Nebraska not only had the most former wrestlers of any college in the United States competing at the Pan American Championships, they all found a way to the medal stand.
Represting Team USA, Ridge Lovett and Liam Cronin both won gold medals, while Caleb Smith and Mikey Labriola both won silver — both representing Puerto Rico.
Nebraska wrestlers have been going through a resurgence of late — both Lovett and James Green won US Open titles last month and will wrestle in Final X where Team USA decides its World Team. Smith and Labriola are set to represent Puerto Rico at the World Championships this year at the end of October.
In addition to those four at the Senior level, Nebraska also has LJ Araujo set to represent Brazil at the U20 World Championships and Omar Ayoub already qualified for U20 Worlds for Puerto Rico. Araujo won U20 World bronze at 79 kg in 2024, and Ayoub was a World bronze-medalist last year at 61 kg.
Nebraska also has guys like Antrell Taylor, Christopher Minto and Camden McDanel who will likely make runs at making the U23 team for Team USA later this month. McDanel is a two-time U20 US Open champion and won U20 World bronze in 2023 at 97 kg.
Now to breaking down how these four former Huskers did this weekend at Pan-Ams.
Ridge Lovett
70 kg — Team USA
After winning a US Open title in April, Lovett backed it up with a dominant run at Pan-Ams and looks like he could be the future and the present for Team USA at 70 kg. Lovett blitzed the field, outscoring his opponents 31-0 on the way to winning continental gold.
In his first match, Lovett faced Michael Zale of Canada, downing him 10-0 via technical superiority in 1 minute, 5 seconds. Lovett then beat Francisco Gonzalez of Mexico 10-0 in just 36 seconds.
In the semifinal round, Lovett advanced via medical forfeit over Argentina’s Mauricio Lovera.
In the final, Lovett faced 19-year-old Victor Soto Rivera of Puerto Rico and smothered him from the opening whistle. After a quick push-out point Lovett hit a slick duck-under for a takedown before adding two exposures and a near pin with an arm bar combined with a crab ride. Lovett then turned Soto Rivera two more times with the arm bar before putting him on his back, adding a figure-four to the head to secure the pin.
A guy with a lot of freestyle and Greco-Roman success in high school before dominating in folkstyle in college, Lovett looks like he’s here to stay for Team USA with his wide array of skills in the international style.
Next up for Lovett will be a date with five-time World and Olympic Medalist Bajrang Punia of India at RAF 09 on May 30 in Arlington, Texas.
After that, he’ll face his Final X opponent on June 19 in a best-of-three matchup to determine who Team USA sends to the 2026 Senior World Championships in early November. The winner of this week’s World Team Trials will face Lovett at Final X — the favorite to win is 2023 World Champion and two-time World finalist Zain Retherford, a three-time NCAA Champion for Penn State.
Liam Cronin
57 kg — Team USA
After earning bronze last year at Pan-Ams, Cronin significantly upped his game this year, showing his rapid improvement in freestyle.
An All-American as a senior for Nebraska, Cronin was a finalist at the US Open in 2025 and made the US National Team at 57 kg last year. This year, Cronin finished fourth at the Open last month but rebounded for his first continental gold medal this weekend.
Cronin won his quarterfinal match 11-0 in 2:30 over Guatemala’s Edwin Guerra, nearly pinning him to move on to the semis.
Cronin then laced his way to a 12-1 tech in the semis against Nicaragua’s Justin Rosales Lacayo in just 1:44.
In the finals, Cronin took on Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz who was an NCAA Champion for Lehigh in 2017 — he also placed 5th at the Olympics in 2024, making it to the bronze-medal match. Cronin took a 1-0 lead to the break in this one before scoring a slick step-out point while on the shot clock in the second period to go up 2-0. Cruz then took a 2-2 criteria lead with a minute left with a takedown, but Cronin rolled Cruz through for an exposure late — the Puerto Rico challenged the call and lost, giving Cronin a point for the 5-2 lead.
In the final exchange, Cronin gave up a late step-out and a caution point for fleeing the mat, but he won the match 5-4 to earn his gold medal.
Next up for Cronin is World Team Trials this Thursday and Friday in Louisville, Kentucky.
As of now, there are only five wrestlers registered for the Trials — led by Olympic silver medalist and three-time NCAA Champion Spencer Lee of Iowa. Also registered is Anthony Knox who Cronin lost to 10-3 at the Open in the 3rd-place match — Knox was a U20 World-teamer in 2025.
Cronin will have to reverse that result with Knox in the WTT semifinal before taking on Lee in the finals — the winner goes on to Final X to face Luke Lilledahl who won the US Open last month.
Caleb Smith
61 kg — Team Puerto Rico
Wrestling up a weight class from 57 kg where he likely belongs because of the presence of Cruz in that spot for Puerto Rico, Smith made an impressive finals run this weekend.
Smith beat Guatemala’s Alex Vega Tun 10-0 in 3:00 before downing Costa Rica’s Peter Hammer 10-0 in 1:38. Smith used an incredible slam on the way to the quick victory.
In the semifinal round, Smith beat Garrette Saunders of Canada 10-0 in 2:24 — outscoring his opponents 30-0 going into the final against Team USA’s Austin Desanto — a former Iowa All-American and one of America’s best guys at 61 kg.
Smith struggled with Desanto’s defense and pressure, dropping the gold-medal match 9-0, earning him the silver medal with his eyes now set on the World Championships in late October.
Mikey Labriola
70 kg — Team Puerto Rico
Labriola was a four-time All-American for Nebraska and an NCAA finalist in 2023, and he’s showing a lot of promise on the Senior level in freestyle.
A former U23 National Champion for Team USA, Labriola competed in last year’s Senior World Championships for Puerto Rico, finishing with a 1-1 record. After a 10-0 tech against Japan, Labriola fell to five-time World medalist Mohammad Nokhodi of Iran 4-0 — Nokhodi owns a freestyle win over Jordan Burroughs.
A current assistant coach for Rutgers, Labriola opened his round-robin tournament this weekend with a loss to Team USA’s Levi Haines 11-0 in 4:01 — Haines is the defending World silver medalist.
Despite that loss, Labriola was dominant the rest of the way. He beat Columbia’s Jhoan Rodriguez 10-0 in 1:45 before downing Sergio Espinoza Muniz of Mexico via pinfall in just 37 seconds while up 10-0.
In his final match, Labriola beat Canada’s Patrik Leder 11-0 via tech in 3:54, finishing his tournament with a 3-1 record, earning a silver medal. After falling to Haines — who won all of his other matches by tech in the first period — Labriola outscored his opponents 31-0.
With a Senior-level spot locked up for Puerto Rico, Labriola could find the medal stand this year at Worlds.
