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NCAA D1 Weekly Roundup: 2025-26

NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 17 Roundup: That's A Wrap

NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 17 Roundup: That's A Wrap

The world's finest collection of noteworthy happenings from the 17th week of the 2025-26 NCAA D1 wrestling season.

Feb 23, 2026 by Andrew Spey
NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 17 Roundup: That's A Wrap

Every year, I say the season is going to go by faster than you think it will, and does anyone ever believe me? Yeah, probably, I guess. I've never actually sought out confirmation when making rhetorical statements like that. 

But guess what? The season did end, and it did go by fast! So I hope you cherished every week of the regular season (I know I did), and I also hope you enjoy the final Roundup of noteworthy weekly happenings during the 2025-26 NCAA D1 wrestling season!  

Week 16 Rankings | Week 17 Box Scores

Roundups: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16

There is technically still one more dual this week, assuming you're reading this Monday before noon, as that is when VMI is scheduled to wrestle Presbyterian. If it's after that, then the season is officially dunzo. It is finito, terminated, shuffled off this seasonal coil. 

Either way, it's time for the recapping to begin.

The Dual of the Century of the Week

Good Revenge, Cowboy - Oklahoma State Downs Iowa 32-11

You all knew this was going to be DotCotW. The hype was simply too strong to deny. 

FloWrestling had boots on the ground with our very own Christian Pyles and Connor Petros in attendance, slinging content. Christian managed to sneak a peak of the insane crowd gathering outside historic Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Gallagher-Iba was sold out, with 12,629 rabid Cowboy fans in attendance. And they were all in a big mood by the time things started cooking in the arena. Everyone should experience a big Oklahoma State dual in their lives, and make sure you arrive in time for their iconic run out to Marilyn Mason's Beautiful People. 

This was a rematch of a semifinal bout of the National Duals Invitational presented by Paycom, and it's interesting to see how different the lineups for both teams were on Sunday compared to the mid-November dual. 

Here's the NDI box score:

Iowa 18, Oklahoma State 16

125: #10 Dean Peterson (Iowa) over #2 Troy Spratley (OK State) Dec 5-4

133: #3 Drake Ayala (Iowa) over Ronnie Ramirez (OK State) SV-1 7-4

141: Sergio Vega (OK State) over #9 Nasir Bailey (Iowa) SV-1 3-0

149: Ryder Block (Iowa) over #4 Casey Swiderski (OK State) Dec 5-3

157: #4 Landon Robideau (OK State) over Victor Voinovich III (Iowa) Maj 16-5

165: #4 LaDarion Lockett (OK State) over #2 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) Dec 7-3

174: #2 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) over #10 Alex Facundo (OK State) SV-1 4-1

184: #2 Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) over #4 Zack Ryder (OK State) Dec 4-2

197: Massoma Endene (Iowa) over #9 Cody Merrill (OK State) Dec 4-3

285: Konner Doucet (OK State) win by forfeit

And here's Sunday's box score:

Oklahoma State 32, Iowa 11

125: #7 Troy Spratley (OKST) over #6 Dean Peterson (IOWA) (Dec 5-2)

133: #6 Jax Forrest (OKST) over #9 Drake Ayala (IOWA) (TF 19-3 6:07)

141: #2 Sergio Vega (OKST) over Kale Petersen (IOWA) (Fall 6:31)

149: #14 Ryder Block (IOWA) over Kolter Burton (OKST) (TF 19-4 5:37)

157: #6 Landon Robideau (OKST) over #16 Jordan Williams (IOWA) (Dec 5-1)

165: #4 Mikey Caliendo (IOWA) over #2 LaDarion Lockett (OKST) (Dec 4-2)

174: #3 Patrick Kennedy (IOWA) over #6 Alex Facundo (OKST) (Dec 8-3)

184: #12 Zack Ryder (OKST) over Gabe Arnold (IOWA) (SV-1 2-1)

197: #6 Cody Merrill (OKST) over Brody Sampson (IOWA) (Fall 4:48)

285: #8 Konner Doucet (OKST) over Gage Marty (IOWA) (Fall 5:53)

Iowa was without the services of Nasir Bailey and Angelo Ferrari on Sunday. The Hawkeyes didn't use Ben Kueter in either dual and had parted ways with Massoma Endene in the meantime. Gabe Arnold is a close substitute for Ferrari at 184, but the absence of the other three wrestlers was felt. Iowa also had Jordan Williams in at 157, which is a slight upgrade over Victor Voinovich, who got the start in November. 

The Cowboys, on the other hand, were without the services of Casey Swiderski, but did enjoy the services of Jax Forrest, who got the start instead of Ronnie Ramirez. Whether or not Forrest would be the postseason starter for the Cowboys at 133 has been an ongoing saga throughout the season, and it appears we finally have an answer. Jax, who was in high school when Oklahoma State and Iowa wrestled at National Duals, has used up all his competition dates, and his redshirt status has been accordingly shredded, which makes his participation in the Big 12 Championship in Tulsa in two weeks all but assured. 

Forrest's tech-fall of Drake Ayala is probably the most significant result of the week. Even if you favored Jax in the matchup, as many did, it was still the 19-3 tech over a two-time NCAA finalist. Pretty good for a high school senior/true college freshman. 

That came following a revenge bout for Troy Spratley, who reversed a close loss to Dean Peterson from NDI. That plus Jax's tech-maul made for a 14 point swing between the start of the two matches. 

Then Sergio Vega blew the roof off Gallagher-Iba when he did this. 

Ryder Block got the Hawkeyes some much needed bonus points with a tech-fall of his own. Jordan Williams held his own in a fun, scrambly bout with Labdon Robideau, then Mikey Caliendo got to enjoy some revenge of his own when he reversed a loss to LaDarion Lockett from NDI. 

Patrick Kennedy got the better of Alex Facundo for the second straight time, but that would be the end of the good news for Hawkeye faithful that evening. Zack Ryder would win 2-1 in sudden victory Gabe Arnold, where the only points scored were an escape for each wrestler and a stall call on Arnold in overtime. Arnold was also somewhat controversially not awarded a takedown in a situation that had similarities to the call in Arnold's match against Buckeye Dylan Fishback. The difference between them was that Fishback was awarded a takedown, whereas Arnold was not. 

Back ot back falls for the Cowboys sealed the deal, as the Cowboys handed the Hawkeyes their worst defeat in this series since 1961. Even I was old enough to be alive for that one. 

You can read a live blog of the dual from our very own Kyle Klingman here.

I would also be remiss if I did not make note that this dual was broadcast on ESPN, which hopefully brought quite a few eyeballs to the sport. Mike Couzen, Jordan Burroughs, Rock Harrison and Quint Kessenich handled the commentary and deserve kudos, along with the rest of the production team that handled the broadcast. 

Besides the great Oklahoma State/Iowa rivlary, there were a bunch of other noteworthy rivalries popping off this week. 

It's Rivalry Time

  • Army beats Navy in the ’Star’ dual, the oldest military rivalry in the country.
    • Navy got a minor upset win at 141 when #24 Caedyn Ricciardi pinned #16 Braden Basile.
    • West Pointers Wolfgang Frable and Brady Colbert senured Army would get the 'star' in wrestling (each service academy gets a star for every time they beat the other in a sport), when they both beat ranked opponents at 197 and 285. 
  • In the oldest military rivalry in the South, the Citadel defeated VMI, 34-11.
  • In yet more rivalry news, North Dakota State beat South Dakota State 20-13 in Brookings, SD to win the Battle for the Border Bell. 
    • The hero for the Thundering Herd was #28 Devin Wasley who registered a huge upset over #4 Bennett Berge 197lbs.
  • Another rivalry you didn't know you needed but is a staple of the wrestling season for true ball-knowers is the dual to decide which part of Illinois is best, North or South. 
    • This year it was decided that South was best, as SIUE (that's Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville) defeated Northern Illinois 16-15 on criteria, which came down to match points, where SIUE had a 42-40 advantage over NIU.
    • This was all without SIUE's senior Caleb Tyus, who will finish the regular season with a 15-0 record against D1 opponents at 149. 
  • There was also the Battle of Indiana, which saw the Hoosiers take out in-state Big Ten rivals Purdue 20-16. 
    • Hoosiers and Boilermakers, by the way, are two of the best nicknames in all of sports. 
    • Leading the way for Indiana was #29 Derek Gilcher, who notched a minor upset over #18 Brody Baumann 9-2 at 174. 
  • In an intra-Garden State rumble, Rutgers defeated Princeton to win the B1G/IVY Trophy.
    • Holden Garcia defeated Lenny Pinto to give the Tigers a boost at 174, but Rutgers responded with wins over Eligh Rivera and Ty Whalen by Andrew Clark at 149 and Andrew Barbosa at 165. Good day for Andews at Rutgers. 

Elsewhere in Non-Rivalry Duals

  • Penn State obliterated Princeton 50-0, making for a rough week for the Tigers. 
    • It's getting difficult to find new ways to talk about how good Penn State is at wrestling without sounding repetitive or boring, so I asked my nephew how he would describe the Nittany Lions wrestling team and he said, and I quote: "Penn State is himothy coded, mat mogging the competition by pointsmaxxing every dual. The aura emanating from State College is causing intergenerational trauma. With a low key goated line up, Coach Sanderson is giving main character energy."
    • So there you have it. This was also Penn State’s 8th shutout win of the season, for anyone keeping track.
  • Stanford beat North Carolina in a contest between the last two programs coached by Rob Koll.
  • NC State beat Cornell 19-18, the latter of which is the program Rob Koll coached before taking over the reins at Stanford, where he coached before taking over the reins at North Carolina. 
    • Coach Koll's career aside, there were some excellent matchups in the Wolfpack vs Big Red dual, which are two programs with mascots that don't end in the letter 's'.
    • Isaac Trumble closed out his career in Reynolds Coliseum with a tech-fall over Cy Kruse, whose name sounds an awful lot like Syracuse, which sadly no longer has a wrestling program but was once one of the more prominent programs in the northeast. 
    • Vince Cornella beat Ryan Jack, and Simon Ruiz defeated Matty Singleton, to give Cornell two top 10 wins on the day. 
    • But it was Koy Buesgens who would carry the day for the Wolfpack, as he handed #2 Jaxon Joy the first NCAA d1 loss of his career.
  • In other ACC news, Pitt ran over Duke in a 37-0 to give their seniors a shutout send-off. 
  • And VA Tech beat Duke to clinch the ACC regular season title.
  • West Virginia took care of business against Lock Haven, despite the Bald Eagles registering upset wins at 174 and 184 from Avery Bassett and Sam Gautreau, respectively. 
  • Last season, Lehigh closed out their season with a home dual against Arizona State. This year, the Mountain Hawks returned the favor with a trip to Tempe for the Sun Devils' last home dual. 
    • Sheldon Seymour stayed undefeated at 125, but that was about all the good news for Lehigh fans, as Arizona State shellacked Lehigh 24-11
    • Highlighting the dual for ASU was at heavyweight, where #18 David Szuba upset #10 Nathan Taylor.
  • In extremely frustrating news, California Baptist won at home in what is likely their last dual meet ever, 30-12 over CSU-Bakersfield. This program does not deserve to be cut. If you're interested in helping CBU wrestling, here's the website to go to. 
  • Nebraska traveled to Utah Valley to finish its regular season with a 32-6 win in the Beehive State.
  • Brown needed their two ranked wrestlers, #18 Andrew Real and #26 Alex Semenenko at 197 and 285, respectively, to come up big for their come-from-behind win over Sacred Heart at home. 
    • The Bears trailed going into the final bout, in large part from back-to-back pins by Pioneers Caden Smith and John Sheehy at 125 and 133, but Semenenko picked up a massive pinfall at heavyweight to snatch a Brown victory from the jaws of defeat. 
  • Brown would not have the same luck against Harvard, as the Crimson knocked off the Bears 26-16. 
    • Harvard man and #21 at 157, Jimmy The Hammer Harrington, picked up another win at 157, while Brown's Reall and Semenenko won again as well. 
  • Iowa State hosted and beat Missouri for its senior night, 20-14
    • Yonger Bastida wrestled for the final time in Hilton Coliseum, fittingly securing a tech-fall. 
    • Seth Mendoza wrestled at 149 for the Tigers and picked up a win over #8 Jacob Frost. I think Mendoza can still redshirt but it's tough to know for sure with the true freshman rules. I tried asking AI but ChatGPT whiffed.  
    • Jacob's twin brother Evan has not wrestled since January 25th, although Garrett Grice filled in and picked up a win over #27 Gage Walker. 
  • UNI got to send off their seniors with a thrilling 16-15 victory. 
    • The Panthers were trailing by 8 points with just three bouts left. That’s when Jack Thomsen, Jared Simma, and Nick Fox all won back-to-back-to-back narrow decisions to complete the comeback. 
    • Additionally, at 149, #18 Caleb Rathjen notched a minor upset over #12 Joseph Zargo in sudden victory, which proved to be a pivotal bout in the dual. 
  • Columbia continues their stellar season, as the Ivy League regular season champs squashed Bucknell 30-6. Nick Fine helped lead the Lions to victory with an upset win over #15 Myles Takats at 174. 
  • As mentioned, there's technically one more dual schedule this season on Monday between VMI and Presbyterian, which normally wouldn't be allowed, but I heard a waiver was granted. One of those will also be needed if Sacred Heart vs LIU is rescheduled. Doubt we get a Roundup just for the duals, but at the very least, the Box Scores will be updated with the results. 

Here's a Cool Video

Our very own Tyler Meisinger whipped up this rad recap of the Iowa vs Oklahoma dual from last November's NDI. If you get a chance, congratulate Tyler on both shooting and editing this cool video, and also for his impressive rendition of My Humps by the Black Eyes Peas, which he sang at Karaoke last Saturday. 

Why Try? Ask AI!

ChatGPT did better at predicting the winners of the Cornell vs NC State dual, so I figured I'd put my robot friend to work helping with the EIWA preview I will soon be crafting. As such, I asked the computer: "Who will win each weight class at the EIWA wrestling championships on March 7, 2026?"

I didn't get much help in the response. While it nicely reminded me where and when EIWAs will take place (March 6 and 7 at American University), it gave me mostly nonsense in that actual prediction department. 

125 lbs: Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) ranked top-5 nationally.

133 lbs: Several nationally ranked wrestlers, though few EIWA starters appear near the very top.

141–149 lbs: Nebraska’s Brock Hardy and some EIWA wrestlers like Raymond Lopez are competitive nationally and regionally.

157 lbs: Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) is a national standout (not EIWA), but EIWA entrants could include strong wrestlers like those from Lehigh/Cornell.

For 165–285 lbs, most national favorites are from non-EIWA schools, though EIWA wrestlers may be strong conference contenders.

Thanks for nothing, my cybernetic layabout. I have no idea why it mentioned two Nebraska wrestlers, and also didn't know that Cornell was no longer in the EIWA. And in an ironic twist, the answer included a section that said that if you wanted predictions to check FloWrestling. I'm not kidding, here I'll cut and paste that section too. 

What You Can Do to Get Predictions

Check the EIWA brackets as soon as they’re posted on wrestlingstats.com or FloWrestling (usually within days of the tournament).

Look at recent EIWA individual rankings released by the conference (published in February).

Watch FloWrestling previews in late February/early March — they often provide weight-by-weight prediction previews.

Unreal. But it is good advice. Check back on this website soon and I'll have a preview with predictions for you! 

Okay, great regular season! Thanks for reading, my wise and learned wrestling fan friends. I truly appreciate every single one of you! See you in the postseason!