By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

Golden Performance

#11 Minnesota went into Champaign, Illinois, and came away with a dominant 27-9 win over #10 Illinois. The Golden Gophers took seven matches, including all five ranked battles.

The teams split the first two, then Minnesota put the dual away, winning five of the next six, including three going for bonus points.

The 18-point margin of victory was Minnesota's largest in the series since a 27-6 home win in 2002 and its biggest in Champaign since a 27-6 triumph in 1968. Minnesota’s Brandon Eggum improved to a perfect 7-0 against Illinois, as this was also the seventh straight win in the series.

Larkin’s Week in the Sun

Arizona State R-So. Kaleb Larkin entered the week as a national title threat at 149 pounds, but he finished the week a national title threat up at 157 pounds.

Larkin decided to bump up a weight class once the calendar turned to 2026, and in his first week at the new weight, he came away with a pair of top-10 wins in the Sun Devils’ two duals this week.

First, it was a 4-1 win over #7 Vinny Zerban of Iowa State, then it was 4-2 over #2 Ty Watters of West Virginia. Two bouts at the new weight, zero takedowns conceded.

Another Record for Penn State

With a 46-0 shutout over #16 Rutgers to open its Big 10 slate, Penn State set a new NCAA record for most consecutive wins, now at 78.

The Nittany Lions rolled to victory, winning all 10 bouts, eight by bonus points, and holding a 31-2 advantage in takedowns for the dual.

Their last loss was in 2020 at Iowa. Up next for Penn State, a trip to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face #4 Iowa Friday night.

The big news for the Penn State starting lineup was Braeden Davis came out of redshirt, and it looks like he will be the starter at 141 pounds as Aaron Nagao had to injury default out of the Southern Scuffle last week. This will be Davis’ third different weight class in his third season in the lineup. He placed fifth last year at 133 pounds and was the #1 seed at NCAAs as a true freshman in 2024 at 125 pounds.

Bedlam Was All About Forrest

Records also fell in Stillwater this weekend. Oklahoma State shut out Oklahoma in front of a sold-out Gallagher-Iba crowd of 12,549. The Cowboys recorded the first shutout in the David Taylor era, and Oklahoma did not record a single takedown in any of the 10 bouts.

The win was the 21st-straight for Oklahoma State in the series, marking the longest streak of Bedlam wins over the 105-year rivalry.

Just two weeks ago, Jax Forrest was wrestling in a high school tournament, but Sunday afternoon he was notching his first victory as a Cowboy. Forrest decided to enroll at Oklahoma State a semester early and was thrown into the lineup at 133 pounds. The top pound-for-pound wrestler in the 2026 class didn’t waste time introducing himself to the home crowd, coming away with a fall in just 47 seconds of his collegiate debut. It will be interesting to see if the Cowboys burn his redshirt or if he gets the nod at 133 pounds for the postseason.

Cornell & Lehigh Reload

When Cornell and Lehigh face off in their yearly dual, it tends to be must-see action. This year was no different, as Lehigh won the final three bouts to come out on top 20-17. In fact, the dual was tied going into the final match at 125 pounds, when #4 Sheldon Seymour scored an 8-2 win over #26 Greg Diakomihalis in a winner-takes-all bout.

But this year, all the attention was on who stepped out onto the mat for both squads.

For the Mountain Hawks, Ryan Crookham (133 pounds) and Luke Stanich (141 pounds) both made their season debuts, both with a ranked win. Crookham got past #21 Tyler Ferrara 7-3, while Stanich had the most impressive win of the dual, 5-4 over #5 Vince Cornella. Both will certainly be ranked in the top five now that they have returned from injuries, and Lehigh now has five ranked in the top 10 in their weight class (Max Brignola at 165 pounds and Nathan Taylor at heavyweight).

Despite the loss, Cornell was glad to see its full lineup take the mat for the first time this year. Both Meyer Shapiro (#6 at 157 pounds) and Simon Ruiz (#2 at 174 pounds) picked up tech fall wins. Both had only seen action in two matches up to this point.

UNI Repeats as NWCA National Dual Champions

Inside the UNI-Dome, Northern Iowa downed CSU Bakersfield (44-0), Ohio (43-0), Bloomsburg (42-6), Drexel (22-16), and ended the run with a top-10 win over #8 South Dakota State (20-14) to defend its National Wrestling Coaches Association D1 Men’s National Dual Meet title.

‘Hoos This Virginia Squad?

Yes #9 NC State won its 12th consecutive dual over visiting Virginia, but the performance by the Cavaliers had everybody talking afterwards.

Virginia took a 17-13 lead going into the final bout at heavyweight, and the Pack was only saved from a major upset by a walk-off fall from #2 Isaac Trumble.

Starting at 125 pounds, Virginia won the first three bouts and jumped out to a 10-0 lead. NC State rested #1 Vince Robinson, so the Cavaliers started with a major decision. 

Then it was back-to-back ranked wins by unranked wrestlers. Marlon Yarbrough competed in his first match since the 2024 NCAA Championships and took out #32 Troy Hohman. Then, at 141 pounds, Gable Porter notched the lone takedown of the bout in the third period and scored a top-10 win over #8 Ryan Jack, 4-2.

Steven Burrell also scored a ranked win up at 197 pounds to force NC State to get bonus points to just tie the dual. But Trumble saved the day with his second period fall to send the NC State fans home happy.