BOSSIER CITY, La. – Menlo College made Friday’s charge to the top of the tournament standings count, expanding its lead via a plethora of finals appearances to outdistance the field and win its first National Collegiate Wrestling Association title at the Brookshire Grocery Arena. The Oaks, second-year members of the NCWA as the program transitions into NCAA Division II membership, scored 214.5 points for the title.

As good as Menlo’s performance was, coupled by its best showing in years by NCWA blue-blood program The Apprentice School in second place, it was the women who stole the show during Saturday’s finals session. One after the other, the women’s title matches built upon one another on the raised stage to create a different twist to the team standings as Utah Tech, Ottawa (Ariz.) and first-year program Tarleton State jockeyed at the top.

The women’s division had the closest 1-2-3 finish in NCWA history with only a point separating the top trio. The half-point separating Tarleton State’s title-winning 126 points from runner-up Utah Tech’s 125.5 ties for the closest 1-2 finish in NCWA history. Ottawa (Ariz.) was just behind at 125.0 but couldn’t find the opening it needed to move up despite having one champion.

Back to the men, Menlo wrestlers won three national titles and took second in two others to bolster their title run. Elijah Valencia started the run with the 125-pound title in a 4-1 decision over Trevor Wilcox of Thomas More University. Noah Elliott (149 lbs.) and Ledger Petracek (174) added gold medals as well as the team champion became clear. Maximus Zamora (184) and Diego Morales (197) fell in their title bouts.

Apprentice posted a highlight match in the 133 championship bout as Bruno Alves won his first national title following three consecutive national runner-up finishes. Alves (21-4) avenged one of his regular-seasons losses by taking out Matthew Ellis of Thomas More, 7-2, for the title. Ellis topped Alves 12-9 in a NCWA National Duals match in January. The national title was Apprentice’s first since 2018, which helped earn Alves the Men’s Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. Apprentice head coach Micah Amrozowicz was also named the Men’s Coach of the Year.

Another men’s title match of note came from Ohio State’s Graham Carson win at 184. Carson, a four-time NCWA All-American, pinned Zamora in 2:02 to earn OSU’s first championship in program history. Carson had top-six finishes the past three seasons before winning a title match in his first try, topping Zamora, a seventh-place finisher at the NAIA National Championships last year.

Tarleton State surprised the field with its first-place standing after the tournament’s first day. But even after Menlo and Apprentice passed them with more advancements in the championship bracket, the Texans made their mark with an army of qualifiers and went home tied for a tournament high with three champions and four finalists. Zachery Espalin opened Tarleton’s run with a 20-4 tech fall in the 141 title match over Ryan Wilson of Washington State. Two bouts later it was Tarleton-vs.-Tarleton as Joseph Liescheski edged teammate Finn Shepard, 6-4, at 165 pounds. Koby Kidd got the punctuation mark as the Texans sealed third place with an 8-4 decision at 235 pounds over Caleb Hartung, who just missed earning Apprentice’s second title of the night.

The women’s title bouts added plenty of flair to the session down to the final match. Katie Law of Utah Tech maxed out the opportunity with a second-period fall (4:50) over Petra Bernsten of Washington State to keep at least second place in hold and bump WSU to fourth at that point. But it wasn’t enough to overtake Tarleton State. A Washington State win would have boosted it into first.

Washington State held strong in fourth with its national champion, Erin Kremer, earning a first-period fall over Utah Tech’s O’Dessa Laititi in 1:29 at 240 pounds.

UNLV had its best finish paced by a tourney-high three individual champions. Renaeh Ureste opened the women’s finals with a 6:58 pin over Katrina Wangen of UCF. Ureste, the two-time defending champion at that weight, became the NCWA’s women’s division’s all-time wins leader with 94 and now has three national titles in two. UNLV earned two narrow wins from Cassandra Freundlich (2-1 over Texas A&M’s Maya Marroquin at 160) and Mia Shepard (3-2 over Genesis Vazquez of Washington State at 117) for its points boost.

There were plenty of first among the other women’s finals, starting with Tarleton State, which won the national team title in its first NCWA season. Rachel Corley brought home Tarleton’s only national title with a pin over teammate Emma Graves in the 110 final. That title and runner-up finish, plus a third-placer, three fourth-placers and one in fifth was enough to take the title.

UCF’s Paige Kalish earned her program’s first national title with a dominating 8-1 win at 131 and earned the Women’s Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. UCF head coach Scott Sherman was named the Women’s Coach of the Year.

Sacramento State took home its first two gold medals from Sabrina Cunha at 124, with her taking the long way with a 12-9 win in sudden victory, and Miyuki Pugard at 138 that sent Viveca Pannell of MIT home with a third consecutive national runner-up finish.

Veloria Pannell of MIT became a three-time national champion with 13-1 major decision over UCF’s Katherine Stewart at 145 pounds. Ottawa got a national title from Makayla Lopez at 103 but its next-highest finishes were two third-placers and three fourth-placers.

The opening match of the men’s finals round, the heavyweight bout, offered a feel-good matchup involving one of the NCWA’s Puerto Rico Conference members. Jonovan Smith (6-0) finished his season undefeated with a 6-3 win over Micah Vuki of Utah Tech. Smith was second at heavyweight last season and now becomes the first Puerto Rico wrestler to earn an NCWA title in his conference’s third season.

Other national titles on the men’s side came from Matox Allen of fourth-place Liberty at 157 and Paul Detwiler of Maryland at 197. Allen won in sudden victory over Rafael Garcia from another Puerto Rico Conference member, Ana G. Mendez. Allen’s win extends the Flames’ streak of having at least one national champion every season but one (2016) since it joined the NCWA in 2012. Liberty has had at least one national finalist in 13 consecutive seasons.

Team scores and brackets can be found on FLOwrestling.com.

The final team standings:
Division I – 1. Menlo College, 214.5; 2. Apprentice, 187.5; 3. Tarleton State, 183.5; 4. Liberty, 146.5; 5. Washington State, 111.5.
Division II – 1. Life Univ., 111.5; 2. Ohio State, 67.5; 3. Menlo NCWA, 66.5.
Women’s -- 1. Tarleton State, 126.0; 2. Utah Tech, 125.5; 3. Ottawa (Ariz.), 125.0; 4. Washington State, 122.0.