NCAA Preseason Scouting Report: 165 pounds

Updated: October 17, 2022

Photo: Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole (left), then a true sophomore, beat the 2021 NCAA champion, Shane Griffith from Stanford, to earn his first title in 2022.

This preview appeared in the latest issue of WIN Magazine. Click on the cover or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine.

As college wrestling heads into its second week of practice sessions in preparation for the upcoming NCAA Division I wrestling season, WIN is presenting its second week of preseason weight scouting reports.

And perhaps no weight class will be more competitive than 165 pounds where three former NCAA champions return in 2022-23. Below are the scouting reports of the top individuals at 165 as the wrestling community gets ready for another season that will conclude with the Division I Championships in March in Tulsa, Okla. WIN will update its rankings in the November issue as wrestlers finalize their weight classes for this season.

165-pound NCAA Wrestlers to Watch

• With three past champions — Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole, Stanford’s Shane Griffith and Iowa State’s David Carr — planning on wrestling at this weight class, 165 pounds has to be the toughest weight class of 2022-23.

Keegan O’Toole

O’Toole, just two years removed from winning four Wisconsin state championships at Arrowhead High in Hartland, Wisc., the Tiger still has three years of eligibility going into this year. His resume includes a COVID year that saw him place third as a No. 6 seed in 2021, followed by him winning his first NCAA title last year when he beat the 2021 national champ Griffith by a 6-5 margin.

Shane Griffith

Credited as the man who saved Stanford wrestling when the New Jersey native won a national title as a No. 8 seed, Griffith was only seeded No. 5 in last year’s Nationals, but still reached the finals when he upset Pac-12-rival Evan Wick of Cal Poly in the semifinals.

David Carr

Carr also won a national championship in 2021 at 157 pounds as a No. 3 seed. One year later, the son of Iowa State’s legendary Nate Carr and native of Canton, Ohio, was seeded No. 1 in the 2022 Nationals, but lost in a tiebreaker to Oregon State’s No. 17-seed Hunter Willits in the second round. The Cyclone did battle back to win six straight wrestlebacks to claim third place.

Cameron Amine

• Michigan’s Cameron Amine is part of a wrestling family that included his father Sam who wrestled for the Wolverines as well as uncle Mike and his Cameron’s cousins Malik and (five-time All-American) Myles Amine. Cameron has earned two All-American honors, including seventh in 2021 and fourth last March after he reached the semis as a No. 6 seed.

Dean Hamiti

• The Big Ten features two other young stars in Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti and Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla, who will both be sophomores after claiming All-American honors as rookies.

One year removed from winning three Illinois state championships for Joliet Catholic, Hamiti became an immediate starter for the Badgers. After losing to Stanford’s Griffith in the quarters, Hamiti earned All-American status when he blanked 2021 NCAA finalist Jake Wentzel in the Round of 12.

Carson Kharchla

Kharchla, meanwhile, was a redshirt freshman last March when the son of former Buckeye assistant coach Miron Kharchilava earned a seventh-place finish in his first national tournament. One of his biggest regular-season wins was against top-ranked Alex Marinelli of Iowa. At the NCAAs, he won four of six bouts, including a seventh-place match over West Virginia’s Peyton Hall.

Peyton Hall

• West Virginia’s Peyton Hall, a native of Chester, W.Va., made the home-state fans proud when he became just the sixth native of West Virginia to earn All-American status. One year after losing in the Round of 12 in 2021, the Mountaineer indeed had a great season in 2022 that also saw him finish second in the Big 12s.

Quincy Monday

• Princeton has produced one NCAA champion in its wrestling history when in 1951 heavyweight Bradley Glass won the national title. Could Quincy Monday, who finished second at 157 pounds as a No. 5 seed in 2022 to Northwestern’s graduated Ryan Deakin, be next? The native of Chapel Hill, N.C., and son of NCAA/Olympic champion Kenny Monday is one of seven all-time Tigers to have won at least two All-American honors as he also earned NWCA All-American honors for the 2020 cancelled NCAAs. In 2019, he became just the ninth freshman in Princeton history to qualify for the NCAAs.

• Cornell’s Julian Ramirez (13) and Virginia’s Justin McCoy (19) were both double-digit seeds in last year’s tournament, but both wrestlers came within one victory of earning All-American honors in Detroit. Ramirez, a native of Miami, Fla., earned three NCAA wins, including a pin in the Round of 16. McCoy, from New Paris, Pa., earned two major decisions among this three victories. n

2022 NCAA All-American Matches (includes seeds)

1st – 2. Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) dec. 5. Shane Griffith (Stanford), 6-5

3rd – 1. Evan Wick (Cal Poly) dec. 6. Cameron Amine (Michigan), 3-2

5th – 3. Alex Marinelli (Iowa) won by forfeit over 4. Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin)

7th – 7. Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) dec. 9. Peyton Hall (West Virginia), 3-2

Click here to view WIN’s Team Tournament Power Index

WIN’s 165-pound Individual Rankings

Wt	Name	School	Year	2022 NCAA
1	Keegan O’Toole	Missouri	So.	1^st
2	Shane Griffith	Stanford	Sr.	2^nd
3	David Carr	Iowa State	Sr.	3rd/157
4	Cameron Amine	Michigan	Jr.	4^th
5	Dean Hamiti	Wisconsin	So.	6^th
6	Carson Kharchla	Ohio State	Jr.	7^th
7	Peyton Hall	West Virginia	Jr.	8^th
8	Quincy Monday	Princeton	Sr.	2nd/157
9	Julian Ramirez	Cornell	So.	R12
10	Justin McCoy	Virginia	Sr.	R12
11	Izzak Olenjnik	Northern Illinois	Sr.	R16
12	Austin Yant	Northern Iowa	Sr.	R16
13	Brevin Cassella	Binghamton	Jr.	R24
14	Josh Ogunsanya	Columbia	Jr.	R24
15	Bubba Wilson	Nebraska	So.	R24
16	Matt Olguin	Oregon State	So.	R24
17	Lucas Revano	Penn	Jr.	R24
18	William Formato	Appalachian State	Jr.	R24
19	Patrick Kennedy	Iowa	So.	Reserve
20	Cael Carlson	Minnesota	Jr.	R32