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NCAA D1 Weekly Roundup: 2024-25

NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 9 Roundup: Midlands/Salute Recap

NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 9 Roundup: Midlands/Salute Recap

The world's finest collection of noteworthy happenings from the 9th week of the 2024-25 NCAA D1 wrestling season.

Dec 31, 2024 by Andrew Spey
NCAA D1 Wrestling Week 9 Roundup: Midlands/Salute Recap

Happy New Year! Or New Year's Eve! Or happy whatever day it is when you're reading this! 

Box Scores | Rankings | Last Week's Roundup

We pushed back this week's roundup one day later than usual to accommodate both the 60th Midlands and the 3rd Soldier Salute. This will still be a skimpy edition as fewer notables occurred in week 9 (plus one day). But that won't stop us from bringing you another award-winning entry of the world's finest wrestling blog!

The Dual Of The Century: Of The Week

There were no duals this week, hence there is no Dual of the Century: of the Week. Would you like a refill on that Pepsi?

There were two tournaments though, so let's talk about them!

Hawks Crown 7 While Winning 3rd Straight Salute

The Iowa Hawkeyes have won every Soldier Salute that there ever was. Coach Brands now has back-to-back-to-back AAU National Championships Soldier Salute team titles.

Iowa put nine wrestlers in the finals and scored 274 team points, 109.5 more points than team runner-up Northern Iowa. Since they were the biggest story inside the Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa, where the event took place, we're gonna go weight-by-weight with Hawks at the Salute.

  • 125: Joey Cruz finished sixth, losing to Iowa State's Kysen Terukina and Adrian Meza as well as UNI's Garrett Rinken.
  • 133: #3 Drake Ayala beat #32 Stockton O'Brien in the semis and then teched his teammate Kale Peterson in the finals. I'm not sure if it's possible for Peterson to cut down to 125 but if so I think it would very much improve his odds of starting in the postseason. 
  • 141: Jace Rhodes placed third and Cullan Schriever placed sixth. Ryder Block did not compete this weekend and has been out since the Iowa State dual on November 23rd. 
  • 149: #4 Kyle Parco defeated #7 Lachlan McNeil of UNC, 7-5, in the most competitive and highest-ranked finals matchup of the day. 
  • 157: Jacori Teemer is still out of the lineup with an injury. Coach Brands said they 'love his progress' but did not have an exact date yet for when the Hawkeyes expect Teemer back on the mat. 
  • 165: #2 Michael Caliendo needed to dig deep to defeat the electric #10 Andrew Sparks of Minnesota, 7-6, in one of the most entertaining bouts of the tournament. 
  • 174: Nelson Brands did not compete at the Salute, instead it was P.K. all day, as Patrick Kennedy picked up two ranked wins (over #23 Joshua Ogunsanya and #15 Danny Wask) en route to an individual title. 
  • 184: The most highly anticipated bout of the tournament was slated to take place in the finals, as teammates Angelo Ferrari and #5 Gabe Arnold both won their semifinal bouts on opposite sides of the bracket. Unfortunately, we did not get to see that bout, as Ferrari picked up a win by forfeit, which would seem to indicate that Ferrari will stay in redshirt and Arnold will be the postseason starter, but Coach Brands  stated that they don't have to make a decision yet on that topic. 
  • 197: #1 Stephen Buchanan impressed, beating Mizzou's true freshman Aeoden Sinclair in the finals 15-4. Buchanan had a tougher time with Oklahoma State's true freshman Cody Merrill, but the senior Hawkeye still won by shutout, 2-0, in the semifinals. 
  • 285: It wasn't the most scintillating match but Ben Kueter did what he needed to get his hand raised, defeating Bennett Tabor 1-0 in the finals. 

More new from Coralville

  • Gable Steveson did not wrestle :(
  • The aforementioned Aeoden Sinclair and Cody Merrill both picked up a win over Minnesota's #9 All-American Isaiah Salazar. 197 graduates a tone of talent this year, so expect those two to contend for titles next year (although Sinclair may be at 184 - no inside knowledge here, just looking at the roster and the fact that Rocky Elam may get a medical redshirt and return at 197, whereas Colton Hawks at 184 is out of eligibility next season). 
  • Oklahoma State also got a 3rd placer out of redshirt freshman Jersey Robb. David Taylor will have 2 quality options between him and Brayden Thompson to replace Dustin Plott next season. Perhaps one of them could drop to 174 to replace DJ Hamiti? Also no insight there, just thinking of options!
  • Navy very appropriately had a champ at 141, as Josh Koderhandt was the only soldier to win a title at the Soldier Salute. Josh took out Minnesota's #6 Vance Vombaur in the finals.Koderhandt also won OW. 
  • The Cyclones didn't bring most of their starters but they did take advantage of the tournament in their home-state by entering three 125-pounders. All three made the podium but Kysen Terukina cemented his status as the starter (or at least the frontrunner to be the starter) by winning a title. The fifth-year senior and three-time NCAA qualifier from Hawaii is 6-0 on the season. 
  • Stanford did a lot of winning this weekend. While most of the squad was hoisting the team trophy at the Midlands (more on them shortly), redshirting junior Daniel Cardenas was winning a Soldier Salute 157-pound title, beating #24 Jared Hill of Wyoming in the finals. 
  • Though they were unable to muster any finalists, Northern Iowa still put 11 Panthers on the podium, scoring more points than anyone but Iowa. Trever Anderson, Colin Realbuto and Jared Simma led the way for UNI by placing third at 125, 149 and 174, respectively. 
  • There was also a Silver Division, for non-starters to pick up matches, and a women's division, which was also won by a very large margin by Iowa (and which we will have more coverage on, just not in this NCAA D1 men's wrestling blog).  

Stanford's Three Champs Secure Midlands Team Title Over Rutgers & Penn

Things were more competitive in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where Stanford, Rutgers and Penn were all battling for the team title in the NOW Arena. Ultimatley, it would be the Cardinal taking the crown on the strength of their three champs. Stanford's #8 Tyler Knox, #9 Jaden Abas and #6 Lorenzo Norman picked up titles at 133, 149 and 174 respectively. 

  • Knox's heroics in the final seconds of his match against Rutgers' #15 Dylan Shawver all but sealed the deal for Stanford in the team race. 
  • Shawver had a quality tournament despite the tough loss, beating #27 Kurt Phipps in the quarters and outlasting true frosh phenom Ben Davino of Ohio State in the semifinals. Davino, who is redshirting this season, ultimately placed third. 
  • Jaden Abas' victory over #20 Cross Wasilewski of Penn in the finals also slammed shut the Quakers' team title aspirations. 
  • Lorenzo Norman also got a win over a Quaker, cooling off the red-hot #5 Nick Incontrera thanks to a first-period takedown and cradle for an early 7-0 lead. Bucknell's #25 Myles Takats took third in a deep bracket that also featured #17 Alex Cramer, #19 Luca Augustine, #22 Jackson Turley. 
  • The magenta-coiffed Dean Peterson led the way for the Scarlet Knights, winning the 125lb bracket with wins over #26 Blake West and #32 Jacob Moran. The bracket also had #20 Max Gallagher and #21 Diego Sotelo as well Marc-Anthony MacGowan, who we finally got to see in a Princeton singlet. The Tiger freshman wrestled NINE matches (with no forfeits!) in two days, notably beating Gallagher, but falling to Peterson and Moran. 
  • The top three seeds all held at 141, as Penn's #14 CJ Composto beat #20 Joey Oliveri of Rutgers in the finals and Bucknell's #16 Dylan Chappell (who received the #3 seed) finished third. 
  • It was CMU vs GMU in the 157lb finals, as #19 Johnny Lovett of Central Michigan beat #28 DJ McGee of George Mason in an overtime squeaker. 
  • Indiana's (unranked, but not for long) Tyler Lillard had one of the most impressive tournies, upsetting (although that's now debatable) #27 Anthony White, #7 Hunter Garvin and #11 Maxx Mayfield in the quarters, semis and finals, respectively. Lillard was naturally pumped up about this successful run. 
  • Pitt's #11 Reece Heller beat Rutgers' Shane Cartagena-Walsh. Rutgers also has Brian Soldano as an option at 184. Soldano medically forfeit in the third-place bout. Both Scarlet Knights lost to Heller, although Shane's margin of defeat was smaller than Brian's. Coach Goodale has a tough decision to make at 184.
  • Indiana also got a strong performance from currently-but-not-for-long unranked Gable Sollars at 197. Sollars beat #17 Nick Stemmet and #18 John Poznanski before falling to Pitt's #15 Mac Stout in the finals. 
  • And #12 Josh Heindselman finally got to compete in a Michigan singlet. The grad transfer from Oklahoma competed unattached in two first-semester tournies, but is now in sporting the mazie and blue for one final semester. Heindselman teched his way to the finals before needing all seven minutes to defeat Indiana's #29 Jacob Bullock 5-4. Bullock upset #6 Yaraslau Slavikouski in the semifinals and helped Indiana finish in a very respectable fourth place as a team. 
  • There was also a women's division at Midlands, won by North Central, which you will hear more about, probably from Kyle Klingman, in the near future. 

Heavy Metal Matness

It's (almost) 2025 and I'm still doing this bit where I compare D1 wrestling programs to heavy metal bands. It's fun for me so I'll probably keep doing it as I have for the last weight weeks.

Here's a refresher of who got compared to whom over the first two months of the season:

  • Penn State - Linkin Park
  • Iowa - Metallica 
  • Oklahoma State - Black Sabbath
  • Iowa State - Slipknot
  • Lehigh - Clutch
  • Missouri - Rush
  • Minnesota - Snot
  • Nebraska - Mastodon

This week, I will compare Cornell with Tool. 

Tool is a great band for metal nerds, and Cornell is a great program for wrestling nerds. Also, Cornell is a great school for nerds in general. 

But you don't have to be a nerd to enjoy Tool, just like you don't have to be a nerd to enjoy Cornell wrestling. You do kind of have to be a nerd to get into to Cornell, though.

Of course, I mean 'nerd' in a good way. There's no smarts-shaming in this blog!

Tool is known for their complexity, utilizing varied time signatures and incorporating progressive and psychedelic elements into their songs and performances. Some would even go as far as to say that Tool has elevated the entire metal genre with their musicianship. 

Similarly, while Cornell is not the first Ivy-League school to achieve wrestling success, they have undeniably elevated the entire Ivy League over the last few decades. Rob Koll became the head coach of the Big Red in 1993 and coached his first national champion a year later when David Hirsch won a title at 126-pounds. Cornell has won 19 individual titles since then. 

Another, fun fact: Tool's lead singer Maynard James Keenan wrestled in high school and his dad was a wrestling coach.

I've recently had the opportunity to watch both Tool in concert and Cornell in a competition and I give them the highest possible recommendation. 

What Would YOU Like To See In This Blog? 

It wouldn’t exist with you so I implore you to provide feedback! 

Send all suggestions, requests, commendations and condemnations to me at [andrew.spey@flosports.tv]. I’m also usually available on Twitter (@speywrestle). News that you'd like to see in this blog is the most appreciated feedback, but proofreading and spell-checking assistance is also welcome! Pobody's nerfect, least of all your humble blogger! 

Finally: I hope everyone absolutely crushes it in 2025. Thanks for reading!