Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

RIDER
Sammy Alvarez achieved a career milestone on Friday night, earning All-American status for the first time after winning three consecutive matches in the consolation bracket to lead the Rider wrestling team on day two of the 2025 NCAA Championships at the Wells Fargo Center.

(11) Sammy Alvarez - 149 lbs
Alvarez's day began in the second round of the consolation bracket against No. 21 Willie McDougald (Oklahoma). With seven minutes of regulation not enough, the match extended into extra time. The graduate student dug deep, executing a low single to secure a takedown and stay alive in the tournament.

In the following round, Alvarez faced No. 4 Pinaro Johnson of Iowa State, a familiar opponent who had defeated him 2-1 earlier in the season at the Virginia Duals. This time, Alvarez rose to the occasion on the national stage. After earning an escape from the bottom position in the second period, Johnson chose bottom for the final period, but Alvarez rode out the Cyclone for the entire two minutes. With the added riding time point, Alvarez claimed a hard-fought 2-0 decision to advance to the blood round, just one victory away from All-American honors.

The blood round pitted Alvarez against his former Oklahoma State teammate, No. 10 Jordan Williams (Little Rock). Alvarez wasted no time, scoring a takedown to establish a 3-0 lead. That early advantage proved to be the difference as Alvarez continued to control the match, ultimately securing a dominant 5-0 decision to earn his first All-American status.

Alvarez then moved on to face No. 12 Ethan Stiles of Oregon State. Stiles opened strong with a takedown to take a 3-0 lead. Alvarez responded with a quick escape, narrowing the gap to 3-1 by the end of the first period. Another escape by Alvarez in the second period made it 3-2, but Stiles maintained control and earned a riding time point, resulting in a 4-2 victory over Alvarez. The Rider standout will now compete in the seventh-place match tomorrow morning.

NCAA History:
- Alvarez becomes Rider wrestling's 21 All-American in program history
- Alvarez also became the tenth Rider All-American in the last 11 seasons.

Session V - Saturday, March 22 at 11:00 AM
7th Place Match: (11) Sammy Alvarez vs No. 22 Gavin Drexler


LOCK HAVEN
Gavin Hoffman started the day 2-0 to advance to session 4 to headline the trio of Lock Haven men's wrestlers who hit the mat on day two at the 2025 NCAA DI National Championship on Friday (March 21), inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
 
Hoffman won both his matches in the morning (session 3) to earn a trip to the fourth round of consolations during session four on Friday night.
 
Hoffman started the day with his second major decision of the tournament as he topped No. 29 Ashton Davis (Cornell) 14-5 to advance to the consolation third round.
 
To advance to Friday night's blood round, Hoffman used late heroics to get past No. 21 Jacob Bullock (Indiana) with a 4-1 decision. Deadlocked in the final period, Hoffman reversed out of a tough position to secure a takedown and ultimately clinch the victory.
 
On Friday night, Hoffman's run ended in the fourth round of consolations, following a 15-5 victory by Arizona States – No. 9 Cohlton Shultz.
 
Hoffman, who was an All-American with Ohio State in 2022, finishes his career as a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier, with a career record of 81-42. After joining the Bald Eagles this season, the Montoursville, Pennsylvania native went 22-4 at heavyweight and won a MAC Individual Championship.
 
Anthony Noto and Wyatt Henson also represented the Bald Eagles today after advancing to the third session with victories on Thursday.
 
In the morning, Noto (133/No. 14) won his second straight match with a 9-5 decision over No. 15 Ryan Miller (Pennsylvania). The victory earned Noto a trip to the third-round consolation match, where he was edged out in a thrilling 9-5 overtime decision (TB-1) by No. 10 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers). The senior finished the weekend 2-2 overall.
 
Noto will go down in history as one of the greatest wrestlers to put on the crimson and white. The two-time All-American and four-time NCAA Championship qualifier, finished his career with a 109-18 record, four MAC individual titles, while earning the 2023 and 2024 MAC Wrestler of the Year. Noto is one of 11 two-time All-Americans in program history. The senior is the first Bald Eagle and 10^th MAC wrestler to win four straight individual conference titles.
 
Henson (No. 16/141) was edged out in the second round of the consolation bracket by No. 15 Joseph Olivieri (Rutgers) in a 5-2 decision.
 
Henson finished the national championship 1-2 overall, after opening the tournament with a major decision victory on Thursday. Henson ends the 2025 season with an impressive 27-6 overall record. The junior is a three-time National Championship qualifier, two-time MAC Champion and will enter year four with an 80-22 career record.
 
Friday night concludes the 2025 season for Lock Haven. Today marked the second of three days of competition at the 2025 NCAA DI Championship and action will continue tomorrow (Sat., March 22) with Session 5 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
 
The remaining wrestlers will compete in session 5 on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. live on ESPNU.
 

NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Blake West exited the 2025 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships today as he represented the NIU University Wrestling program at the Wells Fargo Center.
 
West opened his day, facing the No. 15 seed from Oregon State, Maximo Renteria. West was down 4-1 before earning a takedown and an escape to lead 5-4 after two periods. West added a second takedown in the third period to secure the 99th win of his career. West now sits at No. 6 in the NIU Wrestling record book.
 
In the second bout of the day, West took on the No. 9 seed Caleb Smith from Nebraska. West fell in a 4-1 decision to Smith as he was eliminated from the championship. West finishes the season with a record of 24-7.
 
"As much as we all want it for these guys to get on the stand, at the end of the day, we take great pride in the way they represent NIU Wrestling," said NIU head coach Ryan Ludwig. "They train hard, live right, and put it all out there on the mat. We can't ask for a better leader than Blake. He's an elite student-athlete. Landen continues to excel and has made his mark in this program. Markel is an electric performer who has been great for us all year. We will celebrate this year's accolades and look forward to reaching new heights moving forward."
 
Landen Johnson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) ended his season on March 20 with a season record of 18-13 in his debut for NIU at the tournament. Markel Baker (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) was selected as an alternate at 133 pounds and did not compete. 
 

EDINBORO
Edinboro 184 pounder Jared McGill wrapped up his collegiate wrestling career after falling 6-3 in the second consolation round of the NCAA Championships Friday afternoon in the Wells Fargo Center.

McGill faced off with a familiar opponent in Rider's Isaac Dean. The two wrestlers finished the first period scoreless. McGill started the second in the bottom position and scored an escape 10 seconds into the period. McGill was the agressor in the rest of the period earning a stall call against Dean with 36 seconds remaining in the second. Dean evened the score in the third, 1-1, with an escape seven seconds in and the score would remain that way sending the match to sudden victory.

In the first sudden victory period, the wrestlers were scoreless. In the tiebreaker period, Dean scored a reversal with nine seconds remaining and McGill escaped to make it 3-2 heading to the second half of the first tiebreaker. McGill scrambled out and after initially not being awarded a escape, a successful coaches challenge awarded him the escape and a second successful challenge left the riding time at even. The 3-3 tie with no advantage in riding time forced a second one-minute sudden victory period. Dean scored a takedown 32 seconds into the second sudden victory to claim the 6-3 decision.

McGill finished he season 13-7 overall.


CENTRAL MICHIGAN
The Central Michigan wrestlers are out of the 2025 NCAA Championships at Wells Fargo Center.

Five Chippewas qualified for the annual season-ending tournament, and three were still alive on Friday morning. All three were eliminated on Friday in their respective consolation brackets.

CMU's ean Spidle (133 pounds) fell to Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska, 9-3, after Spidle had topped Bucknell's Kurt Phipps, 3-0, earlier in the day. Spidle, a redshirt junior who was seeded 23^rd, finished 2-2 in the tournament.

CMU's Johnny Lovett (157) and Chandler Amaker (165) both lost their only match of the day on Friday.

Lovett fell on a 7-2 decision to DJ McGee of George Mason and Amaker fell to Northwestern's Maxx Mayfield, the 18^th seed, in the tie-breaker.

Lovett, who was seeded 15^th, finished 1-2 in the tournament and closed an outstanding six-year CMU career with 133 victories, tying Matt Stencel for the second most in program history behind Casey Cunningham, who won 134.

Stencel, now a Chippewa assistant coach, wrestled at CMU from 2016-22. Cunningham, the lone Chippewa to win a national title (157 in 1999), wrestled at CMU from 1995-99. Cunningham is in his 15th year as an assistant coach at Penn State.

The Amaker-Mayfield match was tied, 2-2, after regulation and a sudden victory period and then went to the tie-breaker. Mayfield won with a plus-4 second advantage in riding time.

Amaker, a redshirt junior who began the season as a backup at 165, got into the NCAA Championships by placing second two weeks prior in the Mid-American Conference Championships.

He was seeded 33^rd (last) in the NCAA tournament and then topped the No. 32 seed, Jared Keslar of Pitt, 8-6 in sudden victory.

After losing on a 16-0 technical fall to top-seeded Mitchell Messenbrink of Penn State, Amaker rebounded to beat Noah Mulvaney of Lehigh, the 17th seed, 8-6 on Thursday night.

He pushed Mayfield, a senior who was wrestling in the NCAAs for the third consecutive season, to the limit before falling.


GEORGE MASON
George Mason's DJ McGee and Malachi DuVall wrapped us successful seasons at the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
 
The George Mason men's wrestling team was represented by three individuals at the national tournament.

In his second appearance at the National tournament, DJ McGee finished top 16 in the country with a 2-2 record, besting his 1-2 record in the 2024 NCAA Championship.  

Today, McGee defeated familiar foe Johnny Lovett from Central Michigan, 7-2. The two have competed five times in two seasons, including in the MAC Championship this season.

Lovett got on the board first with an escape to begin the third period of the consolation second-round match. A fury of action happened in the final seconds of the match as McGee scored a near fall to defeat Lovett, 7-2, the largest winning margin in the all-time series with Lovett. McGee is now 4-1 all-time against the MAC opponent.

McGee would drop the next match to Michigan's State's Chase Saldate by fall (1:49).

DuVall won his first match at an NCAA Championship on Thursday with a major decision (13-0) in wrestlebacks against West Virginia's Denis Robin (13-0). In the consolation round two, Chase Saldate from Michigan State edged DuVall, 8-4, to end the junior's quest at the NCAA Championship.

DuVall finishes the season with an 18-7 record.

OHIO
Redshirt junior Garrett Thompson wrapped up his time at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday (March 21) inside Wells Fargo Center. 

Fourth-seeded Thompson (Murrysville, Pa.) opened the day in the 174 lb. consolation bracket facing off with No. 22 Jared Simma from Northern Iowa, where Thompson handled business, advancing in the bracket with an 8-1 decision. 

Thompson returned to the mat later in the day to face off with No. 22 Nick Incontrera from Penn, falling in an 8-0 major decision. 

The defeat for Thompson officially concluded the 2024-25 season for the Bobcats. Stay tuned to OhioBobcats.com for all news regarding Ohio Wrestling this offseason.