The Lehigh Mountain Hawks will enter the 2025-26 season filled with expectations. They’ll return 3 All-Americans to the lineup and will have five total wrestlers ranked in the top 8 to start their year. Check out the article below for a full breakdown of every projected starter for Lehigh heading into next season.

2025-26 Lehigh Overview

• Head coach: Pat Santoro (18th season)
• Assistants: Brad Dillon, Zach Rey, and Evan Henderson
• 2025 NCAA tournament finish: 15th
• 2025 NCAA tournament record: 14-13
• 2025 NCAA tournament points: 29
• 2025 EIWA Tournament finish: 1st
• 2025 dual record: 7-4 
• Returning national qualifiers: 8 (Sheldon Seymour, Ryan Crookham, Luke Stanich, Kelvin Griffin, Logan Rozynski, Max Brignola, Caden Rogers, and Nathan Taylor)
• Returning All-Americans: 3 (Sheldon Seymour, Ryan Crookham, and Luke Stanich)
• Last NCAA champion: Darian Cruz (2017)
• Highest NCAA team finish under Santoro: 8th (2011 & 2012)
• Most national placers in a season under Santoro: 4 (2012)

Lehigh’s Projected 2025-26 Starting Lineup

125: Sheldon Seymour

133: Ryan Crookham

141: Luke Stanich

149: Kelvin Griffin

157: Logan Rozynski

165: Max Brignola

174: Rylan Rogers

184: Caden Rogers

197: JT Davis

285: Nathan Taylor

125: Sheldon Seymour

Sheldon Seymour is coming off the best year of his college career after placing 6th at the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Seymour reached the semis after pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he defeated #1 seed Luke Lilledahl in overtime. While that win was the biggest of his season, Seymour put together a great year with a 24-6 record while recording notable victories over Caleb Smith, Jakob Camacho, Nick Babin, Charlie Farmer, and Max Gallagher. Seymour will be a senior next season and will be expected to climb the podium at the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 

Seymour after his win over Luke Lilledahl:

133: Ryan Crookham

Ryan Crookham will enter the 2025-26 season as a title contender after placing 3rd in 2024 during his redshirt freshman year. Crookham started his season 5-0 last year before going down with a season-ending elbow injury in December. Before his year was cut short, Crookham recorded wins over ranked wins over Angelo Rini and Braeden Davis. 

Beyond last season, Crookham burst onto the 133-pound scene in 2023-24 after defeating Vito Arujau in the second week of the season. Crookham then defeated Arujau again in the EIWA finals before losing his first match of the year to Arujau in the NCAA semis. Crookham currently has a 29-1 career college record that includes wins over All-Americans Nasir Bailey (2), Evan Frost, Aaron Nagao, Connor McGonagle, Braeden Davis, and, of course, Vito Arujau (2). If Crookham can stay healthy next season, he’ll be considered the favorite by many to win the 133-pound NCAA title. 

Crookham's win over Vito Arujau in the 2024 EIWA Finals:

141: Luke Stanich

Luke Stanich will be entering his second season in the starting lineup for the Mountain Hawks after finishing 5th place at 125 pounds in 2024 and redshirting last season. Stanich had an incredible true freshman season two years ago, accumulating a 24-4 record culminating in his podium finish. During that year, Stanich defeated All-Americans Eric Barnett, Matt Ramos, Jore Volk, and Caleb Smith while only losing to Eric Barnett, Caleb Smith, Richard Figueroa, and Troy Spratley. 

This past year, Stanich redshirted while building up to 141 pounds. He finished the year with a 12-1 record, with his only loss coming against eventual champ Jesse Mendez (14-3). Stanich wrestled a tough schedule during his redshirt season and defeated Sergio Lemley (3-2, OT), CJ Compost (8-2), Kai Orine (4-1), Shannon Hanna (9-2), and Eligh Rivera (13-3). Stanich is also coming off an impressive performance at the U20 US Open, where he won a deep bracket with consecutive victories over Daniel Zepeda, Bo Bassett, and Pierson Manville. Stanich is currently sitting out to the U20 World Team Trials finals and will attempt to make the U20 World Team on June 1st.

Stanich will be expected to All-American next season for the Mountain Hawks, but will be a slight underdog against some of the more established wrestlers at 141 pounds. Two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez and NCAA runner-up Brock Hardy will likely both return to the 141-pound weight class next season. However, Stanich will likely be ranked #3 in the country at 141 and should be considered the #1 contender behind Mendez and Hardy.

Stanich's win over Bo Bassett at the 2025 US Open:

149: Kelvin Griffin

Kelvin Griffin will likely take over the 149-pound starting spot again after sitting last year behind Malyke Hines. Griffin started for the Mountain Hawks in the 2024 season as a freshman and was an NCAA qualifier, but ultimately went 0-2 at the NCAA Tournament. 

Griffin has progressively improved throughout his college career, but he’s best known for being one of the best top wrestlers in the country. Though he wasn’t the starter last season, Griffin led the country in pins with 20 total pins against college competition and 18 against Division 1 opponents. That stat might be even more impressive considering Griffin only recorded TWO victories that weren’t pins. Griffin won’t enter the season as an All-American contender, but his skills on top and improvements over his three years at Lehigh suggest he’s a wrestler to keep an eye on throughout the year at 149 pounds. 

157: Logan Rozynski

Logan Rozynski had an under-the-radar true freshman season starting at 157 pounds for Lehigh and will likely man the starting spot at 157 again next season. Rozynski qualified for NCAAs last year after recording a 19-7 record, winning an EIWA title, and ultimately went 1-2 at the NCAA Tournament. What was most significant about Rozynski’s season is that all 7 of his losses came by a 4-point or less margin to either All-Americans or NCAA qualifiers. If Rozynski can flip some of those close losses into wins, he’ll be right in the hunt for All-American honors. 

165: Max Brignola

Similar to Rozynski, Max Brignola was overlooked by many last year, but that was mostly because he was in redshirt. Though he didn’t start for Lehigh, Brignola accumulated a 22-0 record during his redshirt year with notable wins over Julian Ramirez, Brock Mantanona, Nicco Ruiz, Tyler Lillard, Derek Fields, and Cesar Alvan. Brignola will be ranked in the top 8 to start the year and is an obvious All-American contender.

Brignola's win over Brock Mantanona:

174: Rylan Rogers

After spending two years at Michigan, Rylan Rogers transferred to Lehigh last season and finally got in the starting lineup during his true sophomore season. Rogers, who was the #13-ranked overall recruit in the class of 2022, had an up-and-down year for Lehigh at 174. Rogers started last season 8-3 before hitting a 6-match losing streak and ultimately failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Beyond that, Rogers was 1-8 against 2025 NCAA qualifiers and even lost 3 matches to non-qualifiers. Rogers will need to make significant improvements in the off-season to score team points for the Mountain Hawks at the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 

184: Caden Rogers

After a 7-5 start to the year, Rogers finished his season as an NCAA qualifier with a 15-8 record. Rogers improved throughout the year and recorded wins over NCAA qualifiers TJ McDonnell and Maximus Hale. Though 184 graduates Carter Starocci, Parker Keckeisen, and Dustin Plott, it receives an influx of talent with Angelo Ferrari, Rocco Welsh, and Aeoden Sinclair entering the weight. We should continue to see improvements from Rogers, but he’s an unlikely All-American in 2026. 

197: JT Davis

JT Davis will start for Lehigh in his senior season next year for the first time since his freshman year in 2022. Davis has been solid as a backup the past few years behind All-American Michael Beard. Last year was the best of his collegiate career with a 13-5 record and victories over NCAA qualifier Levi Hopkins and round of 12 finisher Gabe Sollars. The Mountain Hawks should expect solid production from Davis next year as a likely NCAA qualifier. 

285: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor will return to the Lehigh starting lineup after going down with a season-ending injury in just his 5th match last season. Taylor finished one match shy of All-American honors two years ago and will be ranked in the top 8 to start the season next year. 

Taylor has made significant strides in his game since entering college and has notable victories over Konner Doucet, Trevor Tinker, Lewis Fernandes, Grady Griess, Lucas Stoddard, Cory Day, David Szuba, Owen Trephan, Josh Heindselman, and Yaraslau Slavikouski. With the graduation of Wyatt Hendrickson, Gable Steveson, and Greg Kerkvliet, the heavyweight division opens up significantly next year. Taylor might be slightly under the radar after missing last season, but he’s absolutely capable of contending for a title next season.

Nathan Taylor's win over Owen Trephan at the 2023 Journeymen Collegiate Classic:

What Will Lehigh Place At The 2026 NCAA Tournament?

The Mountain Hawks finished 15th at the 2025 NCAA Tournament, but were missing several of their top wrestlers who will return to the lineup next year. Lehigh has 5 wrestlers that will be ranked in the top 8 to start the year, and they have a great chance of qualifying all 10 wrestlers for the NCAA Tournament. That puts them as a clear top 10 team, and if they wrestle their best at NCAAs, they’re capable of breaking into the top 5.