Coach Mike Clark of Life University is very familiar with the NCWA having been an All-American for Springfield Tech, starting a program at the University of Louisville, and then assisting Bellarmine University in their last year of transition. With all this, one experience had alluded him, that of being named a National Champion. As his first year as the coach of the NCWA squad for Life University, his team successfully took on the best the NCWA had to offer with wins over the #2, #3, and then #1 seeds in the tournament. Life's NAIA squad recently placed 2nd in the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals.

The 2025 NCWA Women's National Duals took place on Friday January 31, 2025 in St. George, Utah with Washington State coming out on top with a 6-0 record with multiple individual upsets throughout the day. Each of the 7 teams in the competition faced the other 6 teams making this a true National Duals Championship.

Team Scores:

Round 1:
Washington State - 36 Utah Tech - 27
UNLV - 53 Western Washington - 12
Ottawa-Arizona - 54 Fresno State - 10

Round 2:
Utah Tech - 42 Fresno State - 6
Washington State - 53 Western Washington - 12
Ottawa-Arizona - 54 Colorado State - 12

Round 3:
Utah Tech - 36 UNLV - 30
Western Washington - 24 Colorado State - 21
Washington State - 36 Ottawa-Arizona - 20

Round 4:
Western Washington - 18 Fresno State - 10
Washington State - 51 Colorado State - 12
Ottawa-Arizona - 44 UNLV - 18

Round 5:
Utah Tech - 54 Colorado State - 12
Ottawa-Arizona - 52 Western Washington - 12
UNLV - 51 Fresno State - 6

Round 6:
Utah Tech - 41 Ottawa-Arizona - 18
Colorado State - 24 Fresno State - 12
Washington State - 36 UNLV - 30

Round 7:
Utah Tech - 54 Western Washington - 6
UNLV - 60 Colorado State - 0
Washington State - 60 Fresno State - 4

Final Results:

NATIONAL CHAMPION: Washington State University (6-0)
Runner-up: Utah Tech University (5-1)
3rd Place: Ottawa University - Arizona (4-2)
4th Place: University of Nevada, Las Vegas (3-3)
5th Place: Western Washington University (2-4)
6th Place: Colorado State University (1-5)
7th Place: Fresno State University (0-6)

For notable matches, click on READ MORE

The first day of the 2025 NCWA Men's National Duals is complete and there were some big upsets, both team-wise and individually!

Team Scores:

Pool A
#1 Apprentice - 47 #5 Central Florida - 10
#3 Thomas More - 59 #7 Colorado State - 0
#1 Apprentice - 53 #7 Colorado State - 9
#3 Thomas More - 37 #5 Central Florida - 20
#1 Apprentice - 39 #3 Thomas More - 14
#5 Central Florida - 50 #7 Colorado State - 10

Pool B
#2 Liberty - 32 #6 Washington State - 25
#4 Life (NCWA) - 56 #8 East Carolina - 0
#2 Liberty - 55 #8 East Carolina - 6
#4 Life (NCWA) - 48 #6 Washington State - 12
#4 Life (NCWA) - 39 #2 Liberty - 9
#6 Washington State - 53 #8 East Carolina - 9

Day 2 - Quarterfinal Bracket:

Top Half
#1 Apprentice vs. #8 East Carolina
#2 Liberty vs. #5 Central Florida
Bottom Half
#3 Thomas More vs. #6 Washington State
#4 Life (NCWA) vs. #8 Colorado State

Click READ MORE for notable matches and rankings upsets!

The NCWA has released the official national qualifying bids for the 2025 NCWA National Championship being held on March 13-15th in Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana. The NCWA has experienced unprecedented growth over the last year and with it is announcing the LARGEST COLLEGIATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP event in history, breaking its own record set just last season!

The Men's Division grew from 1651 athletes to 1922 this season, only surpassed in numbers by NCAA-D3. The 2022-2023 season saw 1456 men take to the mats in the NCWA. This is a 32% growth from 2 years ago! The Women's Division grew from 207 ('22-'23) to 291 ('23-'24) to now 381 competitors in the 2024-2025 season, a whopping 84% growth. Women's Wrestling is the fastest growing sport in America and the NCWA is helping to foster that growth at the COLLEGIATE FOLKSTYLE division.

All 381 female athletes will have a chance to qualify at the 8 Conference tournaments held on March 1, 2025 throughout the country. This may be the last season in which all Conference entries advance to the National tournament as qualifying procedures tighten. To accommodate for this year's expansion, the Women's National Championship moved to 3 days from the original 2 days.

The men's division will have a total of 626 potential qualifying spots, which is an average of 57 wrestlers / bracket and keeps in line with a ~33% qualification rate of total athletes. While the qualifying spots are more, it still takes a top-8 finish for All-American status.

Qualifying bids by Conference (Men's Division only):

Great Lakes - 5 auto bids / weight class + 13 wild cards (68 total qualifying spots)
Mid-Atlantic - 6 auto + 15 WC (81)
Mid-East - 6 auto + 15 WC (81)
Northeast - 6 auto + 12 WC (78)
Northwest - 5 auto + 6 WC (61)
Puerto Rico - 2 auto + 4 WC (26)
Southeast - 5 auto + 13 WC (68)
Southwest - 6 auto + 9 WC (75)
West Coast - 6 auto + 22 WC (West Coast numbers have grown from 178 to 360 in 2 years, the 88 spots is a new record for the NCWA)

The top-4 teams in the Women's Division were unchanged; however, the distance between Utah Tech and Ottawa-Arizona tightened to 9 pts. Utah Tech leads the division with 79 points followed by Ottawa at 70 points. Washington State (52), UNLV (51), Tarleton State (35), Liberty (25), Lyon College (24), Central Florida (23, Colorado State (22), and M.I.T. (20) round out the top-10

There was only 1 change at the top of the individual rankings with previously unranked Marisol Pena of Grand Canyon coming in with a huge win over Marley Castaneda of Ottawa-Arizona at 124 lbs. The current #1 wrestlers at each weight class (and other National Champions) follow:

103 - Liliana Voakes - So - Ottawa-Arizona - 2024 National Champion at 101
110 - Krystal Corona - Fr - UNLV (defeated 2024 National Runner-Up at 116)
117 - Genesis Vasquez - So - Washington State - 2024 National Champion at 116
124 - Marisol Pena - Fr - Grand Canyon
131 - Mia Garza - Sr - Texas - 2024 National Runner-Up at 130
138 - Viveca Pannell - Sr - M.I.T. - 2024 National Champion at 130
145 - Veloria Pannell - Jr - M.I.T. - 2024 National Champion at 143
160 - Tayleigh Robertson - Jr - Utah Tech - 2024 National Champion at 170
180 - Petra Bernsten - Sr - Washington State - 2024 National Runner-Up at 170
207 - O'Dessa Laititi - Fr - Utah Tech (defeated defending National Champion)
[207] Ranaeh Ureste - Jr - UNLV is ranked #2 as Defending National Champ at 191
240 - Evelynn Coronado - So - Ottawa-Arizona - 2024 National Runner-Up at 235

For a full list of the Women's Team Rankings, click HERE. To see the current top ranked wrestlers in each weight class, click HERE.

A gap has opened up between Menlo College and the rest of the NCWA. Menlo leads all teams with 81 pts and three #1-ranked wrestlers while Apprentice maintains the #2 team spot with 61 pts and one #1-ranked grappler. Rounding out the top-5 in NCWA-D1 are Liberty (41), Thomas More (30), and Vanguard (27).

The #1 wrestlers at each weight class are currently as follows:

125 - Aiden Scheeringa - Sr - Liberty - 2024 National Runner-Up
133 - Bruno Alves - Sr - Apprentice - 3x National Runner-Up - previously ranked #2 at 141
141 - Cole Thomas - So - Thomas More (NCAA) - 2024 National Champion
149 - Lincoln Vick - So - Iowa State (NCWA) - 2024 3rd Place
157 - Ezekiel Lara - Jr - Menlo (NCAA) - previously ranked #7
165 - Keith Brubach - Sr - Slippery Rock - 2024 National Runner-Up
174 - Ledger Petrecek - Sr - Menlo (NCAA) - 2023 4th Place NJCAA - previously ranked #2
184 - Maximus Zamora - Sr - Menlo (NCAA) - 2024 7th Place NAIA - previously ranked #2
197 - Cesar Ubico - So - Utah Tech - 2024 National Champion
235 - Christopher San Paolo - So - Rowan - 2024 3rd Place
285 - Jonovan Smith - So - Caribbean - 2024 National Runner-Up

For a full list of the Men's Team Rankings, click HERE. To see the current top-20 in each weight class, click HERE.

DANVILLE, Va. - For the first time in program history, The Apprentice School wrestling team has won the Cougar Duals, hosted by Averett. The Builders went 5-0 on the weekend to win the event, including beating a trio of NCAA Division II teams.

Apprentice started out the tournament by knocking off both the A and B teams from Averett. The Builders started with a 28-13 win over the A team before cruising past the Cougar B team, 45-3. They followed that up with a 27-17 win over DII Belmont Abbey, a 53-3 win over DII Lincoln Memorial and a 30-14 win over DII Bluefield State.

The NCWA Women's Division is loaded with top talent among the top-10 teams. Utah Tech leads the crowd with ranked wrestlers at each of the 11 weight classes and is ranked #1 with 81 points. The top-10 are rounded out by Ottawa-Arizona (64), Washington State (52), UNLV (44), Central Florida (32), Tarleton State (32), Liberty (25), Lyon College (24), Florida A&M (22) and M.I.T. (20).

The #1 wrestlers at each weight class (and other National Champions) follow:

103 - Liliana Voakes - So - Ottawa-Arizona - 2024 National Champion at 101
110 - Krystal Corona - Fr - UNLV (defeated 2024 National Runner-Up at 116)
117 - Genesis Vasquez - So - Washington State - 2024 National Champion at 116
124 - Lauren Mills - So - Utah Tech - 2024 National Champion at 123
131 - Mia Garza - Sr - Texas - 2024 National Runner-Up at 130
138 - Viveca Pannell - Sr - M.I.T. - 2024 National Champion at 130
[138] Anja Hansen - So - Ottawa-Arizona is ranked #3 as Defending National Champ at 136
145 - Veloria Pannell - Jr - M.I.T. - 2024 National Champion at 143
160 - Tayleigh Robertson - Jr - Utah Tech - 2024 National Champion at 170
[160] Mikayla Silverman - Sr - UCLA is ranked #2 as Defending National Champ at 155
180 - Petra Bernsten - Sr - Washington State - 2024 National Runner-Up at 170
207 - O'Dessa Laititi - Fr - Utah Tech (defeated defending National Champion)
[207] Ranaeh Ureste - Jr - UNLV is ranked #2 as Defending National Champ at 191
240 - Evelynn Coronado - So - Ottawa-Arizona - 2024 National Runner-Up at 235

For a full list of the Women's Team Rankings, click HERE. To see the current top ranked wrestlers in each weight class, click HERE.