With conference duals in full swing, the drama and intensity in men’s college wrestling is heating up. Here’s what we learned after a jam-packed week of action and what these results could mean come March:
Purdue’s Matt Ramos goes 2-0 on the weekend to claim the No. 1 spot at 125 pounds
It’s no secret that the 125-pound weight class has been the craziest weight this year.
Purdue’s Matt Ramos started the year ranked No. 1 after pinning Spencer Lee in the semifinals of the national tournament last year and ultimately finishing second at the 2023 NCAA tournament behind Princeton graduate Patrick Glory. Without Glory at the weight, this was expected to be Ramos’ year.
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The Purdue Boilermaker, however, took a few early losses, one to high schooler Marcus Blaze, one to N.C. State’s Jakob Camacho, one to Stanford’s Nico Provo and one to Nebraska’s Caleb Smith. These performances dropped Ramos out of the top spot in the rankings and led to a rankings carousel in which Camacho and Provo both, at one point, slid into the No. 1 spot.
Heading into last weekend, Iowa’s Drake Ayala had overtaken Provo and Camacho for the top spot after wins over Smith and two-time All-American Patrick McKee. This set the stage for another Matt Ramos vs. No. 1 Iowa lightweight battle.
Bright lights. Big moves for Matty Ice 🥶
— Purdue Wrestling (@PurdueWrestling)
"That's why he is a reigning national finalist!"
In front of the Hawkeye faithful, Ramos did Ramos things. He scored the only takedown of the match, topping Ayala 4-1 to retake the No. 1 spot in the country. He then followed up that performance with a technical fall against Alan Koehler of Nebraska. Smith, notably, did not take the mat against Ramos after losing by technical fall to Minnesota’s Patrick McKee on Friday night.
Trying to predict the future of 125 pounds for the remainder of the season is a fool’s errand, but, for now, it’s all Ramos.
One name wrestling fans may not have expected to see make a push for the top spot at 125 pounds against someone like Ramos this year though is Braeden Davis, the Penn State true freshman who has won the starting spot and currently holds a 12-0 record. Davis put up a particularly impressive performance this weekend against Michigan All-American Michael DeAugustino, topping the Wolverine 4-1 to put himself in the podium conversation. He also added another ranked win to his record when he beat Michigan State starter Tristan Lujan 7-3 on Sunday.
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DeAugustino, for his part, rebounded from the loss to beat Rutgers’ Dean Peterson, a national qualifier and Round of 12 finisher who was ranked as high as No. 3 this year. The Wolverine should still be in the mix to make the podium himself this year, along with a slew of other contenders including Stevo Poulin, Max Gallagher, Eric Barnett and Brandon Kalyor, all of whom notched ranked wins this weekend in a weight where every ranked win matters. Gallagher, a freshman at Penn, might have notched the most unexpected of those wins, as he beat Cliff Keen Invitational champion Nico Provo in overtime. Gallagher wasn’t ranked last week, but this win could help him squeak into the top 33.
Dylan Ragusin elevates himself into All-American contention
Speaking of people who have put themselves in All-American discussions, Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin proved this weekend that someone who can compete for a top-eight spot at nationals and do so in style. In just his third dual out of redshirt, Ragusin pushed All-American and Big Ten finalist Aaron Nagao for seven minutes, scrambling against one of the conference's best mat wrestlers. Ragusin came out on top in the end after a sneaky pin in sudden victory. While his win was not enough to lift the Wolverines past the Nittany Lions in the team score, the performance (plus his win over NCAA qualifier Dylan Shawver later in the weekend) should put Ragusin in the top 5, as an individual, in the country and should give him an advantage in Big Ten conference seeding.
Dylan Ragusin gets one back for ! 💪
— Big Ten Wrestling (@B1GWrestling)
No. 6 at 133 just pinned No. 4 Aaron Nagao of Penn State. 😳
Outside of the Big Ten, the most notable result at 133 pounds came from Lehigh’s Ryan Crookham, the freshman who has been making noise all season. Crookham stayed perfect over the weekend, beating 2022 EIWA champion Michael Colacicco of Penn and Brendan Ferretti of Navy. The Mountain Hawks have just four duals left, and Crookham should expect to see ranked wrestlers in three of those duals including No. 17 Kurt Phipps of Bucknell, No. 33 Braden Basile of Army and No. 24 Julian Chlebove of Arizona State. If he runs the table, he’ll lock in the No. 1 seed for the EIWA tournament where he’ll be on a collision course for another meeting with 2023 NCAA champion Vito Arujau, whom he beat 8-4 earlier this year.
Michael Blockhus is back in peak form
This week’s breakout stars weren’t just confined to the lightweights. Minnesota’s Michael Blockhus had one of the best weekends of any wrestler in the country as he beat No. 2 Jared Franek of Iowa and No. 3 Peyton Robb of Nebraska in back-to-back duals. This journey to these wins was anything but simple for the Gopher veteran.
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Blockhus, an eighth-place finisher in last year’s national tournament, announced his retirement from college wrestling on and committed to pursuing a professional career in MMA. He dominated his fighting , and then, less than two weeks later, decided he would return to college wrestling for one last season. He swept his first open tournament on November 11 in dominant fashion and then picked up a dual win against Bucknell before taking an unexpected loss against DJ McGee of George Mason. That result knocked Blockhus down in the rankings, but he’s been working his way back up with wins against South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Morgan State. Topping Franek and Robb, though, will give him another surge.
Robb had a tough weekend, also taking a loss to Purdue’s Joey Blaze. These results will impact the Big Ten seeding because they came against conference opponents, but Robb will have a chance to get back on track this weekend against No. 19 Trevor Chumbley and Luke Mechler, both opponents whom he’ll be favored against. Robb also will likely have his shot against No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State on Feb. 18, and Haines, while undefeated, has wrestled some close bouts this year, including a 2-1 win over Will Lewan and a sudden-victory finish against Chase Saldate over the weekend. This weight continues to be so much fun.
Mitchell Mesenbrink emerges as a title contender
One weight up from Blockhus, Robb, Franek and Haines is Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State’s redshirt freshman middlewight who had been destroying everyone in his match, including All-American Cam Amine and Round of 12 finisher Caleb Fish. Mesenbrink transferred to Penn State with high expectations after completing his redshirt season at California Baptist, and he’s not only shown that he can compete and contribute to the Nittany Lions, but he’s positioned himself as one of just a handful of title contenders at a weight that already includes two former national champions.
Mesenbrink came into the weekend with an 11-0 record, his best win coming against No. 13 Matthew Olguin of Oregon State. Then he majored No. 9 Amine in Amine’s home gym. The win was monumental, as Mesenbrink controlled the bout for the entire seven minutes and nearly stalled out the veteran Wolverines. He was unafraid and undeterred. Taking out No. 10 Fish on Sunday was important for Mesenbrink’s rankings rise as well, as Fish also beat Amine last weekend. Just three ranked foes now stand between Mesenbrink and an undefeated regular season record.
He’ll wrestle No. 22 Bryce Hepner on February 2, No. 6 Mikey Caliendo on February 9, No. 18 Antrell Taylor on February 18, and Mesenbrink’s relentless offense will pose a challenge for all three of these guys. The most interesting potential matchup for the Nittany Lion star may not come until the Big Ten tournament, as Penn State does not wrestle Wisconsin — the program with No. 5 Dean Hamiti in its lineup — during the regular season. Hamiti, the 2023 Big Ten champion — is also undefeated on the year (outside of the NWCA All-Star dual), and he just picked up a notable tech fall against Hepner. Hamiti is funky, fast and fun to watch, and his style suggests that he might be able to handle Mesenbrink’s pressure. But fans will have to wait until March for that one.
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Until then, watch for Mesenbrink to carry his momentum through his duals with Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa, Rutgers, Nebraska and Edinboro.
Keep your eyes on Little Rock
The Big Ten generates great attention in the college wrestling world, but this week, the biggest team storyline came from the Pac-12, specifically the Little Rock Trojans.
Founded in 2019, Little Rock has emerged from a small underdog in Arkansas to a competitive team within one of the four biggest wrestling conferences in the country. On Friday night, the Trojans added a historic note to their impressive, short history: a win over Arizona State. A consistent trophy team in the country at NCAAs, the Sun Devils came in the weekend ranked No. 24 in the country and dropped five matches to the Trojans to lose 18-15. The biggest win for Little Rock came at 197 pounds when No. 11 Stephen Little teched Jacob Meissner to all but seal the dual. The Trojans dropped their heavyweight bout 5-2, but between Little’s tech, a major decision from Triston Wills and decision wins from Nasir Bailey, Joe Bianchi, Tyler Brennan, this one belonged to Little Rock.
Feeling' the vibe...that big W vibe! x 🎥
— NCAA Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling)
Arizona State rebounded from this match to beat No. 15 Pittsburgh, but the Sun Devils schedule will only continue to get more difficult. They take on No. 5 Oklahoma State on Friday and No. 16 Oregon State on Sunday before wrestling No. 25 Cal Poly the following week. The Cal Poly Mustangs won the Pac-12 regular season title last year, while the Beavers of Oregon State took home the tournament title. Oregon State is the top-ranked Pac-12 team as of now, and the Beavers will be tough to beat. Cal Poly, Arizona State and Little Rock are going to need to be peaking at exactly the right time and looking for upsets if they want to knock off the reigning champs.
No. 20 Stanford is also in the mix, not to be dismissed, and the Cardinal add even more depth to a conference that will experience significant realignment following this season.
Binghamton also makes program history with win over Navy
Much like the Pac-12, the EIWA also saw a top-25 upset as Binghamton took down No. 18 Navy 18-17. Lou DePrez, a seventh-year senior who, like Blockhus, had previously retired from college wrestling, led the efforts for the Bearcats with a tech fall over Daniel Williams while teammate Carson Wagner also scored bonus at 125 pounds. Upset wins from Micah Roes and Cory Day combined with a decision from Jacob Nolan helped seal the deal. The Bearcats were not perfect on the weekend though, as they did drop to Army on Sunday, but the win over Navy remains historic and notable for the program.
The Bearcats will have their toughest competition at the end of the regular season when they travel to Ithaca to take on Cornell in a match that will give the four ranked Bighamton athletes and the remaining six starters a chance to test themselves against one of the best programs in the conference. The Big Red currently lead the EIWA with another traditional conference powerhouse, Lehigh, not far behind at No. 17. The depth of the EIWA is always a storyline, and Binghamton’s win over Navy shows that the Bearcats want to be included in this discussion.
