PHILADELPHIA — A banner season for App State Wrestling ended Friday on Day 2 of the NCAA Championships.
Three-time NCAA qualifier Will Miller won an NCAA match for the second straight year, using a second-period pin in his 2025 opener at the Wells Fargo Center to reach the Round of 16, but consecutive losses eliminated him from competition. A pair of first-time NCAA qualifiers, junior Carson Floyd (No. 33 seed) and true freshman Stephan Monchery (No. 32 seed), joined Miller in Philadelphia and went 0-2 from their pigtail paths.
The SoCon Wrestler of the Year as a senior and the No. 13 seed in Philly, Miller finished the 2024-25 season with a 22-4 record and 84 career victories. Head coach JohnMark Bentley’s program won three SoCon regular season titles and three SoCon tournament titles during Miller’s four seasons.
That included a share of a regular season team title and a dramatic SoCon tournament team title in 2025, when the Mountaineers started freshmen at five of 10 weights after losing two top-16 NCAA finishers to P4 programs via the transfer portal and having two other SoCon champions with NCAA experience suffer season-ending injuries in the first dual.
Miller’s second-period win by fall Thursday against Southern Scuffle champion Gunner Filipowicz, the No. 20 seed from Army, and an 11-1 loss to No. 4 seed Terrell Barraclough, who transferred to Utah Valley after spending four seasons at Penn State, meant that he was one of 24 wrestlers left in the 165-pound bracket.
On Friday, his match against No. 30 seed Aiden Riggins was scoreless until Riggins executed a second-period reversal following a strong ride from Miller. Riggins didn’t allow an escape, so Miller opted to start the third period from a neutral position rather than from bottom with a 2-0 deficit, and Riggins’ third-period takedown for a 5-0 lead provided the key separation in a 9-1 major decision.
Miller arrived in Philadelphia with a 21-2 record this season but no pins. He picked a fine time to change that, completing a takedown of Filipowicz with six seconds left in the second period for a 3-1 lead and beating the clock by finishing off a pin one second before the period ended.
It was App State’s first win by fall at the NCAA Championships since Codi Russell produced one in 2019.
Barraclough improved to 30-2 this season by turning competitive exchanges into takedowns late in the first and second periods against Miller. Barraclough was 12-2 last season as Penn State’s backup to national runner-up Mitchell Mesenbrink.
Floyd wrapped up his junior season with a 28-10 record, raising his total to 66 career victories, while Monchery went 19-11 this season and qualified for the NCAAs as the SoCon champion despite starting the year with a 6-6 record.
Floyd trailed 11-3 on Thursday before he recorded a takedown and two near fall points in the final 10 seconds of a 12-8 loss against Army’s Wolfgang Frable (No. 32 seed) in their pigtail opener. Floyd put Frable on his back after attempting to cut and then quickly reengage with his opponent, but he ran out of time to do more damage.
Floyd cut his second-period deficit against West Virginia’s Ian Bush (No. 30 seed) to 4-3 in the next round with a second-period takedown and trailed by one again following a third-period escape, but Floyd was unable to secure a go-ahead takedown late in Bush’s 5-4 decision.
Monchery opened the event with a 9-0 loss to Purdue’s Hayden Filipovich and went through a scoreless first period in his next match against Wyoming’s Sam Mitchell, who rode out the second period. An escape, takedown and rideout for Mitchell in the third period resulted in a 5-0 decision.
The 2024-25 season was presented by Hungry Howie’s and Penn Station.
App State Wrestlers @ NCAA Championships
165: #13 Will Miller (22-4)
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- W, Fall (4:59) vs. #20 Gunner Filipowicz, Army
- L, MD (11-1) vs. #4 Terrell Barraclough, Utah Valley
- L, MD (9-1) vs. #30 Aiden Riggins, Iowa State
197: #33 Carson Floyd (28-10)
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- L, Dec (12-8) vs. #32 Wolfgang Frable, Army
- L, Dec (5-4) vs. #30 Ian Bush, West Virginia
Hwt: #32 Stephan Monchery (19-11)
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- L, MD (9-0) vs. #33 Hayden Filipovich, Purdue
- L, Dec (5-0) vs. #30 Sam Mitchell, Wyoming
