NCAA Session 1 Notes: 12 World champions start strong, 5 sets of brothers compete, Philly teams get support

The dirty dozen - 12 past World champions in field dominate the opening round

There are 12 entries in the 2025 NCAA Championships who are past age-group World champions for Team USA. These stars include Luke Lilledahl of Penn State (125), Matt Ramos of Purdue (125), Marc-Anthony McGowan of Princeton (125), Meyer Shapiro of Cornell (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (165), Keegan O’Toole of Missouri (174), Gable Steveson of Minnesota (285), Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State (285), Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State (285), Ben Kueter of Iowa (285), Isaac Trumble of NC State (285) and Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State (285). Half of this gang (6 World champions) are in the same weight class, 285 pounds.

All of these athletes have won their gold medals at an age-group level, except for Steveson, who won the biggest Senior level event on earth, the Olympic Games (plus three age-group golds to boot).

In the first session, the World Champions were undefeated, going 12-0, including 10 bonus point victories. Scoring pins were Steveson, O’Toole and Hendrickson. Technical falls went to Lilledahl, Shapiro, Messenbrink, Kerkvliet and Trumble. Securing major decisions were Ramos and Schultz. Winning by decision were Keuter and McGowan.

This group is expected to do very well, based upon seeds. No. 1 seeds are Lilledahl, Mesenbrink, O’Toole and Steveson. Ramos, Shapiro and Hendrickson are No. 2 seeds. Kerkvliet is a No. 3 seed, Kueter a No. 5 seed, Trumble a No. 7 seed, Schultz a No. 9 seed and McGowan a No. 13 seed.

In the city of Brotherly Love, five sets of brothers get their 2025 NCAA Championships started

Wrestling is a family sport, and often there are successful sets of brothers at all levels of the sport. The NCAA Championships is another showcase that displays the fact that brothers are often successful side-by-side in wrestling.

This year, five sets of brothers are:

• Matty Bianchi (Little Rock, 157) and Joseph Bianchi (Little Rock, 165)
• Dan Braunagel (Illinois, 174) and Zac Braunagel (Illinois, 197)
• Evan Frost (Iowa State, 133) and Jacob Frost (Iowa State, 141)
• Kai Miller (Maryland, 149) and Ethen Miller (Maryland, 157)
• Mac Stout (Pittsburgh, 197) and Luke Stout (Princeton, 197)

The Stout brothers went 2-0 for the session, with No. 6 seed Mac and No. 11 seed Luke winning their bouts. That sets up a match between the brothers in the evening session. Luke is a senior and Mac is a redshirt-sophomore. For those wanting to watch the battle of brothers, it will be bout 240 in the 7:00 p.m. session.

Also going 2-0 in the first session were the Frost brothers, with Jacob getting a technical fall victory and Evan winning by decision.

The Bianchi brothers went 1-1, with Matty winning in sudden victory, and Joseph losing by major decision. The Braunagel brothers were 0-2, with both Zac and Danny losing their opening bouts. The Miller brothers were 0-2 with both Kai and Ethan dropping their opener.

California Baptist is the first team to take the lead at the 2025 NCAA Championships

Every year, we know which team is in first place at the NCAA Championships after the final whistle on Saturday night. Today, we kept an eye on which team was the first to take the lead in the team race in Philadelphia. Powering out of the gate as the first team at the top of the standings was Big 12 program California Baptist. In the pigtail round (seed 32 vs. seed 33), Cal Baptist’s Hunter Leak, the No. 32 seed, after trailing early, score a pin in 2:28 over No. 33 seed Nolan Wertanen of Michigan in 2:28 at 133 pounds. California Baptist received three points, and went to the top of the team standings on the scoreboard. Leak is the only entry in the tournament for California Baptist. He had a second match later in the session, losing to No. 1 seed Lucas Byrd of Illinois, 3-2. Any other points that Leake might score for California Baptist will be in the consolation rounds.

Tons of Transfers: There are 74 athletes on 36 teams in Philadelphia seeking All-American honors

In the age of the portal, one of the most typed words in wrestling coverage this week is “transfer.” Based upon research by data guru Jason Bryant in The Guide, there are 74 athletes from 36 teams in the tournament who are transfers. The team with the most transfers is Oklahoma State with six. The weight class with the most transfers is 125 pounds with 11 of the 33 wrestlers having transferred. We will track the transfers closely as we get into the All-American rounds.

Home teams Penn and Drexel get started with four first session wins

Welcome to Philadelphia, home of the 2025 NCAA Championships and two Div. I teams that are located next to each other within city limits, the University of Pennsylvania (of the Ivy League) and Drexel (of the EIWA). For sure, the local teams have an active and supportive fan base. Overall, there are 10 Philly-based entries, seven from Penn and three from Drexel. None are seeded in the top eight, with the best seed of the gang being No. 9 seed Cross Wasilewski of Penn at 149 pounds. We will track the hometown wrestlers in the notes during the week. In session one, the Philly boys went a combined 4-6, with all of the victories going to wrestlers from Penn.

Penn

125 – No. 17 Max Gallagher – loss to Blake West (Northern Illinois), 6-5

133 – No. 16 Ryan Miller – win over Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska), 8-4

141 – No. 10 CJ Composto – win over Josh Edmond (Missouri), 8-5 SV

149 – No. 9 Cross Wasilewski – win by pin over Mason Shrader (Central Michigan), 6:04

157 – No. 14 Jude Swisher – win by pin over Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State), 1:56

174 – No. 22 Nick Incontrera – lost to Patrick Kennedy (Iowa), 4-2

184 – No. 18 Maximus Hale – lost to Dylan Fishback (NC State), 10-3

Drexel

141 – No. 22 Jordan Soriano – loss to Dylan Cedeno (Virginia), 11-1

174 – No. 27 Jasiah Queen – loss to Brevin Cassella (Binghamton), 3-1

197 – No. 22 Mickey O`Malley – loss to Luke Stout (Princeton), 4-3

In case you are curious, of the 41 Pennsylvania natives in the tournament, none are natives of Philadelphia proper.