Every March the best college wrestlers in the country, get together for the NCAA Wrestling Championships! This tournament is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work for these young men, and only one (in each weight class) can be crowned champion.
This year’s tournament takes place March 20-22nd, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Wells Fargo Center.
In this article we will discuss last year’s 149 lb champion and who the top contenders are for this season.
2024 Champion: Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech entered the tournament as the #4 seed and stormed his way to the title going 5-0, defeating All-Americans Ty Watters, Ridge Lovett, and Austin Gomez in the Finals. He finished the year with a 30-2 record.
This Year’s Contenders: Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech is 18-0, Ridge Lovett of Nebraska is 20-2, Shane Van Ness of Penn State is 20-2, and Kyle Parco of Iowa is 20-3 on the year. All 4 of these wrestlers are capable of winning the whole damn thing.
Other Contenders: Paniro Johnson of Iowa State is 24-3 and is able to hang with anyone in the division. Two of his three loses came at 157, where he also defeated returning NCAA finalist Jacori Teemer.
Dark Horse Contenders: Kannon Webster of the University of Illinois is 14-6 on the year and is capable of pulling some serious upsets. He has defeated Caleb Rathjen, Dylan D’Emilio, and Kyle Parco in his college career as well as his most recent and biggest victory over Shane Van Ness. I have been saying it all season, Webster is the real deal, and has a good chance of landing on the podium in Philadelphia.
2025 NCAA Champion Prediction: Shane Van Ness of Penn State