This is my 24th season of covering collegiate wrestling. Ashamedly, only my fourth year of covering NJCAA wrestling. With that admitted, I have to also say this. Not all Divisions are the same as in how they are covered. As a fan, journalist, enthusiast, afficionado (I am called many things, but never quite know what to label myself), information on DI wrestling is as accessible as is the air I breathe. DII is pretty accessible as well. D3 & NAIA, have to put a bit more leg work into it, but still nothing too drastic. NJCAA? Saddle up buckaroo, we're in the wild wild west.
I can only go with the information that is available. If a guy was listed as a freshman & there is nothing out there about him transferring to another school or not coming back, I have to assume that he'll be back. If a guy was listed as a sophomore & has wrestled two seasons of NJCAA, I have to assume that he won't be back. This seems pretty straight forward & obvious, but I imagine '25-'26 will be no different than '22-'23, '23-'24 or '24-'25, and I'll have a few people with their panties in a bunch over the fact that I do include freshman from last season & that I don't include those listed as sophomores from last season.
Also, I'm not a high school guy. The entire time I've been covering collegiate wrestling from the '01-'02 season, I haven't been a high school guy. I will never be a high school guy. I would put my college wrestling knowledge up against anyone in the country, and I do mean anyone. Jason Bryant, Gary Abbot, Mike Moyer, or any of the other well-known figures in our sport. BUT and this is a big but, I know about as much about high school wrestling as I know about basketball. Outside of having an interest in my own high school, the high schools I grew up around & friends with kids still in high school, I don't have any interest in high school. I haven't been to a state tournament in 21 years & I doubt I ever go again. Catching me at a high school dual or tournament is also a very rare occasion.
Why do I bring this up? Because I realize that NJCAA wrestling in particularly, being only two seasons of collegiate wrestling, lends itself to being very focused on incoming talent. From that perspective it probably seems odd that I have a passion & interest in NJCAA wrestling. Yet, also remember there is returning talent too, and that's where my focus lies. That's what I'm interested in. The way I see it, I'll get to know the incoming freshman well enough as the season progresses. They'll have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves against returning NJCAA qualifiers & All Americans. By Christmas I'll know their names & I'll be writing about them.
So when looking at my NJCAA wrestling previews for '25-'26, please keep that in mind. If you're looking for a list of who did what last year, who qualified for NJCAA's?, Who made NJCAA All American? Then you have come to the right place!! If you came in looking for who are the incoming freshman & what did they all do in high school? You're going to walk away very disappointed. I can point you in the right direction though. "The Swayze" Aaron Sweazy would be the guy to ask.
Ok.....let's get down to business
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| Andrew College |
First year of collegiate wrestling & the Fighting Tigers of Andrew College win the Gulf Atlantic District team title. Qualify their entire team & crown their first All-American. I make a big deal out of this, not only for the achievements within themselves, but also for a very distinct fact. Billy George didn't go out East and bring in a bunch of guys from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey or New York. Nor did he head into the Midwest and snatch up a bunch of kids from Iowa, Illinois & Minnesota. He did it with local talent. Nearly his entire varsity squad is made up from kids from Georgia, & those who weren't, were from South Carolina & Alabama. This gives incentive to other colleges in the Southeast to add wrestling. It proves that kids from this area will take opportunities to wrestle if those opportunities are presented to them & it proves that these kids are competitive & will succeed.
To my knowledge, 9 of the 10 NJCAA qualifiers from last season return. Jaheim Mills at 165 lbs was listed as a sophomore last season. He competed for Reinhardt in '23-'24, but I have not seen him listed as a transfer to another program yet.
125 lbs Corey Dye - A South Carolina native who had a good season last year. Had some wins over both D2 & D3 competition throughout the season. Finished 3rd at the Gulf Atlantic District.
133 lbs Amantee Mills - A North Dakota State transfer, Amantee Mills was the star of the Fighting Tiger team last year. Winning a Gulf Atlantic District title, he captured a 4th place finish at the NJCAA championships. He too had some wins over D2 & D3 opponents.
141 lbs Clint Gilbert - Gilbert took a strong 3rd place finish at the Gulf Atlantic District & had a tech fall over a DI opponent on the season.
149 lbs Jayden Draper - Draper was an NJCAA qualifier for the Tigers this past season
157 lbs Riley Brewer - The Fighting Tigers nearly crowned another All-American in Riley Brewer, who after winning the Gulf Atlantic District, finished one match shy of a top 8 finish at the NJCAA championships. What should most be noted about his season, is perhaps his 11-3 major decision over Brennan Watkins who finished 3rd in NCAA Division II.
174 lbs Tim Dunn - A Georgia native in his own right, Dunn was 4th at the Gulf Atlantic District.
184 lbs Jatavius Williams - Another Georgia native who qualified for the NJCAA championships.
197 lbs Christian Preston - An Alabama native who was 3rd at the Gulf Atlantic District.
HWT Jabare George - Like teammate Riley Brewer, he took won a Gulf Atlantic District title & finished one match shy of NJCAA All American honors. Earned 6 wins total over DI, DII & DIII competition.
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| Camden County |
About an hour north of where a cousin of mine lives, I initially thought that the Gulf Atlantic District runner-up Cougars would be returning 6 of the 9 NJCAA qualifiers from last season. Then I found out recently that one of them is transferring to Jersey City. We'll get to that in a bit.
125 lbs - Lucas Stinger won a Gulf Atlantic District title last season. He had some wins over D2 & D3 competition.
133 lbs - An NWCA Scholar All American for the Cougars, Dante Gismondi was the Gulf Atlantic District runner-up last season. He too had wins over D2 & D3 competition.
141 lbs - Mike Walls took 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District.
157 lbs - Jimmy Do was 4th at the Gulf Atlantic District
184 lbs - Will Chrysler was another Cougar who took 4th at the Gulf Atlantic District this past season. He has transferred to Jersey City & should fill in nicely at 184 lbs for the Gothic Knights.
HWT - Chris Broderick lost in the first round of the Gulf Atlantic District & came all the way back through the consolations to capture a 3rd place showing.
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| Garrett |
8 NJCAA qualifiers & 3rd in the Gulf Atlantic District, the Lakers of Garrett College return 1/2 of their qualifiers, & ironically enough it is the lower & middle weights that return, while the upper weights are to my knowledge out of NJCAA eligibility.
125 - Nick Anderson was the Gulf Atlantic District runner-up this past season & was also a runner-up at the Defend The Lake tournament.
133 - 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District, Camden Hull was also a runner-up at the Defend the Lake tournament.
149 - We'll add one more Defend the Lake silver medalist to the list & also add that Brooks Smith was 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District.
157 - A native of Texas, Everett Nichols was upset early on at the Gulf Atlantic District championships, but came back strong to finish 3rd.
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| Sussex County |
4th in the Gulf Atlantic District, the Skylanders of Sussex County return to my knowledge 5 of their NJCAA qualifiers from last season.
125 lbs Carson Citro - An NJCAA qualifier for the Skylanders last season
141 lbs Mike VanderMeulen - Won a Gulf Atlantic District title last season for the Skylanders & had wins over DI, DII & DIII competition.
157 Carlos Delgado - Delgado was 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District last season.
165 lbs - Jose Alvarez-Giron - Giron was 4th at the Gulf Atlantic District last season.
174 lbs - Mason Mericle was 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District last season.
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| Lackawanna |
Host Lackawanna took 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District last season & I believe they return three of their 5 qualifiers.
141 - Matt Gashi-Brito who was 4th at the Gulf Atlantic District
157 - Connor Ondek (talk about a perfect name for baseball) who was the Gulf Atlantic District runner-up.
197 - Adan Salazar who was 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District.
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| Union |
The Rinaldi brothers sent five of their Owls to the NJCAA championships this past season & my records indicate that three of the five are returning.
133 - Salvatore Randazzo was 6th at the Gulf Atlantic District this past season & an NWCA Scholar All-American
141 - Quite the year for Josh Baeza. Named the Union Coach's award winner, Baeza made the Gulf Atlantic District finals.
165 - Christian Gomez was 5th at the Gulf Atlantic District this past season
Images at times can be extraordinarily difficult to find. When I say trying to cover NJCAA wrestling has its challenges, I dare not exaggerate. The Bulldogs didn't have a single home dual last season & their twitter page states very clearly "Not Affiliated with the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology." I have no idea what that is about, but it has me curious. Most of the time when a wrestling program says, "not affiliated" they are an NCWA program & cannot participate in the official division, which in this case would be NJCAA. Yet the Bulldogs do, so what exactly is going on here?
To my knowledge, two of the four NJCAA qualifiers return to action in '25-'26.
141 - Nick Bradbury. The future carpenter earned NJCAA qualification for the Bulldogs last season.
HWT - Peyton Wentzel pinned his way to the Gulf Atlantic District finals this past season.
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| Northhampton |
I think coach Shaun Lally can be pretty happy with the first season ever of Northampton Spartan wrestling. Crowning two Gulf Atlantic District champs is no small feat & both of these gentlemen have the potential to be the first NJCAA All-Americans for the Spartans this season as well.
149 - Xavier Arner won his Gulf Atlantic District title in fashion with two techs & a major.
184 - Luke Velekei was every bit as impressive earning his Gulf Atlantic District gold, with two pins & a major.
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| Middlesex |
Again no photograph, but the Colts did crown a Gulf Atlantic District champ last year. 174 lbs'er Jonathan Braun. He pinned his way to the finals & then upset the #1 seed 5-0.
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| Patrick & Henry |
The Patriots were very proud of Nick Daniel & as they should be. A tough loss to All-American Amantee Mills, the Patriot battled back through the consolations winning four matches in a row to capture a bronze medal at the Gulf Atlantic District.
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| Rowan of South Jersey |
141 - Stephen Dmytryk is a returning NJCAA qualifier for the Roadrunners
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