NCAA Session 2 Notes: 6 Senior National Team members advance, 6 seek fifth All-American honor, Mac wins Stout brothers battle

All six Senior National Team members advance to day two of NCAA Championships

There are six wrestlers competing in the NCAA Championships this year who have already advanced to the USA Wrestling Senior National Team in the Olympic styles. To qualify for the 2024-25 National Team, the athlete had to place in the top four of their weight class last season. There are three athletes on the Men’s Freestyle National Team, Jesse Mendez of Ohio State (141), Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (165) and Isaac Trumble of NC State (285). There are three on the Greco-Roman National Team, Danny Braunagel of Illinois (174), Zac Braunagel of Illinois (197) and Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State (286).

All six are still competing on Friday, with four in the quarterfinals: Mendez, Messenbrink, Trumble and Schultz. The Braunagel brothers both lost matches in the first session on Thursday morning, but powered back with consolation wins on Thursday night.

No. 3 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State (141)

WIN No. 30 Briar Priest (Pitt), tech fall 21-5

WIN No. 14 Sergio Lemley (Michigan), maj. dec. 11-2

Quarterfinals - Vs. No. 6 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota0

No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State (165)

WIN No. 33 Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan), tech fall 16-0

WIN No. 16 Kyle Mosher (Hofstra), tech fall, 22-6

Quarterfinals - Vs. No. 8 Cameron Amine (Oklahoma State)

No. 7 Isaac Trumble of NC State (285)

WIN No. 26 Peter Ming (Stanford), tech fall 18-2

WIN No. 10 Dayton Pitzer (Pitt), 5-2

Quarterfinals -Vs. No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State)

No. 9 Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State (286)

WIN No. 24 Nolan Neves (UNC), maj. dec. 8-0

WIN No. 8 Luke Luffman (Illinois), 8-2

Vs. No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota),

No. 20 Danny Braunagel of Illinois (174)

LOSS No. 13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State), 5-4

WIN No. 29 Jackson Turley (Rutgers), maj. dec. 18-9

Vs. No. 14 Matthew Singleton (NC State)

No. 9 Zac Braunagel of Illinois (197)

LOSS No. 24 Gabe Sollars (Indiana), 6-5
WIN No. 8 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State), maj. dec. 14-3

Vs. No. 26 Brock Zurawski (Rider)

Five-time All-American? Six wrestlers seek to reach their fifth NCAA podium this year

Before COVID, the most times a Div. I college wrestler could be an All-American was four times. During those crazy years of the pandemic, the NCAA allowed the possibility of an extra year of eligibility, and some wrestlers were able to add a fifth All-American honor. Daton Fix of Oklahoma State (4x runner-up and fourth) and Myles Amine of Michigan (2^nd, 3x 3^rd place, 4^th) are in the record books as five-time All-Americans.

This year, the wrestling community is watching the quest by Carter Starocci of Penn State to become the first five time NCAA Div. I champion. There are six other wrestlers in the tournament who could add a fifth All-American honor with a podium finish this weekend: Kyle Parco of Iowa, Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State, Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa and Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State. All of the potential five-time All-Americans have advanced into the quarterfinals except Parco, who dropped an 8-0 major decision to Ethan Stiles of Oregon State in the second match. Parco is seeking to be an All-American for three teams, having won his medals for Fresno State and Arizona State before transferring to Iowa.

Mac Stout of Pitt beats brother Luke Stout of Princeton in 197-pound second round match

In what is believed to be the first NCAA Div. I Championships match between brothers, No. 6 seed Mac Stout of Pittsburgh defeated his older brother No. 11 seed Luke Stout of Princeton, 4-2 in the second round at 197 pounds. Mac, a redshirt sophomore, entered the match with a 24-2 record, while Luke, a senior, was 15-2 going into the bout. Both were stars for Mt. Lebanon High School in Pennsylvania.

After the match, Mac Stout gave an extensive interview with the media, talking about how difficult it was to wrestle against his brother. He explained how they continued to talk with each other during the day, leading up into the session. Mac said his brother told him to win the tournament after the match. He also said that he expects to share a spot on the podium with his brother on Saturday. Mac continues his quest for the title in the quarterfinals against No. 3 seed AJ Ferrari of Cal-State Bakersfield. Luke will battle Hopkins of Campbell in his first consolation match on Friday morning.

This year, five sets of brothers are the Stouts, plus the Bianchi brothers (Matty and Joseph of Little Rock), the Braunagel brothers (Dan and Zac of Illinois), the Frosts (Evan and Jacob of Iowa State), the Millers (Kai and Ethen of Maryland). In addition to Mac Stout, the others from the brother acts who are in the quarterfinals are Jacob Frost of Iowa State (who knocked off 2023 NCAA champion Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado in round two) and Matty Bianchi of Little Rock (who beat Ryder Downey of UNI in round two).

Penn’s Composto reaches quarterfinals and all seven Quakers advance to day two

Local fans will have seven Penn Quakers to cheer for on the second day of the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia, after Roger Reina’s team pushed all seven of their qualifiers through day one. No. 10 seed CJ Composto won his second match of the day at 141 pounds, a 6-4 win over Oklahoma State’s Tagen Jamison. He will compete in Friday morning’s quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Beau Bartlett. The other Penn wrestlers in the consolations Friday will be Max Gallagher (125), Ryan Miller (133), Cross Wasilewski (149), Jude Swisher (157), Nick Incontrera (174) and Maximus Hale (184).

We also tracked the other Philadelphia team in the tournament, Drexel, which had all three of its entries eliminated in the second session with their second losses of the event. At 174 pounds, it was cross-city rival Incontrera who knocked out Drexel’s Jasiah Queen, 3-0 in the consolation round.

Penn

125 – No. 17 Max Gallagher

loss to Blake West (Northern Illinois), 6-5

win over Marcello Milani (Cornell), 5-1

133 – No. 16 Ryan Miller

win over Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska), 8-4

loss to Lucas Byrd (Illinois), maj. dec., 9-0

141 – No. 10 CJ Composto

win over Josh Edmond (Missouri), 8-5 SV

win over Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State), 6-4

149 – No. 9 Cross Wasilewski

win by pin over Mason Shrader (Central Michigan), 6:04

loss to Jordan Williams (Little Rock), 10-3

157 - No. 14 Jude Swisher

win by pin over Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State), 1:56

loss to Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), 2:16

174 – No. 22 Nick Incontrera

lost to Patrick Kennedy (Iowa), 4-2

win over Jasiah Queen (Drexel), 3-0

184 – No. 18 Maximus Hale

lost to Dylan Fishback (NC State), 10-3

win over Colton Hawks (Missouri), 7-2

Drexel

141 – No. 22 Jordan Soriano

loss to Dylan Cedeno (Virginia), 11-1

Loss Greyson Clark (Purdue), 13-3

174 – No. 27 Jasiah Queen

loss to Brevin Cassella (Binghamton), 3-1

Loss to Nick Incontrera (Penn), 3-0

197 – No. 22 Mickey O`Malley

loss to Luke Stout (Princeton), 4-3

loss to Michael Dellagata (Cornell), 10-0