A lot of 184lb talent from 2025 ran out of NCAA eligibility last season, including the only five-time D1 champ in college wrestling history, but that hasn't stopped this division from reloading with some of the biggest stars in the sport.

Blue chippers Angelo Ferarri, Aeoden Sinclar and Brock Mantanona made their much anticipated debuts this season. Additionally, Rocco Welsh returned from a redshirt season, having transferred from Ohio State to Big Ten rival Penn State. All that plus the return of Max McEnelly, among others, and you've got a recipe for an electric bracket this weekend in Cleveland.

2026 NCAA Division 1 Rankings - 184 lbs

Interactive Brackets on FloWrestling

2025 All-Americans

1st Place - Carter Starocci, Penn State

2nd Place - Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa

3rd Place - Max McEnelly, Minnesota

4th Place - Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State

5th Place - Chris Foca, Cornell

6th Place - Jaxon Smith, Maryland

7th Place - Silas Allred, Nebraska

8th Place - Donnell Washington, Indiana

2026 Top 8 Seeds

1) Rocco Welsh, Penn State

2) Aeoden Sinclair, Missouri

3) Max McEnelly, Minnesota

4) James Conway, Franklin & Marshall

5) Brock Mantanona, Michigan

6) Eddie Neitenbach, Wyoming

7) Angelo Ferrari, Iowa

8) Silas Allred, Nebraska

The Favorites

(FloWrestling national ranking listed)

#1 Rocco Welsh, Penn State

#2 Angelo Ferrari, Iowa

#3 Aeoden Sinclair, Missouri

#4 Max McEnelly, Minnesota

Three of the top four contenders are both ranked and seeded in the top four. The outlier is Angelo Ferrari, who missed some time this season due to injury and had to medically forfeit out of the Big Ten Championships. This resulted in him taking an 'official' loss to Chris Moore, which dragged his seed down to #7, though he remained ranked at #2.

Rocco Welsh is undefeated, earning his number one ranking and seed as the only person who has defeated Ferrari on the mat this season. Welsh did so twice: first in a January dual and then at Big Tens. Both of those wins were in tiebreakers, which would suggest that a rematch between the two would be closer to a coin toss than to Ferrari being a substantial underdog. 

In fact, all three of Welsh's Big Ten Championship bouts went into overtime. Ultimatley all that matters is getting your hand raised, however, Welsh's bonus rate is hovering at around 50%, which is low when considering undefeated #1 seeds. None of which is to say Rocco is vulnerable to an upset, just that the Pennsylvania is not invincible, and also that this field is very tough. 

Watch Welsh win a 2026 Big Ten title:

Case in point, Aeoden Sinclair, a Wisconsin native who trained with Ben Askren and then followed in his mentor's footsteps to the University of Missouri. The redshirt freshman has just one loss on the season, to Ferrari in tiebreakers at the National Duals Invitational last November. 

On the plus for Sinclair is a signature win over Max McEnelly, which also occurred at NDI. McEnelly had but one other loss on the season, another tiebreaker loss to Welsh in the Big Ten finals. The Minnesota native is also the highest returning placer from 2025, which he accomplished as a freshman.  

Contenders

#5 Silas Allred, Nebraska

#6 Brock Mantanona, Michigan

#7 Dylan Fishback, Ohio State

#8 Eddie Neitenbach, Wyoming

#9 James Conway, Franklin & Marshall

#10 Isaac Dean, Iowa State

#11 Shane Cartagena-Walsh, Rutgers

#12 Zack Ryder, Oklahoma State

The margin between the favorites and contenders is slim, but the Big Ten trio that follows directly behind McEnelly doesn't quite have the resumes to move into the top tier. 

Allred has been a stalwart for the Huskers, finishing in the bloodround in 2023 and 2024 before finally reaching the podium in 2025 with a 7th-place finish. He and Dylan Fishback, who joined the Big Ten Conference this offseason by way of NC State, split matches this season, with Fishback winning at NDI but Allred getting the dub in a January dual meet and at Big Tens. 

BrockMan has wins over both Allred (at National Duals) and Fishback (at a February 1 dual), however, the California native was stopped by James Conway in the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Watch Conway win a 2025 CKLV title:

Conway has an opportunity to become Franklin and Marshall's first All-American since Richard Durso in 2014. The Diplomat had an inspiring CKLV but stumbled in the finals of the EIWA, falling to Caleb Campos of American. 

Wyoming Eddie Neitenbach has been on a tear in 2026, going undefeated on the mat until he was felled in the Big 12 finals by Sinclair. 

Two other 2026 Big 12 Tournament participants were Isaac Dean and Zack Ryder, and both have an opportunity to make a deep run at NCAAs. Seeds for both wrestlers took a hit after their conference tournament (especially Ryder's) but a season's worth of data shows that, if healthy, both are podium threats. 

Lastly, Shane Cartegena-Walsh earned an inclusion in the contenders list thanks to a strong Big Ten Tournament that saw him notch a victory over Dylan Fishback. 

Sleepers & Landmines

Sam Goin, Indiana

Malachi DuVall, George Mason

Brian Soldano, Rutgers

Caleb Campos, American

Goin had his seed throttled by a brutal Big Ten schedule and a countable medical forfeit at the Patriot Last Chance Open, but evidence suggests he is far superior than his #33 seed suggests. 

DuVall has been a leader of the George Mason program for years, now qualifying for his third NCAA tournament in a row. His win over Edinboro's Jared McGill (who has a win over Cartegna-Walsh) at the MAC Championship shows this senior is not an opponent to be taken lightly. 

Brian Soldano has been confounding opponents (and often fans too) with a risk-taking, scrambling, and pinning style that makes for exciting wrestling and a dangerous opponent. 

Finally, Caleb Campos showed what he is capable of in the EIWA finals, where he used his blast doubles to devastating effect against James Conway. 

Watch Campos win a 2026 EIWA title:

Early Matches to Watch

Any match from the quarterfinals is going to be must-see, but here are some early round matchups that shouldn't slip past your radar.

Round 1 - Ian Bush, West Virginia vs Rylan Rogers, Lehigh

Few #17 vs #16 seed bouts will feature a matchup as talented as this one. 

Round 1 - Shan Cartegena-Walsh, Rutgers vs Zack Ryder, Oklahoma State

You know a Zack Ryder matchup was going to show up here when he received the #22 seed. This could just as easily be a quarterfinal bout. 

Round 2 - Isaac Dean, Iowa State vs James Conway, F&M

Both of these wrestlers have long frames and excellent takedown defenses. The scrambles alone could feed families. 

Round 2 - Angelo Ferrari, Iowa vs Caleb Campos, American

Blast doubles vs blast doubles. Ferrari will be the favorite but Campos has the talent to make this interesting. 

Round 2 - Brock Mantanona, Michigan vs Dylan Fishback, Ohio State

A rematch between two of college sports' most historic rivals. Fishback won in the dual meet by a takedown. Can BrockMan get revenge in Cleveland? 

Spey's Spredictions

1st - Aeoden Sinclair, Missouri

2nd - Rocco Welsh, Penn State

3rd - Angelo Ferrari, Iowa

4th - Max McEnelly, Minnesota

5th - James Conway, F&M

6th - Silas Allred, Nebraska

7th - Eddie Neitenbach, Wyoming

8th - Brock Mantanona, Michigan

R12 - Sal Perrine, Ohio

R12 - Jaden Bullock, Virginia Tech

R12 - Dylan Fishback, Ohio State

R12 - Chris Moore, Illinois

I'm riding with Aeoden at 184. I think he's got the most diverse arsenal, which gives him a path to victory over everyone in the field. 

Of course, things don't always go as planned, and I'm making no guarantees with regard to any of my picks, but Sinclair is who I felt best about going into the weekend. 

I like Welsh's path to the finals, certainly more than I like Sinclair's, as Aeoden will have to get by Ferrari in the quarters. Assuming that happens, I like Ferrari to bounce back and storm through the consis to claim third. That said, if McEnelly, who Sinclair will likely have to beat in the semifinals, is indeed Ferrari's opponent in the third-place bout, I would not be surprised in the least if it's McEnelly instead on the third-place podium step. 

It gets foggier from there, so I'm sticking with the seeds and saying all of the top 8 end up on the podium. The chances of that actually happening are quite slim, but that's the fun of predictions: seeing just how differently things play out in reality!