2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships
American collegiate wrestling tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships was the 94th annual NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship that took place from March 20–22, 2025 in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center (since renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena).[1]
| |
| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 66 |
| Format | Double-elimination |
| Finals site | Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Champions | Penn State (13th title) |
| Runner-up | Nebraska |
| Winning coach | Cael Sanderson (12th title) |
| MOW | Carter Starocci (Penn State) |
| Attendance | 18,085 (session I) 18,088 (session II) 18,091 (session III) 18,099 (session IV) 18,806 (session V) 18,826 (session VI) |
| Television | ESPN ESPN2 ESPNU ESPN+ |
Penn State won their 13th national team title and their 12th under head coach Cael Sanderson after becoming the second team in NCAA Division I history to have 10 All-Americans in a single tournament.[2] The Nittany Lions also broke their 2024 tournament record for most amount of points scored in a single tournament with 177.0 points.[3]
Penn State, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State all had two wrestlers win individual championships with Penn State's Mitchell Mesenbrink and Carter Starocci, Nebraska's Ridge Lovett and Antrell Taylor, and Oklahoma State's Dean Hamiti Jr. and Wyatt Hendrickson all winning titles. Starocci became the first five-time NCAA Division I champion.[4] Nebraska finished in a program-best second place, getting their first champion since 2011 and having two national champions for the first time since 1984.[5] Oklahoma State had their first champion since 2021 and it was first time the team had multiple champions since 2016.[6]
Qualification
Participating teams
A total of 66 teams qualified wrestlers.[9] Bellarmine had two NCAA qualifiers in its first season of Division I eligibility.[10] Morgan State sent an alternate who did not compete in the tournament.[11] Cleveland State announced that they would discontinue the wrestling program following the tournament.[12]
- Appalachian State (3)
- Arizona State (3)
- Army (7)
- Bellarmine (2)
- Binghamton (2)
- Brown (1)
- Bucknell (5)
- California Baptist (1)
- Cal Poly (5)
- Cal State Bakersfield (3)
- Campbell (3)
- Central Michigan (6)
- Chattanooga (3)
- Cleveland State (1)
- Columbia (5)
- Cornell (10)
- Drexel (3)
- Duke (1)
- Edinboro (2)
- Gardner–Webb (2)
- George Mason (3)
- Harvard (2)
- Hofstra (2)
- Illinois (8)
- Indiana (6)
- Iowa (9)
- Iowa State (8)
- Lehigh (6)
- Little Rock (5)
- Lock Haven (7)
- Maryland (6)
- Michigan (7)
- Michigan State (3)
- Minnesota (9)
- Missouri (6)
- Morgan State (1)
- Navy (3)
- NC State (8)
- Nebraska (9)
- North Carolina (8)
- North Dakota State (4)
- Northern Colorado (4)
- Northern Illinois (3)
- Northern Iowa (10)
- Northwestern (4)
- Ohio (2)
- Ohio State (10)
- Oklahoma (5)
- Oklahoma State (9)
- Oregon State (6)
- Penn (7)
- Penn State (10)
- Pittsburgh (9)
- Princeton (5)
- Purdue (5)
- Rider (5)
- Rutgers (8)
- South Dakota State (9)
- Stanford (8)
- The Citadel (4)
- Utah Valley (1)
- Virginia (4)
- Virginia Tech (9)
- West Virginia (5)
- Wisconsin (3)
- Wyoming (6)
Competition schedule
The NCAA announced the competition schedule on March 19, 2025.[13]
| Date | Time (ET) | Session | Events | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 20 | 12:00 a.m. | Session I | Pigtails and First Round | ESPNU |
| 7:00 p.m. | Session II | Pigtail Wrestle-Backs, First Round Wrestle-Backs, Second Round, and Consolation Round | ESPN | |
| March 21 | 12:00 p.m. | Session III | Quarterfinals, Second Round Wrestle-Backs, and Third Round Wrestle-Backs | ESPNU |
| 8:00 p.m. | Session IV | Semifinals, Blood Round, and Fifth Round Wrestle-Backs | ESPN2 | |
| March 22 | 11:00 a.m. | Session V | Semifinal Wrestle-Backs, Third-Place Matches, Fifth-Place Matches, and Seventh-Place Matches | ESPNU |
| 7:00 p.m. | Session VI | First-Place Matches | ESPN |
Team results
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
 |
Penn State | 177.0 |
 |
Nebraska | 117.0 |
 |
Oklahoma State | 102.5 |
| 4 | Iowa | 81.0 |
| 5 | Ohio State | 51.5 |
| Minnesota | ||
| 7 | Cornell | 50.0 |
| 8 | NC State | 46.5 |
| 9 | Northern Iowa | 45.5 |
| 10 | Illinois | 44.5 |
Individual results
Finals matches
| Weight | Champion | Result | Runner-up | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 lbs | #4 Vince Robinson | NC State | Dec 2–1 | #7 Troy Spratley | Oklahoma State |
| 133 lbs | #1 Lucas Byrd | Illinois | TB–2 3–2 | #2 Drake Ayala | Iowa |
| 141 lbs | #3 Jesse Mendez | Ohio State | Dec 12–9 | #1 Brock Hardy | Nebraska |
| 149 lbs | #2 Ridge Lovett | Nebraska | Dec 1–0 | #1 Caleb Henson | Virginia Tech |
| 157 lbs | #3 Antrell Taylor | Nebraska | Dec 4–2 | #8 Joey Blaze | Purdue |
| 165 lbs | #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink | Penn State | Dec 8–2 | #2 Michael Caliendo | Iowa |
| 174 lbs | #3 Dean Hamiti Jr. | Oklahoma State | SV–1 4–1 | #1 Keegan O'Toole | Missouri |
| 184 lbs | #1 Carter Starocci | Penn State | Dec 4–3 | #2 Parker Keckeisen | Northern Iowa |
| 197 lbs | #2 Stephen Buchanan | Iowa | Dec 5–2 | #4 Josh Barr | Penn State |
| 285 lbs | #2 Wyatt Hendrickson | Oklahoma State | Dec 5–4 | #1 Gable Steveson | Minnesota |
Medal table
| Rank | Team | First | Second | Third | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 2 | Nebraska | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Oklahoma State | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Iowa | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Illinois | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NC State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 | Minnesota | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Purdue | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Missouri | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Northern Iowa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Virginia Tech | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13 | Arizona State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cal Poly | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Cal State Bakersfield | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| West Virginia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (16 entries) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | |
Awards
| Award | Recipient | Team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler | Carter Starocci | Penn State | [14] |
| NCAA Tournament Coach of the Year | Mark Manning | Nebraska | [15] |