Season Review: 2024-25 Michigan Wrestling

• Record: 7-5 overall, 3-5 Big Ten Conference (t-8th place)
• Big Ten Tournament: Seventh Place
• NCAA Tournament: 12th Place

The University of Michigan wrestling team tested its roster depth over the course of the 2024-25 season due to injuries and fielded a squad of young talent, numerous new faces and experienced portal additions to the lineup in what proved to be somewhat of a transition year in head coach Sean Bormet's seventh season at the helm of the Michigan program.

Team Highlights

• Eleven wrestlers made their debuts in Michigan's starting lineup over the course of the season, including six who earned their first varsity win in a U-M singlet: grad transfers Jacob Cardenas, Chase Saldate and Josh Heindselman, senior/junior Dzhabrail Khurshidov, junior/sophomore Codei Khawaja and freshmen Brock Mantanona and Cameron Catrabone. Senior/junior Christian Tanefeu also earned his first dual win this season, though not in his dual debut.

In all, U-M had eight new faces in its starting lineup at the Big Ten Championships, while seven made their Big Ten Championships debut. Only Sergio Lemley, Jaden Bullock and Saldate (while at Michigan State) had previous Big Ten tournament experience.

• Removing the two weight classes where Michigan did not earn a specific place (125, 174 pounds) at the Big Ten Championships, the Wolverines outplaced their seed at all but one weight.

• Cardenas and Heindselman became Michigan's 213th and 214th All-Americans in program history and increased Bormet's total to 22 since 2019. U-M has produced at least one All-American in 28 of the last 30 seasons.

• Michigan earned a 27-12 win over its in-state rival Michigan State in its final Big Ten dual of the season on Feb. 16. The Wolverines won six matches, earning bonus points in four, and claimed three straight at the upperweights to close the dual, including a technical fall from Heindselman in the last bout at heavyweight. Lemley also posted his first fall of the season at 141 pounds, while Beau Mantanona rolled to a major decision at 165. Michigan has won 14 consecutive series meetings against MSU.

• The Wolverines also went 4-0 in their non-conference duals. They opened the dual slate with wins over Columbia (28-9, Nov. 17), Duke (35-11, Nov. 22) and Virginia (29-12, Nov. 24), claiming seven matches in each dual and earning 18 total bonus wins, including seven against the Blue Devils. Michigan also won seven of 10 bouts, including each of the last five and five total with bonus points, to cruise past Central Michigan 31-11 in its final dual of the season on Feb. 23.

Individual Highlights

• Graduate student Cardenas knocked off the nation's No. 1- and No. 2-ranked wrestlers en route to the Big Ten 197-pound title, avenging his only loss of the regular season with a 4-1 overtime win over Penn State's Josh Barr in the semifinals before beating Iowa's top-ranked and previously-undefeated Stephen Buchanan 4-2 in the championship final. It was Cardenas' second straight conference championship, previously winning a 2023 EIWA title at 197 pounds while at Cornell.

• Cardenas claimed fourth place at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors for the third straight year. He secured his spot on the podium with a 10-5 decision over Indiana's Gabe Sollars in the quarterfinals and after narrowly falling in the semifinals, he split his final two bouts with a 5-2 win over Arkansas Little Rock's 12th-seeded Stephen Little in the consolation semifinals. Cardenas posted a 24-3 record and led Michigan in dual points (47), Big Ten Tournament points (20.5) and NCAA Tournament points (13.5) to earn the program's Cliff Keen Award as its 2024-25 most outstanding wrestler.

• Graduate student Heindselman reached the NCAA podium for the first time in his career -- and fifth appearance at the NCAA Championships -- with his seventh-place finish at heavyweight. He edged Illinois' eighth-seeded Luke Luffman 2-1 in the tiebreaker in the bloodround before avenging his medal-match loss from the Big Ten Championships two weeks earlier with a 2-1 decision against Iowa's fifth-seeded Ben Kueter in the seventh-place bout.

• Heindselman, who fell in the Round of 12 in his previous season at Oklahoma, became Michigan's fourth straight heavyweight All-American, joining three-time All-American Adam Coon (2015-16, '18), NCAA champion and three-time All-American Mason Parris (2021-23) and NCAA finalist Lucas Davison (2024), who like Heindselman posted his best NCAA finish while at Michigan.

• Sophomore/Freshman Beau Mantanona took third at the Big Ten Championships then finished one win shy of All-America honors in his NCAA debut at 165 pounds. He had suffered what was thought to be a season-ending ACL tear a week before the season started in October, but surgery proved the ACL intact and he returned to competition in January. He was named the Big Ten Freshman Wrestler of the Week after beating Northwestern's No. 18 Max Mayyfield 4-3 and Minnesota's No. 9 Andrew Sparks 7-4 on a road trip later that month. He posted a 17-6 record and shared the team lead with five pins.

• Freshman Brock Mantanona held down the 165-pound spot early in the season, posting two ranked wins and placing seventh at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. He was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 27, after earning an 11-3 major decision over No. 12 Nick Hamilton in U-M's dual win at Virginia, and capped his redshirt season with a 9-8 win over Central Michigan's No. 7 Alex Cramer up at 174 pounds. Mantanona went 12-3 on the year with nine bonus wins.

• Cardenas claimed 92kg silver at the U23 World Championships in October in Tirana, Albania. He went 4-1 in the competition, with his biggest win coming in the first round -- a 10-0 tech against Russian Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov, the junior world champion at 92kg, earlier this fall. He fell to Iran's Amir Hossein Firouzpour 11-4 in the gold-medal final after leading on criteria at the break. Firouzpour previously captured the 92kg U23 world title in 2022 and is a two-time senior-level Asian champion. It was Cardenas' third medal in consecutive world appearances, adding to silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023.

Honors and Awards

Jacob
Cardenas

Josh
Heindselman

Nolan
Wertanen

Joseph
Walker

Beau
Mantanona

NCAA Championships
Jacob Cardenas, fourth place, 197 pounds
Josh Heindselman, seventh place, heavyweight

National Wrestling Coaches Association
Scholar All-America: Nolan Wertanen

Big Ten Championships
Jacob Cardenas, 197-pound champion

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
Joseph Walker (Nov. 7)

Big Ten Freshman Wrestler of the Week
Brock Mantanona (Nov. 27)
Beau Mantanona (Jan. 23)

Academic All-Big Ten
Joaquin Consuelos, Sr., Theatre Performance
Nathan Jerore, Jr., Movement Science
Austin Jordan, Sr., Computer Science
Codei Khawaja, Jr., Movement Science
Dzhabrail Khurshidov, Sr., Applied Exercise Science
Josh Knudten, Sr., Microbiology
Zack Mattin, Sr., Biology, Health, & Society
Keegan Nugent, Sr., Mechanical Engineering
Dylan Ragusin, Sr., Communication and Media
Lance Trost, Jr., Biology, Health, & Sciences
Hayden Walters, So., LSA Undeclared
Nolan Wertanen, Sr., Engineering