NCWWC and NAIA All Americans

NCWWC

The Grand Valley State Lakers ended their season with two national champions and a finalist. The Lakers finished fourth out of 64 teams in the NCWWC championship with a score of 129.5, while Iowa took first with 201.5 points. Sage Mortimer and Katie Lange led the way for the Lakers with national championships. Mortimer walked through the semis, pinning and teching her way to the finals. In the finals, she picked up an 11-7 decision over Chavez of King University. Lange could not be outdone, pinning and teching her way through the entire tournament, including a 10-0 tech over Jaffe (McKendree) in the finals.

Brighton's Sabrina Nauss also made a run to the finals for GVSU. After a wild 17-14 win in the semis over Lawson (North Central), Nauss would ultimately fall to #1 Welker of Iowa. Welker was a 2024 World bronze medalist and is one of the best pound-for-pound wresters in the country.

In total, there were 9 Michigan Grapplers that secured All American honors. Aspen Blasko (124lbs) and Elleni Johnson (160lbs) also placed for GVSU. Northern Michigan had two All Americans in Sakamoto (117lbs) and Caltagirone (138lbs). Kendra Ryan, formerly of Fenton, made a solid run to take 3rd at 110lbs for North Central. Lydia Krauss of Boyne City HS, now at McKendree, finished on the podium with an 8th place medal.

All NCWWC All Americans

110lbs - Sage Mortimer (GVSU), 1st
110lbs - Kendra Ryan (North Central, Fenton HS), 3rd
117lbs - Yu Sakamoto (Northern Michigan), 3rd
124lbs - Aspen Blasko (GVSU), 5th
138lbs - Katie Lange (GVSU), 1st
138lbs - Alissa Caltagirone (Northern Michigan), 8th
160lbs - Elleni Johnson (GVSU), 5th
180lbs - Sabrina Nauss (GVSU, Brighton HS), 2nd
180lbs - Lydia Krauss (McKendree, Boyne City HS), 8th

NAIA

Trevor Marsman (Cornerstone, Cedar Springs HS) entered the national tournament as the 2-seed at 125lbs, and he walked away as an All American for the third time in his career. After getting upset by 7-seed Calderon (Indiana Tech) in the quarterfinals, Marsman had to bounce back against an extremely tough Jamarcus Smith (Cleary, Mumford HS) in the blood round. With a former MHSAA grappler guaranteed an All American spot in that blood round match, it was Marsman that walked away with a 13-0 major decision and podium honors. He would ultimately win his 7th place match against Banda of Reinhardt.

Photo by Cornerstone Athletics

Aaron Lucio (Southeastern, Stevensville Lakeshore HS) put together an outstanding tournament, finishing 3rd at 133lbs. Lucio's impressive run to the semis was capped off with his impressive win over #5 Cockrell in the quarterfinals. Cockrell was a 4x Fargo All American and started his college career as a starter for Maryland in the Big Ten. After a tough 4-2 loss in the semis to #1 Chavez, Lucio would bounce back and win in both the consi semis and 3rd place match.