College season begins this weekend with Sacred Heart, Bridgeport in action
Danbury High graduate Ryan Jack, of NC State right, earlier in his collegiate career in Albany, N.Y.
The collegiate wrestling season kicks off this weekend with Sacred Heart’s men’s and women’s wrestling teams – the state’s lone Division I programs — in action.
Three Connecticut wrestlers are ranked in the preseason FloWrestling poll and two women are ranked in the National Wrestling Coaches Association top 10 rankings. Most Division II and Division III teams open their seasons next weekend.
Sacred Heart’s men’s program opens the season on Saturday at Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium at 11 a.m. The Blue Devils are led by redshirt junior Connor Barket, who is ranked as high as No. 18 by FloWrestling at 187 pounds.
Sacred Heart is looking to improve on a 1-17 campaign last year. The Pioneers are 0-2 against Duke with the most recent match coming in a 23-15 loss at Hofstra last November.
Norwalk’s Brendan Gilchrist (285) was a starter last season for Sacred Heart.
The Sacred Heart women finished 10-8 and 15th in the nation at last year’s national championship tournament. This year, the first year of the NCAA hosting the national tournament, the Pioneers are unranked.
Love Daley (160) is the only Sacred Heart wrestler ranked in the top 10 of the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s individual rankings.
The Pioneers open at the East Strousdburg Open on Sunday.
The three Connecticut men who are ranked in preseason polls are Stanford’s Nico Provo (125), North Carolina State’s Ryan Jack (141) and Binghamton’s Will Ebert (184).
Provo, who redshirted last year, is ranked No. 11 for No. 14 Stanford at 125 while Jack, a All-American wrestler for the No. 7 Wolfpack (141) in 2024, is ranked No. 9. Jack also redshirted last season. Ebert, who wrestled at Fairfield Warde, is ranked No. 32 in the country.
The last Connecticut wrestler to earn All-American honors at the Division I level was Jack at 141 in 2024 with a seventh place finish. Only five wrestlers from the state have earned All-American honors at the D1 level.
The University of Bridgeport, which is launching a men’s and women’s program this weekend, will be competing at the Division II level.
Bridgeport’s men’s and women’s team will each open the season at the East Stroudsburg Open.
Defending national champion Penn State, who won their 12th national title a year ago and went 15-0, is the No. 1 team in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) preseason top 25 poll.
Nebraska, who was second to Penn State in Philadelphia at last March’s NCAA championship meet, starts the season at No. 2 followed by Iowa, Ohio State and Oklahoma State.
Penn State returns nine All-American wrestlers and is currently in the midst of a 71-match winning streak, the longest in the NCAA Division I era (since 1973), according to wrestling historian Jason Bryant.
It is the sixth longest dual meet win streak in collegiate history. The Division I record is 76 set by Oklahoma State from 1937 through 1951.
According to Bryant, the NCAA record is 77 in a row, set by Division II St. Cloud State from 2017-22. NAIA Grand View has the all-time collegiate streak at 117 in a row, set from 2013 through 2022.
State college wrestling schedule
Connecticut collegiate wrestlers 2025-26 (Division I and women. Working on Division II and III)
Top 25 Division I poll
| The preseason Division I wrestling poll as voted by coaches across the country. Record is from last year (2024-25) and LY is the ranking in the final poll of the 2024-25 season. Tuesday, October 28, 2025 |
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| Team. | Rec. | Pts. | LY | |
| 1 | Penn State (16) | 15-0 | 400 | 1 |
| 2 | Nebraska | 11-3 | 379 | 5 |
| 3 | Iowa | 14-1 | 363 | 2 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 13-3 | 330 | 7 |
| 5 | Oklahoma State | 13-1 | 328 | 3 |
| 6 | Iowa State | 12-5 | 321 | 12 |
| 7 | NC State | 11-2 | 279 | 9 |
| 8 | Lehigh | 7-4 | 274 | 21 |
| 9 | Minnesota | 10-2 | 263 | 6 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech | 9-2 | 257 | 8 |
| 11 | Michigan | 7-5 | 215 | 19 |
| 12 | Cornell | 11-1 | 214 | 10 |
| 13 | Northern Iowa | 14-1 | 199 | 4 |
| 14 | Stanford | 10-5 | 198 | 18 |
| 15 | Rutgers | 14-5 | 189 | 11 |
| 16 | Illinois | 9-4 | 187 | 14 |
| 17 | South Dakota State | 14-4 | 135 | 13 |
| 18 | Missouri | 5-10 | 123 | 25 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 8-4 | 104 | 20 |
| 20 | West Virginia | 10-7 | 83 | 24 |
| 21 | Pittsburgh | 10-6 | 81 | 17 |
| 22 | Little Rock | 17-3 | 78 | 15 |
| 23 | North Carolina | 9-6 | 55 | 16 |
| 24 | Army | 8-3 | 38 | 23 |
| 25 | Wyoming | 12-6 | 29 | NR |
| Others Receiving Votes: Purdue 20, Penn 19, Wisconsin 11, Arizona State 5, Navy 5, Indiana 4, Lock Haven 4, Cal Poly 3, Columbia 3, Maryland 2, Oregon State 1, Rider 1. | ||||