Earl Smith

United States

Journalist at InterMat

Intermat Wrestling -- 2022 NWMA Journalist of the Year; 2022-23 WIN Magazine Journalist of the Year

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Articles

2025 US Open Senior Women's Freestyle Entries

1 week ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

The 2025 US Open is just around the corner. The Senior women’s freestyle portion of the tournament will start a week from today and will conclude on Friday the 25th. Not only will the US Open determine a national championship for competitors at ten weight classes, but in many cases, it’s the first step towards a berth on the 2025 world team. Champions at the US Open will clinch a spot in Final X, putting them only two wins away from the world team.
A Very Early Look at the 2025 National Duals Invitational

1 week ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

A couple of weeks ago, the National Duals Invitational announced the selection process for their inaugural tournament, November 15-16th, 2025. Automatic entries were extended to the teams that finished in the top 12 at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Those teams had until April 15th to confirm their participation in the tournament. The remaining spots will be filled through a draw from the teams that finished 13-24th at nationals. That is set to take place on April 24th.
Three-Time All-American McNeil Transfers to Michigan

1 week ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

Three-time All-American Lachlan McNeil has announced his transfer destination. McNeil will get a bit closer to home and finish his career with the University of Michigan. McNeil earned All-American honors every year he competed for the University of North Carolina - finishing fourth as a freshman, sixth as a sophomore, and fifth as a junior. In each of the last two seasons, McNeil has earned the #6 seed at the NCAA Championships.
U17 World Champion Mocco to Iowa

1 week ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

One of the top uncommitted juniors in the nation is no longer uncommitted! The #8 overall wrestler in the Class of 2026, Michael Mocco (Cardinal Gibbons, FL), has committed to wrestle for the University of Iowa. This isn’t the first time that a highly sought-after future heavyweight named Mocco will suit up for the Hawkeyes.
Team Points from Transfers at the 2025 NCAA Championships

3 weeks ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

Since the 2025 NCAA Championships wrapped up, the biggest topic of conversation has been the transfer portal. Who entered it? Where could they be looking? Who has made a transfer decision? And for how much? Your traditional fans may yearn for a day when we didn’t fill the first two weeks after the tournament talking about transfers. But that’s the landscape of college wrestling and college athletics to a larger degree.
College Choices for 2025 NHSCA All-Americans

3 weeks ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

Over the weekend, the NHSCA National Championships took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This is one of the last major folkstyle events on the national calendar and is broken down into different tournaments for each grade level. Before the proliferation of national tournaments, NHSCA Senior Nationals was one of the top events on the national wrestling landscape.
Welsh Announces Transfer to Penn State

3 weeks ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

Last week was filled with high-profile wrestlers heading into the transfer portal. One of the biggest of that group was 2024 NCAA finalist Rocco Welsh. Welsh wasn’t in the portal for long as he announced this evening that he will transfer to wrestle for the four-time defending champion Penn State Nittany Lions. Welsh made the 2024 NCAA finals as a true freshman for Ohio State. That year he was pulled from redshirt in December and finished the season with a 26-5 record.
All-American Swiderski to Transfer to Oklahoma State

4 weeks ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

Fresh off of a third-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships and two individual national champions in year one under David Taylor, the Oklahoma State momentum continues to build. Today, 2024 All-American Casey Swiderski announced via social media that he’ll transfer to Oklahoma State from Big 12 rival Iowa State. News of Swiderski entering the portal spread as the NCAA Tournament kicked off last week. Swiderski was 39-17 during his two years of competition at Iowa State.
AJ Ferrari Enters the Transfer Portal

4 weeks ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

This afternoon, 2021 NCAA champion AJ Ferrari announced that he has entered the transfer portal. Over the weekend, Ferrari finished third in the 197 lb weight class in Philadelphia wrestling for CSU Bakersfield. For the year, Ferrari finished at 22-1 overall with his only loss coming in the NCAA semifinals to the eventual champion, Stephen Buchanan (Iowa). Buchanan never got a takedown but earned a 3-0 victory.
A 4-1 Showing in the Quarterfinals Briefly Gives Nebraska NCAA Team Lead

1 month ago | intermatwrestle.com | Earl Smith

All year, when the subject of the NCAA team race came up, it wasn’t whether or not Penn State would win - it was by how much and if they would set any records. Penn State still could, and probably should, win the team championship; however, Nebraska made the prospect extremely interesting with an excellent quarterfinal round. The Cornhuskers won four of five quarterfinal bouts and even briefly held the lead after a comeback win by Christopher Minto in the 165 lb quarterfinal.