Assistant Coach Josh McIlhenny led a group of four junior wrestlers for a 10-day trip to the nation located between Eastern Europe and West Asia on the border of Russia.

The Washington State University Cougar Wrestling Team is locked and loaded for the upcoming 2024-2025 Season. The Cougar Women’s Team has 23 wrestlers. Our women’s roster features 5 returning All Americans including the defending National Champion Sophomore Genesis Vazquez,

also 2-time All American and 2024 Finalist Junior Petra Bernsten, 2-Time All American and 2023 Finalist Senior Julie Wilson, 4^th Place Maryum Ajaz and 5^th Place Jordan Washek.

The Cougar Men’s Team has 43 men on their roster with 4 returning All Americans led by 2024 3^rd Place Finisher Sophomore Mitchell

On September 15th, NCWA athlete clearinghouse registration opened, with over a hundred athletes signing up in the first 24 hours. The 2024-25 season is shaping up to be the biggest in the NCWA’s 28-year history, with 16 new teams already registered and another 12 in the process. Athletes should register and sign their waivers as soon as possible. Coaches will need to upload athletes' photos as well as their waivers before the 10-day practice blackout period begins. The Conference Championships, held on March 1st, will be the most competitive ever, and qualifying for the 2025 National Collegiate Wrestling Championships in Bossier City, Louisiana, will be more challenging than ever. The NCWA looks forward to another great year of competition and camaraderie. Good luck to all!

Ottawa University Arizona Women's Wrestling Season Preview
Lead by two returning National Champions (Liliana Voakes and Anja Hansen) and 4 All-Americans (Angelina Walker, Iyanla Thomas, Ebony Cortez, and Evelynn Coronado), National Qualifier Mia Iguado, and Lourdes Duran who was injured. Ottawa University Arizona is ready for another successful season.

Adding to those returners is a very strong recruiting class of fourteen wrestlers. Those fourteen include a State Champion (Sharnesia Tate), seven State Placers

Head coach Grant Leeth, a former NCAA All-American at Missouri, has his new recruiting class ready to hit the mats this season. Leeth, along with Assistant Coach Dalton Brady, a 4x Arizona State Champion and Arizona State University standout, has solid aspirations of winning their first NCWA National Title next March in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Leeth has had an outstanding recruiting class, bringing in 46 men and 16 women to Tarleton State University. "We were selective in not just recruiting great athletes but also looked for solid students with a focus on academics,” noted Leeth. With one returning All-American and one National Qualifier from the Texans' 2024 squad, Leeth has added numerous high school state champions and a handful of portal transfers from NCAA schools. The women’s program also looks strong enough in their first year to chase after Washington State, Ottawa, and Liberty, pushing those perennial leaders for the 2025 Title.

Beginning in 1997, the National Collegiate Wrestling Association now has over 160 schools represented within the league. With nearly three decades now of competition there have been some impressive NCWA alumni that continue on with their mat career. Here are just two of the many notable alumni that help showcase the prowess of many NCWA athletes.

Tom Lawlor is one of the many recognizable names who competed in the NCWA. He won three NCWA national championships in the 235 pound weight class. Shortly after graduating from University of Central Florida Tom began working on his career in professional MMA.

Two years later competing in season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter he defeated >>>>

NCWA will need, more than ever, to be prepared as a safety net for NCAA Wrestling Programs that could suffer the chopping block as a result of the recent supreme court ruling and the NCAA opening of a new era in college athletics. leaders do not have much time to prepare for the transformative age. College sports is on the precipice of changing forever after the NCAA Board of Governors and every Power Five conference agreed to destroy the amateurism model and share revenue with players by coming to terms on settling a multi-billion dollar lawsuit that threatened to bankrupt the collegiate athletics enterprise.

The NCWA Conference leadership, Coaches & Officials from across the country will gather in The Colony, TX this June at TRU by Hilton at GrandScape to promote their visions for improving & growing wrestling at the college level. The Vision Forum dates back to 1999 just 2 years after founding the NCWA and has been the catalyst for the unprecedented success of the organization This year we will again partner with coaches across the nation to promote our sport and give our leaders the opportunity to network, collaborate and build lasting relationships around the sport they all love.

All NCWA Coaches, Officials & Leaders are encouraged to attend and to make their voices heard. The NCWA is the most coach centered governing body within the wrestling community and this annual Vision Forum is one of the best ways the NCWA can take coaches input and develop comprehensive, wrestling friendly rules, best practices, scheduling and a long term direction for our sport. We look forward to including all coaches and administrators in the future plans of the NCWA.
​ Don't miss this chance to make a lasting impact. EVENT & HOTEL REGISTRATION HERE

For the last time, she walked to the wrestling mat’s center ring, only to turn around and find him on bended knee – holding a ring.

Samantha Tuttle isn’t the type to wish for a “ring by spring,” as the Grand Canyon University student adage goes, but even this gutsy grappler started to cry.

The former New Mexico high school wrestler had transferred from a nearby college to GCU in 2022 after the coach told her she’d never be an all-American. She promptly joined a GCU women’s team in Club Sports that just launched the year before and never forgot his words, becoming an all-American for the second time in mid-March.

“A couple years ago, we were talking about not bringing wrestling back

Sixteen Washington State Wrestling Men qualifiers and twelve WSU Wrestling Women qualifiers competed at NCWA National Championships in Shreveport, Louisiana. WSU Women’s team placed 3rd out of 35 Teams edging out Utah Tech 82.5 points to 81 and WSU Men’s Team placed 6th out of 86 Teams.

The coveted “College Cup Award” was won by combined points of 117 by WSU Men & Women’s Wrestling Teams. This award was determined from the Men’s 4th Place National Duals finish and 6th Place National Championships finish and Women’s 3rd Place Western Duals finish and 3rd Place National Championships finish.

Please check out https://ncwa.net/forms for all results from Nationals including Awards Brackets, Placers Grids, and Academic All-American Teams!

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Grays Harbor College won its second NCWA Women’s National Championship here Saturday with six All-Americans that outpaced defending champion Ottawa Arizona, 158-148. The Chokers clinched the title in the finals sessions by winning national titles at 191 pounds behind Renaeh Ureste and at 235 with Jojera Dodge. GHCs previous title came in 2019.

NCWA National Championships Pictures by Photographer Caleb Steele are now available. Many more are being edited so check back often for new photos each week. All Championship Podium Photos are available from Mr. Steele as a complimentary gift to the NCWA All-Americans and their families. Additional Action photo's of each session may be purchased at very reasonable prices on the Calab Steele Photography website. Please enjoy these memories of the 2024 National Collegiate Wrestling Championships. Link at Read More >>>

Graduate 235-pounder Josiah Murphy and heavyweight Rick Weaver both three-peated as individual champions to lead Liberty University's men's wrestling team to a second consecutive runner-up showing at the National Collegiate Wrestling Championships, held for the first time near Shreveport, La.

The Flames didn't have enough finalists to have a realistic chance of overtaking Bellarmine (Ky.) University on Saturday's third and final day of the tournament.

The Knights, who are transitioning to the NCAA Division I ranks next season, defended their team title as they did their NCWA National Duals championship in early January in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They amassed 245.5 points to pull away from Liberty (182) as well as third-place Thomas More (Ky., 143.5), fourth-place Apprentice School (125.5), and fifth-place Lindenwood (123.5).

The Flames finished with nine All-Americans, but had just four finalists whereas

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Bellarmine wrestlers won the 2024 NCWA Championships, pacing the field with six individual national champions leading the way to a 245.5-point effort and a second consecutive team title. The Knights’ point total and their six individual medals are second on both NCWA record lists.

BOSSIER CITY, Louisiana – The second day of the NCWA Nationals completed with the No. 1 ranked teams on top of the standings, as Bellarmine was first in the men’s standings and Grays Harbor leading in the women’s division. The All-Americans have been determined in both divisions.

On the men’s side, Bellarmine pushed seven wrestlers into the gold-medal finals, and have two other All-Americans, finishing the day with 199.5 points. Second-place Liberty has four in the finals, and five more All-Americans still alive, to reach 159.5 points after day two.

The Bellarmine finalists are Damion Ryan (125), Trayce Eckman (133), Zac Cowan (149), Gray Ortis (157), Grant O'Dell (165), Cole Nance (174) and Sam Schroeder (184). Cowan and Nance are returning champions. Bellarmine is the returning team champions, and is in transition to NCAA Div. I wrestling.

Liberty’s finalists are Aiden Scheeringa (125), Reid Stewart (157), Josiah Murphy (235) and Frederick Weaver (285). Murphy and Weaver are returning champions.

Rounding out the top five are Thomas More with 119.5 points, The Apprentice School with

The 2024 NCWA National Championship in Bossier City, Louisiana starts on Thursday, March 14, 2023 featuring 509 wrestlers in the Men's Division and 161 wrestlers in the Women's Division, both records!

Click on READ MORE to view the official brackets on FloArena

Now it's time for the Men's Rankings!

The Men's team race is not as close as the women's but the race for a top-5 team trophy may be tight!

The top-10 men's teams are as follows:

#1 Bellarmine University (GLC - NCAA-D1) - 82
#2 Liberty University (MAC) - 68
#3 The Apprentice School (MAC) - 51
#4 Thomas More University (GLC - NCAA-D2) - 45
#5 Lindenwood University (SWC - NCAA-D1) - 38
#6 University of Toledo (GLC) - 26
#7 University of Florida (SEC) - 22
#8 Allen University (MAC - NCAA-D2) - 20
#8 University of Central Florida (SEC) - 20
#10 Springfield Tech CC (NEC) - 14

The #1 ranked men at each weight class are as follows:

125 - Damion Ryan (Fr, Bellarmine) 21-11
133 - Caiden Pelc (So, Lindenwood) 10-15
141 - Alfonso Vargas (Sr, Florida) 16-6
149 - Zac Cowan (Jr, Bellarmine) 22-10
157 - Gray Ortis (Fr, Bellarmine) 17-9
165 - Grant O'Dell (So, Bellarmine) 25-6
174 - Cole Nance (Jr, Bellarmine) 22-9
184 - Ben Liss (Sr, Rutgers WC) 16-1
197 - Josiah Murphy (Sr, Liberty) 18-1
235 - Jacob Meek (Sr, Toledo) 17-6
285 - Frederick Weaver (Sr, Liberty) 1-1

For a full list of rankings, click HERE

The Conference Championships area one week away. But before we get there how about some new rankings!

The Women's team race looks to be between Grays Harbor College and Ottawa University - Arizona, just like last season and during the NCWA National Duals.

The top-5 women's teams are as follows:

#1 Grays Harbor College (NWC) - 73
#2 Ottawa University - Arizona (WCC) - 64
#3 Utah Tech University (WCC) - 46
#4 Washington State University (NWC) - 41
#5 Santa Rosa Junior College (WCC) - 37

The #1 ranked women at each weight class are as follows:

101 - Olivia Atkins (Fr, Ottawa-Arizona) 26-7
109 - Hermelinda Mendoza (Sr, Ottawa-Arizona) 5-0
116 - Mia Armstrong (Sr, Texas-Arlington) 2-0
123 - Lauren Mills (Fr, Utah Tech) 30-1
130 - Viveca Pannell (Jr, M.I.T.) 14-6
136 - Samantha Tuttle (Sr, Grand Canyon) 3-0
143 - Veloria Pannell (So, M.I.T.) 16-4
155 - Leilani Frazer (So, Santa Rosa JC) 3-1
170 - Maile Ka-ahanui (Sr, Liberty) 7-4
191 - Renaeh Ureste (Jr, Grays Harbor) 29-3
235 - Kali Hood (So, Grays Harbor) 4-1

For a full list of rankings, click HERE