Cornell’s Diakomihalis wins 4th title; Penn St wins again
TULSA, Okla. — Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis became the fifth Division I wrestler to win four national titles and Penn State won its 10th team title in 12 years on Saturday at the NCAA wrestling championships, with former President Donald Trump in attendance.
Diakomihalis capped the evening by defeating Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso 4-2 in the 149-pound final. He joined Kyle Dake, Pat Smith, Logan Stieber and Cael Sanderson — Penn State’s coach — as the only four-time champions ever in Division I.
Penn State ran away with the team title, mathematically clinching before the evening session began. The Nittany Lions finished with 137.5 points. Iowa was second with 82.5 points and Cornell placed third with 76.5.
Two Penn State wrestlers won titles for the third straight year — Penn State’s Carter Starocci at 174 and Aaron Brooks at 184.
Starocci pinned Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola early in the second period. He had defeated Labriola in the Big Ten final and gave him his only two losses of the season. Brooks, the No. 3 seed at 184, defeated top-seeded Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa 7-2.
All didn’t go as planned for Penn State. Third-seeded Vito Arujau of Cornell defeated Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young — a two-time defending champion and an unbeaten No. 1 seed — 10-4 for the title at 133.
Iowa’s Spencer Lee was in the running to win his fourth title before losing in the semifinals to Purdue’s Matt Ramos at 125 on Friday night. Lee medically forfeited out of Saturday’s action and officially finished sixth.
Ramos followed up his stunning upset by facing Princeton’s Pat Glory, the unbeaten No. 2 seed who was the runner-up in the class last year. Glory won 3-1 to claim Princeton’s first title since 1951.
In other finals, at 141, Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez defeated Iowa’s Real Woods 6-4 in a matchup of unbeatens.
At 157, North Carolina’s Austin O’Connor won his second national title with a 6-2 win over Penn State true freshman Levi Haines.
At 165, Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole repeated by defeating Iowa State’s David Carr, 8-2. The second-seeded O’Toole avenged two losses to Carr this season by dominating the third period. Carr, the champ at 157 in 2021, was unbeaten and the No. 1 seed this season.
At 197, Pitt’s Nino Bonaccorsi, the No. 1 seed, finished an unbeaten season by defeating South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan 5-3.
And at 285, Michigan’s Mason Parris completed an unbeaten season with a 5-1 win over Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet, the No. 3 seed.




