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Vinny Freeman announces commitment to Cornell wrestling

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax04/02/25

BarkleyTruax

Vinny Freeman
© Austin Hough / South Bend Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Indiana high school wrestling star Vinny Freeman announced his commitment to Cornell‘s wrestling program on Wednesday. Freeman is the son of Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman.

Freeman visited Cornell in August but was notably recruited by the likes of Michigan, among others. The 175-pound standout on the mat made his commitment shortly after the conclusion of his junior season, where he placed third in the IHSAA state wrestling tournament in February.

He finished this past season with a 37-3 overall record, with one of those losses coming in the semifinals of the state tournament before going on and winning the consolation bracket. He won 16 of his last 17 matches of the season and has an overall record of 101-17 as a high school wrestler.

In a state with a strong reputation for its high school wrestling scene, Freeman has been largely dominant through three years at the varsity level. As a freshman, he tallied a 30-10 record and followed that up with a 34-4 record in 2024.

He has steadily improved throughout his high school career and still has his senior season to look forward to. With his recruitment over, Freeman can look toward his final season at the high school level with his focus on the mat.

He’ll be joining a Cornell program that just finished the 2025 NCAA Championships with three fifth-place finishes, which means the program boasted three All-Americans on the Big Red roster this past season. This included Meyer Shapiro (184), Simon Ruiz (174) and Chris Foca (157).

National Duals Invitational announces eligible college wrestling teams for first event

The NWCA announced the National Duals for Tulsa in the 2025-26 season, sponsored by Paycom, and now have the eligible teams. A 16-team invitational will be the highlight of the early season slate.

According to The Oklahoman, 12 teams will automatically be eligible and entered into the tournament in November. The last four remaining teams will be drawn between a pool of 12 additional teams.

It goes by the team’s finishes at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which were the individual championships for what it’s worth. But, we already know who will be in attendance in Tulsa.

The teams are: Penn State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, Cornell, NC State, Northern Iowa, Illinois, Virginia Tech and Michigan. There will be four wildcards picked from: Purdue, Missouri, Lehigh, Penn, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arizona State, Stanford, West Virginia, Navy, Wyoming, South Dakota State, Indiana, Maryland and Oregon State.