Garriques and Mukhamedaliyev Earn All-American Honors as Wrestling Takes 11th

CHICAGO -- The 14th-ranked University of Chicago men's wrestling team brought home an 11th-place finish and earned a pair of All-America honors at the 2026 National Championships.

Gunnar Garriques and

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev each finished in fourth place to earn All-America honors.

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev opened his National Championships meet with a 9-4 win by decision in his opening match against the #5 ranked wrestler from Roanoke. Then, after a tough 5-3 loss to the #1 overall seed from McDaniel, the freshman bounced back with a 10-7 win in overtime against the #9 overall wrestler from Loras to earn a trip to Saturday and his first career All-America honors. On Saturday, Mukhamedaliyev earned a pair of one-point victories over #13 Caleb Seyfried of Williams and #3 Matt Randolph of Augsburg to earn a fourth-place finish overall in the meet.

Gunnar Garriques also dropped his opening round match to the #5 ranked wrestler from UW-La Crosse, Tyler Dormanen, but he bounced back with a first-period pin over the #15 ranked wrestler from Ithaca, Ryan Galka. Garriques then continued to dominate on Friday night as he earned a second-period pin over Samuel West from Central College and an 8-1 rout of the #3 overall wrestler in the country, DJ Henry from TCNJ. Garriques locked up his first career All-America honors, and he continued his run of five consecutive wins with an 18-2 technical fall victory over Coast Guard and a 13-2 major decision win over Ohio Northern. In the third-place match, Garriques came up short against Ethan Winkleman of Augsburg, but he earned a fourth-place finish overall in the meet.

Sean Conway set the tone in the morning session for the Maroons as he took down the #6 ranked wrestler in the nation with a 6-4 decision over Justin Fortugno from UW-Whitewater. However, Conway came up short in the evening session with a 12-8 loss to the #2 ranked wrestler from Stevens and a 2-1 loss to the #10 wrestler from Augsburg to end his national championship run.

Matthew Barlay earned a win in his first match with a 6-0 decision victory over Dominic Terraccisano from New Jersey City. Then, following a tough 9-0 loss to Malik Asfour, the #4 overall wrestler from Eastern, Barlay bounced back with an 8-6 win over Jack Thode from Centenary (NJ) to keep his national championship appearance alive into Friday night. In the night session, Barlay earned a 3-2 win over Ohio Northern before falling to the #3 overall wrestler from NYU to come up one win short of All-America honors.

Jackson Davis fell in his opening match of the competition with a 7-1 loss to Brandt Bombard, the #5 ranked wrestler from Augsburg, and he faced another tough opponent on Friday night with a 13-3 loss to the #3 overall seed from Williams.

FULL RESULTS:

• 125

Matthew Barlay d. Dominic Terraccisano (New Jersey City) (6-0, Dec.)

• #4 Malik Asfour (Eastern) d.

Matthew Barlay (9-0, MD)

Matthew Barlay d. Jack Thode (Centenary-NJ) (8-6, Dec.)

Matthew Barlay d. Kurt Mokros (Ohio Northern) (3-2, Dec.)

• #3 Alex Diaz (NYU) d.

Matthew Barlay (13-3, MD)

• 141

• #11

Sean Conway d. #6 Justin Fortugno (UW-Whitewater) (6-4, Dec.)

• #2 Nico Diaz (Stevens) d. #11

Sean Conway (12-8, Dec.)

• #10 Cole Becker (Augsburg) d. #11

Sean Conway (2-1, Dec.)

• 149

• #11

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev d. #5 Taylor Smith (Roanoke) (9-4, Dec.)

• #2 Thomas Monn (McDaniel) d. #11

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (5-3, Dec.)

• #11

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev d. #13 Caleb Seyfried (Williams) (9-8, Dec.)

• #11

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev d. #3 Matt Randolph (Augsburg) (3-2, Dec.)

• #2 Thomas Monn (McDaniel) d. #11

Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (Fall - 0:48)

• 184

• #5 Brandt Bombard (Augsburg) d. #13

Jackson Davis (7-1, Dec.)

• #10 Jamie Evarts (Williams) d. #13

Jackson Davis (13-3, MD)

** **197

• #5 Tyler Dormanen (UW-La Crosse) d. #11

Gunnar Garriques (Disqualification)

• #11

Gunnar Garriques d. #15 Ryan Galka (Ithaca) (Fall - 2:01)

• #11

Gunnar Garriques d. Samuel West (Central-IA) (Fall - 3:28)

• #11

Gunnar Garriques d. #3 DJ Henry (TCNJ) (8-1, Dec.)

• #11

Gunnar Garriques d. Gabe Monroe (Coast Guard) (18-2, TF)

• #11

Gunnar Garriques d. #13 Myles Johnson (Ohio Northern) (13-2, MD)

• #7 Ethan Winkleman (Augsburg) d. #11

Gunnar Garriques (15-3, MD)