2024 NCAA Championships Watch Party

Vito Arujau Hands Crookham First Loss, Returns To NCAA Wrestling Finals

Vito Arujau Hands Crookham First Loss, Returns To NCAA Wrestling Finals

After two previous losses to Ryan Crookham, returning NCAA champion Vito Arujau put on a show Friday night, handing the Lehigh freshman his first loss.

Mar 23, 2024
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Vito Arujau felt he owed Ryan Crookham something after losing twice to the Lehigh freshman this season. 

It wasn’t about a settling of the scores for the reigning NCAA and World champion from Cornell but rather putting the best version of himself on display Friday night in the national semifinals. 

“The season’s been very challenging for me in the fact that I’ve been — for the first time ever really in my career — I’ve been dealing with a lot of pretty serious debilitating injuries,” Arujau said Friday afternoon following his 13-3 major decision win against North Carolina State’s Kai Orine in the 133-pound NCAA quarterfinals. “I feel like I had not exactly given my best. More than anything it’s unfair to (Crookham) to let him go on and believe he has bested me twice when in reality I feel like I’ve given out inferior versions of myself. I just want to do right by everybody by bringing my best to the table. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose, it’s just that I wrestle my best.” 

Friday night was vintage Vito. 

The Cornell senior piled up four takedowns and cruised to a 13-3 major decision win against the previously unbeaten Lehigh freshman. 

Crookham knocked off then-#1 Arujau 8-4 on Nov. 12 and posted a 10-6 win in their rematch at the EIWA finals. 

“I think I’m wrestling significantly better than I did both times when we wrestled previously,” Arujau said Friday afternoon. “I’m excited to give him a picture of what it actually looks like to wrestle Vito Arujau.” 

Arujau will wrestle Saturday night against Oklahoma State’s top-seeded Daton Fix, a three-time runner-up in search of his first title. Arujau stopped Fix’s championship chase last year in the NCAA semifinals with an 11-3 major decision. 

Fix survived a pair of overtime battles Friday to secure his return trip to the national finals. He clipped Iowa State’s Evan Frost 2-1 in a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals and then downed Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin 3-2 in a tiebreaker in the semis. 

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NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2024 Schedule

The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23. 

Complete schedule

  • Session 1 - Championship First Round    Thursday    March 21    12pm    ESPNU/ESPN+
  • Session 2 - Championship Second Round + Consolations    Thursday    March 21    7pm    ESPN/ESPN+
  • Session 3 - Championships Quarterfinals + Consolations    Friday    March 22    12pm    ESPNU/ESPN+
  • Session 4 - Championship Semifinals + Blood Round    Friday    March 22    8pm    ESPN/ESPN+
  • Session 5 - Medal Round    Saturday    March 23    11am    ESPNU/ESPN+
  • Session 6 - Championship Finals    Saturday    March 23    7pm    ESPN/ESPN+

Where Are The NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024

The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23.

The 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wells Fargo Center while the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships are set for Cleveland, Ohio at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 

NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024 At Large Bids

      WEIGHT    TEAM    FIRST NAME    LAST NAME    CONFERENCE

  • 125    California Baptist    Elijah    Griffin    Big 12
  • 125    Oregon State    Brandon    Kaylor    Pac 12
  • 125    Rider    Tyler    Klinsky    MAC
  • 125    Ohio State    Brendan    McCrone    Big Ten
  • 125    Northern Colorado    Stevo    Poulin    Big 12
  • 125    Harvard    Diego    Sotelo    EIWA
  • 133    Ohio State    Nic    Bouzakis    Big Ten
  • 133    Pennsylvania    Michael    Colaiocco    EIWA
  • 133    Northern Iowa    Julian    Farber    Big 12
  • 133    Missouri    Kade    Moore    Big 12
  • 133    Minnesota    Tyler    Wells    Big Ten
  • 141    Gardner-Webb    Todd    Carter    SoCon
  • 141    Cornell    Vince    Cornella    EIWA
  • 141    Virginia Tech    Tom    Crook    ACC
  • 141    Maryland    Kal    Miller    Big Ten
  • 141    Columbia    Kai    Owen    EIWA
  • 141    West Virginia    Jordan    Titus    Big 12
  • 149    Rutgers    Michael    Cetta    Big Ten
  • 149    South Dakota State    Alek    Martin    Big 12
  • 149    Pittsburgh    Finn    Solomon    ACC
  • 149    Pennsylvania    Jude    Swisher    EIWA
  • 157    Virginia Tech    Bryce    Andonian    ACC
  • 157    Little Rock    Matty    Bianchi    Pac 12
  • 157    Minnesota    Michael    Blockhus    Big Ten
  • 157    Northern Colorado    Vinny    Zerban    Big 12
  • 165    NC State    Derek    Fields    ACC
  • 165    Michigan State    Caleb    Fish    Big Ten
  • 165    Pittsburgh    Holden    Heller    ACC
  • 165    Bucknell    Noah    Mulvaney    EIWA
  • 165    Ohio    Garrett    Thompson    MAC
  • 174    Pittsburgh    Luca    Augustine    ACC
  • 174    Northern Iowa    Jared    Simma    Big 12
  • 174    Penn State    Carter    Starocci    Big Ten
  • 174    Navy    Danny    Wask    EIWA
  • 184    Gardner-Webb    Jha`Quan    Anderson    SoCon
  • 184    Iowa State    Will    Feldkamp    Big 12
  • 184    Pennsylvania    Maximus    Hale    EIWA
  • 184    Campbell    Caleb    Hopkins    SoCon
  • 184    Arizona State    Tony    Negron    Pac 12
  • 197    Northwestern    Evan    Bates    Big Ten
  • 197    Utah Valley    Evan    Bockman    Big 12
  • 197    Franklin & Marshall    John    Crawford    EIWA
  • 197    Virginia Tech    Andy    Smith    ACC
  • 285    Maryland    Seth    Nevills    Big Ten
  • 285    Pittsburgh    Dayton    Pitzer    ACC
  • 285    Minnesota    Bennett    Tabor    Big Ten
  • 285    Cal Poly    Trevor    Tink    Pac-12

NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Rankings

The updated NCAA D1 Wrestling rankings can be found HERE.

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