Sooners fought fiercely at the NCAA Championships, with Schubert's dramatic wins and Soldano/Mora's upsets highlighting a season of resilience and future promise
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The University of Oklahoma wrestling team wrapped up its 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships campaign on Friday at Rocket Arena, showcasing resilience and grit despite not advancing any wrestlers to the podium.
Three Sooners including Carter Schubert at 174 pounds, Brian Soldano at 184 pounds, and Juan Mora at 285 pounds, pushed deep into the tournament, reaching Session 4 and competing in the blood round for a shot at All-American status before ultimately falling short.
Schubert, a redshirt sophomore competing in his first full season at 174 pounds after moving up from 157, delivered one of the most memorable performances for the Sooners on the backside of the bracket.
In Session 3, he battled through two grueling, overtime-filled matches that highlighted his tenacity and improving mat skills. First, he overcame a 7-3 deficit in the third period against Purdue's No. 22 Brody Baumann, storming back with three crucial takedowns to secure a dramatic sudden-victory win, 12-9.
Momentum carried into the next round, where he faced South Dakota State's No. 14 Moses Espinoza-Owens in an epic four-round overtime thriller. Schubert successfully defended a late single-leg attempt that could have turned into a three-point near-fall sequence for his opponent, instead turning the tide to claim a hard-fought 4-1 victory.
The blood round brought a high-stakes rematch against Navy's No. 10 seed Danny Wask, a 2025 NCAA qualifier and the same wrestler who had beaten Schubert in the Cliff Keen Invitational finals back in December.
In a low-scoring, tactical affair, neither wrestler managed a takedown through regulation, sending the match to tiebreakers. Wask ultimately edged out a 2-1 decision with a key escape point in the final moments.Schubert's strong showing capped a breakout season, finishing with a team-leading 22-8 record and peaking at No. 7 in the InterMat rankings.
His adaptability to the heavier weight class and ability to thrive in high-pressure, extended matches signaled significant growth and promise for the program's future.
Meanwhile, Soldano and Mora entered Friday as two of only six wrestlers seeded No. 20 or lower to make the quarterfinals, a testament to their upsets over consecutive top-15 opponents earlier in the tournament.
Both dropped tight decisions in the early sessions, Soldano falling to American's No. 10 Caleb Campos in sudden victory-1 (9-6), and Mora losing 4-2 to Arizona State's No. 10 David Szuba—before entering the consolations with All-America hopes still alive.
Unfortunately, they were unable to rebound further in the blood round.Other Sooners saw their postseason journeys end on Friday. At 125 pounds, Conrad Hendriksen was eliminated in the second round of consolations. Tyler Wells at 141 pounds picked up a solid 6-5 consolation win over Virginia's No. 27 Gable Porter but fell in the third round of wrestlebacks to Lock Haven's Wyatt Henson.
Overall, the Sooners accumulated 10.0 team points in a highly competitive field dominated by powerhouses like Penn State (which claimed the team title with a record-breaking performance) and runner-up Oklahoma State (which boasted three freshman national champions).
While the tournament didn't yield All-Americans for OU this year, the deep runs by Schubert, Soldano, and Mora demonstrated the program's competitiveness and potential.
With the season now complete, head coach Roger Kish turns his attention to the offseason. The Sooners welcome a highly regarded 2026 recruiting class, ranked No. 17 nationally by FloWrestling, marking the third consecutive top-20 class under Kish's leadership in his third year at the helm.
This influx of talent, combined with the experience gained by returning wrestlers like Schubert, positions Oklahoma for continued upward momentum in the Big 12 and nationally.