By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

CLEVELAND – The 10 finalists are set and all 80 All-Americans have navigated their way through the brackets after Day 2 at the 2026 NCAA Championships in Cleveland. One day with two sessions are all that remain, as tomorrow is the time for trophies to be handed out.

Penn State maintains the team lead over Oklahoma State 153-111.5. Both schools have eight All-Americans, but the Nittany Lions tied the NCAA record with six finalists while the Cowboys will have four freshmen compete for a title in their first trip to the NCAAs.

Nebraska and Ohio State are the other schools with more and one finalist as each have two.

Nine of the top seeds advanced to their fifth and final match of the tournament, and we will see #1 against #2 at 133, 141, and 285 pounds.

125 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: #1 Luke Lilledahl of Penn State wasted little time, scoring the first takedown of the semifinals 30 seconds into his bout and then added a second and got two swipes for an 8-2 lead after the first period. He went on to defeat 2025 NCAA finalist #5 Troy Spratley, 8-3. He will take on #10 Marc-Anthony McGowan of Princeton, who secured the lone takedown with just three seconds left to defeat #14 seed Jacob Moran of Indiana, 4-1.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#6 Jore Volk (Minnesota)

#7 Nico Provo (Stanford)

#11 Tyler Klinsky (Rider)

#12 Vince Robinson (NC State)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. #10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton)

133 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: In a battle of true freshmen, #1 Jax Forrest of Oklahoma State scored a takedown in the first, second and two in the third to advance to the final with a 14-3 major decision over #4 Aaron Seidel of Virginia Tech. It was the third time #2 Ben Davino and #3 Marcus Blaze met this year, and the third time it went to ride outs. They split the previous first two, and in the most important battle of their season, it was Davino prevailing thanks to eight seconds of ride time after a full 30-second ride out.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#6 Drake Ayala (Iowa)

#7 Lucas Byrd (Illinois)

#13 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska)

#15 Tyler Knox (Stanford)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) vs. #2 Ben Davino (Ohio State)

141 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: It will be #1 vs. #2 and a four-time All-American (and the reigning back-to-back national champion) versus a true freshman in the NCAA final. #1 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State scored the lone takedown 25 seconds into OT to defeat #5 Stanich of Lehigh. In the bottom part of the bracket, #2 Sergio Vega used an escape in the third and the ride time point to take out 2025 NCAA finalist #3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska, 5-3.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#4 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State)

#11 CJ Composto (Penn)

#13 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven)

#18 Carter Nogle (Air Force)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. #2 Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State)

149 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: #1 Shayne Van Ness of Penn State cruised to a 22-1 tech fall over #20 Chance Lamer of Nebraska. A pair of four-point near falls in the second and third opened up the scoring. He will meet R-Fr. #10 Aden Valencia of Stanford, the second double-digit seed to reach the finals. Valencia got a takedown in the second and again in the third to take out four-time All-American Lachlan McNeil of Michigan, 9-5.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#3 Cross Wasilewski (Penn)

#4 Collin Gaj (Virginia Tech)

#8 Casey Swiderski (Oklahoma State)

#15 Ryder Block (Iowa)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs.#10 Aden Valencia (Stanford)

157 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: Both bouts were scoreless after the first, and both were tied 1-1 in the third period after escapes. Returning national champion #2 Antrell Taylor was the first to punch his ticket into the final, as his takedown in the third period got him past #11 Ty Waters of West Virginia, 4-2. He will meet freshman #5 Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State after he scored a reversal in ride outs and took out #1 PJ Duke of Penn State.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#3 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell)

#7 Kannon Webster (Illinois)

#8 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State)

#15 Cameron Catrabone (Michigan)

Finals Matchup 

#5 Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) vs. #2 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)

165 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink will also go for a second straight national championship, as he went tech fall in the semifinals, 15-0 over #12 Cesar Alvan of Columbia. It will be Penn State-Iowa in the final, after #3 Mikey Caliendo secured a takedown just seven seconds into extra time to get past #2 Joey Blaze of Purdue, 8-5. It marks the 36th straight year Iowa has a finalist, a streak that started back in 1990.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#4 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State)

#9 Bryce Hepner (North Carolina)

#13 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)

#16 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Mitchell Messenbrink (Penn State) vs. #3 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa)

174 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: #1 Levi Haines will look for his second NCAA title, first at 174 pounds, as he went bonus for the fourth straight bout with an 18-3 tech over #5 Patrick Kennedy of Iowa. He will face #3 Christopher Minto of Nebraska for the championship, as Minto used a first-period takedown and beat #7 Cam Steed of Missouri, 5-1.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#4 Carson Kharchia (Ohio State)

#9 Beau Mantanona (Michigan)

#11 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State)

#15 Danny Wask (Navy)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #3 Christopher Minto (Nebraska)

184 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: Both bouts went 1-1 into the third. #1 Rocco Welsh of Penn State will be going back to the final (previous trip was in 2024 at 174 pounds at Ohio State). He got the bout’s lone takedown 45 seconds into the third period to get past #5 Brock Mantanona of Michigan, 4-3. The battle in the bottom half between #3 Max McEnelly of Minnesota and #7 Angelo Ferrari of Iowa went into ride outs at 1-1. McEnelly started down first and was out in seven seconds. Ferrari started the second 30 seconds down, but McEnelly got the extra point after an 18-second ride time advantage.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#2 Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri)

#6 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming)

#10 Caleb Campos (American)

#22 Zach Ryder (Oklahoma State)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs.#3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota)

197 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: #1 Josh Barr will take his 100% bonus rate on the season into his second straight NCAA final as he earned a 14-3 major decision over #5 Joey Novak of Wyoming. It was much lower scoring on the bottom side, as it went 1-1 into tiebreakers between #3 Stephen Little of Little Rock and #7 Cody Merrill of Oklahoma State. Merrill started on top and got ride time up to 24 seconds, so Little chose neutral but could not get a final score as the R-Fr. Merrill advances to the championship match.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#9 Angelo Posada (Stanford)

#11 Camden McDanel (Nebraska)

#16 Branson John (Maryland)

#27 Gabe Arnold (Iowa)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. #7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State)

285 Pounds 

Semifinal Recap: Two of the best battles came in the final two matches up at heavyweight. #1 Yonger Bastida of Iowa State started with a takedown 15 seconds in and put up 10 points in the opening period to get past former national champion #4 AJ Ferrari of Nebraska, 15-7. The battle between #2 Isaac Trumble of NC State and #3 Taye Ghadiali of Michigan came down to a late scramble with Trumble being awarded the takedown as time expired.

All-Americans from the Blood Round 

#7 Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State)

#8 Ben Kueter (Iowa)

#10 David Szuba (Arizona State)

#18 Christian Carroll (Wyoming)

Finals Matchup 

#1 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. #2 Isaac Trumble (NC State)

Attendance for today’s Session 4 was 17,115 in Cleveland.

Medal Round action begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. (ET), with TV coverage on ESPNU. The 2026 NCAA Finals will be tomorrow evening, starting at 6:30 p.m. (ET) and televised on ESPN.

2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships 

At Cleveland, Ohio, March 20 

Team Standings 

1. Penn State, 153 (8 All-Americans, 6 Finalists)

2. Oklahoma State, 111.5 (8 All-Americans, 4 Finalists)

3. Nebraska, 90.5 (7 All-Americans, 2 Finalists)

4. Iowa, 81 (7 All-Americans, 1 Finalist)

5. Ohio State, 77.5 (5 All-Americans, 2 Finalists)

6. Stanford, 58 (4 All-Americans, 1 Finalist)

7. Iowa State, 52 (3 All-Americans, 1 Finalist)

8. Michigan, 48 (5 All-Americans, 0 Finalists)

9. Minnesota, 39.5 (3 All-Americans, 1 Finalist)

10. NC State, 37 (2 All-Americans, 1 Finalist)

Reference links   

• Session four live updates

• Brackets

• Photo gallery

• Interview playlist