NCAA Session 5 Notes: A look at senior All-Americans in their last NCAAs, and two freshmen who placed third

Seven Senior/Graduate All-Americans earn hardware for their new programs

Earning All-American as senior, competing in your last NCAA Championships, gives an athlete a chance to finish their career with a fitting showcase in front of the nation and your family and friends. It is a bit different for those who are finishing up as a transfer, closing out their career with a new school, in a new singlet, with different teammates, coaches and fans. In the days of the transfer portal and NIL opportunities, this is not only becoming more common but may also be a trend which is increasing.

Consider Lehigh heavyweight Owen Trephan, who was a two-time ACC champion for NC State but never an All-American. With the Wolfpack going with Isaac Trumble at heavyweight, Trephan transferred into Lehigh for the second semester. His time as a Mountain Hawk is counted by weeks rather than years. After earning All-American on Friday night, Trephan opened his day Saturday competing against Trumble in the consolation semifinals. Although Trephan scored the first takedown, Trumble came back for a 4-3 victory, with the edge being a riding time point. Trephan won his fifth place bout by medical forfeit, as 2024 NCAA champion Greg Kerkvliet did not compete today.

What about Terrell Barraclaugh, who had a full career on the nation’s dominant team, Penn State, which won four NCAA team titles with him on the roster? He did not have the chance to pursue his own All-American honor until he transferred to Utah Valley as a redshirt senior, where he came in as the No. 4 seed at 165 pounds after a strong season. After a last-second quarterfinal loss to freshman Christopher Minto of Nebraska, Barraclaugh needed a blood round win over No. 25 Nick Hamilton of Virginia to earn his podium spot. In today’s consolation semifinals, Barraclaugh lost to No. 2 seed Peyton Hall of West Virginia, 7-5. He rallied for a fifth-place finish, stopping Stanford’s Hunter Garvin, 1-0.

Then there is Sammy Alvarez of Rider, finishing up as an All-American for the Broncos, his third Div. I program after stints with Rutgers and Oklahoma State. Alvarez broke through in his final tournament with a blood round win over Jordan Williams of Little Rock (who is also a transfer from Oklahoma State). On Saturday, Alvarez finished off in a seventh-place victory over Gavin Drexler of North Dakota State, 9-6 in sudden victory.

Michigan had a pair of graduate student All-Americans this year who came from other programs, Cornell transfer Jacob Cardenas at 197 and Oklahoma transfer Joshua Heindselman at 285. Cardenas was a two-time All-American for the Big Red and came to Michigan as a graduate student. Heindselman did not earn All-American honors for the Sooners. Cardenas was No. 1 seed but lost in the semifinals to No. 4 Josh Barr of Penn State. Heindselman won a 2-1 tiebreaker over No. 8 Luke Luffman of Illinois in the blood round to get on the podium. Cardenas wrestled back for third place, dropping a 2-0 decision to past NCAA champion AJ Ferrari, now at Cal-Bakerfield. Heindselman ended with a victory, claiming seventh place with a 2-1 decision over Ben Kueter of Iowa.

Oklahoma State, which had the most transfers in the nation in its NCAA lineup with six, pushed two transfers in their final season onto the podium, with Michigan State transfer Caleb Fish at 157 and Michigan transfer Cameron Amine of Michigan at 165. Amine was a three-time All-American and four-time qualifier at Michigan, while Fish was a two-time NCAA qualifier. Both powered onto the podium with big wins in the blood round on Friday night with sudden victory wins. Fish secured his first All-American honor by defeating a former Michigan State teammate No. 23 Chase Saldate, 7-4 in sudden victory. Amine beat No. 11 Braeden Scoles of Illinois, 8-1 in sudden victory to become a four-time All-American. In the end, both Fish and Amine placed eighth in their weight class.

Other seniors whose last NCAA matches were held during Saturday’s morning medal round

The NCAA Championships end every year on a Saturday night, with the gold-medal finals in each of the 10 weight classes. However, for 60 of the All-Americans each year, their tournament ends on Saturday morning during the exciting medal-round session. It annually marks the end of the college careers for seniors and eligible graduate students, who get one final showcase on college wrestling’s biggest stage.

Among those finishing up today was five-time All-American Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State, who finished his college career with a third-place finish. Schultz made the NCAA finals as a sophomore, losing to eventual Olympic champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota and finished his career finishing 4-2-7-6-3. Receiving a No. 9 seed, Schultz won his first two matches over No. 24 Nolan Neves of North Carolina and No. 8 Luke Luffman of Illinois. His rematch with Steveson ended with a 20-5 loss, putting Schultz on the consolation side. He became a five-time placewinner with his pin over No. 10 Dayton Pitzer of Pitt in the consolation semifinals, then won his next match by pin over Iowa’s No. 9 Ben Kueter 10-2. His consolation semifinals opponent was 2024 NCAA champion Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State, who was a medical forfeit. Schultz closed out his college career with a 5-3 win over Isaac Trumble of NC State. Schultz, who was an age-group Greco-Roman World champion, advanced against three age-group World freestyle champions (Kueter, Kerkvliet, Trumble). A multiple-time U.S. Senior World Team member, Schultz will now be able to focus full-time on his pursuit of World and Olympic medals for Team USA,

Matt Ramos of Purdue, who made NCAA finals in 2023 and was the No. 2 seed this year, finished in fourth. Ramos was beaten by No. 7 Troy Spratley of Oklahoma State in quarterfinals, and fought back onto the podium with a bloodround win over UNI’s No. 22 Trevor Anderson. His final day as a Boilermaker, Ramos beat Sheldon Seymour in the consolation semifinals, 9-2, to earn a third-place match against No. 1 seed freshman Luke Lilledahl of Penn State, the Big Ten champion who beat him a few weeks ago.  Lilledahl won the rematch by pin in 6:18 and Ramos finished his career with a fourth-place medal.

Then there is Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern, a grad student in his second year at the respected Kellogg School of Management, coming in as the No. 20 seed at 157. Chumbley knocked off No. 13 Jared Hill of Wyoming right out of the gate and powered into the semifinals with wins over No. 4 Rafael Hipolito of Virginia Tech and No. 12 Caleb Fish of Oklahoma State. After a loss to Joey Blaze in the semifinals, Chumbley beat No. 7 Vinny Zerban of Northern Colorado, 5-3. Chumbley’s career ended with an 8-0 loss to Penn State’s Tyler Kasak, sending Chumbley home as a first-time All-American in fourth place

2024 NCAA champion Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State finished as a five-time All-American, with his placements ending up 7-4-2-1-6. Kerkvliet was defeated in the NCAA semifinals by No. 2 seed Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State, 8-2, then was not able to compete on Saturday after taking a medical forfeit.

Senior Peyton Hall of West Virginia, the No. 2 seed coming in, finished is career with a victory in the third-place match at 165 pounds. Hall was defeated in Friday’s semifinals by No. 3 seed Michael Caliendo of Iowa in a wild 14-10 match. Hall closed out his career in style, winning his consolation semifinals match over Terrell Barraclaugh of Utah Valley, 7-5, then closing out his career with another win, stopping freshman Christopher Minto of Nebraska, 13-5.

Others who finished their careers in Saturday’s All-American rounds were

• Patrick Kennedy of Iowa (4^th at 174)
• Dylan D’Emilio of Ohio State (4^th at 149)
• Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State (4^th at 184)
• Jacob Cardenas of Michigan (4^th at 197)
• Cael Happel of UNI (5^th at 141)
• Chris Foca of Cornell (5^th at 184)
• Connor McGonagle of Virginia Tech (6^th at 133)
• Josh Koderhandt of Navy (6^th at 141)
• Cade DeVos of South Dakota State (6^th at 174)
• Caleb Smith of Nebraska (7^th at 125)
• Donnell Washington of Indiana (8^th at 184)

Freshmen stars Lilledahl, McEnelly finish season with third-place victories

Two of the most heralded freshmen at the 2025 NCAA Championships were No. 1 seed Luke Lilledahl of Penn State at 125 pounds and No. 3 seed Max McEnelly of Minnesota at 184 pounds. Although neither were able to come home from Philadelphia as national champions, both were only defeated once in very close matches and went home as third-place finishers.

Lilledahl won his first two matches by technical fall over No. 32 Marcello Milani of Cornell and No. 16 Blake West of Northern Illinois. He was upset in the quarterfinals by No. 8 Sheldon Seymour in tie-breaker 1. Lilledahl closed out the tournament with four straight wins, knocking off No. 11 Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin, No. 10 Stevo Poulin of Northern Colorado, No. 3 Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech, then No. 2 Matt Ramos of Purdue by pin.

Lilledahl is one of the successful freestyle wrestlers in the field already, having won four age-group World medals, a U20 gold in 2024 and a U17 gold in 2022, plus silver medals in 2023 U20 Worlds and at the 2021 U17 Worlds.

McEnelly is another of the many age-group World medalists in the field, after winning a U17 World bronze medal in men’s freestyle in 2022.

The No. 3 seed, McEnelly powered his way through his first three opponents, with bonus point wins over No. 30 Colin Fegley of Lock Haven and No. 14 DJ Parker of Oklahoma, then a 10-7 win over No. 6 Chris Foca, a dangerous and talented opponent, by a 10-7 margin. McEnelly took returning NCAA champion Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa into sudden victory overtime. McEnelly was close to a winning takedown when Keckesen emerged out top on the scramble for a 4-1 win. In the consolation rounds. McEnelly had two more wins, stopping No. 8 Jaxon Smith of Maryland, 4-1 in sudden victory, then winning his third-place bout over No. 4 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State, 6-5

Other freshmen All-Americans who completed their tournaments on Saturday morning were:

• Zan Fugitt of Wisconsin (fourth at 133)
• Christopher Minto of Nebraska (fourth at 165)
• Simon Ruiz of Cornell (fifth at 174)
• Tyler Knox of Stanford (eighth at 133)
• Camden McDanel of Nebraska (eighth at 197)

There will be one other freshman All-American, Josh Barr of Penn State, who is in the 197-pound finals this evening. We will wait to see if his first year ends as a national champion, or a national runner-up, but either way, Barr will go home as the most accomplished freshman from the 2025 NCAA Championships

CJ Composto places fourth for Penn, giving Philadelphia wrestling family an All-American to cheer for

Based upon seeds, none of the 10 Philadelphia-based NCAA Div. I qualifiers were supposed to become All-Americans, including seven from Penn and three from Drexel. However, after three days of battle, it was No. 10 seed CJ Composto of Penn who stepped up big for the local fans, powering to a fourth place finish at 141 pounds. A senior, Composto won his second All-American honor for the Quakers, after placing eighth in the 2022 NCAA Championships.

Composto powered out of the gate, with a sudden victory win in the opener over No. 23 Josh Edmond of Missouri and a 6-4 win over No. 7 Tagen Jamison of Oklahoma State. In the quarterfinals, he dropped a tight 5-0 decision to No. 2 seed Beau Bartlett of Penn State. His 4-0 win in the bloodround on Friday night over No. 21 Dylan Chappel of Bucknell made him a two-time All-American. He followed with wins over No. 6 Vance Vombaur of Minnesota, 8-6 late Friday night, then Composto won his consolation semifinals over Cael Happel of UNI, 7-2 on Saturday morning. His consolation run earned him a rematch battle against Penn State’s Beau Bartlett for third place. Bartlett finished off an 11-2 major decision over Composto to finish his day.

141 – No. 10 CJ Composto (Penn), 4^th place

WIN No. 23 Josh Edmond (Missouri), 8-5 SV

WIN No. 7 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State), 6-4

LOSS No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), 5-0

WIN No. 21 Dylan Chappel (Bucknell), 4-0

WIN No. 6 Vance VomBaur (Minnesota), 8-6

WIN No. 5 Cael Happel (UNI), 7-2

LOSS No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), maj. dec. 11-2