stevo Poulin came from behind to win a 10-6 thriller over Michigan’s Diego Sotelo.
• Despite surrendering a first-period takedown, Ohio State’s No. 3 Nic Bouzakis survived a tussle with Columbia’s Sulayman Bah, 9-5.
• Minnesota’s No. 6 Jore Volk cruised past SDSU’s Brady Roark, 8-2, an opponent he lost to in an earlier-season dual meet.
• Princeton’s Marc-Anthony McGowan earned a fall and would have secured a tech. fall over Wisconsin’s returning Blood-Round finisher Nicolar Rivera.

133:

• Gardner-Webb’s TK Davis outlasted returning All-American Zan Fugitt of Wisconsin, 4-1, on a late takedown in the final frame.
• In the highest-scoring matchup of the session, Northern Colorado’s No. 9 Dominick Serrano jumped out to a huge lead but almost lost it, as Purdue’s Blake Boarman clawed back to a 16-14 final score.
• Trailing most of the match, UNI’s Julian Farber topped No. 13-seed and returning AA Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska, 5-4, with a takedown in the final minute.
• 23 Braxton Brown of Maryland took out No. 10 Maximillian Leete of American for the second time this season to advance to the Round of 16.

141:

• Navy true freshman Caedyn Ricciardi outlasted NC State’s 2024 All-American Ryan Jack, scoring a takedown in sudden victory for the 4-1 triumph.
• Oregon State’s Nash Singleton, seeded No. 24, took out No. 9 Joey Olivieri of Rutgers, 2-1, as a first-period penalty point made the difference.
• 21 Tyler Wells was one of multiple Sooners to score an upset win, as the former Minnesota Golden Gopher took out No. 12 Luke Simcox of UNC by a 3-2 final count.
• 10 Jack Consiglio of Stanford trailed for nearly six minutes before scoring a takedown and near fall via a cradle just before the final buzzer to advance with a gutsy 9-5 decision over Bucknell’s 2025 Blood Rounder Dylan Chappell.

149:

• The only on-paper upset of the Round-of-32 came when Nebraska’s No. 20-seed Chance Lamer defeated No. 13 Joe Zargo of Wisconsin, 4-1.
• The top three seeds all secured bonus-point victories, as No. 1 Shayne Van Ness and No. 2 Jaxon Joy earned tech falls while Penn’s No. 3 Cross Wasilewski notched a 12-1 major decision.

157:

• Minnesota freshman Charlie Millard earned a big win, as the No. 21 seed topped No. 12 Vinny Zerban of Iowa State, a 2025 All-American while representing Northern Colorado.
• Harvard’s lone qualifier advanced, as No. 20 Jimmy Harrington scored a 4-1 SV decision over Ohio’s No. 13 Derek Raike.

165:

• In a battle of high school teammates who attended St. Edward High School in nearby Lakewood, Ohio, No. 9 Bryce Hepner defeated Penn’s Sean Seefeldt, 11-4.
• 8 Matty Bianchi of Little Rock, a returning All-American, while trailing due to Virginia Tech’s Mac Church’s riding-time advantage, scored a takedown on the edge in the final seconds to earn a 5-2 TB victory.
• UNI’s No. 11 Ryder Downey, trailing most of the match, scored a takedown and four near-fall points in the final minute to advance past Oregon State’s Matthew Olguin.
• Another buzzer-beating takedown for the win came from Stanford freshman EJ Parco, who advanced past Nebraska’s No. 6-seed LJ Araujo, also a freshman.

174:

• No. 6 Matty Singleton of NC State survived a hotly contested battle with in-state rival Collin Carrigan of North Carolina, 2-1 TB.
• Bucknell’s No. 10 Myles Takats scored a very late takedown to upend Pitt’s 2025 Blood-Round finisher Luca Augustine for the second time this season.

184:

• Nebraska’s No. 8 Silas Allred ironically scored a 3-1 decision over George Mason’s Malachi DuVall, the exact same opponent he drew in round one of last year’s NCAA Championship in Philadelphia.
• Ohio State’s No. 12 Dylan Fishback survived a late scare, fighting off his back in a Turk position to hang on for an 8-6 decision over App State’s Tomas Booker.
• 20 Brian Soldano of Oklahoma scored an upset over ISU’s No. 13 Isaac Dean, 4-1.

197:

• Stanford true freshman Angelo Posada, seeded No. 9, surrendered the first takedown to Rider’s Brock Zurawski but put the Bronco on his back for a fall just before the first period expired.
• 25 Evan Bates of Missouri notched an upset victory, stunning No. 8 DJ Parker of Oklahoma, with a takedown in the final 10 seconds.
• In a back-and-forth takedown battle, West Virginia freshman Rune Lawrence defeated Ohio State’s No. 12 Luke Geog, 9-6 SV.
• The highest-seeded wrestler to lose in round one was Virginia Tech’s Sonny Sasso, the No. 4 seed, who fell, 12-8, at the hands of Arizona State veteran Colton Hawks.
• Oregon State’s No. 6 Justin Rademacher hung on for a 2-1 TB victory over Iowa’s Gabe Arnold, as one second of riding-time advantage proved to be the difference.

285:

• 16 Jimmy Mullen of Virginia Tech had to fight off his back late in the third period but was able to hang on for a 13-10 victory over Columbia’s Vincent Mueller.
• Ohio State’s Nick Feldman, seeded No. 5, scored a takedown with seven seconds remaining in the bout to narrowly defeat Missouri’s Jarrett Stoner, 5-4.
• 21 Juan Mora of Oklahoma took down No. 12 Braxton Amos of Wisconsin, 4-3.
• Pitt’s No. 20 Dayton Pitzer avenged two early season losses by defeating Navy’s No. 13 Spencer Lanosga, 3-2 TB.
• Lehigh’s No. 6 Nathan Taylor fell in round one at the hands of Rutgers’ Hunter Catka via a 6-3 SV decision.