CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Senior Peter Kane won the 157 pound weight class at the NCAA Championship on Saturday evening in Iowa, helping the Williams College wrestling team to its best-ever finish at the National Championship in 9th place.
Kane, only the second four-time All-American in Williams wrestling history, caps his career as the program's first-ever individual national champion. Fellow senior Caleb Seyfried and sophomore Jamie Evarts also earned All-American honors in a banner day for Ephs wrestling.
Day One Recap
Kane entered Saturday's competition in the semifinals, having won a pair of matches on Friday to advance to the final four in his class and extend his unbeaten season to 30-0 in 2025-26. He faced the #5 seed in his bracket, Liam Flanagan from Washington & Lee, and after a scoreless first period, Kane took control in the second. An escape followed by a quick takedown gave him a 4-0 lead, which he extended with another takedown in the third. An additional point for riding time gave him a comprehensive 8-0 major decision to advance to the final.
The top seed then squared off against Rhenzo Augusto of Elmhurst. A tactical first period saw both wrestlers unable to score a point, but a quick escape to start the second period gave Augusto a 1-0 lead. Kane tied the score with a similar escape to start the third. As time started to wind down on the final period, Augusto put Kane in a tricky spot, and for a moment it looked as if the Elmhurst wrestler was going to gain control to earn a takedown and the critical three points. However, Kane held on and after effective technical work, managed to turn the tables and eventually came out on top, earning three points for a takedown with seconds remaining in the bout. Kane maintained control as the clock ticked down to zero and he was crowned a national champion.
For the senior, the fourth trip to nationals was the charm. As a first-year in 2022-23, Kane was unseeded in the tournament but finished in 7th, and a year later, as the #3 seed, he made the final but lost a tight 4-2 decision to capture 2nd place. Last year, he had a pair of 1-point decision losses but eventually won his 5th place match. This year, it all came together and he wrestled flawlessly throughout the weekend.Â
Though Kane earned the dramatic win, the Ephs had a pair of other wrestlers in action on Saturday who also earned critical points toward the team score.Â
In the 184 pound weight class, Jamie Evarts captured an impressive third place, battling through the consolation bracket to deliver on his #3 seeding coming into the event. Though Evarts had endured a difficult opening to his weekend, losing his first match on Friday, the sophomore recovered and won an amazing five straight bouts to finish third. After qualifying as a first-year in 2024-25 and dropping both of his matches at NCAAs, Evarts made an enormous jump to finish as an All-American and one of only a handful Ephs ever to be top-three in the country.
The final Eph on the podium as an All-American is Caleb Seyfried, who was wrestling at NCAAs for the first time in his career. In the 149 pound weight class, Seyfried had lost his first match on Friday but won the next two to advance to the second day, and opened Sunday against Maksim Mukhamedaliyev of the University of Chicago. After quickly jumping ahead, the Chicago wrestler eventually scored late to advance, and Seyfried then had to face the #3 seed from SUNY Cortland, Angelo Centrone, in the 7th place match. The Cortland senior earned the win, but Seyfried finishes his career as an All-American who contributed valuable points to Williams' best-ever finish at nationals.
The team's ninth-place finish is one better than the team's previous best, having earned 10th place in both 2009 and 2015. The 45.5 points the Ephs earned is also a school record, ahead of the 33 points from 2015 and the 30.5 in 2009. The other accomplishments from the season include sending a school record six wrestlers to nationals, finishing a program-best second place at Regionals, among others accomplishments.
