Three Columbia Wrestlers Capture Ivy League Crowns; Six Punch Ticket to NCAAs

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Three Columbia Wrestlers Capture Ivy League Crowns; Six Punch Ticket to NCAAs

3/8/2026 8:01:00 PM | Wrestling

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Nine of 10 Lions finished in top-three

NEW YORK – The 23rd-ranked Columbia wrestling team will send six wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio later this month after a stellar day of wrestling at the 2026 Ivy League Tournament.

Cesar Alvan (165), Joe Curtis (184), and Vincent Mueller (285) all captured individual titles, while Nick Fine (184) and Jack Wehmeyer (197) finished in second place for the Lions. Fine, Kai Owen (157), and Lorenzo Frezza (141) also punched their ticket to the NCAAs. The six NCAA qualifiers is tied for the most in program history with the 2023 team.

The 2026 NCAA Championships will be held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, from Thursday, March 19, through Saturday, March 21, 2026.

"I thought the guys did really well," Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling Donny Pritzlaff said. "We bounced back, we had some tough moments early on when Sulayman and Evin both lost really tough matches to guarantee their opportunity to go to the NCAAs, but they battled back. I think they led the way for our success later on in the match. Cesar, Nick all those guys punching their way into the finals, I'm just so excited for the guys that are going to have a chance to wrestle in the NCAAs."

As a team, the Lions finished second with 118 points. Cornell captured the team title for the second year in a row, finishing first with 132.5 points. Penn finished in third with 116.5, followed by Princeton (85), Brown (79), and Harvard (70).

Nine of the 10 Columbia wrestlers secured a podium finish. Sulayman Bah (125), Evin Gursoy (133), Frezza (141), Owen (157) all finished third. Fine (174) and Wehmeyer (197) took silver, with Alvan, Curtis and Mueller capturing gold.

Following the conference tournaments, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in person to select the remaining 42 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. ET on March 11 on NCAA.com. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.

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