University of Toledo Wrestling
Modern Day
Toledo has a long-standing history with wrestling. Olympians have called Toledo home and the Glass City has hosted its share of world-class events. Shockingly, in 1994, the University decided to drop wrestling as an Athletic Department NCAA-D1 program to become more compliant with Title IX. In 1997, the long and arduous journey back to NCAA status began when the team re-formed under the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) banner. It has always been the NCWA team founder's (current head coach Bryan Knepper) goal to have the program reinstated to NCAA-D1, but as of the 2023-2024 season, that has not occurred. There is new hope as the NCAA has named Women's Wrestling as an emerging sport.
Meanwhile, the wrestling team has amassed 24 All-Americans within the NCWA since 1998, the last four in 2023 being Kaden Blair (NATIONAL CHAMPION at 133 lbs), Ezekiel Burkholder (5th-157 lbs), Matthew Abraham (3rd-197 lbs), and Jacob Meek (3rd-285 lbs). Since returning as Toledo's head coach in 2016, the Rockets have garnered 16 All-American finishes with 8 NCWA National Finalists and 2 National Champions. Toledo also has a 3x undefeated NCWA National Champion to its name in Adam Murray from 2006-2008. Murray was named Most Outstanding Wrestling in 2008 and was recently added to the NCWA Hall of Fame in March of 2017. Zach Blevins became the second NCWA National Champion for Toledo in 2018 as a Freshman and finished as a 3x National Finalist only losing 3 career NCWA matches.
Toledo's NCWA All-Americans (National Finalists in BOLD):
2002 - Andrew Isler - 3rd at 285 lbs
2005 - Leon Lewis - 6th at 235 lbs
2006 - Adam Murray - 1st at 197 lbs
2006 - David Brighton - 4th at 149 lbs
2007 - Adam Murray - 1st at 197 lbs (undefeated)
2008 - Adam Murray - 1st at 197 lbs (undefeated and Most Outstanding Wrestler of Tournament)
2008 - Andrew Metzger - 3rd at 235 lbs
2010 - Tom Kiefer - 6th at 165 lbs
2016 - Taylor Workman - 4th at 165 lbs
2018 - De'Ante Evans - 2nd at 133 lbs
2018 - Zach Blevins - 1st at 149 lbs
2019 - De'Ante Evans - 4th at 133 lbs
2019 - Zach Blevins - 2nd at 149 lbs
2019 - Major Moore - 2nd at 174 lbs
2020 - Serenity Thomas - 2nd at 130 lbs (Women's Division)
2020 - Zach Blevins - 2nd at 149 lbs
2020 - Dominic Vasquez - 8th at 197 lbs
2022 - Serenity Thomas - 2nd at 130 lbs (Women's Division)
2022 - Zachery Snyder - 3rd at 157 lbs
2022 - Matthew Abraham - 3rd at 197 lbs
2023 - Kaden Blair - 1st at 133 lbs
2023 - Ezekiel Burkholder - 5th at 157 lbs
2023 - Matthew Abraham - 3rd at 197 lbs
2023 - Jacob Meek - 3rd at 285 lbs
Most common NCWA All-American Weights: 197 lbs (6x), 149 lbs (4x)
College Practices run Monday through Thursday from 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM at the TEAM TOLEDO facility (757 Warehouse RoadUnit E, Toledo, Ohio). The team is open to all University of Toledo students taking more than 6 hours of classes and matriculating towards a degree. The 2023-2024 season will be UT's sixth season in NCWA-D1 (Scholarship Division; note the 2020-2021 season was canceled due to COVID-19). Toledo will have as many as 8 athletes on a wrestling scholarship this upcoming season each provided by the Toledo Wrestling Foundation (501c3).