Session III Recap: Cowboys Push Five to Friday Night’s Semifinals

MATCH-BY-MATCH RECAP
BRACKETS

Five Cowboys are still alive for national titles, while another three will look to secure All-America status on Friday night.

Here are some storylines to know regarding the Cowboys from Friday’s first session at the NCAA Championships.

Five Cowboys Headed to Semis

At minimum, the Cowboys will have five All-Americans — four of them are freshmen.

Troy Spratley, Jax Forrest, Sergio Vega, Landon Robideau and Cody Merrill all clinched All-America status by making it to the semis. Now it’s just a matter of how high they’ll finish.

— Spratley controlled his match against 4 seed Sheldon Seymour from start to finish, winning 8-2 against the previously unbeaten wrestler.

Spratley gets top seed Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) in Friday evening’s semi.

— Forrest again finished his match in the first period, winning his quarterfinal against Markel Baker 18-3 after just 2:38. Forrest hasn’t seen a second period in the tournament.

He gets a highly anticipated rematch against Virginia Tech’s Aaron Seidel in the semis. Forrest beat Seidel 10-9 in a dual earlier this year, a match Seidel scored three takedowns in to Forrest’s one. They also wrestled in the Pennsylvania state final last year.

— Vega was the aggressor in his bout against Iowa’s Nasir Bailey, with Vega winning 4-1 with a takedown in the second period.

Vega will wrestled 3 seed Brock Hardy (Nebraska) in the semis. Vega is 2-0 against Hardy this season, majoring him at National Duals and pinning him in Lincoln. Hardy finished second last season.

— Robideau got the job done in his Big 12 finals rematch against 4 seed Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State). Robideau had a hard time finishing takedowns against Larkin in that Big 12 final, but he got two big ones in this match (we’ll talk more about the bout later).

Robideau gets top-seeded PJ Duke (Penn State) in the semis. Duke has been a freight train in this tournament, with two pins and a tech.

— Merrill controlled his quarterfinal against 15 seed Remy Cotton, as well. Merrill won it 8-3 with a first-period takedown before scoring another late as Cotton went for broke.

Merrill draws 3 seed Stephen Little (Little Rock) in the semis. Little is 17-2, with one of those losses coming to top-seeded Josh Barr. Little is now a three-time All-American.

Two Matches to Go Back and Watch

If you didn’t watch this session’s action, here are two matches you should go back and watch:

1. 1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. 8 Casey Swiderski (OSU)

Van Ness is an unbeaten top seed, but Swiderski took him to the brink in their quarterfinal.

Van Ness won 5-2 in sudden victory after a flurry of exchanges that went back and forth. Van Ness eventually got behind Swiderski, wrapped him up at the knees, and the exhausted Swiderski fell like a tree.

SHAYNE VAN NESS SURVIVES 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

With a takedown in the last second of sudden victory, (1) Shayne Van Ness (149) of @pennstateWREST defeats (8) Casey Swiderski of Oklahoma State to advance to the semifinals. #NCAAWrestling x 🎥 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/rYGGRy7fk8

— NCAA Men’s Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling) March 20, 2026

The match was more physical than some MMA fights I’ve seen, and despite the loss Swiderski truly left it all out there.

1. 4 Kaleb Larkin (ASU) vs. 5. Landon Robideau (OSU)

Speaking of leaving it all out there, Robideau was like a dog to a bone on Larkin’s leg, avenging his Big 12 finals loss with a 9-6 win in the national quarters.

Robideau struggled to finish on the flexible and much longer Larkin in Tulsa.

The Cowboy freshman lived on Larkin’s legs in this match, starting early with a first period takedown he really had to work for. But given Larkin’s dexterity, he doesn’t seem to mind having a guy on his legs.

Larkin got a takedown of his own midway through the third period that momentarily gave him a lead, but then Robideau reversed to take the lead back. Larkin escaped, sending the match to sudden victory.

There, Robideau again got straight in on a leg and was relentless, powering to a finish and the win.

Not so fast, my friend 🗣️ #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/ADzYkIHEzO

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) March 20, 2026

Outstanding wrestling matches.

Blood Round-Bound Pokes (UPDATE)

Swiderski’s loss in the quarters means he falls to Friday evening’s blood round. Win here, and Swiderski is an All-American.

Swiderski will wrestle 21 seed Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) in the blood round match. Swiderski beat the Wyoming Cowboy 7-2 in the second round at Big 12s.

He’s one of three Cowboys who will wrestle in Friday night’s blood round along with Zack Ryder and Konner Doucet.

— With that large brace on his injured shoulder, Ryder had an excellent first session of the day, beating 28 seed Abraham Wojcikiewicz (Stanford) with a 10-2 major decision before taking out 14 seed Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech) with a takedown in sudden-victory. 

The gritty Ryder will get 8 seed Silas Allred (Nebraska) in the blood round. It’s a bout that will be big in the team standings as well as the individual glory. Ryder has lost to Allred twice this season: in sudden-victory at National Duals and 4-2 in Lincoln.

UPDATE: I missed this with the whole, keeping up with 10 guys wrestling across eight mats thing, but Allred suffered a leg injury in his quarterfinal. If he can’t go this evening Ryder is an All-American.

— Doucet dropped his quarterfinal to 2 seed Isaac Trumble 4-0 in what wasn’t a very pretty match for the Cowboy.

By seedings standard, he got some help on the backside, as 20 seed Dayton Pitzer beat 5 seed Nick Feldman in the Round of 16. Beat Pitzer, and Doucet gets on the national podium for the first time.

They last wrestled at the 2024 NCAA Championships, where Doucet beat Pitzer 5-0. The Cowboy beat the Panther 3-0 in a dual earlier that season.

First Two Cowboys Eliminated

Dee Lockett and Alex Facundo will finish short of the podium, as both fall in the Round of 16.

Lockett had pulled off a much-needed win against 6 seed LJ Araujo (Nebraska) in his first match of the day, eliminating the Cornhusker. That’s big for OSU’s team race. But then Lockett turned around and lost 10-3 to 13 seed Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) in the next round.

Alex Facundo fell in tiebreakers to 18 seed Colin Kelly (Illinois). Facundo was under in the first tiebreaker period. Kelly got called for a locked hands, giving Facundo a point, but Facundo didn’t escape. So Facundo led 2-1. Kelly ended up escaping with a 1-second riding time advantage to win the match.

Team Standings