BOONE, N.C. — A winner of the last three conference tournament titles, App State Wrestling returns to Asheville this week for 2026 SoCon Championship competition at UNC Asheville's Kimmel Arena.
The two-day event starts Friday at 10 a.m. and concludes Saturday, with the championship matches scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on the final day. The tournament will be
streamed on ESPN+, and
tickets are available for purchase online.
With App State, The Citadel and Chattanooga tying for first place at 7-1 during the dual season, plus two of the individual No. 1 seeds being represented from the 4-4 group of Gardner-Webb, Davidson and Bellarmine, it's been a competitive year with less of a top-heavy structure, meaning more teams or individuals than usual have realistic title hopes.
Chattanooga leads the way with four No. 1 seeds, followed by App State and The Citadel with two apiece. The Mocs have no wrestlers seeded lower than fourth.
Five schools having at least one No. 1 seed is noteworthy given that the SoCon was only allocated one automatic NCAA Championships qualifier at each of the 10 weights, meaning at-large bids will be very sparse for wrestlers who don't win SoCon titles.
Friday's Schedule
10 a.m. – Pig Tail Matches
11 a.m. – First Round/Consolation First Round
2:30 p.m. – Consolation Quarterfinals
3:30 p.m. – Semifinals
Saturday's Schedule
10 a.m. – Consolation Semifinals
1 p.m. – Consolation Finals
3 p.m. – Finals
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
App State has two wrestlers who have won SoCon titles:
Tomas Brooker (2024 champion at 184 pounds as a true freshman, before he missed almost all of last season with an injury) and
Stephan Monchery (2025 champion at heavyweight as a true freshman, delivering a comeback win in the last championship match to help App State edge The Citadel for the team title).
The Mountaineers had only one champion last year but were helped by the fact eight of their 10 entries secured a top-three finish.
SOCON SEEDS
125
#1 Cooper Flynn, Chattanooga
#2 Tyson Lane, Gardner-Webb
#3 Brady Joling, Davidson
#4 Gylon Sims, The Citadel
#5 Colby Crouch, Campbell
#6
Cooper Foster, App State
#7 Joe Calvin, Bellarmine
#8 Waylon Rogers, VMI
#9 Fernando Dominguez, Presbyterian
133
#1 T.K. Davis, Gardner-Webb
#2 Ethan Uhorchuk, Chattanooga
#3
Jarvis Little, App State
#4 Trayce Eckman, Bellarmine
#5 Logan Heil, Campbell
#6 Teegan Vasquez, The Citadel
#7 Luke Passarelli, Davidson
#8 Cody Tanner, VMI
#9 Ethan York, Presbyterian
141
#1 Hunter Mason, Chattanooga
#2 Dominic DiTullio, Gardner-Webb
#3 AJ Rallo, Bellarmine
#4 Dyson Dunham, VMI
#5
Aldo Hernandez, App State
#6 Zander Phaturos, Campbell
#7 Marley Washington, Davidson
#8 Thomas Termini, The Citadel
#9 Rey Ortiz, Presbyterian
149
#1 Anderson Heap, Davidson
#2
Kaden Keiser, App State
#3 Carson DeRosier, The Citadel
#4 Yuta Otera, Chattanooga
#5 Nate Higley, Bellarmine
#6 Joseph Morris, Presbyterian
#7 Phoenix Alyea, VMI
#8 Ryan Phillips, Campbell
#9 Charlie Sly, Gardner-Webb
157
#1 Kyrel Leavell, The Citadel
#2 Cavarius "CJ" Liddie, Chattanooga
#3 Joseph Giordano, Gardner-Webb
#4 Tanner Peake, Davidson
#5 Kendrick Hodge, Campbell
#6
Jeremiah Price, App State
#7 Jeb Prechtel, Bellarmine
#8 Ray Cmil, VMI
#9 Christian Hale-Anderson, Presbyterian
165
#1 Thomas Snipes, The Citadel
#2
Anthony Conetta, App State
#3 Mason Reiniche, Chattanooga
#4 Bryce Griffin, Davidson
#5 Noah Hall, Bellarmine
#6 Anthony Ferrari, Campbell
#7 Tucker Cell, Gardner-Webb
#8 Ryan Vigil, VMI
#9 Brandon Jacoby, Presbyterian
174
#1 Kamdyn Munro, Chattanooga
#2 Jacob Silka, The Citadel
#3
Colt Campbell, App State
#4 Grant O'Dell, Bellarmine
#5 Marc Koch, Davidson
#6 Isaiah Guerrero, Gardner-Webb
#7 Beau Lewis, VMI
#8 Ryan Bolletino, Campbell
#9 Joshua Roe, Presbyterian
184
#1
Tomas Brooker, App State
#2 Reed Douglass, Presbyterian
#3 Brodie Porter, The Citadel
#4 Landon Jones, Chattanooga
#5 Gavin Ricketts, Bellarmine
#6 Brant Cracraft, Campbell
#7 Cody Kirk, Davidson
#8 Andrew Barford, VMI
#9 Wilson, Gardner-Webb
197
#1 Kade Rule, Chattanooga
#2
Logan Eller, App State
#3 Toby Schoffstall, VMI
#4 Adam Ortega, The Citadel
#5 Conor Maslanek, Campbell
#6 Andrew Liber, Bellarmine
#7 Dylan Smith, Davidson
#8 Hadyn Danals, Gardner-Webb
#9 Toler Hornick, Presbyterian
Heavyweight
#1
Stephan Monchery, App State
#2 Daulton Mayer, Bellarmine
#3 Ethan Vergara, Chattanooga
#4 Josh McCutchen, Gardner-Webb
#5 Sawyer Van Rider, Campbell
#6 Roy Price III, The Citadel
#7 DJ Spring II, Davidson
#8 Cole Will, VMI
#9 Anthony Brown, Presbyterian
NCAA ALLOCATION BREAKDOWN
Of the 330 wrestlers (33 for each of the 10 weight classes) ranked by the NCAA Coaches, only seven are from the SoCon, after five SoCon wrestlers qualified bids (including Brooker and Monchery). The league has no wrestlers in the NCAA Coaches' Rankings at 141 pounds, 149 pounds, 174 pounds, 197 pounds or the heavyweight division.
NCAA COACHES RANKINGS
*
Jarvis Little, No. 32 at 133 pounds
*
Tomas Brooker, No. 21 at 184 pounds
NCAA RPI
*
Anthony Conetta, No. 31 at 165 pounds
*
Tomas Brooker, No. 25 at 174 pounds
*
Stephan Monchery, No. 23 at heavyweight
There are between four to five at-large berths available at each weight for the NCAA Championships, including five apiece at 125 and 165 pounds. That gives wrestlers (primarily ranked ones) who don't earn NCAA automatic berths chances to reach Cleveland, in the cases of upsets and bid-stealing wins from unranked wrestlers at conference tournaments.
The pre-allocations were determined by using a sliding scale of the three standards (win percentage, coaches ranking and RPI ranking) while never going below the base of .700 winning percentage, top 30 coaches ranking and top 30 RPI ranking until reaching the maximum of 29 wrestlers per weight class. For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his conference tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class.
There are eight Division I wrestling leagues. The Big Ten, for instance, will get as many as 10 automatic qualifiers in two different weight classes and at least seven automatic qualifiers in every other weight class. The Pac-12, with only four teams, received 13 pre-allocations.
| Weight Class |
Automatic allotments out of 33 spots nationally |
Automatic SoCon allotments |
SoCon wrestlers ranked in top 33 by coaches |
| 125 |
28 of 33 (5 at-large) |
1 |
1 |
| 133 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 141 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| 149 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| 157 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
1 |
| 165 |
28 of 33 (5 at-large) |
1 |
1 |
| 174 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| 184 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 197 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| 285 |
29 of 33 (4 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| Conference |
125 |
133 |
141 |
149 |
157 |
165 |
174 |
184 |
197 |
285 |
Total |
| Atlantic Coast Conference |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
39 |
| Big 12 Conference |
5 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
63 |
| Big Ten Conference |
9 |
8 |
7 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
8 |
10 |
9 |
87 |
| EIWA |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
26 |
| Ivy League |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
23 |
| Mid-American Conference |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
27 |
| Pacific-12 Conference |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
| Southern Conference |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
| Pre-Allocations |
28 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
28 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
288 |
| At-Large |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
42 |
After all the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 42 at-large qualifiers, who will be announced on March 10. Brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 11.
App State's 2025-26 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station.
