Land of Lincoln-ers showed up strong in Philly

03/26/2025 12:57 PM

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PHILADELPHIA, PA • The representatives from Illinois did its home state proud this past weekend in the City of Brotherly Love. Wrestlers with ties to Illinois found themselves in four of the ten national championships matches, crowned three, and walked away with a total of eight All-Americans.

In addition to national champions Vincent Robinson (NC State), Lucas Byrd (Illinois), and Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State), national runner-up Michael Caliendo (Batavia) of Iowa had a great season all in his own right, and the junior has shown that he only improves with each season and each match.

Now a three-time All-American, Caliendo ended with a 24-3 record at 165 pounds, and all three loses came to undefeated national champion Mithcell Mesenbrink of Penn State.

In their dual, Caliendo lost by a technical fall. In the final of the B1G Championships, Caliendo closed the gap to a decision, just as he did in the national championship match. Outside of Mesenbrink, Caliendo defeated 14 ranked opponents this season. To show his sheer dominance, Caliendo also collected 1 bonus-point victories that included 11 technical falls, and he also recorded one fall on the season.

From a sixth-place finish as a freshman at North Dakota state, to a now Iowa Hawkeye where he earned a fourth-place finish last season, and a runner-up finish this season, Caliendo has shown that his wrestling has matured at a steady rate, and now he is simply one win away from his ultimate goal heading into his senior season.

Coming out with fourth-place finishes were Matt Ramos (Lockport) of Purdue and Trevor Chumbley (Marmion) of Northwestern.

For Ramos, who was ranked either first or second all season at 125 pounds, his attainable goal of being a national champion was missed. However, the career of Matt Ramos has been very successful and very exciting. Ramos, who was named the Most Outstanding Freshman at Purdue back in 2022, placed four times at the B1G Championships, was a four-time NCAA qualifier, and he was a two-time All-American, punctuated with a runner-up finish in 2023 where he was responsible for, at the time, one of them greatest upsets of all time.

Ramos can be credited with pushing the Boilermaker program into the hearts and minds of potential recruits with his 023 run to the finals and his name and wrestling being a focal point in the past few years.

Now, it will interesting to see how Ramos does moving forward if he plans to enter the senior circuit and how his exciting and fearless style with transition over.

As for Chumbley, he finally crossed the threshold and earned the All-American honor at 157 pounds that he has been chasing down.

Inside his championship tournament, Chumbley came in as the 20th seed and knocked off the 13th seed in his opening round bout, and then he took down the number four and then number five seed as he wrestled himself into the semifinals. And even though he would lose in the semifinals, he would win his consolation semifinal over the number seven seed and come away with a fourth-place finish and his first visit to the podium. A very impressive run for the Wildcat.

Also earning All-American honors were Ethan Stiles and Vinny Zerban. Overall, an impressive tournament for Illinois, and

Below are the final placings for wrestlers with Illinois ties. They are listed by place, weight, name, NCAA seed, the college or university attending, and their high school.

National Champions

125 • Vincent Robinson (4) NC State • Homewood-Flossmoor

133 • Lucas Byrd (1) Illinois • La Salle, Cincinnati, Ohio

174 • Dean Hamiti (3) Oklahoma State • Joliet Catholic Academy

National Runner-Up

165 • Michael Caliendo (3) Iowa • Batavia

Fourth Place

125 • Matt Ramos (2) Purdue • Lockport

157 • Trevor Chumbley (20) Northwestern • Marmion Academy

Sixth Place

149 • Ethan Stiles (12) Oregon State • Conant

157 • Vinny Zerban (7) Northern Colorado • Civic Memorial