Every DI National Qualifier From New England

The Division I National Championship is like the Super Bowl for folkstyle wrestling. The biggest name programs and best wrestlers all come together to duke it out with national titles and All-American status on the line. Seven athletes with roots in New England have qualified to compete at this year’s event which is a huge accomplishment in itself. The tournament will be held from March 20-22nd in Philadelphia, PA at the Wells Fargo Center.  Every match will be live streamed on ESPN+ and each session will be broadcast on one of ESPN’s networks:

March 20

Session 1, 12:00PM – ESPNU

Session 2, 7:00PM – ESPN

March 21

Session 3, 12:00PM – ESPNU

Session 4, 8:00PM – ESPN2

March 22

Session 5, 11:00AM – ESPNU

Session 6, 7:00PM – ESPN

Additionally, the entire tournament can be followed on trackwrestling.com. Tune in or follow along online to support the local athletes that came up through the New England ranks and competed on the same mats as the guys currently ranked on the Schwartz Report!

133

No. 6 Connor McGonagle (Gr.) – Virginia Tech

Danville, NH – Timberlane

High School Accolades:

• 4x NH All State Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)

• 3x CNESSPA New England Champion (2017, 2018, 2019)

• 4x CNESSPA New England Placer (2nd 2016, 1st 2017, 1st 2018, 1st 2019)

• NHSCA National Champion (2018)

• 3x NHSCA All-American (2nd 2017, 1st 2018, 3rd 2019)

College Accolades: 

2021 (Wrestled for Lehigh):

• 3rd EIWA Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (0-2)

2022 (Wrestled for Lehigh):

• 4th EIWA Championship 

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (0-2)

2023 (Wrestled for Lehigh):

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (Did not compete due to injury)

2025:

• 1st ACC Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Connor McGonagle of Timberlane fame, is back in the national tournament for the 4th time in his wrestling career. After losing his starting spot to Ryan Crookham at Lehigh last season, McGonagle entered the transfer portal and landed in Blacksburg with the Hokies! He enters nationals with a full head of steam winning his first ACC Championship this year. In the bracket he was awarded the No. 6 seed and will wrestle No. 27 Ethan Berginc of Army in the round of 32. McGonagle’s only loss on the season came to Tyler Wells of Minnesota who also qualified for the big dance as the No. 22 seed, making it possible for McGonagle to see him in the round of 16. Also, in his quadrant of the bracket are returning All-Americans from last season No. 3 Nasir Bailey of Little Rock and No. 11 Evan Frost of Iowa State. It will be a tough three days in Philadelphia, but McGonagle certainly has the ability to get on the podium this season and has shown it with 2 wins over 2x All-American Kai Orine of NC State including one in the finals of the ACC tournament last weekend.

No. 13 Tyler Knox (RS Fr.) – Stanford

Groveland, MA – St. John’s Prep/Northfield Mt. Hermon

High School Accolades:

• MA All-State Champion (2022)

• CNESSPA New England Champion (2022)

• Prep New England Champion (2020)

• Prep All-American (7th 2020)

• 2x NHSCA National Champion (2022, 2023)

• 3x NHSCA All-American (7th 2021, 1st 2022, 1st 2023)

College Accolades: 

2025:

• 4th ACC Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Knox’s first season as a starter for Stanford has been extremely impressive; up until the ACC Tournament he had been ranked inside the top 10. Sitting at the No. 13 seed in the bracket, Knox could shake things up at 133. His first-round match is against No. 20 Blake Boarman out of UT Chattanooga, if he gets through that he will likely see No. 4 Zeth Romney of Cal Poly in the round of 16. The last time Knox and Romney wrestled; Knox won a 5-3 decision. Knox also has impressive wins over several returning All-Americans on the season including No. 26 Kai Orine of NC State, No. 10 Dylan Shawver of Rutgers, and No. 2 Drake Ayala of Iowa. There is a very good chance that Knox outplaces his seed of 13.

157

No. 29 Jimmy Harrington (Jr.) – Harvard 

Tyngsboro, MA – Belmont Hill school

High School Accolades:

• 2x Prep New England Champion (2019, 2020)

• Prep National Champion (2021

• 3x Prep National All-American (8th 2019, 5th 2020, 1st 2021)

• NHSCA All American (4th 2021)

College Accolades: 

2024:

• Competed at EIWA Championship (1-2)

2025:

• 5th Ivy League Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

After a 5th place finish in the inaugural Ivy League Conference Tournament, Harrington was selected as an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. This is his first time qualifying. He comes into the tournament as the No. 29 seed and will face the ACC Champ No. 4 Rafael Hipolito of Virginia Tech right out of the gate. This a tough draw but Harrington has pulled off upsets before, including a win over All-American No. 22 Ed Scott of NC State. He also technically has a win over All American and Ivy League Champ No. 2 Meyer Shapiro of Cornell, but it was a win by injury default.

165

No. 24 Cesar Alvan (Jr.) – Columbia 

Ludlow, MA – Northfield Mt. Hermon/Springfield Central/Ludlow

High School Accolades:

• 3x MA All-State Placer (5th 2017, 3rd 2018, 1st 2019)

• MA All-State Champion (2019)

• 2x CNESSPA New England Placer (4th 2018, 1st 2019)

• CNESSPA New England Champion (2019)

• Prep National Champion (2021)

• NHSCA All-American (3rd 2019)

College Accolades: 

2023:

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (0-2)

2025:

• 2nd Ivy League Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Coming out of a grey-shirt year (Ivy League equivalent of a red-shirt) Alvan has impressed on the season, finishing 2nd in the Ivy league Championship and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This is Alvan’s 2nd trip to NCAA’s after getting an at- large bid in 2023. At No. 24 in the bracket, he will see No. 9 Cam Steed of Missouri in the Round of 32. He also has returning All-Americans No. 8 Cam Amine of Oklahoma State and No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State in his quadrant of the bracket. 

174

No. 6 Brevin Cassella (Gr.) – SUNY Binghamton

Clinton, MA – Nashoba

High School Accolades:

• 3x MA All-State Placer (2nd 2018, 1st 2019, 1st 2020)

• 2x MA All-State Champion (2019, 2020) 

• 3x CNESSPA New England Placer (5th 2018, 3rd 2019, 1st 2020)

• CNESSPA New England Champion (2020)

College Accolades: 

2021:

• 8th EIWA Championship

2022:

• 5th EIWA Championship 

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (1-2)

2023:

• 4th EIWA Championship 

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (0-2)

2024:

• 3rd EIWA Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (2-2)

2025:

• 1st EIWA Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Cassella has improved his finish at EIWA’s every season and this year finally climbed to the top winning the 174lbs Title and earning the tournament most Outstanding Wrestler Award in the process. As an EIWA Champ, he was also awarded an automatic bid to NCAAs which will be his 4th trip to the main event. Cassella was given the No. 6 seed and will face off against No. 27 Jasaiah Queen of Drexel in the first round. Although Drexel is also in the EIWA, the two have not faced this season; Queen finished 4th at the conference tournament. If Cassella gets through his first-round match he will likely see No. 11 Patrick Kennedy of Iowa in the round of 16 who is a very tough opponent, this would be a fun match to watch. 

184

No. 20 Nick Fine (Jr.) – Columbia 

Cumberland, RI – Bishop Hendricken

High School Accolades:

• 4x RI State Finalist (2nd 2018, 1st 2019, 1st 2020, 1st 2021)

• 3x RI State Champion (2019, 2020, 2021)

• 2x CNESSPA New England Placer (4th 2019, 2nd 2020)

• 3x NHSCA All-American (7th 2018, 6th 2019, 1st 2021)

• NHSCA National Champion (2021)

College Accolades: 

2022:

• 7th EIWA Championship

2025:

• 3rd Ivy League Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Fine, like Alvan, took a grey-shirt year last season. He returned to the starting lineup for the first time since his freshman season in 2022 and responded with a 3rd place finish at the Ivy League Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Fine is sitting at the No. 20 seed and will have No. 13 Evan Bockman of Iowa State in the round of 32. If he gets through that one, he will likely see returning national finalist No. 4 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State in the round of 16. Fine will have hard time not running into tough opponents in this bracket as it is full of hammers, but he does already have wins over No. 18 Maximus Hale of Penn, No. 27 Ross McFarland of Hofstra, and No. 29 Kole Mulhauser of Princeton. 

285

No. 16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Gr.) – Rutgers 

Rechitsa, Belarus – Northfield Mt. Hermon

High School Accolades:

• 3x Prep New England Champion (2017, 2018, 2019)

• 2x Prep National All-American (2nd 2017, 2nd 2018)

• 3x NHSCA All-American (3rd 2017, 1st 2018, 1st 2019)

• 2x NHSCA National Champion (2018, 2019)

College Accolades: 

2020 (Wrestled for Harvard):

• 2nd EIWA Championships

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (NCAA Tournament cancelled due to COVID)

2023(Wrestled for Harvard):

• 3rd EIWA Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier (3-2)

2024:

• 4th Big 10 Championship

• 7th NCAA National Tournament (5-2)

2025:

• 4th Big 10 Championship

• NCAA National Tournament Qualifier

Slavikouski is a transplant from Belarus but has spent a large chunk of his time in the US based out of New England by way of his time at Northfield Mt. Hermon and then Harvard. After graduating from Harvard, he transferred to Rutgers last season to use his remaining eligibility and ended up with his first ever All-American honors finishing 7th at the national tournament. This season he is back with the Scarlet Knights and had to get into the NCAA tournament via at-large selection despite finishing 4th in the Big 10 Championships. He was provided the No. 16 seed and will face off against No. 17 Jake Andrews of Cal State Bakersfield in the first round. Assuming he gets through that one, he will have a date with 2x Hodge trophy winner, 2x National Champion, and Olympic Champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota in the Round of 16. If Yara is going to get back on the podium he will either have to pull off a massive upset or string together a handful of wins in the consolation bracket.