Season Review: 2025-26 Michigan Wrestling
4/17/2026 10:21:00 AM | Wrestling
• Record: 9-6 Overall, 4-4 Big Ten Conference (t-8th Place)
• Big Ten Tournament: Fifth Place
• NCAA Tournament: Seventh Place
The University of Michigan wrestling team underwent a significant roster transition in 2025-26, debuting three graduate transfers and five freshmen in a lineup that ultimately proved to be a successful combination for the program in head coach Sean Bormet's eighth season leading the Wolverines. Michigan qualified just six wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, but boasted five All-Americans en route to a seventh-place team finish -- just 1.5 points behind sixth-place Stanford -- for the program's ninth top-10 finish over the last 10 tournaments.
Team Highlights
• Michigan's 2025-26 lineup consistently featured six underclassmen, including five freshmen, and four graduate students. Six freshmen appeared in the Wolverines' dual against Northwestern. Over the course of the season, freshmen Gauge Botero, Eren Sement and Cooper Hilton and redshirt freshmen Justin Gates and Hayden Walters all made their varsity debuts -- Sement and Hilton while maintaining their redshirts.
Redshirt freshmen Cameron Catrabone and Brock Mantanona were season-long starters at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively. With their NCAA podium finishes, Michigan boasted multiple freshmen All-Americans for the just the third time in program history. Steven Micic, Logan Massa and Myles Amine all achieved the feat in 2017, while Josh Churella and Eric Tannenbaum did so in 2025.
• Michigan boasted five All-Americans at the NCAA Championships (March 19-21), tying for the fifth most at the 2026 NCAA Championships, while earning the program's most since boasting six in 2022. Cameron Catrabone, Brock Mantanona and redshirt sophomore Beau Mantanona all claimed NCAA All-America honors for the first time in their careers, while graduate students Lachlan McNeil and Taye Ghadiali did so for the first time in a Michigan singlet. All five Wolverine All-Americans wrestled to or above their NCAA seed.
• The Wolverines posted a stellar 7-1 record during the Saturday morning medal round at NCAAs, scoring three bonus wins and 18 points to climb two spots in team standings -- though Stanford jumped U-M by 1.5 points with an upset win in the finals. Lachlan McNeil and Taye Ghadiali placed third at 149 pounds and heavyweight, respectively, for their best-ever NCAA finishes, Brock Mantanona took fifth place and Cameron Catrabone and Beau Mantanona placed seventh.
• The Wolverines now claim 219 All-America citations in program history, while Sean Bormet has coached 27 since taking over as head coach in 2019.
• Taye Ghadiali became Michigan's fifth different heavyweight All-American since 2018, joining Adam Coon (2015-16, '18), Mason Parris (2021-23), Lucas Davison (2024) and Josh Heindselman (2025). The latter two, graduate transfers like Ghadiali, also posted their best NCAA finishes while at Michigan.
• The Wolverines claimed a dominant 43-3 victory over their in-state rival Michigan State to open Big Ten dual action on Jan. 9. Michigan won nine of 10 matches, earning seven bonus point wins, and claiming eight straight wins to conclude the dual. The match included two pins -- from Christian Tanefeu at 125 pounds and Cameron Catrabone at 157 pounds -- as well as three technical falls at the upperweights. Michigan extended its streak of 15 consecutive dual victories over MSU.
Individual Highlights
• Taye Ghadiali led the Wolverines in 2025-26 with a 28-3 record and boasted 17 bonus wins, including 10 technical falls. He went 8-0 in Big Ten Conference duals with five total ranked wins, including top-10 opponents in three of his last five bouts, and avenged one of his two regular-season losses with a 5-2 decision over Nebraska's A.J. Ferrari in the Big Ten heavyweight championship match. It was Ghadiali's fourth conference title, adding to his three previous SoCon crowns.
• Lachlan McNeil became a four-time NCAA All-American and earned his best NCAA finish with third place at 149 pounds. The 11th seed, McNeil pinned Penn's third-seeded Cross Wasilewski at 5:54 in the quarterfinals -- and after narrowly falling to eventual champion Aden Valencia of Stanford in the semis, bounced back with consecutive wins on Saturday morning, including a 10-5 comeback win over Nebraska's Chance Lamer in his medal match. He finished with a 104-32 career record, including a 22-7 mark this year at Michigan.
• Brock Mantanona placed top five in all three of his tournament appearances, taking second place the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 5-6), third at the Big Ten Championships and fifth at the NCAA Championships -- after bumping up two weight classes to 184 pounds. Mantanona earned his All-America honors by pinning Oklahoma's Brian Soldano at the 2:40 mark of the quarterfinals. He posted a 23-8 record in his first season as an everyday starter for the Wolverines and earned 14 bonus wins.
• Cameron Catrabone and Beau Mantanona both knocked off higher-seeded opponents to secure All-America honors in the NCAA bloodround. After falling in the second round, Catrabone reeled off three straight wrestleback wins and used a second-period turn and rideout to earn a 7-3 decision over Arizona State's fourth-ranked Kaleb Larkin in the bloodround. He and his father, three-time All-American Jeff Catrabone (1995-98), became the fifth father-son duo to earn All-America honors at Michigan.
• Beau Mantanona earned an 11-8 comeback win over NC State's sixth-seeded Matty Singleton with takedowns in the second and third periods in his bloodround bout. He added a first-period pin (2:59) against Iowa State's MJ Gaitan -- his second fall this season against the Cyclone -- in the seventh-place match. The Mantanona brothers are the fourth brother duo to earn All-American honors with the Wolverines.
Honors and Awards
Lachlan
McNeil
Cameron
Catrabone
Beau
Mantanona
Brock
Mantanona
Taye
Ghadiali
NCAA Championships
Lachlan McNeil, third place, 149 pounds
Cameron Catrabone, seventh place, 157 pounds
Beau Mantanona, seventh place, 174 pounds
Brock Mantanona, fifth place, 184 pounds
Taye Ghadiali, third place, heavyweight
National Wrestling Coaches Association
Scholar All-America: Taye Ghadiali, Lachlan McNeil
Big Ten Championships
Taye Ghadiali, heavyweight champion
Big Ten Freshman Wrestler of the Week
Cameron Catrabone (Nov. 28)
Academic All-Big Ten
Teddy Flores, So., Economics
Justin Gates, So., Engineering
Taye Ghadiali, Gr., Social Work
Nathan Jerore, Jr., Movement Science
Codei Khawaja, Jr., Movement Science
Josh Knudten, Gr., Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology MPH
Lachlan McNeil, Gr., Real Estate Development
Keegan Nugent, Gr., Mechanical Engineering MSE
Diego Sotelo, Gr., Master of Management
Lance Trost, Sr., Biology, Health & Society
Joseph Walker, Gr., Social Work
Hayden Walters, Jr., Economics
Players Mentioned
