The NCAA Division I championships are approximately two months away. Still a lot of wrestling to be conducted between now and then, but with all that can change between now and then, one thing is likely to stay the same.
There are only 33 slots per weight class & there are more than 33 wrestlers per weight class who are eligible to get them.
If the NCAA DI championship were today, & it was the 33 currently ranked somewhere between #1 & #33, there would be 10 very talented wrestlers staying home. Who are these wrestlers? Let's take a look.
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| Marlon Yarbrough Virginia |
What he has going against him: A very late start to the '25-'26 season didn't help out the Cavalier any. He didn't have his first match until January 9th & I would imagine that is most likely why he's not currently featured in the top 33.
What he has going for him: The ACC is going to most likely allot 5 wrestlers to the NCAA DI championships. Yarbrough has already beaten Troy Hohman, so the confidence that he can finish 5th or better within the conference is already there. An NCAA DI qualifier in 2024, there's still plenty of season left for Yarbrough to get some quality wins & maybe even get the ACC to 6 allocations instead of 5.
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| Geronimo Rivera Utah Valley |
What he has going against him: Cold streaks of a true freshman. While the young Wolverine has gotten hot at times, at other times he's been practically frozen. A 7-9 record at the moment, some of those losses are ugly. About 6-7 weeks left of the regular season, I still think come BIG 12's, Rivera is going to be in a spot where he's going to have to steal if he wants to make the NCAA DI tournament in his first year of collegiate wrestling.
What he has going for him: He can get hot & when he does he's dangerous. He had a hot streak here a while back where he knocked off Zan Fugit (5-2) & Tristan Daugherty (8-2). I can see the BIG 12 taking as many as 10 & the idea of Rivera upsetting enough to be within 10 is very feasible.
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| Richard Murillo California Baptist |
What he has going against him: It can't be easy to know that you're representing a school & an administration that doesn't value you or what you provide to the school. I would imagine the extraordinarily depressing news of knowing you're being discontinued had to be a blow that took some steam out of the young Lancer. He has my utmost respect for continuing the fight to try and give CBU some credentials & accolades in their final days on the mat.
What he has going for him: Like I said regarding Rivera, I think the BIG 12 is going to get a lot of allocations this year. I see as many as 10. Murillo stealing a spot is not a farfetched idea. Qualification on the line, it could very well come down to him or Rivera. In that case, not that it always means anything, Murillo does own a 13-7 decision over the Wolverine.
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| Caleb Weiand Michigan State |
What he has going against him: He started off the season wrestling at 125 lbs & about 1/2 his matches are down a weight class.
What he has going for him: An NCAA DI qualifier last year, he was recently 5th at the Southern Scuffle. As of right now, I think the BIG 10 easily gets 9 allocations & I can see them even getting up to 10 if Weiand can pull off some good ranked wins between now & the first weekend in March.
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| Blake Boarman Purdue |
What he has going for him: I think Boarman is well aware that if he wants to make the NCAA DI championships again, the time to turn things around is right here & right now. He demonstrated that knowledge recently with an impressive 4-1 s.v. over Dylan Shawver. It's going to take wrestling like that the rest of the season to earn a ranking & a plausible allocation.
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| Javaan Yarbrough Morgan State |
What he has going against him: He hasn't wrestled much at all this season & he hasn't wrestled since December 20th.
What he has going for him: With Xavier Doolin qualifying for the NCAA DI wrestling championships last year, the Bears are wanting to start a tradition of getting wrestlers to the dance year in and year out. I see the EIWA having as many as four allocations. Ryan Crookham is out of the question & as good as both Ethan Berginc & Max Leete have been wrestling as of late, I'd say they're probably out of the question too. The answer here is Brenden Ferretti. Now some might roll their eyes at me & laugh, considering that Ferretti stuck Yarbrough earlier this season in 52 seconds. I think that was a "got him" situation & I don't think Ferretti is that much better than Yarbrough. Could be wrong, but I wanna see part two.
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| Kyle Waterman Drexel |
What he has going against him: He needs more matches, more quality wins & he needs to avoid getting beat where he should win.
What he has going for him: In what will be his final attempt to make the NCAA DI wrestling championships, he's shown multiple times this year that he can be top 33 by season's end. A 5-4 decision over Dylan Shawver & an 18-15 decision over Blake Boarman, the Dragon has demonstrated his potential. Come the EIWA championships, as said when discussing Yarbrough, the spot to steal looks like it could very well belong to Ferretti. It's also a question of whether we see Yarbrough again this season or not. As noted, he's been missing for a month. Yarbrough not being in the EIWA championships could favor Waterman. The last they met, it was a 12-11 win for Yarbrough.
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| Gable Strickland Lock Haven |
What he has going against him: Not enough quality wins yet.
What he has going for him: Already a two-time NCAA DI qualifier, I see the Mid-American Conference allotting two spots for the 2026 DI championships as of right now. As the next six-seven weeks go by? I can see them allotting three. On top of it, I'm not convinced at the moment that either Markel Baker or Marcel Lopez are out of Strickland's league. The Bald Eagle owns a 1-0 decision over Tristan Daugherty.
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| Will Betancourt Rider |
What he has going against him: He needs quality wins. He has a 4-1 victory over Gabe Wisenhunt who is likely to win the PAC-12 title this year & earn his qualification that way, but unfortunately Betancourt isn't in the PAC 12, he's in the MAC. I cannot see the MAC allotting more than 3 to the NCAA DI championships. I'm not even positive that they're going to allot more than 2. This means that Betancourt will have to have at least one upset at conference, if not two.
What he has going for him: The 4-1 win over Wisenhunt demonstrates that the Bronco knows how to win tough matches against tough opponents. The MAC is a breeding ground for weird things to happen at weird times & that favors a guy like Betancourt.
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| Joey Fischer Clarion |
What he has going against him: What he's had going against him his entire collegiate career. It's never quite enough. Ever since he was a freshman, Joey Fischer has done some very notable & outstanding things every year. As a freshman he made the MAC finals, losing a heartbreaker in sudden victory to four-time MAC champ Anthony Noto. His 2nd place finish, not enough to earn him DI qualification. As a sophomore, wins over Sean Spidle & Tyler Klinsky, but suffered an upset at the MAC's & didn't qualify. As a junior, has a huge win over Anthony Noto on the year, but drops some super tight hard fought decisions at the MAC, once again falling short of qualification.
Again, I repeat the MAC is likely to have 2 or 3 allocations & we have 5 talented wrestlers fighting for those 2 or 3 spots.
What he has going for him: There's nobody in the MAC 133 lbs bracket that Fischer can't beat. I think he demonstrated that beautifully with an 8-2 decision over Strickland earlier this season. Based on the rest of Clarion's schedule, I see Fischer going either 8-1 the remainder of the season or even 9-0. Which therefore puts him at either 20-8 heading into the MAC's or 21-7 heading into the MAC's. He's made my "Best Not to Qualify" list three times. I'd just as soon leave him off of it this year, if he lets me.
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