NCAA Wrestling: Forrest, Vega, Robideau Win National Titles, Cowboys Finish Second as a Team

MATCH-BY-MATCH RECAP
BRACKETS

Last year’s NCAA Championships ended with Cowboy Wyatt Hendrickson pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history. This year’s NCAA Championships ended with Jax Forrest going from wrestling high schoolers in the first semester to winning a college national title in the second.

David Taylor certainly has something brewing in Stillwater, USA.

Oklahoma State put three true freshmen on the top of the podium Saturday night in Cleveland, with Forrest joining Sergio Vega and Landon Robideau.

On top of that, OSU finished second in the team race for the first time since 2016.

Here are takeaways from the NCAA finals.

Forrest Does the Dang Thing

From wrestling high schoolers in the fall semester to winning a college national title in one of the deepest weights in the country — Jax Forrest is an alien.

Forrest had a scrap with 2 seed Ben Davino (Ohio State) in the final but came out with a 5-2 win.

Davino, also a freshman, hadn’t been taken down this season, and Forrest found out just how hard that would be in the first period when he got in deep on a shot that he finishes 99 times out of 100 — this was the 100th. Davino fought it off from multiple angles, taking the high-scoring Forrest into the second period scoreless.

After Davino escaped in the second, Forrest went into the third down 1-0. But he quickly got his escape and then took Davino down for the first time this year before working a long ride and closing the match out.

The past 12 months have been the Year of Jax.

After winning a high school state title, Forrest went on the freestyle circuit and made the U.S. Senior National Team, nearly medaling against grown men at the World Championships. Then Forrest went and won the U23 world title before enrolling at OSU early and going undefeated on his way to this national title.

Vega Caps All-Time Freshman Season with NCAA Title

Sergio Vega finishes his true freshman season undefeated and never taken down. He became the first undefeated true freshman since … 1947. Jax joined him later in the evening.

And it wasn’t that Vega’s weight was a breeze, either. He took out two-time national champ Jesse Mendez in Saturday’s final. Prior to the final, Mendez hadn’t lost since March 8, 2025. He hadn’t lost at the NCAAs since March 16, 2023.

On top of that, Vega beat last year’s 141-pound runner-up three times this year, including in the national semifinal.

“Earlier this year, I remember I was getting ready for the second day of National Duals, and it kinda hit me,” Vega said. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna have Iowa, and I’m not getting away from the 1 or 2 (ranked wrestlers) because Nebraska (Brock Hardy) and Ohio State (Jesse Mendez) were on the other (side of the bracket). When I saw I had Brock Hardy, I just told myself — all season I’ve been telling myself — why can’t I?

“Why can’t I go do this? I had no reason every time I asked myself why I can’t go beat anyone. It just gave me so much confidence because there’s really no reason why I can’t go beat anyone or do what I do best.”

Mendez had been steamrolling people all season. He had 22 bonus-point wins on the year and was in the running to win the Hodge before Vega bested the senior.

Mendez was aggressive right off the whistle against Vega, driving him out of bounds and forcing a stalling warning in the first minute. From that point on, Vega did a good job of circling back to center.

Tied at 1, they shared a scramble late in the third. Mendez got in on the shot, but Vega was winning the scramble when they spilled out of bounds.

Essentially the same scenario presented itself in sudden-victory, but this time Vega was able to finish it. He nearly slapped on a cradle before the official threw up the 3 for the takedown.

WE JUST WITNESSED HISTORY 🚨👏

Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega becomes the first undefeated true freshman since 1947 and wins the 141 lbs national title 😱 pic.twitter.com/imKezi7HQB

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 21, 2026

Robideau Avenges Loss to Taylor, Wins National Title

Landon Robideau had two losses coming into his first national tournament. He avenged both of them and beat the 1 seed for good measure.

Robideau avenged a December loss to reigning national champ Antrell Taylor by beating Taylor 4-2 in the national final.

ANOTHER FRESHMAN CHAMPION FOR OKLAHOMA STATE 🤠#NCAAWrestling x 🎥 ESPN / @CowboyWrestling pic.twitter.com/0mpcpeUAZ4

— NCAA Men’s Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling) March 21, 2026

“I think it was just a lot mindset,” Robideau said. “The first match, I went out there, it was just a weird match. It was in the weird part of the season, and I just didn’t put my best foot forward. And obviously I wanted this match bad.

“At the end, I’m usually not a person that gets in people’s faces, but he was kinda disrespectful, I thought, to my coaches and was kind of up in their face. So, I wanted to show him this was for the national championship. You gotta get hard when it matters most, and I was ready.”

Robideau gritted out the win, scoring off two nearfall points, an escape and a stall point after applying a ton of early pressure on Taylor.

After a scoreless first where Robideau was on Taylor’s leg forever, Taylor selected bottom going into the second. He almost instantly rolled free on the whistle, but Robideau caught Taylor on his back in that process.

Robideau was initially awarded three nearfall points before a Nebraska review cut it down to two.

After escaping to start the third, Robideau came out on the right side of an exchange and was oh, so close to taking Taylor down on the edge of the mat when the official hit Taylor with a second stall (the first came in the first period), pushing Robideau’s lead to 4-1.

From there, Robideau played defense, giving up a stall point before getting his hand raised.

Robideau was the 5 seed entering this tournament and leaves it with wins against the 1 (PJ Duke), 2 (Taylor) and 4 (Kaleb Larkin, who beat Robideau in the Big 12 final).

From the start of the year, anyone I talked to within the wrestling program spoke of Robideau’s tenacity and leadership.

The Cowboys aren’t surprised he won a national title, but the rest of the wrestling world didn’t have him as the favorite coming into the weekend.

In a video Flo posted covering OSU’s season-opening dual against Stanford, Cowboy RTC coach Zoheir El Ouarraque said he would put him as the national champ this year, and he was correct.

OSU 149-pounder Casey Swiderski said at OSU’s preseason media day that “When you wrestle Robideau, you’re gonna get a little bit of yourself.”

Dee Lockett has mentioned the leading Robideau has done throughout the year, helping get Lockett right after losses.

Again, OSU people aren’t surprised this happened. Still, a true freshman national champ is pretty special.

Numbers That Show the Program’s Upward Trajectory

If OSU had this performance with a lineup full of seniors, it would be impressive. But the Pokes did this with six freshmen wrestling this weekend.

Here are some stats to where you can see the upward trend of what Taylor is building.

— The Cowboys finished second as a team for the first time since 2016.

— OSU scored 131 team points — its most since 2005. The Cowboys scored more team points this year than they did in 2006 when they won the team race.

— OSU had three individual champs for the first time since having five winners in 2005.

— OSU became the first program in NCAA history with three freshmen national champs.

— Eight Cowboys earned All-American status, the first time that’s happened since 2017.

Team Standings

OSU Placements

125: Troy Spratley — 5th
133: Jax Forrest — 1st
141: Sergio Vega — 1st
149: Casey Swiderski — 8th
157: Landon Robideau — 1st
165: Dee Lockett — DNP
174: Alex Facundo — DNP
184: Zack Ryder — 7th
197: Cody Merrill — 2nd
HWT: Konner Doucet — 4th