Watters Earns Second Career All-America Honor, Remains in Contention for Third at NCAA Championships

Friday, March 20

Cleveland, Ohio

Noon/8 p.m.

West Virginia University

NCAA Championships

Ty Watters at 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships

March 20, 2026 10:19 PM | Wrestling

By: Charles Montgomery

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Redshirt sophomore Ty Watters of the West Virginia University wrestling team earned his second career All-America honor after advancing to the semifinals at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.

Watters defeated Cornell's No. 3 seed Tyler Shapiro by decision, 6-5, to advance to the semifinals. In the low-scoring affair, an escape in the third period proved to be the difference for Watters.

Shapiro scored the first points of the match with a reversal late in the second period. Watters recovered with an escape and scored his only takedown of the bout with 12 seconds left in the second period.

Another escape by Watters put him in the lead, 5-2. Shapiro answered with a takedown to tie things up with less than a minute remaining in the final period. Watters scored the winning escape in the final half-minute to win the bout.

Watters earns his second All-America honor at his second consecutive NCAA Championships — he placed fourth at 149 pounds in 2024 and missed the majority of the 2024-25 season due to injury. For the first time in program history, West Virginia has seven consecutive seasons with an NCAA All-American dating back to 2020.

West Virginia has had at least one All-American in seven of the eight seasons under head coach Tim Flynn.

In the semifinals, Watters narrowly lost to Nebraska's No. 2 seed Antrell Taylor by decision, 4-2. Watters remains in contention for third place as he will compete on Saturday in the fifth session of the tournament.

Four other Mountaineers also competed on Friday. Freshman Gunner Andrick, redshirt freshman Rune Lawrence and redshirt senior Jordan Titus saw their seasons come to an end during the first session.

Titus ends his Mountaineer career with over 90 victories and four NCAA qualifications.

Graduate student Jett Strickenberger picked up two crucial victories to advance to the blood round on Friday night.

With a spot in the top eight on the line, Strickenberger lined up against Minnesota's No. 6 seed Jore Volk. Volk defeated Strickenberger by decision, 7-2.

Strickenberger ends his WVU career with over 60 victories, three NCAA qualifications and a Big 12 Championship in 2025.

Quarterfinals Result
157: No. 11 Ty Watters over No. 3 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) (Dec 6-5)

Semifinals Result
157: No. 2 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) over No. 11 Ty Watters (Dec 4-2)

Round Two Consolation Results
125: No. 17 Jett Strickenberger over No. 31 Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) (MD 17-7)
133: No. 17 TK Davis (Gardner-Webb) over No. 18 Gunner Andrick (Dec 8-3)
141: No. 14 Braeden Davis (Penn State) over No. 29 Jordan Titus
197: No. 27 Gabe Arnold (Iowa) over No. 21 Rune Lawrence (Dec 7-1)

Consolation Round of 16 Result
125: No. 17 Jett Strickenberger over No. 26 Cooper Flynn (Chattanooga) (Dec 6-1)

Blood Round Result
125: No. 6 Jore Volk (Minnesota) over No. 17 Jett Strickenberger (Dec 7-2)

Schedule
Saturday, March 21