We continue our edition of “Where Are They Now?” with the Class of 2021. Monster class coming out of New York State in 2021, which was plagued with missed state championships for fall and winter sports due to COVID-19.
Side note here – super happy that our media team was able to capture this photo of Stevo right after he won his blood round bout 6-4 over Dean Peterson (Iowa) in 2025 to break through after two previous blood round losses. Even better that he was able to do it with Troy Nickerson in his corner!
Class of 2021
Stevo Poulin (Shenendehowa): The Shenendehowa graduate and Journeymen Wrestling product was the 20th overall recruit in the country coming out of high school. He won three state titles, placed fifth at the Cadet World Championships, and won a coveted Super 32 belt. Stevo would start his college career at NC State where he would put together a 6-0 record as a redshirt. That would be his only year at NC State, and he’d leave for Northern Colorado where he’d wrestle under New York legend Troy Nickerson for three seasons. In those three seasons he would make the blood round of the NCAA Championships two consecutive years in a row before breaking through in 2024-25, ultimately finishing 8th in the nation. Following Troy Nickerson’s departure from Northern Colorado to Army West Point, Poulin would enter the transfer portal and finish his final year at Iowa State. Throughout his final year in Ames he’d once again find success, notably avenging four prior losses he had to Jett Strickenberger in Hilton Coliseum. He’d once again qualify for the NCAA Championships where he had a monster of a quarter bracket with returning NCAA Champ Vincent Robinson, NCAA finalist Troy Spratley, and returning All-American Sheldon Seymour. Poulin would bow out in the consolation round of 16 as he lost to #4 Sheldon Seymour 5-4, and returning NCAA champ Vincent Robinson.
Overall Poulin was a 4x NCAA Qualifier, NCAA All-American, Big 12 Champ, 2x Southern Scuffle Champ, 4x Big 12 placer (7th, 5th, 1st, 2nd), and put together a career record of 94-28. It is unclear if we will see Stevo on the international circuit moving forward, although we’d all love to see it!
Jordan Titus (Center Moriches): Titus left Long Island for West Virginia after becoming Center Moriches first state champ in school history and was the first New Yorker to win the Ironman in 2019. He was a FloNationals All-American, Super 32 All-American, Fargo All-American, NHSCA National Champ, and competed at the prestigious Who’s #1 event. Throughout the course of his college career at West Virginia he would qualify for the NCAA Championships four years in a row and put together a career record of 92-61. His biggest win of his college career came as a redshirt freshman where he knocked off #1 Cole Matthews (Pitt) on January 8, 2023. Almost a month later of the same season and he would topple NCAA All-American Casey Swiderski by 11-3 major decision. Throughout the course of his career he’d beat several other All-Americans including CJ Composto and Clay Carlson. Although Titus’ college career was rocky at times, as many successful college wrestlers are, Titus always turned it up a notch when the postsesason came around and was able to accomplish a feat very few are able to do…4x NCAA Qualifier.
Christian Hansen (Cold Spring Harbor): Hansen closed his career as a state champion for Cold Spring Harbor, and was also their first state champ in school history. Hansen would compete for four seasons at Cornell, and while his first three were relatively quiet, he’d break out during the 2025-26 season in a big way. His breakout year would start at the National Duals Invitational by Paycom where he upset #4 Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley / Oklahoma State) in what was a 1 hour match with multiple delays. He’d then earn Ivy League Wrestler of the Week honors. Throughout the year he would notch wins over NCAA Qualifiers in Chris Moore (Illinois), Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech), and Rylan Rogers (Lehigh). Ultimately his season was cut short due to a season ending injury he sustained on January 31 while wrestling Columbia’s Joe Curtis. Fortunately, Hansen will get one more chance at glory as he was granted a medical redshirt, and will be wrestling at North Carolina for his final year.
Chase Liardi (Massapequa): Liardi capped off his career at Massapequa as a 2x state finalist and would start by taking his career to the Big 10 where he wrestled for Ohio State. He’d spend one year there while redshirting and put together a record of 11-4 while wrestling unattached. After that redshirt season he’d come back to Long Island and wrestle at Hofstra. As a redshirt freshman he’d immediately start and put together a record of 10-13 before missing his sophomore season due to injury. During the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons he’d remain the starter for Hofstra at 133lbs and 141lbs putting together a combined record of 19-30. It looks like he was granted a medical redshirt for the year he missed due to injury and will be back for one final lap.
Jacob Null (Dolgeville): Null was a spectacle coming out of high school and was the 27th overall recruit in the nation. He was a state champion and 3x NHSCA All-American. While in high school he would notably beat Brevin Cassella 3-2 in the finals of the 2020 Eastern States Classic. Cassella ended up being a 4x NCAA qualifier for Binghamton. He started off his career at NC State where he redshirted and put together an impressive record of 21-8, notably winning the Wolfpack Open title at 174lbs. After his redshirt year he’d transfer to Purdue and wrestle in the Big 10. His lone match in action would be against Indiana’s Donnell Washington, a former NCAA All-American who beat Carter Starocci, where he would take a loss and get injured in the process. This would ultimately be the last match he’d wrestle in his college career. Null graduated from Purdue last month.
James Araneo (Ward Melville): Araneo was a state finalist coming out of high school for Ward Melville and would take his talents to Brown where he’d wrestle for the duration of his career. He’d ultimately be in-and-out of Brown’s lineup throughout his time in college, but would win the teams Most Improved Wrestler Award in 2022. His final season was in 2024-25 where he did not see any action. Araneo now works as a financial analyst for a consulting group.
Gaven Bell (Cold Spring Harbor): Bell finished as a state medalist for Cold Spring Harbor and at the time held the school record for most pins. He wrestled at Maryland for the entirety of his college career and saw spotty lineup time on a competitive Big 10 team. He finished 4th at the Tiger Style Invite in 2023-24, competed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite, and started in four duals for the Terps.
Sebastian Garibaldi (White Plains): Garibaldi was a 2021 state champion and NHSCA Senior Nationals Champion before going to wrestle for Princeton. He earned a sixth place medal at the Midlands Championships in 2024-25, won the Princeton Open, and was on the cusp of qualifying for the NCAA Championships during that 2024-25 season. This past year he was spotty as he was managing an injury and put together a record of 8-3.
Brock DelSignore (Shenendehowa): DelSignore was a state runner-up coming out of high school in addition to capturing a Journeymen Fall Classic title and Beast of the East podium honors. He started his career at NC State for three seasons before transferring to Little Rock where he remains today. His best season came in 2024-25 where he put together a record of 13-8 and was ranked throughout much of the season. Ultimately he would go 0-2 at the Pac 12 Championships and would just miss out on at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. During the 2025-26 season he would only compete in five bouts as he’d get injured in Little Rock’s dual against Indiana while wrestling Sam Goin. He was granted a medical redshirt and will be back for one final season. Fingers crossed that DelSignore is all healed up and ready to rock, the guy has a ton of potential and has earned wins over NCAA All-Americans including Bennett Berge throughout the course of his college career.
Cooper Kropman (Penfield): Kropman was the 61st overall recruit in the country in the Class of 2021 and was a New York State Champion alongside being a 5x Section V Champion. He finished 3rd, 2nd, and 1st at the NYSPHSAA State Championships, and was ranked as high as 6th in the nation at 160lbs. He was named to USA Wrestling’s High School All-American team in 2021. He was originally going to take a greyshirt year at the Spartan Combat RTC before enrolling at Cornell. Ultimately he would not wrestle at Spartan Combat RTC or the collegiate level. It looks like Kropman still resides in Penfield, and is helping brother Zane get ready for his final season at Penfield HS.
