Cade DeVos was the sole Jackrabbit to place at the NCAA Division I National Championships over the weekend and became a repeat All-American.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Damion Hahn regarding the performance of DeVos. “Not only because of his athletic accomplishments but I would like to put what he is doing in the classroom up against the other, you know 80 All-Americans and see where he stacks up.”
The five-time qualifier picked up his first win of the tournament over Dan Braunagel of Illinois before taking on No. 4 Garrett Thompson of Ohio. DeVos tallied two early takedowns in the match to walk away with a 9-3 decision win.
No. 5 Simon Ruiz met No. 13 DeVos in the quarterfinals where he picked up the upset. The Iowa native scored a takedown and escape on Ruiz to win 4-3.
DeVos saw his biggest challenge of the season against No. 1 Keegan O’Toole of Missouri. The Jackrabbit kept the match close, holding a 5-4 lead heading into the third period. From the bottom position, O’Toole outmatched DeVos with a reversal in which DeVos escaped bringing the score to 66. O’Toole finished the match with a ride time point to seal his victory at 7-6.
The sixth year went on to lose his next two matches against Patrick Kennedy of Iowa and Ruiz to take sixth in the 174-pound class.
The eight other Jackrabbits who competed in the tournament were all eliminated.
“The thing that I’m kind of amazed by is how well we did with some of the adversity that got thrown at us this year,” said Hahn. “I went back and looked and out of those 18 duals, only three duals [where] we had full lineups. We have guys that want to get into that lineup and we have guys that want to battle.”
No. 5 Bennett Berge earned an 8-2 win over West Virginia’s Dennis Robin in the opening round of the 184-pound tournament. Berge then went on to face Silas Allred of Nebraska, the No. 12 seed.
Berge led going into the third period 4-1 but Allred caught the Jackrabbit’s leg, resulting in a pin at 6 minutes and 42 seconds.
In the wrestlebacks of 184 pounds, Berge matched up against Donnell Washington, the No. 22 seed from Indiana. Berge couldn’t score throughout the course of the match, losing by major decision 12-0.
At 125 pounds, No. 23 Tanner Jordan took on Northern Colorado’s Stevo Poulin who beat Jordan 9-5 by decision.
Jordan fought through Keyveon Roller (11-2, major decision) before being eliminated by Caleb Smith of Nebraska. Jordan and Caleb Smith went into sudden victory before he finished Jordan with a takedown.
No. 3 Nasir Bailey met No. 30 Derrick Cardinal at 133 pounds in the first round and nearly lost. Cardinal found himself down 6-1 before fighting back to even the score at 8-8. Bailey managed to secure a riding time point to send Cardinal down to the consolations with a 9-8 loss.
Cardinal went on a run in the first two rounds of the consolation bracket, earning a pair of wins over Nolan Wertanen 10-7 and a 5-4 decision win over TK Davis. The junior’s season was ended by Tyler Knox of Stanford by major decision.
At 141 pounds, Julian Tagg earned a victory by major decision over Joseph Olivier of Rutgers before taking on No. 2 Beau Bartlet of Penn State. Though Tagg kept Bartlet under five points, the Jackrabbit was only able to score an escape leading to a 4-1 Bartlet victory.
The junior went on to beat Nash Singleton 10-3 before losing by tech fall to Oklahoma State’s Tagen Jamison.
Cobe Siebrecht, a finalist for 157 pounds in the Big 12 took a loss in the first round to Jude Swisher by way of pin.
Siebrecht earned two victories over James Conway (7-5) and beat No. 4 Rafa Hipolito of Virginia Tech with a pin before losing to Brandon Cannon 14-7.
Drake Rhodes went 0-2 at nationals, losing his first match against Jack Thomsen 13-8 and then Aiden Riggins of Iowa State 9-3 at 165 pounds.
Zach Glazier finished his collegiate career with a 1-2 2025 national tournament record. Glazier lost in the first round to No. 19 Andy Smith 4-2 and won his next match against West Virginia’s Ian Bush 4-3. The No. 14 in the 197-pound class finished with a loss to No. 13 Trey Munoz. Glazier to Munoz to sudden victory before Munoz scored a takedown to end the match.
In his first NCAA Tournament, Luke Rasmussen fell to No. 8 Luke Luffman 8-2. In his second match, Rasmussen beat Nolan Neves of North Carolina 10-6 while scoring a takedown and reversal. But Rasmussen’s tournament came to an end the match later, losing to No. 10 Dayton Pitzer by major decision (9-0).
