CLEVELAND, Oh. – Bellarmine wrestling closed out its 2025-26 season at the NCAA Division I Wrestling National Champions with two wrestlers competing for the second straight year.
Redshirt junior
Grant O'Dell and junior
Jeb Prechtel represented the Knights this year, becoming the third and fourth wrestlers in program history to participate in the National Championships.
Held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the double elimination tournament began at 12 pm E.T. today with both O'Dell and Prechtel wrestling in their respective pig tail matches.
The duo took the mat at the same time to start the day with O'Dell coming in as the 33 seed in the 174-pound weight class and Prechtel entering as the 32 seed in the 157-pound weight class.
O'Dell played the long game and took his match with 32 seeded Luke Condon (Wisconsin) into overtime before eventually pulling out the 4-1 decision win in TB-1. The victory is not only the first of O'Dell's NCAA postseason journey but the first by and Knight on the national stage. Thanks to the win, the North Liberty, IA native moved into the championship bracket where he faced off with top seeded Levi Haines out of Penn State. Haines got the best of O'Dell, pinning him in 1:33.
Prechtel battled in his opening matchup but dropped a high scoring battle by a 15-10 decision to 33 seed Yannis Charles out of Morgan State.
In the second session of the day, Prechtel hit the mat first and once again gave it his all but was unable to come up with a win as he dropped his second match of the day by 9-4 decision to 30 seed Laird Root (North Carolina).
Back on the mat for the third time on the day, O'Dell once again willed his way into overtime but could not come away victorious as he fell in a 4-1 decision in SV-1 to 17 seed Jared Simma (Northern Iowa).
Both O'Dell and Prechtel can hold their heads high, ending their season at the NCAA DI National Championships after earning their way with SoCon Championships.
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