Session V Notes: All-American updates (international medals, transfers, milestones and more)

TheMat.com is sharing a variety of notes from the 2024 NCAA Div. I Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Here are some notes prior to Session V, focused on All-Americans and some interesting facts and data.

NCAA finalists have won numerous medals internationally for Team USA

When NCAA public address announcers Jason Bryant and Bryan Hazard talk about the wrestlers at the NCAA Championships, they give all the relevant information on their college careers, and also great data on their high school roots. But they are also including their achievements for Team USA, competing for their nation on the international level. There is no coincidence that those who reach the highest levels in college are also among our nation’s best in freestyle and/or Greco-Roman wrestling.

It would take awhile to list all of the international achievements of the qualifiers, or even the All-Americans, which are plentiful. During the Friday night semifinals, most of the athletes had experience on the world scene, either at the Senior level or the age-group level. A special shout out to MatScout’s wizard Willie Saylor for pulling together the international facts on all of the entries.

Among those reaching the finals are two Senior medalists in men’s freestyle: 2023 World champion Vito Arujau of Cornell, and 2021 Senior World silver medalist Daton Fix of Oklahoma State. Both were also outstanding on the age-group levels, with Fix winning four medals, including a U20 gold, and Arujau grabbing two age-group World medals.

Of the finalists, there are four age-group World champions; Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (U20 World title), David Carr of Iowa State (U20 World title), Aaron Brooks of Penn State (U17 World title, U23 World title) and Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State (U17 World title). All of these wrestlers have at least two age-group World medals in their trophy case.

Let’s also shout out the age-group World medalists in the finals. Jesse Mendez of Ohio State (U20 silver), Beau Bartlett of Penn State (U20 bronze), Jacori Teemer of Arizona State (U17 bronze), Carter Starocci of Penn State (U23 Bronze), Trent Hidlay of NC State (U20 bronze, U23 silver) and Lucas Davison of Michigan (U20 silver).

Other finalists who have been on U.S. age-group World teams are Richie Figueroa of Arizona State, Austin Gomez of Michigan, Levi Haines of Penn State and Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State. Gomez has switched allegiance, and now wrestles for Mexico.

Do the math. There are 16 members of a U.S. World Team in the finals, out of 20 finalists. Young people, if you want to be a star in college, make sure to try out for U.S. international teams. It really makes a difference.

20 transfers achieve All-American status in 2024

There were 60 NCAA qualifiers who had been transfers to their current college. A total of 20 transfer students became All-Americans. That means 33.3% of the transfers were able to become All-Americans at their new institutions. Four Transfers made the finals: Austin Gomez of Michigan (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (165), Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State (285) and Lucas Davison of Michigan (285). Gomez is at his third NCAA Div. I program. The list of transfer All-Americans is below, by weight and with their former school.

125 pounds

Anthony Noto of Lock Haven (NC State)

Caleb Smith of Nebraska (Appalachian State)

141 pounds

Real Woods of Iowa (Stanford)

Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State (Ohio State)

149 pounds

Kyle Parco of Arizona State (Fresno State)

Austin Gomez of Michigan (Wisconsin, Iowa State)

Quinn Kinner of Rider (Ohio State)

157 pounds

Jared Franek of Iowa (North Dakota State)

165 pounds

Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (California Baptist)

Michael Caliendo of Iowa (North Dakota State)

Izzak Olejnik of Oklahoma State (Northern Illinois)

174 pounds

Edmond Ruth of Illinois (Lehigh)

Shane Griffith of Michigan (Stanford)

184 pounds

Trey Munoz of Oregon State (Arizona State)

Bernie Truax of Penn State (Cal Poly)

197 pounds

Michael Beard of Lehigh (Penn State)

Stephen Buchanan of Oklahoma (Wyoming)

285 pounds

Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State (Ohio State)

Lucas Davison of Michigan (Northwestern)

Yaraslau Slavikouski of Rutgers (Harvard)

All-Americans by conference

Big Ten – 30

Big 12 – 20

Pac-12 – 9

EIWA – 9

ACC – 8

EWL – 3

SoCon - 1

Random things from 2024 NCAA Championships about All-Americans

• South Dakota State had its most Div. I All-Americans in program history with four: Tanner Jordan (125), Cade DeVos (174), Bennett Berge (184) and Tanner Sloan (197).
• This is the first time since 2003 that all three Service Academies have earned an All-American during the same year. This year’s military academy All-Americans are Benjamin Pasiuk of Army West Point (174), David Key of Navy (184) and Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force (285).
• Little Rock, a fifth-year program, secured its first two NCAA Div. I All-Americans, Nasir Bailey at 133 and Stephen Little (197).
• Campbell had only its second All-American in history, Taye Ghadiali (285)
• Iowa extended its consecutive streak of earning at least one Div. I All-American to 52 years, with the last year without an All-American being in 1971. The top five teams all advanced another year: Minnesota (38 years, back to 1985), Nebraska (35 years, back to 1988) and Oklahoma State (30 years, back to 1993).

Special Thanks to Jason Bryant and his amazing Mat Talk Online NCAA Division I Fan Guide. It is something every college wrestling fan should invest in on an annual basis.