By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

CLEVELAND – College wrestling fans debate the seeds every time the NCAA brackets are released. But if you look at those same brackets after today’s first session, it looks like the committee did its job, as most of the opening 170 matches went chalk.

The biggest upset came at 197 pounds, as 2021 U20 World Team member, #29 seed Colton Hawks of Arizona State scored a 12-8 upset over ACC champion #4 seed Sonny Sasso of Virginia Tech. Hawks was up by one late, and a final takedown in the last five seconds secured the victory.

One of the loudest cheers in the arena came after #27 seed EJ Parco of Stanford got the winning takedown before the final second ticked off the clock to best #6 seed LJ Araujo of Nebraska, 8-7. The takedown was awarded, but the refs went to the monitor to review. After upholding the call, Nebraska threw the brick for an independent review, but once again it was upheld.

Both Penn State and Oklahoma State went a perfect 10-for-10 in the opening round, and Ohio State was close behind, winning nine of its 10 bouts. The Nittany Lions hold the lead in the team race, 22.5 to 15 over second-place Iowa.

Session one attendance was 16,625.

Tonight’s session two will start at 7 p.m. (ET). TV coverage will be on ESPN, with each individual mat streamed on ESPN+.

Matches to watch in session two 

125: In the quad of death to start off the action, there will be two matches that pit four 2025 All-Americans against each other, with the winners facing off in tomorrow’s quarterfinals. A 2025 NCAA finals rematch will see #5 seed Troy Spratley against national champion #12 seed Vince Robinson of NC State. Below them, #4 seed Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh takes on #13 seed Stevo Poulin of Iowa State.

133: Defending national champion #7 seed Lucas Byrd was in a dog fight in his first bout, pulling through 11-7. He takes on #23 seed Braxton Brown, who had one of the biggest upsets of the opening round, 4-2 over #10 seed Maximillian Leete of American.

141: Big Ten rivals will see Nebraska’s #3 seed Brock Hardy take on #14 seed Braeden Davis of Penn State, the Nittany Lions lone wrestler seeded lower than 10th.

149: Three-time All-American #11 seed Lachlan McNeil of Michigan will face off against #6 seed Caleb Tyus of SIUE. Tyus entered the postseason with a perfect record and rose to #2 nationally before taking a pair of losses in his conference tournament.

157: #8 seed Brandon Cannon of Ohio State was undefeated and ranked #1 nationally going into the Big Tens. But before that tournament, he missed over a month of action and took a pair of losses. #9 seed Daniel Cardenas redshirted last year but was a 2024 All-American and won an ACC title this year.

165: Will #1 seed Mitchell Mesenbrink have a match this year that does not go for bonus? He is 100% on the season, and to continue the trend, he will have to bonus #16 seed and Big Ten rival Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State.

174: A battle of former age-group World Team members comes at the top of the bracket when #8 seed Alex Facundo faces #9 seed Beau Mantanona of Michigan. Facundo represented the U.S. at both the 2022 U20 Worlds and 2019 U17 Worlds, while Mantanona was on the 2021 U17 squad.

184: Is Zach Ryder back? He started the season with the lone bonus-point win at the NWCA All-Star Classic, but has been dealing with a shoulder injury late this year and was seeded #22. In his opener, he got a takedown in extra time to defeat #11 Shane Cartagena-Walsh of Rutgers. He faces another top foe in the #10 seed Caleb Campos of American.

197: A battle of two guys that have been around college wrestling for quite a while, and two with ties to USA Wrestling, #29 Colton Hawks of Arizona State will match up with #13 seed Bennett Berge of South Dakota State. Hawks was on the 2021 U20 World Team while Berge was on both the 2022 and 2023 U20 squads, winning a pair of medals.

285: There are going to be some battles at heavyweight, highlighted by a match-up of the 2024 U20 World Team member at heavyweight versus the 2025 member of the same squad - #8 seed Ben Kueter of Iowa against #9 seed Cole Mirsola of Penn State.

Team standings after session one 

1. Penn State, 22.5

2. Iowa, 15

3. Ohio State, 14.5

4. Oklahoma State, 14.5

5. Iowa State, 14

6. Nebraska, 13

7. Cornell, 10

8. Stanford, 10

9. Minnesota, 9.5

10. Arizona State, 9

Reference links 

• Session one live updates

• Brackets

• Photo gallery

• Interview playlist