2025 NCAA Wrestling Championship Preview & Predictions - 141 Pounds
2025 NCAA Wrestling Championship Preview & Predictions - 141 Pounds
A full preview, with predictions, for the 141-pound weight class at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
The 2025 NCAA Tournament is set to go down March 20-22 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will feature the country’s best college wrestlers. The 141 pound bracket at this year’s tournament is filled with parity and will be one of the most exciting weights to follow from start to finish. Check out the article below for a full preview with predictions for this incredible weight class.
2025 141-Pound NCAA Bracket
2025 Top Eight Seeds (Name, School, Season Record)
1. Brock Hardy, Nebraska, 20-3
2. Beau Bartlett, Penn State, 21-1
3. Jesse Mendez, Ohio State, 25-3
4. Josh Koderhandt, Navy, 23-3
5. Cael Happel, UNI, 24-3
6. Vance Vombaur, Minnesota, 23-4
7. Tagen Jamison, OK State, 20-4
8. Andrew Alirez, N. Colorado, 16-1
2024 Place Winners
1. Jesse Mendez, Ohio State
2. Beau Bartlett, Penn State
3. Brock Hardy, Nebraska
4. Real Woods, Iowa
5. Anthony Echemendia, Iowa State
6. Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina
7. Ryan Jack, NC State
8. Vance Vombaur, Minnesota
Last 10 141-pound NCAA champions
2024: Jesse Mendez, Ohio State
2023: Andrew Alirez, N. Colorado
2022: Nick Lee, Penn State
2021: Nick Lee, Penn State
2020: Canceled
2019: Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell
2018: Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell
2017: Dean Heil, OK State
2016: Dean Heil, OK State
2015: Logan Stieber, Ohio State
2014: Logan Stieber, Ohio State
The Contenders
- #1 Beau Bartlett, Penn State
- #2 Brock Hardy, Nebraska
- #3 Jesse, Mendez, Ohio State
- #4 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota
- #5 Cael Happel, UNI
- #6 Tagen Jamison, OK State
- #7 Andrew Alirez, N. Colorado
Before conference weekend, most would agree there were only three legitimate title contenders at 141 pounds - Beau Bartlett, Jesse Mendez, and Andrew Alirez. However, the results from the conference tournaments showed that very little separates the above group of seven wrestlers from one another. Check out the table below to see how these seven wrestlers have traded wins and losses with one another, and some common opponents, throughout the season.
It’s worth noting that Andrew Alirez doesn’t have wins from this season over any of the wrestlers ranked ahead of him. So why is he still in this category? To start, as the 2023 NCAA Champion, he’s one of two wrestlers in this field who has already won this tournament. Alirez also boasts head-to-head wins over Beau Bartlett and Cael Happel from previous seasons. Alirez has also recorded wins this year over Julian Tagg (who beat Happel) and Jacob Frost (who beat Jamison). If Alirez is wrestling his best, he’ll be right in the mix with the rest of this tier and no one should be surprised if he wins another NCAA Title.
The big question is, who will come out of this group on top in Philadelphia? 141 pounds will be one of the toughest weights in the country to predict and every quarterfinal match will be an absolute battle. Will Brock Hardy continue his incredible run from Big Tens? Will Jesse Mendez repeat as the champ? Will Beau Bartlett end his career with an elusive title? There’s so much parity in this weight class and we’ll find out the answers to all of the questions in Philly!
Hardy's win over Jesse Mendez from Big 10s:
Vombaur's win over Bartlett at Big 10s:
Bartlett's win over Mendez at Big 10s:
Mendez's win over Bartlett from the 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic:
All-American Threats
- #8 Josh Koderhandt, Navy
- #9 Jacob Frost, Iowa State
- #10 Dylan Cedeno, Virginia
- #11 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech
- #12 Sergio Lemley, Michigan
- #13 Julian Tagg, SD State
The above group of six wrestlers have established themselves as the next tier at 141 pounds. With this group, I would be very surprised to see any make a run to the finals, but wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them on the podium. Of this group, Koderhandt is the highest seeded wrestler (#4) and has put together an incredible year. He’s currently 23-3 with notable wins over Vance Vombaur, Jacob Frost, and Sergio Lemley with his only losses coming against Jesse Mendez and Brock Hardy (twice). A case could be made for Koderhandt to be included in tier 1, but his losses to Mendez and Hardy make it hard for me to see him making a run to the finals.
Koderhandt's win in the EIWA finals:
Jacob Frost and Julian Tagg are included in this group because of their high-level wins over wrestlers in tier 1. Frost has a win over Jamison while Tagg has defeated Happel this year. Despite those wins, Frost and Happel received tough draws. At the #9 seed, Frost will likely wrestle #8 seed Andrew Alirez in the second round. At the #18 seed, Tagg will see Beau Bartlett in round 2. That means both will either have to pull off a big upset or battle through the consis in order to reach the podium.
Julian Tagg's win over CJ Composto:
Cedeno, Latona, and Lemley have all been solid this season but haven’t defeated anyone in that top tier at 141 pounds. Similar to Frost and Tagg, this group of three will need to pull off an upset if they hope to advance beyond the first round in the championship bracket. #12 seed Latona will likely wrestle Happel in round 2, #14 seed Lemley has Mosha Schwartz round 1 and then Jesse Mendez, and #11 seed Cedeno will face off against Vance Vombaur in round 2. They’ll be underdogs in those bouts but those early round matchups show off the depth of the weight class and no one should be too surprised if any of these wrestlers reach the quarterfinals.
Hear from Dylan Cedeno after winning the ACC Tournament:
Sleepers & Landmines
- #25 Josh Edmond, Missouri
- #29 Jayden Scott, North Carolina
There are several wrestlers in this bracket who are lower seeds but have the potential to go on a run. However, the above two wrestlers best fit the description of a “sleeper or landmine”. First up is Josh Edmond who finished in the round of 12 last year but needed an at-large bid to get into the tournament this year. Despite losing to Jacob Frost and Jordan Titus at Big 12’s, Edmond has had close matches with several of the top guys at this weight. Edmond has suffered close losses to Sam Latona (4-2), Cael Happel (4-2), Vance Vombaur (4-3), Beau Bartlett (4-1, OT), and Jacob Frost (9-8). Beyond these close losses, Edmond drew #10 seed CJ Composto in the first round - interestingly enough, Edmond defeated Composto at last year’s NCAA Tournament (11-5). Edmond’s second match will likely be #7 seed Tagen Jamison who Edmond defeated at last year’s Big 12 Tournament. Edmond is in the perfect spot to blow up this bracket.
Similar to Josh Edmond, Jayden Scott has lost several close matches to highly ranked wrestlers throughout the year. Scott suffered close losses to Sam Latona (1-0), Dylan Cedeno (5-3 & 2-0), and Josh Koderhandt (7-2). After those close losses, Scott had a fantastic Southern Scuffle where he ultimately finished in second place with a significant win over Mosha Schwartz. Scott has incredible defense and he’s capable of keeping matches close with almost everyone in the country. He didn’t get a great draw with Koderhandt in round 1 but that match could be a lot closer than most expect.
Jayden Scott's win over Mosha Schwartz:
141 Pound Predictions
I’ve gone back and forth on who I think is going to win this bracket. There’s so much parity at the weight that this tournament could be wrestled 10 different times and we could see 6-7 different champs. Predicting this weight feels a bit like pulling a name out of a hat. Even still, I’m picking Jesse Mendez to repeat as national champion and walk away with the 141-pound title this year. Mendez may have had a down Big Ten Tournament with losses to Hardy and Bartlett, but he proved last year that he wrestles his best when the stakes are the highest.
1. Jesse Mendez, Ohio State
2. Andrew Alirez, N. Colorado
3. Beau Bartlett, Penn State
4. Cael Happel, UNI
5. Brock Hardy, Nebraska
6. Tagen Jamison, OK State
7. Vance Vombaur, Minnesota
8. Josh Koderhandt, Navy
Rd of 12: Julian Tagg, SD State
Rd of 12: Sergio Lemley, Michigan
Rd of 12: Sam Latona, Virginia Tech
Rd of 12: Jacob Frost, Iowa State