NCAA Championships Session I: Catka, Cotton Advance to Second Round

Thursday, March 19

Cleveland, Ohio

Noon

Rutgers University

NCAA Championships - Session I

Photo by: Ryan Meyer

NCAA Championships Session I: Catka, Cotton Advance to Second Round

Mar 19 | Wrestling

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CLEVELAND – No. 11 Rutgers wrestling closed out Session I of the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday afternoon at Rocket Arena. No. 27 seed Hunter Catka (HWT) delivered one of the biggest upsets of the opening round with an overtime victory over No. 6 seed Nathan Taylor (Lehigh), while No. 15 seed Remy Cotton (197) picked up a decision to advance on the front side of the bracket.

Cotton faces four-time All-American and No. 2 seed Rocky Elam (Iowa State), while Catka wrestles No. 11 seed Devon Dawson (Northern Iowa) when the second round begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

No. 24 seed Ayden Smith (125), No. 26 seed Dylan Shawver (133), No. 9 seed Joseph Olivieri (141), No. 24 seed Andrew Clark (149), No. 14 seed Andrew Barbosa (165), No. 21 seed Lenny Pinto (174) and No. 11 seed Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) all moved to the backside of the bracket after opening-round losses.

Session I Attendance: 16,625
Team Standing: 27th (2.0 Pts.)
Session II Matchups (7 p.m. | ESPN)
Championships Second Round
197: (15) Remy Cotton vs. (2) Rocky Elam (Iowa State)
HWT: (27) Hunter Catka vs. (11) Devon Dawson (Northern Illinois)

Consolation First Round
125: (24) Ayden Smith vs. (25) Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska)
133: (26) Dylan Shawver vs. (10) Maximillian Leete (American)
141: (9) Joseph Olivieri vs. (25) Tom Crook (Virginia Tech)
149: (24) Andrew Clark vs. (25) Michael Gioffre (Illinois)
165: (14) Andrew Barbosa vs. (30) Thomas Snipes (Citadel)
174: (21) Lenny Pinto vs. (28) Holden Garcia (Princeton)
184: (11) Shane Cartagena-Walsh vs. (28) Aidan Brenot (North Dakota St.)

Catka faced Taylor in one of the last matches of the session. After Taylor rode out Catka for the duration of the second period, Catka landed a takedown midway through the third period for a 3-1 lead. Taylor forced sudden victory, but Catka drove Taylor to the ground with 25 seconds remaining in overtime for the 6-3 upset.

Cotton also impressed during the championship first round against No. 18 seed Andrew Reall (Brown). Cotton landed a takedown in the second period and held off Reall in the third for a 4-2 decision.
Smith opened the championships against No. 9 seed Maximo Renteria (Oregon State). Trailing 7-2 in the third period, Smith landed a takedown and forced Renteria into back-to-back stall calls before falling just short with an 8-7 loss.

Shawver faced No. 7 seed Lucas Byrd (Illinois) and went toe-to-toe with the reigning NCAA Champion. Shawver landed a takedown in the second period and another in the third before losing by 11-7 decision.

Oliveri's takedown on No. 24 seed Nash Singleton (Oregon State) in the first period was taken off the board after the Beavers challenged that Olivieri recorded hands to the face before the takedown, resulting in a penalty point for Singleton. Tied 1-1 in the third, Singleton earned an escape which proved to be the difference in the 2-1 decision, forcing Olivieri to the backside.

Clark wrestled tough in his matchup with No. 9 seed David Evans (Utah Valley), hitting a reversal before losing 11-5. Barbosa lost to No. 19 seed Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) by 8-2 decision, while Pinto landed an early takedown before losing his rematch to No. 12 seed Carter Schubert (Oklahoma), 5-4. Cartagena-Walsh suffered a tough 4-1 decision in sudden victory to No. 22 seed Zack Ryder (Oklahoma State) to also move to wrestlebacks.

125: (24) Ayden Smith (0-1)