PHILADELPHIA — On Friday morning in the Wells Fargo Center, Iowa's Stephen Buchanan made history when he beat No. 23 Seth Shumate of Ohio State and became the first athlete to earn All-American honors at three different schools. He went on to win his first national title as a Hawkeye the following evening.
Buchanan's success prompts the question: How did this year's crop of transfer All-Americans do at their new institutions compared to their previous institutions? Let's break it down.
Nineteen of this year's 80 All-American athletes enrolled in or competed for another academic institution during their wrestling careers.
See the complete list below:
| WEIGHT | NAME | Original School | Highest Previous Finish | Current School | Highest Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | Troy Spratley | Minnesota | N/A | Oklahoma State | 2 |
| 125 | Matt Ramos | Minnesota | N/A | Purdue | 2 |
| 125 | Caleb Smith | App State | DNP | Nebraska | 6 |
| 125 | Stevo Poulin | NC State | N/A | Northern Colorado | 8 |
| 133 | Connor McGonagle | Lehigh | N/A | Virginia Tech | 6 |
| 149 | Ethan Stiles | Nebraska | N/A | Oregon State | 6 |
| 149 | Sammy Alvarez | Rutgers/Oklahoma State | DNP | Rider | 7 |
| 157 | Caleb Fish | Michigan State | R12 | Oklahoma State | 8 |
| 165 | Terrell Barraclough | Penn State | N/A | Utah Valley | 5 |
| 165 | Cameron Amine | Michigan | 4 | Oklahoma State | 8 |
| 165 | Mitchell Mesenbrink | CBU | N/A | Penn State | 1 |
| 165 | Michael Caliendo | North Dakota State | 7 | Iowa | 2 |
| 174 | Dean Hamiti | Wisconsin | 6 | Oklahoma State | 1 |
| 197 | Stephen Buchanan | Wyoming/Oklahoma | 3 | Iowa | 1 |
| 197 | Jacob Cardenas | Cornell | 4 | Michigan | 4 |
| 197 | AJ Ferarri | Oklahoma State | 1 | CSU Bakersfield | 3 |
| 285 | Owen Trephan | NC State | R16 | Lehigh | 5 |
| 285 | Wyatt Hendrickson | Air Force | 3 | Oklahoma State | 1 |
| 285 | Josh Heindselman | Oklahoma | R12 | Michigan | 7 |
Now a disclaimer: This does not include athletes who verbally committed to a different institution or started somewhere else before transferring in advance of their first season. These are athletes who enrolled at another school and either competed for that school or took a redshirt season during that time. Of these athletes, only two placed lower at their second or third institution, and both of those athletes made this list because they still earned All-American honors at their second or third institutions.
Certainly, there are stories of athletes who transfer and do not replicate their success — this list is simply looking at those who made the podium after finding a new home with the goal of unpacking the patterns within those results
Now, the takeaways:
Oklahoma State put five transfers on the podium
Call this the David Taylor effect. The first-year head coach took one athlete who had never All-American'd — Caleb Fish at 157 pounds — and helped him punch his way through and led three transfer athletes to the finals for the first time including Troy Spratley at 125 pounds, Dean Hamiti at 174 pounds and Wyatt Hendrickson at 285 pounds. Hamiti went on to win his national final, taking down two-time Ƶ champion Keegan O'Toole in the process. He's Taylor's first champ as the Cowboys' head coach. Hendrickson followed, delivering the biggest shock of the tournament by beating No. 1 Gable Steveson 5-4 for his title.
Hamiti, notably, advanced to the finals this year after not placing at all last year. Both Hamiti and Hendrickson also beat returning Penn State national champions in their semifinals as well. Spratley's finals appearance helped him earn All-American honors for the first time in his career.
No lights too bright. No stage too big. l
— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling)
Spratley's case is unique, as he took a redshirt year at Minnesota before building his career as a Cowboy. But he qualifies as a transfer. In fact, Spratley's quarterfinal match against All-American Matt Ramos of Purdue, whom he beat 5-2, was an all-Minnesota transfer match-up, as Ramos spent his redshirt here in Minneapolis as well before moving to Purdue.
Cameron Amine is the only transfer athlete of Taylor's who did not place higher than his highest finish at his previous institution, but after missing the podium last year, he still finished better at his new institution than he did in his most recent season at his last institution. He, like Spratley, competed against other transfer All-Americans on his way to the podium including his second round match with Penn State's Mitchell Mesenbrink (formerly of CBU) and his placement match against Terrell Barraclough (formerly of Penn State). Amine closes out his college career as a four-time placewinner, three for the Wolverines of Michigan and one for the Cowboys after his eighth-place finish in Philadelphia.
Michigan came up big with transfer team points once again
Last year, the Wolverines had two transfer All-Americans in the national finals in Lucas Davison at heavyweight and Austin Gomez at 149 pounds. While both lost their final bouts, the wins elevated Michigan to a third-place team finish. Gomez also still trains in Ann Arbor and represented Mexico in the Olympics. The Wolverines have a system that works.
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This year, the Wolverines put two transfer athletes on the podium in Jacob Cardenas at 197 pounds and Josh Heindselman at 285 pounds. Cardenas finished in the same place for both Cornell and Michigan at his previous institution, but Heindselman is the classic story of someone who jumped levels in this new environment. After qualifying for the national tournament during his first two seasons at Oklahoma, and then finishing in the Round of 16 and then the Round of 12, Heindselman finally cracked the top eight this weekend, beating Illinois' Luke Luffman 2-1 to earn his spot on the podium.
Big Ten leads the way in number of schools with transfer All-Americans but six conferences are represented
Between Michigan having two All-American transfers and Penn State, Purdue, Nebraska and Iowa all having a transfer All-American as well, the Big Ten leads the country in the number of schools with transfer All-Americans.
Just Wrestling.
— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling)
The Big 12 is next with three schools putting a transfer on the podium — Oklahoma State, Northern Colorado and Utah Valley — while the Pac 12 has two schools with transfer All-Americans in Oregon State and CSU-Bakersfield. The ACC has one transfer All-American in Connor McGonagle of Virginia Tech originally from Lehigh, while the Mountain Hawks carry the EIWA with transfer All-American Owen Trephan who started his career at NC State and battled his former teammate (and roommate) NC State's All-American Isaac Trumble in the third-place bout before falling to fourth.
One of the more unprecedented transfer All-American stories this year though comes from the MAC in 149-pounder Sammy Alvarez. Not only did Alvarez start his career at Rutgers, but he also started it at 133 pounds, notably pushing two-time Ƶ champion Roman Bravo-Young into overtime at one point in his career. Two schools and two weight classes later, Alavrez is finally on the podium, ending his career as an All-American and giving Rider, his final institution, a moment in the spotlight.
Transferring doesn't always work. Sometimes a new system isn't a fit or the stress is too much — there were former All-American transfers in this year's bracket who went 0-2 — but, as these athletes above show, sometimes finding a new fit can be exactly what an athlete needs.
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