We kick off our previews of the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships with the heavyweights. We are going to go through every weight class and look at the favorites and the sleepers. And, of course, since this is an Ohio State website, we will place extra focus on the Buckeye wrestlers and their paths to becoming All-Americans.
Before we start, just one word about the team competition: It’s Penn State’s to lose. The Nittany Lions have one of the most absurdly dominant wrestling teams in history. It would take an absurd amount of bad luck and upsets for anyone else to win. But the fun part about starting with heavyweight is that it’s Penn State’s weakest weight class. So, let’s look at the contenders.
Favorites: Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), Isaac Trumble (N.C. State)
The top two seeds in this weight class are the two undefeated wrestlers on the season. Trumble competed a relatively abbreviated year, with only 16 matches, but he was pretty dominant in winning all of them. Bastida is a cool 25-0 on the year, also relatively untroubled.
However, neither wrestler has faced much elite competition this year. And neither is so dominant that an upset would shock us. (And, remember, the most dominant heavyweight in history managed to lose in the final last year, so nothing would shock us anyway.) Bastida will likely face either Ben Kueter (Iowa) or Cole Mirasola (Penn State) in the quarterfinals, which could be a potential upset. Trumble actually has the seemingly more manageable path as the No. 2 seed in this bracket.
Ohio State’s Wrestler: Nick Feldman
Feldman is the No. 5 seed in the bracket, coming in with a 22-5 season and a third place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Feldman will face Jarrett Stoner (Missouri) in the first round. Stoner is much more talented than your typical No. 28 seed, but it’s a match Feldman should win.
Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) is Feldman’s likely second-round opponent. Feldman beat Amos twice this year, though both matches were close. The likely third-round opponent is No. 4 seed A.J. Ferrari (Nebraska). Ferrari just beat Feldman at the Big Ten Championships, though Feldman won the regular-season meeting. Both matches were extremely close, and I would expect another tight one if they meet again.
In fact, other than a loss to Mirasola in the disastrous Penn State dual meet, Feldman’s four other losses have come to this tournament’s top four seeds (one to each). All of those matches were close, too. Margins are small at heavyweight this year, but Feldman winning five matches and taking home the trophy in Cleveland wouldn’t be a total shock, either.
Sleepers: The entire top nine
This weight class is wide open, and nothing coming from the top nine seeds would be a stunner. And with All-American honors going to the top eight, things are going to get very intense in the wrestlebacks. This is a weight class you don’t want to miss. Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State) is seeded seventh, but he only has three losses on the season––all of them close matches against top four seeds (two against Bastida).
Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) is seeded sixth and probably the weakest link among the top seeds. Unlike the others, he actually has a relatively bad loss on the year. Then again, he also beat Mirasola back in December and almost beat Bastida. So he might be more upset-prone, but he can also beat anyone in this weight class on the right day.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: NCAA Wrestling Championships Preview: Heavyweight
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