September 26, 2024
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College
Carter Starocci has a chance to make history in 2025 as the first-ever five-time NCAA Division I champion. He is already in elite company as one of seven four-time NCAA Division I champions. The brash, uber-confident Penn State superstar has compiled a record of 78-4 over the past four seasons. He has captured three Big Ten titles, with his last on-the-mat loss coming in the Big Ten finals in March of 2021. Following that loss, Starocci reeled off 64 consecutive wins until taking two injury default losses at the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. Starroci has won all four of his NCAA titles at 174 pounds but is expected to move up to 184 pounds for his final college wrestling season.
Ty McGeary is a two-time returning Division II national champion at 184 pounds and three-time All-American. Last season, McGeary posted a perfect 33-0 cord with 24 bonus-point victories. At the 2024 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, McGeary earned bonus-point wins in three of his four victories, including a 9-1 major decision over Matt Weinberg of Kutztown in the finals. He was named 2024 NCAA Division II Wrestler of the Year by the NWCA. McGeary has compiled a career record of 97-6 at West Liberty. He is also a multiple-time Academic All-America selection, earning first team honors this past year.
Massoma Endene has been a dominant force in NCAA Division III wrestling since transferring from Iowa Lakes to Wartburg in 2022. Last season, Endene repeated as national champion at 197 pounds, finishing the season with an undefeated mark of 28-0 to improve to 55-1 in his Wartburg career. After last season, Endene announced that he would be transferring to the University of Wisconsin to finish his college wrestling career at the Division I level. He competed in freestyle for the Wisconsin RTC after the college season, winning a title at U23 Nationals in early June to earn a spot on the U23 World Team at 97 kilograms. Less than a month later, Endene won a gold medal at the U23 Pan American Championships. On Sep. 17, Endene announced on social media that he would be returning to Wartburg to finish his college wrestling career.
Brevin Balmeceda, a four-time Florida state champion and one of the nation's top recruits in the Class of 2019, started his college wrestling career at Oklahoma State where he spent one season before eventually finding a home at NAIA wrestling power Life University. He has thrived at the NAIA level, finishing third at the national tournament in his first season in 2022 before winning back-to-back NAIA national titles in 2023 and 2024 at 149 pounds and 157 pounds respectively. In 2024, Balmeceda captured his second national title in one of the deepest weight classes, 157 pounds, and did so in dominant fashion. His run to the finals included a 15-0 technical fall, 27-second pin before winning 8-1 in the quarterfinals and 6-1 in the semifinals. In the championships match, Balmeceda shut out Corban's David Rubio, 2-0.
Otgonbayar Batsuuri, a 2019 Asian Championships bronze medalist in freestyle, came to the United States from Mongolia and made a major splash in his first season competing at the junior college level for Fort Hays Tech Northwest (formerly called Northwest Kansas Tech). Batsuuri opened people's eyes in the first month of the 2023-24 season when he dominated the competition at the Younes Hospitality Open at 174 pounds. Batsuuri outscored his three opponents 50-13, with one of his victories being a 15-5 major decision over NCAA Division II All-American Cole Hernandez of Western Colorado. He earned Outstanding Wrestler honors for his performance. The Mongolian kept the momentum rolling, finishing the season undefeated against NJCAA competition. Batsuuri earned the No. 1 seed at the 2024 NJCAA Men's Wrestling Championships after winning the South Central District title. He opened his national tournament performance with two technical falls before winning 13-9 in the semifinals. Batsuuri claimed the NJCAA national title at 174 pounds with a first-period pin over Isaac White of Southeast.
Iowa's Kylie Welker was the nation's best wrestler on the nation's best team last season. Welker, a native of Franklin, Wisconsin, helped the Iowa Hawkeyes women's wrestling team secure the national team title in the program's first season. She had a dominant sophomore campaign at 170 pounds, compiling a record of 23-1 with 16 technical falls and six pins. Her lone loss came against a non-collegiate athlete, Dymond Guilford. Welker picked up two wins last season over three-time national champion Yelena Makoyed of North Central, with the second one coming by technical fall in the finals of the 2024 NCWWC National Championships to clinch Iowa's national team title. Welker, a three-time age group world medalist, finished fourth at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials. She will represent Team USA at the U23 World Championships as well as the Senior World Championships this year.
Carolina Moreno of Southern Oregon had a dominant 2023-24 season at 130 pounds, winning her third straight national title without surrendering a single point in the postseason. The Arizona native finished the season with a perfect record of 28-0, which included 10 pins and 14 technical falls. At the 2024 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Championships, Moreno pinned her first two opponents before cruising to a 10-0 technical fall over Lillian Avalos of Vanguard in the quarterfinals. She secured her spot in the national finals with a 10-0 semifinal victory over No. 4 Alyssa Randles of Providence. In the finals against Life's Sarah Savidge, Moreno raced out to a 9-0 lead in the opening period before closing out the 11-0 technical fall a minute into the second period. She finished the season riding a 41-match winning streak dating back to 2022.
Genesis Gilmore won the NJCAA women's national championship at 155 pounds in her first season at Indian Hills. She compiled a 19-3 record and defeated several All-Americans last season, including 2023 national champion Ferny Hernandez of Iowa Western, Kylie Hulse of Carl Albert State, Jennifer De La Torre of Umpqua and Angella Van Valkenburg of Snow. She entered the NJCAA Women's Wrestling Invitational as the No. 6 seed and defeated three ranked wrestlers en route to winning the national championship. Gilmore pinned her way into the finals (including pins over the No. 2 and No. 3 wrestlers) before facing the returning champion Hernandez for the second time this season. Hernandez won the first meeting by technical fall at the Luther Hill Open, but Gilmore avenged the loss in the national finals with a technical fall.
