PHILADELPHIA — A whirlwind season that has included App State Wrestling winning a SoCon regular season championship and the SoCon tournament title concludes with three Mountaineers competing at the NCAA Championships.
The double-elimination event begins Thursday at noon in the Wells Fargo Center, with
Carson Floyd (197 pounds) and
Stephan Monchery (heavyweight) immediately on deck for pigtail round matches that pit a No. 32 seed against a No. 33 seed. Seeded No. 13 at 165 pounds, Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year and three-time NCAA qualifier
Will Miller will also make his debut with a Round of 32 matchup Thursday afternoon.
Here are the opening matchups (brackets subject to change if any wrestlers withdraw):
197: No. 33
Carson Floyd (28-8) vs. No. 32 Wolfgang Frable, Army (21-10)
Hwt: No. 32
Stephan Monchery (19-9) vs. No. 33 Hayden Filipovich, Purdue (12-16)
165: No. 13
Will Miller (21-2) vs. No. 20 Gunner Filipowicz, Army (24-6)
The winners of pigtail matches advance to the 32-wrestler draw to compete again Thursday afternoon against No. 1 seeds: Michigan's Jacob Cardenas at 197 and Minnesota's Gable Stevenson at heavyweight. The losers of pigtail matches will compete again Thursday night against the losers of Round of 32 matches between the No. 3 seed and the No. 30 seed.
Monchery earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships as the SoCon's heavyweight champion, while Miller and Floyd earned at-large berths. Since
JohnMark Bentley became head coach, App State has had 64 NCAA qualifiers and five All-America finishes.
In the regular season, Miller went 4-1 against fellow NCAA qualifiers at 165 pounds, with victories against No. 10 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota), No. 23 Thomas Snipes (The Citadel), No. 28 Mac Church (Virginia Tech) and No. 29 Derek Fields (NC State).
The SoCon runner-up with a last-second loss to Snipes in the 165 final, Miller's only loss in the regular season occurred against No. 2 seed Peyton Hall from West Virginia. Miller held a 4-1 lead in the third period against the two-time All-American before Hall had a tying takedown with 43 seconds left, moved Miller's riding time under a minute and then put an escape-hungry Miller in a compromised position to record back points and a fall with 11 seconds left.
Floyd had wins vs. two ranked foes during the 2024-25 regular season: The Citadel's Patrick Brophy and NC State's Christian Knop, who trailed 6-2 in the third period before stopping for an injury default. Monchery, who went 0-2 against NCAA qualifiers at heavyweight, used a two-point reversal with 14 seconds left in the SoCon final to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 victory that also gave App State its third straight team title.
In the last six seasons alone, the Mountaineers have had NCAA qualifiers at all 10 weights and 32 total NCAA qualifiers.
ESPNU (day) and ESPN (night) will have overarching coverage of this week's championships. The best way to watch App State matches in the early rounds will be via ESPN+ and the live streams for each mat (1-8). App State Wrestling's Twitter account (@appwrestling) will provide updates of mat assignments and approximate match times as they become available in real time.
App State's 2024-25 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station.
Thursday's schedule
Noon: Session 1 - First Round
7 pm: Session 2 - Second Round and Consolation First Round
Friday's schedule
Noon: Session 3 - Quarterfinals and Consolation Second/Third Rounds
8 pm: Session 4 - Semifinals and Consolation Fourth/Fifth Rounds
Saturday's schedule
11 am: Session 5 - Consolation Semifinals and 3rd/5th/7th Place Matches
7 pm: Session 4 - Championship Matches
Opening Round ESPN+ links
goapp.st/Rd1Mat1
goapp.st/Rd1Mat2
goapp.st/Rd1Mat3
goapp.st/Rd1Mat4
goapp.st/Rd1Mat5
goapp.st/Rd1Mat6
goapp.st/Rd1Mat7
goapp.st/Rd1Mat8
Second Round ESPN+ links
goapp.st/Rd2Mat1
goapp.st/Rd2Mat2
goapp.st/Rd2Mat3
goapp.st/Rd2Mat4
goapp.st/Rd2Mat5
goapp.st/Rd2Mat6
goapp.st/Rd2Mat7
goapp.st/Rd2Mat8
ENTRY BIOS:
WILL MILLER (165 pounds | Senior | Helena, Ala. | Thompson HS)
Career: SoCon Wrestler of the Year for 2024-25 and three-time NCAA qualifier ... Career record of 83-31, including a 34-5 record in duals and a 23-1 record in SoCon duals ... At-large qualifier at 165 pounds in 2025 after being an automatic qualifier as a SoCon champion at 165 pounds in 2024 and an automatic qualifier in 2023 as a SoCon finalist at 174 ... Won one match as the No. 16 seed at the 2024 NCAAs.
2024-25: SoCon Wrestler of the Year and All-SoCon honoree ... Top-10 ranking throughout the regular season, coming in at No. 7 in the final NCAA Coaches' Rankings, before going 2-1 at the SoCon Championship tournament while suffering a 4-1 loss in the final on a takedown with one second left from The Citadel's Thomas Snipes, who had a No. 31 ranking at the time ... Enters the NCAA Championships with a 21-2 overall record, including an 11-1 record in duals and an 8-0 mark in SoCon duals ... Had a 4-2 record against fellow NCAA qualifiers prior to the NCAAs ... Had three top-20 wins during the regular season and four wins against wrestlers in the last NCAA Coaches' Rankings of the regular season ... Won 2-1 against No. 20 Mac Church of Virginia Tech thanks to a point penalty for stalling in the second overtime Tiebreaker period, after Church rode out this first 30-second tiebreaker and chose neutral for the next one ... Used a first-period takedown and a bonus point for riding time to claim a 4-1 win against Minnesota's Andrew Sparks, the No. 10 seed for the NCAAs, in the 165-pound final at the Mountaineer Invitational ... Picked up second top-20 win in first four matches by delivering takedowns in the second and third periods of a 7-3 decision against 19th-ranked Derek Fields from NC State ... Held 4-1 lead in third period against West Virginia's Peyton Hall, a two-time All-American, before Hall (the No. 2 seed for the NCAAs) had a tying takedown with 43 seconds left, moved Miller's riding time under a minute and then put an escape-hungry Miller in a compromised position to record back points and a fall with 11 seconds left ... Had go-ahead takedown with a minute left in 6-4 win vs. The Citadel's Thomas Snipes, the No. 23 seed for the NCAAs, and won 4-0 against Campbell's Dom Baker, who had a No. 32 ranking ... Went 5-0 to win the Wilkes Open ... Followed consecutive tech falls against Duke and PC with a 10-1 major decision at Bellarmine despite that match being scoreless entering the third period.
CARSON FLOYD (197 pounds | Junior | Mooresville, N.C. | Lake Norman HS)
Career: Career record of 66-25, including 27-9 in duals and 20-3 in SoCon duals ... SoCon finalist in 2023 as a true freshman who was named SoCon Freshman of the Year ... SoCon third-place finisher in 2024 and 2025.
2024-25: NCAA at-large qualifier after placing third at the SoCon Championship tournament ... Accounted for 10.5 of first-place App State's 79.5 points by going 3-1 with two pins and one major decision in Asheville, where he held a 7-5 lead in a semifinal against The Citadel's Patrick Brophy before allowing a takedown with seven seconds left in an 8-7 loss ... Enters the NCAA Championships with a 28-8 overall record, including a 9-2 record in duals and a 7-1 mark in SoCon duals ... Has 14 pins among his 23 bonus-point victories ... Two ranked wins in the regular season: was up 6-2 in the third before an injury default by NC State's Christian Knop (No. 30 in final Coaches' Rankings) and won a 4-3 decision against Brophy (No. 24 in final Coaches' Rankings) ... Recorded 12th pin of the season against Davidson, giving him a top-10 ranking in Division I falls ... First-period pin flipped a 17-14 deficit to a 20-17 lead in a 24-17 victory against Chattanooga ... Second-period pin against Bellarmine clinched the team win in a 23-19 road victory ... At NC State, moved ahead 4-0 on a second-period takedown of the 30th-ranked Knop and held a 6-2 lead in the third period when the match ended ... Third ranked win was a 12-0 major decision against then-No. 33 Josh McCutchen from Gardner-Webb ... Used a Sudden Victory takedown to win 4-1 against West Virginia's Rune Lawrence in App State's home-opening dual and was tied at 10-10 in overtime against Lawrence at the Southeast Open when Lawrence couldn't continue because of an injury ... Runner-up at the Southeast Open, where he overcame a 9-3 deficit entering the third period against West Virginia's Rune Lawrence in the semifinal round, forcing overtime on takedowns with 50 seconds left and seven seconds left, then advanced via a medical forfeit ... Went 5-0 at the Wilkes Open with three pins and two tech falls.
STEPHAN MONCHERY (Heavyweight | True Freshman | Middletown, N.Y. | Middletown HS)
2024-25: SoCon champion at heavyweight as a true freshman, with that victory clinching the team tournament title for App State in the final match ... Seeded No. 2 in Asheville, had a quarterfinal win by major decision and a 4-2 semifinal win (with a first-period takedown) against VMI's Josh Evans before winning the final by a 6-5 decision against The Citadel's Jonathan Chesser ... Quickly followed escape to open second period of the final with a takedown for a 4-0 lead, before a pair of escapes and then a takedown with 49 seconds left in the third period gave Chesser a 5-4 lead ... Clutch two-point reversal with 14 seconds left (while coming close to near fall points) delivered a 6-5 lead, and a Chesser reversal occurred moments after time expired ... SoCon All-Freshman Team honoree ... Enters the NCAA Championships with a 19-9 overall record, including a 7-4 record in duals and a 7-1 mark in SoCon duals, after starting the season with a 6-6 record ... Has eight total pins ... Among seven SoCon dual wins, there were three pins, three major decisions and one forfeit ... Taking the mat with App State ahead 20-17 against Chattanooga with one match remaining, won by a 9-1 major decision to clinch the dual, using a takedown in the second period to move ahead 3-1 and going ahead 7-1 on a third-period takedown ... Won by an 11-2 major decision against Campbell to give App State a 15-12 team lead ... Won first two SoCon duals (by fall vs. VMI and by major decision against The Citadel) after making dual debut against West Virginia, then improved to 3-0 in SoCon duals with a forfeit win against Presbyterian ... Won by fall in the first period at Gardner-Webb ... Went 3-0 at the Wilkes Open to reach a final that wasn't contested against a teammate ... In the Freshman/Sophomore Division at the Southeast Open, won his first collegiate match by fall and advanced to the final of his bracket with a 5-1 decision.
