February 3, 2026
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College Wrestling
By Andrew Hipps
Now more than ever, elite-level true freshmen are arriving on college campuses ready to compete for All-America honors and national titles immediately. Here is a look at the most likely true freshman national champion in every division of college wrestling.
It was too difficult to choose one in NCAA Division I, so I went with three: Marcus Blaze, Jax Forrest and Aaron Seidel. All three have taken the college wrestling world by storm as true freshmen. They are all undefeated with very high bonus rates. Interestingly, all three wrestlers compete at 133 pounds. Blaze and Seidel were Class of 2025 high school graduates, while Forrest was a high school senior this year and made the unprecedented move to enroll in college early and compete for one of the nation's top wrestling programs, Oklahoma State. With Blaze, Forrest and Seidel all competing at 133 pounds, along with returning national champion Lucas Byrd, two-time national finalist Drake Ayala, undefeated Ben Davino, talented freshman Kyler Larkin and other All-Americans, it's the deepest and most compelling weight class in NCAA Division I wrestling.
Tanner Halling, a two-time state champion and NHSCA Nationals finalist with a 179-2 high school record, has ascended to No. 1 in NCAA Division II at 133 pounds. He is undefeated with multiple wins over past All-Americans. Halling started his college wrestling career by winning the Glenville State Invitational with multiple ranked wins. A few weeks later, Halling knocked off two-time All-American Jerry Echevarria of Gannon. He recently won a title at the Mountain East Conference Wrestling Championships, beating national qualifier James Armstrong of West Liberty in the finals.
Kade Blume, a multiple-time Iowa state champion, has established himself as a national title contender in his first college wrestling season at Wartburg, a Division III wrestling powerhouse. Currently ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds by The Open Mat, Blum has a 15-2 record, with his only Division III loss coming to returning national champion Mark Samual of Roanoke in overtime at the NWCA National Duals. He will play key role for the top-ranked Knights in the postseason.
Braydon Pacheco, a Kansas state champion, has reached the finals of multiple tournaments this season at 125 pounds. He opened his college career at the Falcon Open, where he pinned No. 6 (at the time) Conner Hueck of St. Thomas en route to reaching the finals. Pacheco has multiple ranked wins this season. He has faced three of the top five wrestlers at 125 and recently dropped a close bout to No. 5 Anthony Hughes of Marian at the Missouri Valley Invitational.
Jarrel Miller was one of the top upperweight recruits in the Class of 2025. He was a four-time Ohio state finalist and 2025 Ohio state champion. In addition, Miller was a Fargo champion and placed in several national events. After originally committing to the University Iowa, Miller landed at Iowa Central Community College. He made his college debut on Dec. 10 at 197 pounds, winning by fall. However, his breakout performance came the next month at the NJCAA Coaches Duals, where Miller competed at 184 pounds, going undefeated with wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in the country. He is currently the favorite to win the national title at 184 pounds.
Aubre Krazer was one of the nation's top women's high school wrestlers in the Class of 2025, finishing her prep career in Pennsylvania with a record of 101-1 and four state titles. Before arriving at Lehigh, Krazer competed at the U20 World Championships in August and placed fifth. In November, Krazer won a title at the Bill Farrell Memorial International and earned Outstanding Wrestler honors. She has climbed to No. 2 at 131 pounds in her first college wrestling season at Lehigh. Krazer won a title at the Midlands Championships with a finals victory over returning national champion Lexi Janiak of Aurora. Her road to a national title in 2026 will likely go through Janiak and four-time national champion Cameron Guerin of McKendree.
Makennah Craft was an undefeated four-time Ohio state champion in high school. After competing sparingly in the first semester, Craft became a regular in Campbellsville's lineup in January. She has been nothing short of dominant in the early part of her college wrestling career. Most recently, Craft picked up an 8-0 shutout over No. 3 Zoey Haney of Indiana Tech. She has become a top contender to win a national title at 103 pounds but her path will likely go through returning national champion and top-ranked Erin Hikiji of Providence.
Illinois native Valerie Hamilton finished her high school wrestling career in 2024 but is in her first season of college wrestling at Iowa Central Community College. She was a U17 world silver medalist in 2022 and two years later became USA Wrestling's first junior women's Triple Crown winner. Hamilton has become the most dominant NJCAA women's wrestler in the country in her first season of college wrestling. She climbed to No. 1 in The Open Mat's pound-for-rankings for NJCAA women's wrestling after she moved up a weight class (from 145 pounds to 160 pounds) in a January dual meet and won by technical fall over returning national champion and previous pound-for-pound No. 1 Nevaeh Hayden of Indian Hills. Hamilton also has wins over two other returning NJCAA national champions, Delise Villa of Iowa Central and Ayana Fletcher of Iowa Western. She has also defeated nationally ranked NCAA and NAIA wrestlers.
