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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. —

With six men making it to represent the Bears in Cedar Rapids, four remain standing after the early session. As a team, Coast Guard sits in 9th place out of 68 teams with 10.5 points.

The day started with 125 Nikko Beato(San Diego, CA) in the consolation prelims. Beato was in complete control the entire time, ultimately riding his way to a 7-1 decision win.

Freshman Marvin Armistead(Reading, PA) followed Beato and faced a strong Centenary opponent in his first career nationals appearance. Armistead was pinned in the 2nd, forcing a long day ahead for the freshman. He would be up for the task. 

Next up for the Bears was 184 Caden Stout(St. Clairsville, OH). A takedown one minute in gave stout the early 3-0 advantage, 3-1 into the 2nd after a Dubuque escape. Another Dubuque escape in the 2nd brought the scoring to 3-2 before a clutch takedown gave Stout some breathing room. He would get even more with three more points late in the 3rd, cruising to a 10-5 decision win. 

Losing the black mask he donned in the regional finals, 197 Gabriel Monroe(Kirkwood, NY) and his opponent from Millikan took a 0-0 score into the 2nd. A four point second round for Milliken sent Monroe to the 3rd down 4-0. Gabe fought back but wound up falling by a score of 5-1. 

After a commanding early win, Nikko Beato faced the 5th ranked 125 in the nation and lost in a close decision by a score of 9-3, forcing Beato to later wrestle to stay alive. In the win and in battle, Nikko took a 3-2 deficit to the Augsburg wrestler into the 3rd, ultimately going down by the final score of 7-2.

Like Beato, Caden Stout won his first before being taken down by a worthy competitor. Stout faced the #1 184 wrestler in the nation and forced a 0-0 score into the second before being pinned. Later on, facing Eli Crum from Lycoming, Stout was again involved in a back and forth close bout before being pinned. 

Two Bears had byes and did not have to wrestle in the prelims; 149 Nathan Fitt(Branchville, NJ) and 285 Carl DiGiorgio(Doylestown, PA). Both men made the most of their lone opportunities on the mat to earn their way into the quarterfinals. 

In the 7/10 matchup, #7 Nathan Fitt and his opponent from Loras took a 0-0 battle into the 2nd where the scoreless tie remained until under a minute to go in the second when Loras’s Chase Fiser took a 2-0 lead, but a quick escape followed by two takedowns put Fitt up 9-2 into the 3rd, with Loras saved by the bell at the end of the second as Fitt nearly pinned him. Fitt faced a tough fight in the final round but hung on to a 9-5 win.

No stranger to this stage, three time All-American Carl DiGiorgio took an early takedown to a 3-0 lead over familar foe Rory Nolan of Norwich. From there, Carl was on cruise control. In charge for all seven minutes, DiGiorgio won an 8-0 major decision to advance to the quarterfinals. 

With his back against the wall, Marvin Armistead faced the #10 ranked wrestler in the nation and made quick work of him with a pin in the first round. Armistead was all business stepping off the mat knowing there was work to be done later on.

Like Armistead, Gabriel Monroe took the mat fighting to stay alive. No stranger to adversity; Monroe, who earned the nickname “Psycho G” after his bloody face win in the regionals, took a 3-1 lead into the 2nd over his SUNY Oneonta opponent. An Oneonta takedown followed by Monroe escape brought the score to 4-4 in the final seconds of the 2nd. 

The 3rd round was the most dramatic two minutes of the Bears’ early session. It was a back and forth roller coaster affair with Monroe ultimately pulling off a captivating 11-9 decision win. 

The night session will begin at 6:00 PM ET. After tonight, the 2026 All-Americans will be decided, with Marvin Armistead, Nathan Fitt, Gabriel Monroe, and Carl DiGiorgio all in play. 

Armistead will face fellow unranked Lucas Torre from New Jersey City College in a loser goes home battle.
7th ranked Fitt will face off with 2nd ranked Matt Randolph from Augsburg. 
15th ranked Monroe will follow Armistead, trying to fight through the consolation bracket vs the 11th ranked Ian Pepple of Wisconsin Eu-Claire. 
Finally, the #2 wrestler at 285, DiGiorgio will face 7th ranked Tyler Raway of Augsburg for a berth in the semifinals.