Now that the statutory limit for wishing everyone a happy New Year has expired, I will instead wish everyone a Happy Dual Meet Season! 

The second week of January is traditionally the start of most conference dual meets, so consider us now officially within the throes of dual meet season! 

Week 10 Rankings | Week 11 Box Scores

Roundups: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10

There was still a tourny to recap as well. A smattering of tournaments will continue throughout the season as newly activated wrestlers need to get their match counts up for NCAA qualification purposes, and redshirts and other non-starters need to get their mat time. 

But this week's focus will be duals, so let's get cracking on recapping all the noteworthy happenings of week 11 of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 college wrestling season!!

The Dual of the Century, of the Week

Panther Train Choo Choos Over Jackrabbits For A National Championship!

What better dual to highlight than one that determined who took home first place at the NWCA/USMC Multi-Divisional National Dual Meet Championships? 

This event includes Divisions I, II, III, NAIA and women's college wrestling into a dual meet bonanza inside the UNI-dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. And it was the home team UNI Panthers who won the D1 crown. 

The Panthers did so by upsetting the higher-ranked South Dakota State Jackrabbits, the favorites and their Big 12 rival.

What made the victory even more impressive was that UNI completed the upset without 6 (six!) of their ranked competitors: no #20 Anderson at 125, no #9 Land at 141, no #20 Rathjen at 149, no #19 Simma at 174, no #26 Walrath at 184, and no #10 Voelker at 285. (By the way, Coach Schwab also mentioned that, unfortunately, Voelker is done for the season, which stinks.) 

SDSU wasn't at full strength either, as Coach Hahn was without the services of #28 Cardinal at 133 (who hasn't wrestled since December), #22 Martin at 149, and #31 Marcus Espinoza-Owens at 165. 

But this is what dual meet tournaments are all about. Having the depth to wrestle four or more duals over two days and still put forth a championship effort, which is what both teams did and which is why this is the DotCotW. 

Heroes for the Panthers were Max Brady at 141 and Adam Ahrendsen at 285, who both upset ranked Jackrabbits to help secure the win for UNI. 

Watch the heavyweight bout that clinched the title for UNI why don't you? The move of the match (perhaps the tournament) is Ahrendsen sitting the corner and locking up a cradle late in the first period. 

Dual meet tournaments are all the rage this year, and you just have to love to see it. I mean, we love our individual tournaments as well, but dual meet tournaments have clear advantages. The duals all follow a schedule, rather than making you check alerts for mat assignment just guessing when a matchup will take place. And more importantly, upsets don't stop marquee matchups from happening. 

Now we've got the National Duals Invitational presented by Paycom, the Journeymen Collegiate Duals, and the venerable NWCA National Duals. Tremendous.

What Else Happened at the NWCA/USMC Multi-Divisional National Dual Meet Championships?

The NWCA focuses on programs that aren't primary members of Power 4 conferences (also known as 'mid-majors'though let the record state that I am personally NOT referring to those schools by that term, merely pointing out the term used by others, which I do not favor). 

Anyhow, there were 26 D1 duals popping off in Cedar Falls over the weekend. You can check out the box scores in the brackets section of the event page here. The final team placements are as follows:

10th: Campbell

9th: Bloomsburg

8th: CSU Bakersfield

7th: Harvard

6th: Ohio

5th: Central Michigan

4th: Northern Illinois

3rd: Drexel

2nd: South Dakota State

1st: Northern Iowa

Elsewhere In Dual Meet Land

Let's go around the horn and touch on some of the conferences that were kicking off their dual seasons. 

Boppin with the Big 12 

• Bedlam is back! And it's a sellout! Very impressive atmosphere in Historic Gallagher-Iba. It was also the 190th Bedlam (i.e. a dual between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. They often have more than one a year. Anyway, that's a lot of Bedlams).  
  • The biggest news is Jax Forrest eschewing the second half of his senior year in high school at Bishop McCort to enroll early at Oklahoma State. Jax did indeed get the start, which many in the crowd knew when Funky Town started playing before the 133 walk outs. Forrest already got the first two takedowns and a pinfall (off a cradle) of his burgeoning college career, much to the delight of a packed GIA. Forrest can wrestle four more varsity 'dates' without having to pull his redshirt, so expect to see at least four more Oklahoma State duals featuring Jax Forrest at 133. 
  • Many of the bouts were competitive, but everything seemed to break the Cowboys' way. Oklahoma State ran the table 37-0 and registered the first Bedlam shut out since 1992!
• Arizona State lost to Iowa State in a Tuesday night dual in Tempe. The Sun Devils were defeated again at home on Friday by West Virginia. 
  • There weren't many upsets in either dual, however, some of the biggest news of the week came by way of a lineup move by the Sun Devils.
  • Kaleb Larkin made waves by bumping up to 157 and defeating both #7 Vinny Zerban of ISU 4-1 and #2 Ty Watters of WVU 4-2, all within the span of 4 days. It also sounds like the move to 157 is permanent, which makes what is already one of the best weight classes in the NCAA even better.

Just days after deciding to bump up from 149, Arizona State’s Kaleb Larkin knocks off No. 1 at 157 Ty Watters (WVU) in a statement win, 4–2. pic.twitter.com/UzTXojjWeL

— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) January 10, 2026

• Wyoming rolled over Utah Valley 29-6. Penn State grad transfer David Evans is ranked #10 for the Wolverines, but he missed time this season due to injury, and his first action on the mat since the CKLV in December did not go well, as he was tech-falled by #26 Gabe Willochell. 
• Iowa State continued their productive week with a 36-3 blowout of North Dakota State.
  • Rocky Elam, who is on a 'pitch count', did not wrestle, but otherwise the Cyclones had all their starters on the mat. If they stay healthy for March, they are going to score a lot more points at NCAAs than they did last season. 

Big Ten Talk

• Iowa handled Wisconsin but two Hawkeyes suffered upsets. 
  • #10 Zan Fuggit beat #4 Drake Ayala at 133 6-5, although Ayala was lead 5-4 with 15 seconds left before giving up a stall point and an escape. 
  • Perhaps of more concern for Hawkeye fans was #18 Joey Zargo defeating #9 Ryder Block at 149. 
  • The Hawkeyes were also without Mo Endene at 197, who was busy celebrating the birth of his first child!
• Nebraska throttled Purdue, as Joey Blaze was the only victor for the Boilermakers.
• Northwestern took out Maryland, with the biggest upset coming from #23 Sean Spidle of Northwestern who beat #12 Braxton brown 4-2 at 133. 
• Wisconsin bounced back from their Iowa defeat and handed Maryland another tough loss. 
  • Carter Young beat Joey Zargo, but that was about the extent of the good news for the Terrapins, who have been without the services of their All-American 184-pounder Jaxon Smith since mid-November.
• Minnesota pummeled Illinois, with the worst news for all wrestling fans being Kannon Webster having to injury default after going through concussion protocol. 
  • Dylan Connell beating #29 Gavin Nelson was a bright spot for the Illini on the mat.
• PSU blanked Rutgers 47-0 to extend their NCAA D1 record-setting dual meet winning streak to 78. How long will it last? Good question! More on that shortly. 
• Ohio State also pitched a shutout, as they steamrolled Indiana 45-0. At least the Hoosier faithful have the football national championship game coming up to distract them from this result. 

ACC Seminar

• Virginia gave NC State all they could handle, as the Wahoos earned upsets at 133, 141 and 197 to make it a 19-17 nailbiter, though still in the Wolfpack's favor. NC State was without the services of Vince Robinson at 125, and sadly, it sounds like Jackson Arrington will be done for the season at 157. Daniel Zepeda did not get the start, and I have not heard any updates after he got dinged up in the finals of the Southern Scuffle. 
• Pitt also gave Virginia Tech a run for their money. Pitt got the upset at 285 as #16 Pitzer beat #11 Mullen, but it was not enough for the Panthers. Hokie grad transfer Ethen Miller is also joining the 157 party, where he picked up a win over #16 Dylan Evans. 

Non-Conference Conflagarations

• The Eastern Classico (that's what I'm calling it, anyway) was renewed between Lehigh and Cornell. And the takeway from that dual was that everyone is back! 
  • Well, almost everyone. Logan Rozynski did not wrestle for Lehigh, but the dynamic duo of Ryan Crookham and Luke Stanich, not seen back-to-back in a dual since February of 2024, both wrestled and both picked up ranked wins. Stanich had the biggest win of the weekend for the Mountain Hawks when he defeated #5 Vince Cornella 5-4 with a clutch takedown.
  • Cornell had all their top ten wrestlers in the lineup, with #2 Jaxon Joy, #6 Meyer Shapiro and #2 Simon Ruiz back on the mat, along with Cornella. 

You can watch that full dual below:

• Cornell would rebound and defeat another Pennsylvania private school from the EIWA when they punished Bucknell 26 to 9. #2 Simon Ruiz beat #15 Myles Takats at 165 in the highest ranked matchup of the dual.
• Lehigh continued their winning ways with a victory over American University, where Coorkham and Stanich both picked up another win. 
  • This would be the official start of EIWA duals for Lehigh, as Cornell split from the EIWA last year to participate in the Ivy League inaugural wrestling season (The EIWA is older than the Ivy League. People forget that.)
• Binghamton defeated Buffalo in a battle of upstate New York programs (or non-NYC programs. I've gotten heat from New York folks for not using the appropriate names for New York state's different regions, but for the New Jerseyan in me, anything north of Westchester is upstate, and I don't think I'll ever be able to change. Sorry, I still love every part of New York state!) Anyway, I like to call this rivalry the Bingo Buff Dual. 
• SIUE defeated both Little Rock and Edinboro in a tri-meet in Edwardsville. Little Rock was without the services of their two-time All-American 197-pounder, Stephen Little, but this is still an encouraging result for the Cougars of Edwardsville!

It's Tourney Time

The only noteworthy tournament was the F&M Lehman Open. The brackets were large and deep, with most weights having more than 32 entries and multiple ranked wrestlers. 

• Virginia Tech's 133lb true freshman phenom Aaron Seidel had a dominant performance, teching six opponents, including Penn's Max Gallagher and Cornell commit Isaiah Cortez, on his way to a title. 
• F&M's #7 James Conway had a similarly dominant run at 184, bonusing every opponent as he earned a title on his home campus. 

Hey, Here's A Cool Video

In honor of uber blue-chip recruit Jax Forrest's first college match, here's a cool video where you can get to know what the budding superstar is like off the mat. 

Why Try? Ask AI

Penn State's dual win streak is pretty impressive. How high will that number ultimatley climb before the Nittany Lion grapplers next take a loss? I asked Perplexity, one of those A.I. gizmos that everyone refuses to shut up about, the following question: 

How long will Penn State's record setting NCAA D1 wrestling dual meet win streak last?

And here's what the gizmo said:

Nobody knows exactly how long Penn State’s dual meet streak will last, but context suggests it is very likely to survive the rest of the 2025–26 dual season and reach well into next year unless injuries or an off night in a hostile Big Ten road environment change the picture.

Given the current roster, schedule, and scoring profile, the most sensible over/under is that the streak lasts at least through the end of the 2025–26 dual season and pushes into the low‑ to mid‑90s before it finally snaps.

The single date to circle as “most likely to end it” this year is still that upcoming trip to Iowa; if Penn State clears that hurdle, the odds swing heavily toward the streak surviving into 2027.

I think Perplexity is giving the Hawkeyes more of a chance to beat PSU than most pundits would. Additionally, the streak stopping in the mid 90s means the next loss would occur late next season. 

While that is certainly possible, I don't think it's likely. Penn State has just two seniors in their lineup at the moment, so I'd say it's well over a 50% chance that the Lions go undefeated next season. If you assume 15 duals season, and that the PJ Duke/Marcus Blaze freshman class goes undefeated in duals for their career, then that record is going to at least reach about 130, and I think that has at least a 50% proability of happening. 

There's also a greater than zero chance that Penn State never loses another dual meet until Cael Sanderson retires. But that's a ways off, and there are a lot of programs that are trying to build dynasties of their own, so predicting anything that far into the future is a fool's errand. 

Maybe somebody can get that question up on a prediction market. Would be a fun one to wager on!

That's all for this week, see you in seven days, my friends!