Letters set to wrestle for NCAA Championship

St. Louis, MO – Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel said he thought this was the best team he’d ever taken to nationals, and his wrestlers have certainly been backing him up at the NCAA Championships. Troy Letters led the charge on Friday, moving into the national final for the second straight year to lead five Mountain Hawk grapplers to All-American placings, the second most in Lehigh history.

Letters pinned John Clark from Ohio State in 1:22 in the quarters, then held off a very tough opponent in Matt King of Edinboro 4-2 in the semis. Letters will take on Tyrone Lewis from Oklahoma State in the finals. Letters beat Lewis in last year’s semifinal bout, but lost to him earlier this season in Stillwater.

At 125, Mario Stuart continued to reprise his surprise run in 2001, as he won two bouts to achieve All-American status for the second time in his career. Stuart lost 12-5 to Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma in the quarters in the morning session, but came back to defeat Matt Pitts of Chattanooga 14-9, then beat Rob Rebmann of Drexel 7-3 to move to the consolation semis.

Cory Cooperman never thought he would get to All-American status on Friday morning, after losing in a pigtail match by pin in 26 seconds. But Cooperman has wrestled like a man possessed since then, punctuating it with a defeat of last year’s national runner-up Dylan Long 5-1 to gain All-American status. Cooperman also won two matches in the morning session, a 16-1 tech fall over Harvard’s Max Meltzer and a pin of Wisconsin’s Tyler Lauden in 2:26. Although he lost in the consolation quarters to Iowa State’s Nate Gallick 4-2, Cooperman can still finish as high as seventh as he faces Coyte Cooper of Indiana on Saturday.

Brad Dillon suffered a heartbreaking loss in the morning quarterfinals, dropping a 12-7 decision to Missouri’s Ben Askren. Dillon and Askren were tied 7-7 going into the first overtime, where Askren got a shot in and got the takedown and three-point nearfall to end it. The senior steadied himself though, and gained All-American for the second straight year with a 10-8 victory over Ed Pawlak in another overtime match, then kept advancing with a 7-4 decision over Nate Yeltzer of Edinboro. Dillon will face No. 4 Ryan Lange of Purdue in the wrestleback semis.

At 184, Travis Frick fought a very tough match against No. 2 Ben Heizer from Northern Illinois, but came up one takedown short and lost 4-2 in the quarters, but he too reached All-American status with a 2-1 victory over Nick Ciarcia of Brown. Ohio State’s Blake Kaplan ended his run there with an 8-1 win, but Frick can also finish seventh if he can avenge an earlier loss this season to Kurt Backes of Iowa State.

Derek Zinck won two matches in the wrestlebacks, but fell just shy of All-American in the evening session as he dropped a 6-2 match to Missouri’s Kenny Burleson. Earlier he beat Jeremiah Jarvis of UC-Davis 9-4 and Joe Johnston of Iowa 8-4.

The only Lehigh wrestler to see his season come to an end Friday morning was Matt Ciasulli at 133, who lost a consolation bout 7-4 to Mimi Miller from Oklahoma.

The consolation finals will begin at 11:00am Saturday morning, and a recap of them will be broadcast at 2:00pm on Lehigh’s website. The finals will begin at 6:30 on Saturday and will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Audio coverage of the matches will also be provided by 91.3 FM WLVR and on Lehigh’s website at www.lehighsports.com.

Quarterfinals

Weight

Matchup

Result

Score

125

Sam Hazewinkel (OU)

over

Mario Stuart (LU)

11-5

165

Troy Letters (LU)

over

John Clark (OSU)

WBF, 1:22

174

Ben Askren (Missouri)

over

Brad Dillon (LU)

12-7, SV

184

Ben Heizer (UNI)

over

Travis Frick (LU)

4-2

Semifinals

Weight

Matchup

Result

Score

165

Troy Letters (LU)

over

Matt King (Edinboro)

4-2

Consolations Second Round

Weight

Matchup

Result

Score

133

Mimi Miller (OU)

over

Matt Ciasulli (LU)

7-4

141

Cory Cooperman (LU)

over

Max Meltzer (HU)

WTF, 16-1

157

Derek Zinck (LU)

over

Jeremiah Jarvis (UC-Davis)

9-4

Consolations Third Round

141

Cory Cooperman (LU)

over

Tyler Lauden (UW)

WBF, 2:26

157

Derek Zinck (LU)

over

Joe Johnston (Iowa)

8-4

Consolations Fourth Round

Weight

Matchup

Result

Score

125

Mario Stuart (LU)

over

Matt Pitts (UTC)

14-9

141

Cory Cooperman (LU)

over

Dylan Long (UNI)

5-1

157

Kenny Burleson (MU)

over

Derek Zinck (LU)

6-2

174

Brad Dillon (LU)

over

Ed Pawlak (Buffalo)

10-8, tb

184

Travis Frick (LU)

over

Nick Ciarcia (Brown)

2-1

Consolation Quarters

Weight

Matchup

Result

Score

125

Mario Stuart (LU)

over

Rob Rebmann (Drexel)

7-3

141

Nate Gallick (ISU)

over

Cory Cooperman (LU)

4-2

174

Brad Dillon (LU)

over

Nate Yeltzer (Edinboro)

7-4

184

Blake Kaplan (OSU)

over

Travis Frick (LU)

8-1

Team Standings

Oklahoma State

106.5

Iowa

Nebraska

66.5

Lehigh

65.5

Ohio State

Iowa State

Illinois

Minnesota

53.5

Michigan

51.5

Oklahoma

51.5

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 21, 2026 , , 16th, 26.5 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 21, 2026 , , 16th, 26.5 ptts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 20, 2026 , , 16th, 22 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 20, 2026 , , 12th, 22 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 19, 2026 , , 12th, 13 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 19, 2026 , , 11th, 8.5 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at EIWA Championships on March 7, 2026 , , 1st, 163.5 pts.

Lehigh University Athletics

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