National Wrestling Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2027

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced that its Class of 2027 is Distinguished Members Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, Iris Smith, Thad Turner and Joe Warren; Meritorious Official honoree Michael Chase; Order of Merit recipient Dan Russell; Medal of Courage recipient Ben Kjar; and Outstanding American honoree Retired United States Navy Admiral Richard W. Mies. 

The Class of 2027 will be honored and officially inducted during the 50th Honors Weekend on June 4 and 5, 2027 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. For more information on Honors Weekend, please email info@nwhof.org. 

Maroulis Wins Ninth World Medal; Guilford Earns Bronze

Two medals are officially on the board for Team USA—Helen Maroulis and Dymond Guilford secured bronze in women’s freestyle at the 2026 Senior World Championships on Wednesday evening at Barys Arena.

The medal rounds are old hat for Maroulis, who is now a nine-time Senior World medalist and three-time Olympic medalist.

The legend continues to grow for Maroulis, who has set record after record for the U.S. women. She is now tied atop the U.S. history books with four others—Bruce Baumgartner, Jordan Burroughs, Kristie Davis and Adeline Gray—who have reached the nine-medal mark at the World Championships. No American has won 10. Baumgartner and Davis are both Distinguished Members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

2026 Men’s Freestyle World Championships Brackets Released

The men’s freestyle draw is finalized, and complete brackets have been released for the 2026 Senior World Championships, which start Thursday at Barys Arena.

Marcus Blaze (Ohio and National in 2025), Wyatt Hendrickson (Kansas in 2019), Spencer Lee (Pennsylvania and Northeast Region in 2017), Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania and National in 2013) and Cohlton Schultz (Colorado and National in 2019) are all winners of the Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.

Returning World champions and No. 1 seeds Kyle Snyder (97 kg) and Trent Hidlay (92 kg) both sit to the round of 16.

Women's College Notebook: Season Begins This Weekend With Busy Slate

After months of waiting, a new women’s college wrestling season is officially upon us.

Tanner Lafever of USA Wrestling previews the opening weekend.

Men’s College Notebook: Meet the New Head Coaches - Part 1

For the 2026-27 collegiate season, there are six new head coaches in D1 men’s wrestling. Today we meet Rider’s Nic Bedelyon; Air Force’s Joe Johnston, who was the Kansas winner of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2001; and The Citadel’s Tim McCall.

Part two will introduce you to Lehigh’s Brad Dillon; Iowa State’s Brent Metcalf, who was the Michigan and Midwest Region winner of the DSHSEA in 2005; and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s (SIUE) Daryl Thomas.

October 28 National Wrestling Coaches Association DI Men’s Coaches Poll

Returning national team champion Penn State, riding an NCAA record 86 match win streak, opens the season as the unanimous No. 1 in the NWCA Division I Men's Wrestling Coaches Poll presented by Theraworx.
 
The Nittany Lions ended last season undefeated in duals, sporting a 15-0 record and won the school's fifth straight NCAA Division I team title. Oklahoma State comes in second, followed by Nebraska, Iowa, and Virginia Tech.

Gear Up, Give Back: Shop the Hall of Fame Store by November 8

Don’t miss your chance to show your Hall of Fame pride!

The exclusive National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Dan Gable Museum online store, hosted by Cliff Keen Wrestling, is open now!

It will only be open until 11 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 8.

Choose from a great selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, polos, and hoodies, all designed to celebrate and honor the sport we love.

2026 Women’s Freestyle World Championships Brackets Released

ASTANA, Kazakhstan – The women’s freestyle draw is finalized, and complete brackets have been released for the 2026 Senior World Championships, which start Tuesday at Barys Arena. 

Returning champion Helen Maroulis leads Team USA. She holds down the No. 2 seed at 57 kg and opens her time in Astana in the round of 16 against either Mia Friesen of Canada or Danielle Lim of Singapore. At 68 kg, Kennedy Blades returns to the World Championships, looking to upgrade her 2025 bronze. As the No. 5 seed, she awaits the preliminary round winner between Faith Wamalwa of Kenya and Laura Koehler of Germany.

The three remaining seeded athletes—Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler (No. 5 at 53 kg), Abby Nette (No. 4 at 59 kg) and Adaugo Nwachukwu (No. 3 at 62 kg)—all sit in the round of 16 with favorable openers. 

Spotlight first-round contests for Team USA come at 55 kg, with two-time U20 World champion Everest Leydecker, who is the Arizona winner of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award for 2026, taking on 2022 World bronze medalist Karla Godinez Gonzalez of Canada, and at 72 kg, with Pan American champion Precious Wieser facing 2024 Olympic bronze medalist and 2023 World champion Buse Cavusoglu Tosun of Türkiye. 

Other U.S. entrants drawn into the field include five-time age-group World medalist Morgan Turner at 50 kg, two-time Olympian and two-time World finalist Kayla Miracle at 65 kg, and two-time World Team member Dymond Guilford at 76 kg.