STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford wrestling team (7-6, 4-2 ACC) has completed its regular season and is ready for this year’s ultimate showdown - the 2026 ACC Championships. Virginia Tech will host the tournament in Cassell Coliseum on Sunday, March 8. Wrestlers from all seven conference schools will compete for ACC titles and berths into the NCAA Championships. Wrestling gets underway at 7 a.m. PT on ACCNX and the finals will start at 5 p.m. PT on ACC Network.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Both mats will be streamed live via ACCNX through the consolation finals. Fans can watch the finals of the ACC Championships on the ACC Network at 5 p.m. PT. Live results will also be available on Flowrestling.org.
THE FIELD: All seven teams will be fighting for the conference crown on Sunday. Virginia Tech is the highest ranked team at No. 8 in the InterMat Tournament Rankings, while NC State is No. 10 and the Cardinal is No. 17. The ACC boasts 45 individually ranked wrestlers in the InterMat top 33 polls. Currently, seven Cardinal appear in the InterMat rankings - No. 9 Nico Provo (125), No. 8 Tyler Knox (133), No. 11 Jack Consiglio (141), No. 11 Aden Valencia (149), No. 10 Daniel Cardenas (157), No. 28 Abraham Wojcikiewicz (184) and No. 8 Angelo Posada.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: In addition to competing for team and individual conference titles, wrestlers will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Championships, held this year at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, March 19-21.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP: Stanford finished the regular season with a 7-6 overall record, including a 4-2 mark in ACC duals. The Cardinal closed out the dual season on a four-match winning streak. Stanford was third as a team at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 5-6). Five Cardinal reached the podium individually, including third-place outings from Nico Provo (125), Jack Consiglio (141) and Daniel Cardenas (157). Stanford finished 16th as a team at the 61st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships (Dec. 29-30) in Evanston, Illinois. Three Cardinal turned in podium finishes - true freshman Brokton Borelli (4th - 197 pounds), redshirt sophomore Abraham Wojcikiewicz (5th - 184 pounds) and redshirt sophomore Zach Hanson (6th - 165 pounds).
TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE: Stanford’s projected wrestlers have made a combined five appearances at a conference championship tournament, while seven will compete for the first time. It will be the third tournament appearances for Nico Provo (125) and Daniel Cardenas (157), and the second for Tyler Knox (133). Knox is the only Cardinal to wrestle at the ACC Championships, while Cardenas won the 157-pounds title at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships at Stanford.
STANFORD AT THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Stanford captured the 2019 Pac-12 team championship, edging defending champion Arizona State by two points in its home arena. It is the lone team championship in program history for the Cardinal. Stanford has finished second or third as a team at the conference championships 14 times. Daniel Cardenas (2023) and Hunter Garvin (2025) are the only current Cardinal to win individual titles. Stanford now has 42 individual wrestlers who have combined to capture 54 individual conference titles overall.
NCAA REWIND: Stanford had eight wrestlers qualify for the NCAA Championships in 2025. Tyler Knox (133), Jason Miranda (141), Jaden Abas (149), Grigor Cholakyan (157), Hunter Garvin (165), Lorenzo Norman (174), Nick Stemmet (197) and Peter Ming (285) represented the Cardinal in Philadelphia. Garvin was the top finisher, placing sixth at 165 pounds for a second straight year, while Knox took eighth at 133 pounds. Garvin became the seventh wrestler in program history to earn multiple NCAA All-America honors, while Knox was just the fourth freshman to achieve the status. It was the fifth time in the past six seasons Stanford produced multiple All-Americans in the same season, and the 11th time overall. Stanford now has 27 individual All-Americans who have earned 39 combined honors. As a team, the Cardinal was 18th overall - the 10th top-20 finish in school history.
HERE TO STAY: Alumni and friends of the program came together in 2021 to create three new coaching endowments to help sustain the future of the sport at Stanford. Two of the coachships honor Matt Gentry, ‘05, who represented Canada in freestyle in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and Patricia Miranda, ‘01, who won bronze in freestyle for the United States in the Athens Olympics in 2004 and became the first American woman to receive an Olympic medal in wrestling. Chris Ayres is the second Matt Gentry Head Wrestling Coach, while The Patricia Miranda Assistant Coachship is held by Patrick Brucki. Sean Gray’s position has been endowed by an anonymous donor.
HEAD COACH CHRIS AYRES: Stanford is under the guidance of Chris Ayres, who was appointed the 32nd head coach in Stanford history on September 11, 2023. He is in his 20th season as a collegiate head coach. A four-time Ivy League Coach of the Year, Ayres spent 17 seasons at the helm of the Princeton program. Among his many achievements, Ayres produced just the second individual national champion in Princeton history (it’s first since 1951), the program’s first and second four-time All-Americans, and its first Ivy League championship since 1986. The Tigers had their first NCAA finalist since 2002, producing two in the same season in 2022. In his first season on The Farm (2023-24), Stanford produced a pair of All-Americans and tied for its third-highest finish at the NCAA Championships (16th) in Kansas City with five NCAA qualifiers. Last season, the Cardinal again had two All-Americans and turned in another top 20 finish at the NCAA Championships (18th) with eight NCAA qualifiers - only shy of the program record.