The Minnesota Golden Gophers will send six individuals to the NCAA Wrestling Championships this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. This marks the 10th straight year that Minnesota will be sending at least six wrestlers to the NCAAs. Action began on Thursday morning with all six Gophers winning their initial bouts and moving on to the round of 16 later Thursday evening. Minnesota’s best chance for a potential NCAA title come at 125 pounds with Jore Volk seeded #6 overall and Max McEnelly who enters the championships
seeded #3 at 184 pounds. A preview of each wrestler is below:
125 Pounds—Jore Volk #6 seed
Volk transferred to his hometown school this season and is making his third NCAA Championships appearance after two with Wyoming. He debuted in 2023 with a 1-2 record and then became an All-American with a seventh-place finish in 2024. Volk is 22-5 on the season and has earned the No. 6 seed, Minnesota’s highest at the weight since Sean Russell was also No. 6 in 2019.
Volk has gone 9-4 against the field this year, including a pair of wins over Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca at the National Duals Invitational, the only losses on the season for the No. 2 seed. Volk also defeated No. 3 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State in the Big Ten semifinals. Volk will open up against Brady Roark of South Dakota State, the No. 27 seed. The two met earlier this season in the Gophers’ dual against the Jackrabbits on Nov. 25, with Roark winning via a short-time takedown, 5-4.
Volk opened up taking revenge on Roark picking up a 8-2 win to advance to the round of 16 where he will face #11 seed Tyler Klinsky from Rider Thursday night.
141 Pounds—Vance VomBaur #8 seed
VomBaur is a returning two-time All-American at 141 pounds, finishing in eighth place each of the last two years. This year, he returns as the No. 8 seed as he looks to become the 29th three-time All-American in Minnesota history.
is 7-5 versus the 141-pound class. Three of his five losses were to top-seeded Jesse Mendez of Ohio State (twice), while the other was to No. 3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska. Among VomBaur’s wins include victories over No. 7 Nasir Bailey of Iowa, No. 12 Luke Simcox of North Carolina and No. 14 Braeden Davis of Penn State. VomBaur will first square off with Virginia Tech’s No. 25 Tom Crook in their third matchup of the season. They faced each other twice at the National Duals Invitational in November with VomBaur winning both matchups by decision, 5-4 and then 4-1.
VomBaur has no problem beating Crook for a third time picking up a 14-2 major decision. He will face #24 seed Nash Singleton of Oregon State in the Round of 16 Thursday night after Singleton upset #9 seeded Joey Oliveri from Rutgers.
157 Pounds—Charlie Millard #21 seed
Redshirt freshman Millard will make his NCAA Championships debut this weekend. went 4-7 against those at 157 pounds this season. Five of those seven losses came to wrestlers seeded eighth or higher, including three setbacks against No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State. Millard’s top win against the field came over No. 17 Luke Mechler of Wisconsin, as well as an injury default victory versus No. 7 Kannon Webster of Illinois. Millard will make his NCAAs debut versus No. 12 Vinny Zerban of Iowa State in their first ever meeting.
Millard upset the #12 seeded Zerban 12-6 in their opening match. The match was tied at 5 before Millar ripped off a pair of takedowns in the third period for the win. He now advances to face #5 seed Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State in the Round of 16 Thursday night.
165 Pounds—Andrew Sparks #13 Seed
Sixth-year senior Sparks is set to become the first Gopher in program history to compete at five NCAA Championships. He is 6-5 versus the 165-pound field with four of the losses coming to those seeded sixth or higher. Sparks’ top victory this season was over No. 6 LJ Araujo of Nebraska, and he’s also got multiple wins over No. 14 Andrew Barbosa of Rutgers and No. 16 Paddy Gallagher from Ohio State. Sparks has drawn No. 20 Ty Whalen of Princeton in the opening round as the two square off for their first career matchup.
Sparks rolled past Whalen picking up a 10-1 major decision to advance to the Round of 16. There he will face #4 seed Nicco Ruiz of Arizona State.
184 Pounds—Max McEnelly #3 seed
Max McEnelly is looking to build off last year’s All-America run at 184 that saw him finish in third place. He has earned the No. 3 seed for the second straight year. is 10-2 against the field at 184 pounds this year with the lone losses coming to top-seeded Penn State’s Rocco Welsh in the Big Ten finals and No. 2 seed Aeoden Sinclair of Missouri at the National Duals Invitational. McEnelly has recorded a pair of wins over No. 8 Silas Allred of Nebraska, as well as a decision over No. 9 Chris Moore from Illinois. Additionally, McEnally has bonus point wins against No. 11 (2x), No. 14 (2x) and No. 27. McEnelly is opening against No. 30 Tyler Bienus of Bucknell in the first meeting between the two.
He easily dispatched Bienus in the opening round 22-6 in a technical fall win. He will now face #14 seed Jaden Bullock of Vermont in the Round of 16 Thursday night.
Heavyweight—Koy Hopke #14 seed
Redshift Freshman Hopke is making his first NCAA Championships. Hopke went 7-8 against fellow heavyweight competitors this season. Seven of the eight losses came to those seeded 12th or higher, though five of those seven losses were by three points or less. Hopke’s top wins against the field were over No. 16 Jimmy Mullen of Virginia Tech and No. 18 Christian Carroll from Wyoming. Hopke will first take on No. 19 seed Nate Schon of Drexel as they face one another for the first time.
Hopke had a battle with Schon trailing after two periods, but he picked up a huge take down to take the lead and hung on for a 10-7 victory to advance to the Round of 16 Thursday night. He will face #3 seed Taye Ghadiali of Michigan who he lost to earlier this season.
Rest of the Schedule:
Thursday night’s second session includes the Round of 16 matches and wrestlebacks and will air on ESPN beginning at 6 PM. Friday’s morning session will include the quarterfinals and wrestlebacks and will air beginning at 11 AM on ESPNU. The Friday evening session will be the semifinals and the Blood Round and will air on ESPN2 beginning at 7 PM. Saturday’s early session will be the placement matches for 7th, 5th, and 3rd and will air on ESPNU beginning at 10 AM. The Championship bouts will begin at 5:30 Saturday night on ESPN. Individual mat streams are available for every match on ESPN+.
