CHADRON, Neb. - The Chadron State College men's wrestling team will open its 2025-26 season at the Dakota Wesleyan University Open Tournament in Mitchell, S.D., on Saturday, November 8. 

?The Eagles entered the tournament for the first time last season and won 70 percent of their matches. Ten CSC wrestlers finished among the top six in their weight classes.

?Nearly all of the four-year schools and a number of community colleges in the Midwest as well as several Minnesota and North Dakota teams are expected to compete this year. Hunter said both Nebraska-Kearney and Augustana University, the teams that finished first and second, respectively, at last year's NCAA Division II National Tournament, are entered.

?Hunter expects his team to be competitive.  Seven seniors and eight juniors along with several promising newcomers are on the roster.

?The Eagles' leader is Keegan Gehlhausen, a senior from Pinedale, Wyo., who was the 184-pound runner-up at last year's national tourney and finished the season with a 22-3 record. Gehlhausen will enter the 2025-26 season as the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the nation at 184 pounds according to both the NWCA Coaches Poll and The Open Mat's national rankings.

?This year's Chadron State line-up at Mitchell will also include Quade Smith, a senior from Layton, Utah, who had been the Eagles' primary 125-pound grappler for three years before redshirting last year but is back in the lineup at 125 pounds. Smith is ranked No. 14 in the country at 125 by the NWCA and No. 18 by The Open Mat. 

?Chadron State's replacement at 125 pounds last year was freshman Hunter Jacobsen of Waverly, Neb. He finished the campaign with a 17-9 record and is now among the team's 133-pound candidates. 

?Others who won more than half their matches last year while filling varsity berths include Cyrus Wells of Broken Bow at 141 pounds, Brandon Paredes of Tucson, Ariz., at 157, Logan Berger of Hartsville, S.D., at 174 and Mason Villwok of Elkhorn at 197.

?Villwok competed at heavyweight much of last season before moving down to 197 pounds and winning eight of his 10 matches at that weight. Villwok earned a No. 20 national ranking from The Open Mat at 197 pounds.

?The Eagles have added two graduate students who are expected to give the team a boost after they both qualified for the national tournament last year while competing for the Gannon University Golden Knights of Erie, Pennsylvania. They are Caleb Chaves, who will compete at 141 pounds, and Eli Reese, who will slot in at heavyweight. Chaves is the No. 14-ranked 141-pounder in Division II according to the NWCA.

?Following this week's tournament, the Eagles will dual Otero Junior College of Colorado and Fort Hays State of Kansas at a neutral site, Wray, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 15 and then enter the massive Nebraska-Kearney Open on Nov. 22.

?The Eagles won't compete at home until January, when they will dual four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams.

WWR's de Seri-era Begins Saturday in Montana

CHADRON, Neb. – The 2025-26 women's wrestling season will get underway this weekend with Chadron State participating in the "Battle of the Rockies" Open in Great Falls, Montana, hosted by the University of Providence (NAIA).

The campaign is the fifth in the history of the CSC women's program and the first under new head coach Sammy de Seriere, who moves up to the head chair after two seasons as the program's lead assistant. 

After a landmark season which saw a program-record three wrestlers win a match at the national tournament and CSC's first-ever women's wrestling All-American crowned in Esther Peters, the Eagles have some national recognition ahead of the season. 

Chadron State has three individually-ranked wrestlers in the NWCA's individual top 10s at each weight class – Peters (No. 5 at 207), Piper Cadden (No. 6 at 131) and Rylee Balcazar (No. 9 at 110). 

All three qualified for the national tournament last season, with Peters and Balcazar each going 3-2 for Chadron State and Cadden going 2-2 as a member of Fort Hays State, where she wrestled for two seasons before transferring to CSC for 2025-26. 

Boosted by those individual rankings, Chadron State is tied for No. 10 nationally in the NWCA Preseason Poll and finished third in the RMAC Preseason Poll. Both of these marks are the highest that CSC has ever been ranked before the season.

The Eagles have a whopping seven athletes on their roster who have a national tournament qualification berth on their resume. Alongside Peters, Balcazar and Cadden, 103-pounder Brianna Vollendroff and 180-pounder Ella May Shevlin also made the national tournament last season. 

Junior and 103-pounder Mana Chanthasone and redshirt junior Ana Rojas-Zamora, who last competed at 123 pounds two seasons ago, are both national qualifiers from the 2023-24 season. Rojas-Zamora redshirted last season and is slated to return to competition this Saturday while Chanthasone is likely to redshirt this year.

The Eagles have several other returners with experience. Senior Shania Wear at 117 pounds is a two-time RMAC placer (sixth in 2023-24, fourth in 2024-25) while also being the two-time defending RMAC Summit Award winner (best GPA in the conference). 

A pair of talented freshmen from last year are back as seasoned sophomores. Sicily Frates placed third in the RMAC at 180 pounds during her true freshman season and was fifth in regionals, one spot out of national qualification. Regan Rosseter, despite not making her debut until the second half of the season, established herself at 138 pounds and placed fourth at the RMAC Championships.

De Seriere and assistant coach Giovanni Cassioppi have brought in a talented freshman class to add to the Eagles' firepower. Some are likely to make their Eagle debut this Saturday, including Gunnison, Colorado's Isabella Crown and Roscoe, Illinois's Angelina Cassioppi. 

With women's wrestling under the NCAA for the first time this season, NCAA eligibility rules will now permit freshmen to appear in up to five tournaments/competition dates without burning a redshirt year of eligibility. Other freshmen include Kaysville, Utah's Eliza Davis and Omaha's Rowyn Wiltgen.

The Eagles have two non-freshman newcomers – Cadden, a redshirt sophomore, and junior Nevaeh Leonard, a transfer from Southeast Community College in Nebraska.