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NC State's Vince Robinson claims NCAA 125-pound national championship

image_6483441 (3)by:Noah Fleischman•03/22/25•

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Vince Robinson
Mar 22, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Vince Robinson of the NC State Wolfpack celebrates win against Troy Spratley of the Oklahoma State Cowboys (not pictured) during the Division I Men's Wrestling Championship held at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Vince Robinson never won a state wrestling championship during his four-year career at Chicago (Ill.) Homewood Flossmoor. But that blank on his resume doesn’t matter now.

NC State’s 125-pound standout is now NCAA Division I national champion. 

Robinson, a redshirt freshman, beat No. 7 seed Troy Spratley from Oklahoma State, 2-1, in the title bout on Saturday evening at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. 

The fourth-seeded wrestler is the Wolfpack’s first-ever lightweight national champion. Robinson is the program’s first individual national title winner since Michael Machiavello won at 197 pounds in 2018, and the eighth overall.

“I put in so much work,” Robinson said after advancing to the championship bout Friday evening. “I told ’em at the beginning of the year, like, once I get this shot, bro, I’m just going to take it. That’s what I did the whole year. Now we’re here, living my dream.”

Robinson, who beat Spratley in the dual in Stillwater, Okla., on Jan. 13, took a 1-0 lead in the early stages of the second period after he logged an escape. The match was tied at one all through the first three periods, forcing overtime and eventually sudden victory.

Robinson scored one point in the first sudden victory period to retake the lead, which was enough to secure the title.

While Robinson called advancing to the title bout a dream come true, what did it feel like right after he won the championship?

“A dream,” Robinson said. “Literally a dream. Doesn’t even feel real right now. Like I said, it’s all God planned. He put me in this position. He just gave me all the strength and the power just to show my skills to the world. I got that done tonight.”

While Robinson was able to claim his first major title of his wrestling career, it almost never happened. The Pack’s standout had to overcome adversity throughout the entire season. He lost the preseason wrestle off to Jakob Camacho before battling back into the starting lineup.

Then, once things were going well, Robinson tore his right meniscus at the Cliff Keen Invitational in December, forcing a mandatory surgery to recover. If that wasn’t enough, he sprained his LCL against North Carolina on Jan. 31.

And if that combination of events wasn’t enough, Robinson scored a last-second takedown in his second match of the NCAA Tournament to advance. Without that, he wouldn’t have even had a chance to compete for the title.

“That was my favorite moment of the tournament,” Robinson said. “I won’t lie. That was my favorite moment of the tournament. It was little things like that happen in the tournament. Seeing the highest ranked guys fall, and I just didn’t want to be that one.”

Robinson wasn’t. Instead, he improved to 24-3 in his first full collegiate season, capped by the 125-pound crown after five straight victories at the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ve got a lot of will to win,” Robinson said. “Like, before I step on the mat, know nobody wants this more than me. Nobody wants it more than me. It’s like somebody’s trying to take everything I want.”

In the end, it was Robinson that took everything from each of his competitors on college wrestling’s biggest stage.

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