NCAA Session I Notes: 10 entries already qualified for Olympic Trials; can Fix win on fifth try?

Each session, TheMat.com will share a variety of notes from the 2024 NCAA Div. I Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Here are some notes from session one on Thursday.

NCAA champions qualify for U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Who’s qualified already?

The NCAA Div. I Championships in Kansas City is one of the final qualifiers for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling at Penn State, April 19-20. Only the individual champions qualify to compete at the Trials. If one of the NCAA champions have already qualified, there will be nobody from that weight class who will advance. Here are the 10 competitors in the NCAA Championships who are already qualified to compete at the Olympic Trials.

U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifiers

57 kg MFS - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), No. 1 seed at 133

57 kg/63 kg MFS – Vito Arujau (Cornell), No. 6 seed at 133

65 kg MFS– Beau Bartlett (Penn State), No. 2 seed at 141

65 kg/74 kg MFS– Meyer Shapiro (Cornell), No. 3 seed at 157

74 kg MFS– Keegan O’Toole (Missouri), No. 1 seed at 165

74 kg MFS– Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State), No. 2 seed at 165

86 kg MFS– Aaron Brooks (Penn State), No. 1 seed at 197

86 kg MFS– Trent Hidlay (NC State), No. 2 seed at 197

125 kg MFS - Wyatt Hendrickson (U.S. Air Force Academy), No. 3 seed at 285

130 kg GR - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State), No. 4 seed at 285

Daton Fix, among the best wrestlers all-time not to win NCAAs, goes for the title in his fifth NCAAs

One of those 10 athletes in the NCAA Championships who already qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials is No. 1 seed Daton Fix of Oklahoma State at 133 pounds. He qualified for the Trials by winning a Senior World Championships silver medal in men’s freestyle in 2021 at 61 kg (134 lbs.) Fix is already a four-time All-American, having placed second three times (2019, 2021 and 2022) and fourth in 2023. Fix is among the wrestling stars who were able to get an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic rules. He became a five-time Big 12 champion with his victory in Tulsa this year. Many could argue, not just based on his college achievements, but his Senior freestyle achievements during his college years, that he may be one of the best wrestlers to not win an NCAA title. He entered the championships with a perfect 17-0 record, and opened the day with a 17-1 technical fall over Dyson Dunham of VMI. Next up is No. 16 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State in round two.

Penn State stars Starocci and Brooks seek to become 4x NCAA champions

All eyes are on Penn State stars Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) as they attempt to join an exclusive club of four-time NCAA Div. I champions. They are coached by the second four-time, Cael Sanderson, who was the only to win four NCAA titles and go undefeated for a career. Never before have two athletes reached their fourth title in the same year. While both athletes have been dominant this year, there are question marks about Starocci’s health, after a late season injury caused him to default at the Big Tens, which drove him down to the No. 9 seed. Below are the five previous four-timers, including the most recent from last year, Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis.

Pat Smith (Oklahoma State), 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994

Cael Sanderson (Iowa State), 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

Kyle Dake (Cornell), 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Logan Stieber (Ohio State), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell), 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023

Three entered NCAAs with losing records, but two won their pigtails

There were three athletes in the NCAA Championships bracket this year with losing record. Two of them competed in the 174-pound pigtails, Cael Valencia of Arizona State, who came in at 11-13 and Brody Baughmann of Purdue, who entered at 12-14. Valencia won the match, 5-0. The other wrestler who entered with a losing record, Evan Bates of Northwestern, who was 12-13 at 197 pounds, won his pigtail over John Crawford of Franklin & Marshall, 4-3. Both lost to No. 1 seeds in the next round, with Valencia losing to past NCAA champion Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech and Bates falling to three-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks.

D’Alesio, the first qualifier for the combined Div. I LIU program, wins his pigtail

The first Div. I qualifier for Long Island University, which combined its two campuses and became the Sharks, won his opening match in the pigtails at 184. LIU’s Anthony D’Alesio defeated Tomas Brooker of Appalachian State, 10-8. LIU’s program has a longer history at the Div. II level where it competed as LIU-Post and earlier as C.W. Post. D’Alessio was drawn into the bracket against No. 1 seed Parker Keckeisen of UNI, who beat him in a 10-0 decision.

Cal Poly’s Adam Kemp, son of legendary Lee Kemp, opens with a victory at 174 pounds

No. 8 seed Adam Kemp of Cal Poly (174) brings one of the best wrestling pedigrees to the NCAA Championships this year. He is the son of three-time World champion and three-time NCAA champion Lee Kemp, a Hall of Famer and true legend in the sport. In his opening bout today, Adam Kemp defeated No. 25 Brayden Thompson of Oklahoma State, 4-3. He will next wrestle No. 9 seed Carter Starocci of Penn State, the three-time NCAA champion who was injured late in the season and defaulted at the Big Ten Championships. Kemp began his career at Fresno State, and transferred to Cal Poly, where he was an NCAA qualifier in 2022. His season was cut short by injury last year. He was the Pac-12 champion this year, defeating Tyler Brennan of Little Rock in the finals.