Wartburg adds individual champs Blume, Ross to NCAA DIII Championships team title performance
Share:
by Jon Gremmels
Wartburg, 2026 NCAA DIII champions
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Wartburg wrapped up the title in the afternoon, but the Knights made things even more special Saturday night as they won two of their three finals matches at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.
Freshman Kade Blume knocked off one of the two defending national champions, and senior Kasey Ross capped his career with the other.
Blume beat defending champion Mark Samuel of Roanoke 4-3 at 141 pounds, avenging an overtime loss at National Duals. Blume scored the key takedown in the second period during a long back-and-forth battle.
For Ross, the key was a takedown late in the second period that gave him a more comfortable advantage as he beat top-seeded Ganon Smith of Elizabethtown 5-0 in the only final matching the top two seeds.
Blume and Ross became the 39th and 40th wrestlers to win individual titles for the Knights, who won their Division III-record 17th team title.
A perfect night eluded Wartburg when defending champion Mitchell Williamson dropped a 4-1 decision to Josh Harkless of Rochester Institute of Technology on a last-second takedown in the night’s final match.
Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Tanner Gerber, who was pinned in his first match at nationals a year ago but wrestled back all the way to third place, avoided upsets this time and defeated Andrew Supers of Baldwin Wallace 4-0 in the final at 165. A takedown with 29 seconds left in the first period was the key.
Gerber’s win boosted his team past Augsburg in the team standings, giving the Eagles their fifth runner-up finish in Division III history and third for Coach Dave Malecek. La Crosse finished with 68 points, and Augsburg, which had no finalists, finished with 67.5 points.
New York University earned a team trophy with a fourth-place finish at 65.5 points. Mo Talebi, the former Cadet World freestyle tournament entry for Iran 10 years ago, won the title at 197 for the Violets.
For the fifth year in a row, there was a second-generation champion. Garrett Totten of The College of New Jersey accomplished what his father, Brandon, did 30 years earlier when he beat James Day of Wabash 8-1 in the final at 133. His father won back-to-back titles at 158 in 1995 and 1996 for Delaware Valley.
Totten scored an early takedown and never trailed.
Hunter Mays gave the Lions a second champion later in the night when he defeated Luther’s Bryce McDonough 8-6 at 174. A pair of takedowns staked Mays to a 7-2 lead, but after an escape, McDonough pulled within 7-6 with a takedown.
The two titles gave the Lions a fifth-place finish in the team race with 58.5 points.
Williams’ Peter Kane, one of the few returning runners-up who made it back to the finals, came out on top in his second attempt at a title. He broke a 1-1 tie with a third-period takedown to defeat Rhenzo Augusto of Elmhurst 4-1 in the 157 final. He took advantage of his skills on his feet to beat Josh Stahl of York 10-5.
Overtime was nothing new for Central’s Cade Siebrecht and Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Dominik Mallinder. Each had won two previous overtime matches, including the semifinals, and it appeared they were headed that way again, tied 1-1 in the final at 149.
But Siebrecht saw his spot as the clock wound down, scored a takedown with about 10 seconds left and defeated Mallinder 4-1.
Chip Guzman’s climb to the top reached the pinnacle Saturday night.
Guzman, a senior from North Central, scored a takedown in the first minute, then added five more to record a 19-3 technical fall win against Coe’ Brayden Parke in 5 minutes, 17 seconds in the 125-pound final.
It capped a career that produced a third-place finish as a freshman, followed by back-to-back runner-up placings behind three-time champion Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales.
Final brackets and archived matches from this event are available at FloWrestling.com.
1. Wartburg, 110
2. Wisconsin La Crosse, 68
3. Augsburg, 67.5
4. NYU, 65.5
5. The College of New Jersey, 58.5
6. Roanoke, 57
7. Baldwin Wallace, 55.5
8. Loras, 54.5
9. Williams, 45.5
10. Central (IA), 37.5
1st Place Match - Christian Guzman (North Central (IL)) 37-0 won by tech fall over Brayden Parke (Coe) 24-6 (TF-1.5 5:18 (19-3))
3rd Place Match - Alex Diaz (NYU) 34-1 won by decision over Mason Jones (Manchester) 28-5 (Dec 9-3)
5th Place Match - Malik Asfour (Eastern) 29-8 won by major decision over Nico Rivera (JWU (Providence)) 34-7 (MD 13-1)
7th Place Match - Brett Birchman (Wartburg) 20-8 won by decision over Izzy Balsiger (Wis.-Eau Claire) 17-5 (Dec 8-1)
1st Place Match - Garrett Totten (TCNJ) 35-4 won by decision over James Day (Wabash) 39-8 (Dec 8-1)
3rd Place Match - Jude Robson (Roanoke) 25-3 won by decision over Jake Craig (Southern Me) 35-4 (Dec 5-2)
5th Place Match - Patrick Mullen (Wartburg) 28-7 won by fall over Art Martinez (CWRU) 36-7 (Fall 4:32)
7th Place Match - Wyatt Unser (Wis.-Eau Claire) 30-12 won by decision over Chance Suddeth (Augsburg) 25-14 (Dec 9-2)
1st Place Match - Kade Blume (Wartburg) 25-2 won by decision over Mark Samuel (Roanoke) 21-1 (Dec 4-3)
3rd Place Match - Pierre Baldwin (Central (IA)) 32-3 won by decision over Nico Diaz (Stevens) 29-3 (Dec 8-6)
5th Place Match - Hayden Myers (Wesleyan (CT)) 28-3 won by decision over Vincent Santaniello (TCNJ) 24-4 (Dec 3-2)
7th Place Match - Isaias Torres (Ithaca) 25-6 won by major decision over Cole Becker (Augsburg) 31-9 (MD 13-3)
1st Place Match - Cade Siebrecht (Central (IA)) 29-1 won by decision over Dominik Mallinder (Wis.-Whitewater) 30-4 (Dec 4-1)
3rd Place Match - Thomas Monn (McDaniel) 44-1 won by fall over Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (UChicago) 45-7 (Fall 0:48)
5th Place Match - Matt Randolph (Augsburg) 28-4 won by decision over Nate Fitt (Coast Guard) 30-4 (Dec 6-4)
7th Place Match - Angelo Centrone (Cortland) 20-3 won by major decision over Caleb Seyfried (Williams) 24-5 (MD 13-4)
1st Place Match - Peter Kane (Williams) 32-0 won by decision over Rhenzo Augusto (Elmhurst) 32-3 (Dec 4-1)
3rd Place Match - Charlie Dojan (Wartburg) 31-2 won by decision over Ryan Smith (Stevens) 29-5 (Dec 11-4)
5th Place Match - Eric Kinkaid (Loras) 32-5 won by decision over Liam Flanagan (Wash. & Lee) 30-3 (Dec 3-2)
7th Place Match - Joe Penchi (Wis.-La Crosse) 28-15 won by decision over Trent Mahoney (Albright) 38-4 (Dec 15-12)
1st Place Match - Tanner Gerber (Wis.-La Crosse) 35-3 won by decision over Andrew Supers (Baldwin Wallace) 39-3 (Dec 4-0)
3rd Place Match - Keegan Demarest (Messiah) 53-2 won by decision over Brayden Peet (Wis.-Whitewater) 24-9 (Dec 3-2)
5th Place Match - Jack Richardson (JWU (Providence)) 31-4 won by decision over Clayton McDonough (Luther) 48-4 (Dec 16-9)
7th Place Match - Bo Koedam (Coe) 32-8 won by major decision over Aiden Smith (Adrian) 26-4 (MD 12-2)
1st Place Match - Hunter Mays (TCNJ) 29-0 won by decision over Bryce McDonough (Luther) 30-7 (Dec 8-6)
3rd Place Match - Dustin Bohren (Loras) 34-3 won by major decision over Jake Deguire (Springfield) 27-3 (MD 12-1)
5th Place Match - Ty Finn (NYU) 29-3 won by medical forfeit over Noah Leisgang (Wis.-La Crosse) 19-4 (MFFL)
7th Place Match - Thomas West (Baldwin Wallace) 36-5 won by tech fall over Xavier Preston (Roanoke) 16-6 (TF-1.5 3:57 (15-0))
1st Place Match - Kasey Ross (Wartburg) 30-0 won by decision over Ganon Smith (Elizabethtown) 38-1 (Dec 5-0)
3rd Place Match - Jamie Evarts (Williams) 34-2 won in sudden victory - 1 over Brandt Bombard (Augsburg) 29-6 (SV-1 8-5)
5th Place Match - Robert Flege (Wis.-La Crosse) 28-4 won by decision over Hunter Moore (Roanoke) 26-8 (Dec 5-1)
7th Place Match - Easton Hull (Wis.-Stevens Point) 29-10 won by decision over Justin Mayes (NYU) 31-5 (Dec 6-3)
1st Place Match - Mohammad Talebi (NYU) 15-1 won by decision over Josh Stahl (York (PA)) 37-2 (Dec 10-5)
3rd Place Match - Ethan Winkelman (Augsburg) 33-5 won by major decision over Gunnar Garriques (UChicago) 26-4 (MD 15-3)
5th Place Match - Joseph Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) 25-4 won by fall over Myles Johnson (Ohio Northern) 38-7 (Fall 2:27)
7th Place Match - Cal Dorota (Wartburg) 28-6 won by decision over Gabe Monroe (Coast Guard) 27-10 (Dec 13-6)
1st Place Match - Josh Harkless (RIT) 46-3 won by decision over Mitch Williamson (Wartburg) 25-1 (Dec 4-1)
3rd Place Match - Jonah Clark (Loras) 19-4 won by major decision over Andrew Vanscoy (Baldwin Wallace) 33-8 (MD 15-4)
5th Place Match - Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard) 34-2 won by major decision over Markos Mihalopoulos (Wis.-La Crosse) 25-13 (MD 12-3)
7th Place Match - Titus Waters (Wabash) 36-5 won by decision over Mohamed Abdelatty (Ursinus) 29-5 (Dec 7-4)
