Rathjen takes second at Big 12 Championships

Friday, March 6

Tulsa, Okla.

10 a.m. / 5 p.m. / 12 p.m. / 7 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Big 12 Championships

Rathjen takes second at Big 12 Championships

3/7/2026 9:56:00 PM | Wrestling

FINAL RESULTS Photo Gallery

Panthers earn three automatic qualifiers for NCAA Championships.

TULSA, Okla. --- The UNI wrestling team wrapped up competition at the 2026 Big 12 Championships at the BOK Center on Saturday night, with four athletes placing in their respective weight classes.

Caleb Rathjen finished as runner-up for the Panther Train at 149 pounds, while Julian Farber placed third for a second straight season at 133 pounds. Ryder Downey took fourth at 165 pounds, as Nick Fox finished in ninth at 184 pounds.

Rounding out the conference championships, Rathjen, Farber and Downey all qualify for the NCAA Championships in Cleveland via NCAA allocations in their respective weights.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Rathjen battled top-seeded and seventh-ranked Casey Swiderski (Oklahoma State) in the 149 pound final. After conceding a first-period takedown, Rathjen gave up an escape and remained neutral until the third period where he started on bottom and worked to escape and cut Swiderski's lead to 4-2. Rathjen then fought to score in the final seconds as Swiderski was called for stalling and Rathjen was awarded a point. Swiderski would earn a riding time point to finish the match, 5-3.

Farber received a medical forfeit to put him into the third-place match where he took on No. 15 Gunner Andrick (West Virginia) in a rematch from the second round of the championship bracket. Farber battled back after conceding a takedown early in the first period to defeat Andrick 5-3, securing his third-place finish.

Downey opened his Saturday action by defeating Marcus Espinoza-Owens (South Dakota State) in the consolation semifinals. Gaining momentum in the second period, Downey snagged a takedown and held on to his lead to finish 4-2, sending him to the third-place match, while also clinching an NCAA Championship berth for a third consecutive year. To finish his conference tournament run, Downey went head-to-head against No. 13 Connor Euton (Iowa State). Kicking off the bout with a takedown early in the first period, Downey battled until the very end but ultimately dropped the match 13-12 to finish with fourth place.

At 184 pounds Nick Fox finished in ninth place over No. 10 Brian Soldano (Oklahoma) in a neck-and-neck battle, concluding with a 4-3 victory.

UP NEXT
At-large selections for the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be announced on Tuesday, March 10, with tournament seeds and brackets set to be released on Wednesday, March 11. This year's NCAA Championships will run March 19-21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Oklahoma State, 176
Iowa State, 144
Arizona State, 94
Missouri, 84.5
West Virginia, 77.5
South Dakota State, 76.5
Oklahoma, 73
Wyoming, 67.5
North Dakota State, 54.5
UNI, 51
Air Force, 31.5
Utah Valley, 31.5
Cal Baptist, 21.5
Northern Colorado, 15

UNI'S BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS [SEED] (NCAA Coaches) #Intermat/Flowrestling rankings

125 | [7] (29) #27/18 Trever Anderson (1-0) | DNP

W - Cooper Shore (Cal Baptist), 8-0 MD
L - [2] (10) #10/10 Stevo Poulin (Iowa State), DEF
L - Tucker Owens (Air Force), MFF

133 | [5] (24) #20/19 Julian Farber (4-1) | 3rd Place

W - Carter Schmidt (Oklahoma), 8-3
W - [4] (19) #19/15 Gunner Andrick (West Virginia), 2-1
L - [1] (4) #5/6 Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State), 21-6 TF
W - Garrett Grice (Iowa State), MFF
W - [4] (19) #19/15 Gunner Andrick (West Virginia), 5-3

141 | Maximus Brady (1-2) | DNP

L - [7] (30) #32/30 Carter Nogle (Air Force), 9-4
W - David Saenz (Wyoming), 9-6
L - Jordan Titus (West Virgina), 9-5

149 | [6] (24) #21/16 Caleb Rathjen (3-1) | 2nd Place

W - Bryce Shelton (Air Force), 11-2
W - [3] (13) #10/15 David Evans (Utah Valley), SV-1 4-1
W - [2] (10) #12/8 Jacob Frost (Iowa State), 4-3
L - [1] (7) #9/7 Casey Swiderski (Oklahoma State), 5-3

157 | Cael Rahnavardi (0-2) | DNP

L - [7] (29) #16/17 Teague Travis (Missouri), 14-4 MD
L - [8] Jared Hill (Wyoming), 5-2

165 | [2] (6) #6/6 Ryder Downey (3-2) | 4th Place

W - Sasha Gavronsky (West Virginia), 5:40 Fall
W - [7] Sloan Swan (Wyoming), 5-1
L - [3] (11) #12/10 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State), 6-5
W - Marcus Espinoza-Owens (South Dakota State), 5-2
L - [5] (16) #14/13 Connor Euton (Iowa State), 13-12

174 | [5] (13) #13/14 Jared Simma (1-2) | DNP

W - Gunner Cramblett (Air Force), 3:25 Fall
L - [4] (12) #12/12 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State), 4:40 Fall
L - Hudson Rogers (Utah Valley), 7-3

184 | [5] (19) #21/19 Nick Fox (3-2) | 9th Place

W - Mahonri Rushton (Northern Colorado), 4-1
L - [4] (17) #20/24 Ian Bush (West Virginia), 7-1
L - Caleb Uhlenhopp (Utah Valley), 4-1 SV-1
W - David Alonso (California Baptist), 6:37 Fall SV-1
W - [6] (9) #10/10 Brian Soldano (Oklahoma), 4-3

197 | John Gunderson (1-3) | DNP

L - [5] (10) #11/12 DJ Parker (Oklahoma), 3-0
W - Tyler Perry (Northern Colorado), 7-0
L - Karson Tompkins (Air Force), 1-0
L - Rune Lawrence (West Virginia), 2-1

HWT | [8] (32) #32/28 Adam Ahrendsen (0-2) | DNP

L - Rylan Kuhn (Air Force), 8-1
L - Brock Kehler (West Virginia), 11-5

UNI wrestling action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (University of Northern Iowa Wrestling), X (@UNI_wrestling) and on Instagram (@uni_panther_wrestling). Check out the latest Panther news and information online at UNIpanthers.com.