Welcome to the pre-Thanksgiving week NCAA D1 Roundup! 

Week 3 Rankings | Week 3 Box Scores

Week 3 Roundup | Week 2 Roundup | Week 1 Roundup

Most active wrestlers will be managing their weight around the holidays, but us has-beens and never-was'es are free to gorge on heaping portions of Thanksgiving food all week while we digest another week's worth of noteworthy happenings in the NCAA D1 wrestling world. 

Now that we're four weeks deep, we've seen enough competitions to get a decent look at pretty much every first-year starter. Those up-and-coming talents we've been waiting to watch on the NCAA level have finally arrived!

Many of those talents will already be known to you, the wise and learned wrestling fan, however, others may be less familiar. And to help everyone get more acquainted with all those newbies, I've gone through the trouble of matching every freshman in the week 3 national rankings with their high school Big Board rankings, which you can find below. 

184: #1 Angelo Ferrari, Iowa [Big Board #2 - 2024]

133: #2 Ben Davino, Ohio State [Big Board #3 - 2024]

141: #2 Sergio Vega, OK State [Big Board #7 - 2025]

149: #2 Kaleb Larkin, Arizona State [Big Board #50 - 2022]

157: #2 Landon Robideau, OK State [Big Board #5 - 2025]

165: #2 LaDarion Lockett, OK State [Big Board #3 - 2025]

184: #2 Aeoden Sinclair, Missouri [Big Board #4 - 2024]

184: #7 Brock Mantanona, Michigan [Big Board #9 - 2024]

133: #9 Marcus Blaze, Penn State [Big Board #1 - 2025]

149: #9 Jaxon Joy, Cornell [Big Board #23 - 2024]

184: #9 Zack Ryder, OK State [Big Board #5 - 2024]

197: #9 Cody Merrill, OK State [Big Board #12 - 2024]

285: #10 Cole Mirasola, Penn State [Big Board #15 - 2024]

165: #11 Ryan Burton, Virginia Tech [Big Board #14 - 2025]

285: #11 Spencer Lanosga, Navy [Big Board #97 - 2024]

133: #12 Dillon Campbell, Virginia Tech [Big Board #49 - 2024]

165: #12 Will Denny, NC State [Big Board #16 - 2025]

285: #13 Koy Hopke, Minnesota [Big Board #17 - 2024]

133: #14 Ronnie Ramirez, OK State [Big Board #30 - 2025]

149: #14 Aden Valencia, Stanford [Big Board #8 - 2024]

165: #14 LJ Araujo, Nebraska [Big Board #26 - 2024]

184: #15 Sam Goin, Indiana [Big Board #62 - 2023]

197: #18 Sonny Sasso, Virginia Tech [Big Board #26 - 2023]

157: #20 Charlie Millard, Minnesota [Big Board #33 - 2024]

141: #21 Caedyn Ricciardi, Navy [Big Board #37 - 2025]

149: #21 Kade Brown, Pittsburgh

125: #22 Brady Roark, SD State

141: #22 Caedyn Ricciardi, North Carolina [Big Board #19 - 2024]

125: #23 Mack Mauger, Missouri [Big Board #68 - 2024]

141: #23 Zeke Seltzer, Missouri [Big Board #25 - 2022]

157: #23 Cam Catrabone, Michigan [Big Board #52 - 2024]

197: #24 Gavin Nelson, Minnesota [Big Board #12 - 2023]

133: #27 Musa Tamaradze, App State

149: #27 Noah Nininger, Virginia Tech [Big Board #48 - 2025]

197: #27 Rune Lawrence, West Virginia [Big Board #16 - 2024]

285: #27 Lucas Lawler, Bucknell

165: #28 Max Norman, Brown 

174: #28 Colin Kelly, Illinois [Big Board #30 - 2024]

197: #29 Karson Tompkins, Air Force [Big Board #28 - 2024]

133: #31 Javaan Yarbrough, Morgan State

141: #31 Pierson Manville, Arizona State [Big Board #14 - 2024]

157: #32 Joe Antonio, Army [Big Board #82 - 2025]

125: #33 Ayden Smith, Rutgers [Big Board #71 - 2024]

133: #33 Evan Tallmadge, Pittsburgh [Big Board #71 - 2022]

157: #33 Bryce Lowery, Indiana

You'll notice that some of the ranked freshmen did not make the Big Board of their high school graduating class, though it's also possible I just missed a ranking. Do let me know if you spot an omission or error. You can double-check on the Big Boards here: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. 

Additionally, many members of the Class of 2025 Big Board, like PJ Duke for example, got their first varsity bouts on Sunday at the Black Knight Invite, and will be climbing up the rankings shortly, he's just not in there just yet. 

Anyway, these are the new guys of NCAA college wrestling! Learn their names, they'll be coming up quite often in the future! 

And speaking of PJ Duke, we probably want to talk about Penn State's performance at the Black Knight Invite. 

Penn State Unleashed the Fury at the Black Knight Invite

The Nittany Lions had their second scheduled competition of the season in West Point, New York. 20 Penn Staters entered the tournament and 15 of them made the finals! The hosts were the only other team that had any finalists, as Army had four runners-up and one champ. 

While no shade is intended for any of the other wrestlers at the tournament, the most notable thing about this year's Black Knight Invite is that it may help decide Penn State's lineup, and Penn State is the prohibitive favorite to win a national title this season. 

Notable absences in the entrants were Josh Barr, Braeden Davis, and Masa Ono. Barr suffered an injury at U23 Worlds but is expected back this season. Davis might redshirt but may also now be utilized at 141, because Aaron Nagao had to injury default out of the 141-pound finals (while up 3-0 in the second period). If Nagao is unable to bounce back, Davis' redshirt may get pulled. Ono's plans are more of a mystery. I hope we see him compete soon, preferably in a college event, but I'll take a freestyle event too!

Everything else went more or less according to script except at 125, where true freshman Nate Desmond upset his teammate, #1 Luke Lilledah, thanks to a slick ankle pick to a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the bout to ultimatley win 5-3. It's unlikely that this one match will decide who starts the rest of the season for Penn State at 125. It seems more likely, to me and without any inside knowledge on the subject, that Desmond will continue to redshirt this year and Lilledahl will start, but it's definitley a result to keep in mind as the season progresses. 

Watch the Desmond vs Lilledahl finals bout: 

This was also the first time we saw true freshman PJ Duke in a Penn State singlet and the second time we've seen Marcus Blaze and Rocco Welsh compete for the Blue and White. Both Blaze and Welsh earned victories in a dual against Oklahoma earlier this month. 

Duke had a close 2-1 bout with teammate Joe Sealey. As a true freshman, Duke can still redshirt, while Sealey already used his redshirt. I'd still expect Duke to be the starter in the postseason, but this at the very least gives Penn State more flexibility. 

I made this short highlight clip of Duke's first three collegiate matches for you all to enjoy. 

PJ Duke comes charging out of the gates with 3 pins and 55 points scored in his first 3 collegiate matches! He also defeated his teammate Joe Sealey 2-1 in the finals of the Black Knight Invite! pic.twitter.com/1PzT4kbhIY

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 23, 2025

And William Henckel gave Levi Haines a close bout in the 171lb finals, 4-0. The spot is still Haines', who is favored to be a Hodge Trophy finalist, but it's also another encouraging result from a Nittany Lion backup. 

None of the bouts against teammates count toward NCAA qualification, by the way, so Lilledahl's loss to Desmond will not be factored into Lilledahl's qualifying for Nationals. Nagao's injury default, however, will count. 

No lineup is set in stone until weigh-ins at the conference championships, but my guess is Penn State will trot out the following lineup more often than not this season:

125: Lilledahl

133: Blaze

141: Nagao (Davis if Nagao is injured)

149: Van Ness

157: Duke

165: Mesenbrink

174: Haines

184: Welsh

197: Barr (or Connor Mirasola if Barr is injured)

285: Cole Mirasola

The results from the Black Knight Invite also raise an interesting question of how a team of all Penn State backups does at NCAAs. In fact, it is a question our very own Christian Pyles mused on twitter Sunday afternoon. 

It's a fun exercise to ask, just how high would this team of Penn State, non-starters fair:

Nate Desmond, Masanosuke Ono, Braeden Davis, Tyler Kasak, Joe Sealey, William Henckel, Asher Cunningham, Connor Mirasola and Lucas Cochran.

How high could this group place?

— Christian Pyles (@CPyles8) November 23, 2025

But the Nittany Lions waxing the field in West Point was only one of the notable events from week 4. Which brings us to...

The Dual of the Century... of the Week

Eagles Soar in Beltway Battle: American 20, George Mason 18

The American Eagles, nestled within the Northwest quadrant of our nation's capital, hosted the George Mason Patriots, who had a short drive to AU's campus from Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. 

The team score was tied 14-14 in a see-saw battle between the Mid-Atlantic rivals. Because the dual started at heavyweight, the outcome would be decided by the 184 and 197 pound bouts. 

Both programs have ranked 184-pounders, but George Mason elected to bump #21 Malachi DuVall up to 197, and American's #27 Caleb Campos made the Patriots pay for their decision, pinning his opponent in the second period and giving the Eagles a crucial 6 point lead. 

DuVall would major his opponent to close out the dual, but it was not enough to make up the difference on the scoreboard, and the Eagles secured the scintillating win. 

CLUTCH CALEB! 📌📌📌

Campos comes up with a massive pin to put AU in front six points heading into the final bout.

📺 https://t.co/AX4M9BDzaQ pic.twitter.com/5gCypCZGcT

— AU Wrestling (@AU_Wrestling) November 21, 2025

Another worthy contender for DotCotW was Northwestern's come-from-behind victory over Princeton. The Tigers led the Wildcats 19-13 with two bouts to go before Northwestern came storming back with two majors at 197 and 285. 

In Other Duals

Oklahoma State Picked up Two Road Wins against Air Force and Arizona State

• On Friday, the Cowboys were in Colorado, where Air Force officer, two-time Falcon All-American and Oklahoma State national champ Wyatt Hendrickson got to show off his Hodge Trophy to all his friends at the Academy.
  • #9 Cody Merril won the only ranked match up when he defeated Air Force's #29 Karson Tompins at 197 by major decision 15-2.
• On Sunday, the Cowboys were in the desert to take on the Sun Devils.
  • Oklahoma State won 7 of 10 bouts. 
  • Arizona State won at 133, where true freshman Kyler Larkin defeated his former teammate and 2024 125lb National Champ, Richie Figueroa. That result may further influence Coach Taylor to utilize true freshman Ronnie Ramirez in the lineup at 133. 
  • Casey Swiderski was the other presumed Cowboy starter not in the lineup. Sun Devil redshirt freshman #2 Kaleb Larkin (brother of Kyler and son of ASU legend Eric Larkin) teched Cutter Sheets, who wrestled in Swiderski's stead. 
  • In a battle of ranked freshmen at 141, OSU's #2 Sergio Vegas defeated ASU's #31 Pierson Manville 8-3. 

Iowa Pulverized Pittsburgh 36-0

• The Hawkeyes bounced back from the drubbing they took in the finals match at the National Duals Invitational to Ohio State with a convincing shutout victory over a very solid Pittsburgh team. 
  • The marquee matchup was at 197, where Massoma Endene continued his meteoric rise through the Division 1 ranks with a clutch comeback win over #4 Mac Stour. Endene has a JuCo national title and three NCAA Division 3 titles to his name. Can he add a D1 trophy to his collection? 
  • Drake Ayala, Ryder Block, Michael Caliendo, Patrick Kennedy and Ben Kueter all picked up ranked wins against their Panther counterparts. 
    • Kueter was notably absent from the lineup at National Duals, so it will come as a relief to Hawk fans to see him back on the mat and securing ranked wins at heavyweight. 
• Here's a clip of Endene's iconic victory:

MO!!! pic.twitter.com/CTWb4zfRRw

— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling) November 22, 2025

Bellarmine Beat Northern Illinois 23 to 13

• There were no ranked matchups in this dual but I like to highlight achievements of smaller schools with less history when I can. And a SoCon school from Kentucky beating a MAC program (NIU leaves the MAC after this season, though their wrestling program may stay as an affiliate member) is notable and shows growth in the sport in my opinion!

Oklahoma Handled a Stout Indiana Squad 22-13.

• I think people might be sleeping on both teams a bit and may not realize that there were 10 ranked wrestlers in this dual and four ranked wrestlers on these teams that didn't take the mat.
  • Sooner upper weights carried the day, with #13 Soldano, #14 Parker and #24 Mora all getting bonus point wins, with Soldano and Parker's wins coming against top 15 opponents. 

Northern Iowa rolled over North Dakota State 27-11.

• The Bison of NDSU notched two upsets, with Ezekiel Witt beating #13 Trever Anderson at 125 and Max Peterson defeating #12 Caleb Rathjen at 149.
• The Panthers got bonus wins from five of their eight nationally ranked wrestlers. Most impressive win may have come from #16 Julian Farber, who dominated #29 Tristan Daugherty 12-1.
• Enjoy highlights from the Panther win, why don't you?

A good day on the mat and a strong start at home 💪🏻

Here’s what you missed in UNI’s 27-11 win over NDSU! #PantherTrain l #EverLoyal

🎥 @matside_media pic.twitter.com/Oq3vk56XDS

— UNI Wrestling (@UNI_wrestling) November 24, 2025

Michigan Bullied Columbia and Virginia.

• Final dual note: the Maize and Blue won 7 of 10 against Columbia and 9 of 10 against the Wahoos. 

It's Tourney Time

There were a handful of notable tournaments on Sunday. 

We already discussed the Black Knight Invite, but one more shout out to the cool award you get when you win a title.

Not often will you find a better trophy than this one 🪖 pic.twitter.com/EyRwUHAku5

— Army Wrestling (@ArmyWP_Wres) November 23, 2025

There's gotta be dozens of these stashed in Penn State's Lorenzo Wrestling Complex at this point. 

UPenn Crowned Four Champs at the Pennsylvania RTC Keystone Classic

• Evan Mougalian beat #7 Dylan Shawver at 133 and Sean Seefeldt beat #11 Ryan Burton at 165 to give the Quakers two unranked champs that had to beat highly ranked wrestlers for their respective titles. 
  • #11 Jude Swisher beat Ivy rival #21 Jimmy Harrington in the 157 finals and #6 Cross Wasilewski beat #18 Andrew Clark in the other finals the Quakers won. Those results, however, were not upsets. 
• Rutgers had five finalists and three champs with Ayden Smith, Joseph Oliveri and Lenny Pinto all winning at 125, 141 and 174, respectively. 
  • Rutgers also had a third-place finish from #11 Shane Cartagena-Walsh, who was upset in the semifinals by #20 Jared McGill of Edinboro.
    • McGill was then defeated by Franklin & Marshall's #12 James Conway in what was one of the most competitive weights of the even. 

Oregon State Claimed 5 Titles at the Roadrunner Open

• #5 Justin Rademacher led the way for the Beavers, as he picked up a tech-fall win in the finals at 197 over #29 Karson Tompkins. 
  • Daschle Lamer won the 174-pound bracket for the Beavers, though he wrestled unattached. 
  • Matthew Olguin was down at 165 after wrestling the Princeton Open earlier this month at 174, which would resolve a tricky roster conundrum between him and Lamer. 
• Rather randomly, Daschle's brother Chance, who wrestles for Nebraska, won the 149 title over Illinois' Michael Gioffre. Both Chance and Michael were wrestling unattached. They were the only Big Ten affiliated wrestlers at the decidedly Western-oriented event. 

The State of North Carolina Was the Real Winner at the Mountaineer Open

• Wrestlers from programs located in  North Carolina dominated the brackets of the event hosted by Appalachian State. 
  • App State had four champs. UNC also had four, though the Tar Heels were all presumed backups. 
  • Patrick Brophy made an appearance as an unroster wrestler and won 197. He wrestled the last three seasons at the Citadel and is expected to enroll at NC State in the second semester. 
• Cornell also hosted the Big Red Invite, but it was all round-robins, which is good for wrestlers and coaches but rather difficult to follow as fans, so I'm not even sure who won any of the weights. 

Hey, Here's a Cool Video

All Access: Lee vs Ono

I know a lot of people were jonesing for some Masa Ono matches this month. I was one of them. Luckily, this behind-the-scenes video helps quench that Ono thirst. 

I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords

This is a new segment, that is replacing Heavy Metal Luncheon (I may revisit that topic later, who knows), in which I am going to ask Artificial Intelligence a wrestling question and copy and paste the answer. 

FloSports is not immune to the siren call of free robot labor. And I, your humble bloggger, know that I may soon be replaced by AI content slop. So before we all succumb to the singularity, I figure we may as well get some use out of the much ballyhooed Neural Network that's seeping into our way of life. 

Here's the questions I asked ChatGPT: Please tell me which NCAA college wrestling freshmen are most likely to become All-Americans at the 2026 NCAA Championships.

And here's what it told me:

Top Freshman Likely to Become 2026 All-Americans

PJ Duke (Penn State, ~157 lb)

Arguably the top recruit in the 2025 class. 

Mainstream Adventures projects him as a “national title threat” thanks to his scoring ability. 

Yahoo Sports also believes he could challenge for the starting spot. 

Marcus Blaze (Penn State, ~133 / 141 lb)

Part of Penn State’s No. 1 recruiting class. 

Noted for his defense — very hard to take down in high school. 

Could battle for a starting role right away, which increases his chances of All-American status. 

Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State, 141 lb)

Called out in USA Wrestling’s “early freshmen impact” notebook as a big-time freshman. 

Ranked by recruiting services among Oklahoma State’s top 2025 signees. 

If he starts and performs well, he could make the 8-man All-American range.

Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State, 157 lb)

Also highlighted in USA Wrestling’s notebook for his strong opening matches. 

Highly ranked in the 2025 class. 

A realistic shot at top-8 if he adapts quickly to college-level competition.

LaDarion Lockett (Oklahoma State, 165 lb)

Another 2025 recruit mentioned in the early impact freshman list. 

USA Wrestling notes he’s already taken down some top competition in early matches. 

At 165, there is room for breakout as a freshman, especially if he cracks the lineup.

Angelo Ferrari (Iowa, 184 lb)

Identified by Mainstream Adventures as a legit contender even as a freshman. 

He put up very solid results during his redshirt / early collegiate exposure. 

Iowa has a strong wrestling culture, and if he nails his weight class, high placement is possible.

Jude Correa (Michigan, Heavyweight)

Highlighted by Mainstream Adventures as a powerful, athletic true freshman. 

As a heavyweight, there’s often more variability, giving a talented freshman a better shot to reach All-American status.

Ryder Wilder (Northwestern, 197 lb)

Named in the “13 Impact Freshman” for his aggressive style and athleticism. 

At 197, if he can score bonus points and win some key matches, top-8 is not out of reach.

Seth Mendoza (Missouri, ~133 lb)

Also on the “impact freshman” list. 

Recruited highly enough that Missouri likely expects him to contribute early. 

With good matchups, he could work his way into All-American territory by 2026.

Rafael Hipolito Jr. (Virginia Tech, 157 lb)

According to USA Wrestling, he’s expected to “man” the 157-lb spot. 

Being given a starting role as a freshman is a strong indicator of program confidence. 

If he adapts to college wrestling, he has a solid shot at a top-8 NCAA finish.

Okay so pretty good on the first six suggestions. I would also expect Duke, Blaze, Vega, Robideau, Lockett and Ferrari to contend for All-American honors. But then things start to deteriorate. 

Jude Correa was committed to Michigan but then flipped to Cornell and is currently greyshirting in Ithaca. Ryder Wilder isn't on the Northwestern roster yet, and no disrespect, but I don't think he will project as a freshman AA contender once he gets in the Wildcat room. Seth Mendoza wrestled national duals at 157 so I don't think he's making 133 anytime soon. Finally, Rafael Hipolito transferred to Oklahoma and is definitley not a freshman. 

So maybe my job is safe for now. 

And if you take issue with me copy and pasting ChatGPT as being lazy, let me just say: yes it is. But big AI models copy and paste other people's work and regurgitate it to users without any compensation to the original content providers. So fair's fair in my humble opinion. 

At least ChatGPT provides sources for their answers, which in this case included several references to FloWrestling articles, thus creating an infinite content loop. Also, shout out to Mainstream Adventures, which ChatGPT apparently relies on heavily for college wrestling content. 

Fun experiment, I think I'll keep doing it. 

Not a lot on the calendar next weekend, as is typically the case after Thanksgiving. The Cy-Hawk dual is Sunday, though. And then the weekend after next is CKLV time. 

All right, time to start cooking the turkey. Is that a phrase people use during Thanksgiving? I don't think it is but it sounds like it should be. See you next week, wise and learned wrestling fans!