INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy wrestling landed at No. 11 in the final Open Mat rankings of the 2024-25 season, as the team sent six players to last weekend's national championships that saw Derek Blubaugh (197) win his second consecutive national title, and Jackson Hoover (149) finish in fifth place.
Four Greyhounds landed inside the top 10 at their respective weight classes including; Brayden Lowery, Blubaugh, Cale Gray, and Hoover. Along with those four two others also appeared inside the top 20 at their weight class, Nathan Smith and Nathan Conley.
After repeating as national champion, Blubaugh landed a top the 197 Open Mat rankings. Blubaugh defeated Fort Hays State's Tereus Henry via a 5-1 decision in Saturday night's championship bout to clinch his second straight national title, and bring his career wins tally to 128 wins, putting him third all time in career wins for the UIndy program.
Fifth place finisher at this weekend's national championship, Hoover, landed at No. 5 in the 149 rankings. Hoover battled his way back through the bracket after dropping his first match of the national championships, earned wins against; No. 7 Joey Semerad, No. 10-ranked Ethan Doty, and No. 14 Jake Piccirilli, before his fifth place finish was awarded via a medical forfeit against No. 6-ranked Chris Donathan.
Lowery (141) and Gray (285) were the other two Greyhounds who finished inside the top eight of the final Open Mat rankings. The 2025 GLVC second-team honorees had Lowery ranked No. 11, and Gray who finished at No. 10. Lowery had a strong 13-5 major decision victory over No. 17-ranked Caleb Chaves of Gannon. While Gray picked up a pair of pin and major decision victories over his four matches on Saturday.
The final two Hounds making an appearance in this week's Open Mat rankings were Smith at 125, who ranked 14th, while Conley at 157 came in at 15th. Both guys earned wins on Saturday in their second matches of the day after falling in their first matches of the championship bracket.
UIndy will conclude their 2024-25 season with a 7-9 overall team record that includes; a fourth place finish at both the GLVC Championships, and the 2025 Super Regional IV, while placing 11th at the 2025 NCAA national championships.
