This past weekend, Andrew Reall ’28 made Brown history, winning Bruno its first Ivy League Championship at 197 pounds. Reall, who is ranked No. 19 according to NCAA’s Feb. 26 Ratings Percentage Index, notched a spot in the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships next weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.
This is the second year that Brown’s wrestling team, who placed fifth in the tournament, has competed in an Ivy League championship.
Coming off a successful season, with 34 wins and 4 losses, Reall sought to prove himself as the top seed in his division at the Ivy Wrestling Tournament. Throughout the competition, Reall was matched up against opponents — Cornell’s Aiden Hanning and Columbia’s Jack Wehmeyer — he bested during the regular duel season.
During his semifinal bout against Hanning, Reall used pressure and heavy handfighting to patiently wear down his opponent in the early periods. As Hanning grew tired, Reall used his expertise in sensing fatigue to pave the way to his tournament victory.
Despite the bout standing scoreless after two periods, Reall’s relentless attacks resulted in three takedowns in the third period. He proved so successful in countering his opponent’s offense that Hanning was awarded a stall penalty late in the final period.
Reall again proved his knack for cinching up close victories in his finals win over Wehmeyer, which was decided by a clean single-leg takedown in a thrilling sudden-victory overtime.
Reall attributed his success to his physicality throughout the match, which differed from their previous matchup. In their Feb. 15 match, Wehmeyer “kind of was putting the pressure on me,” he added.
But at the tournament, Reall said that Wehmeyer “was a lot more tired, the pressure was more on him.”
Reall’s teammates also placed at the tournament. Austin McBurney ’28 finished third at 149 pounds, and Alex Semenenko ’26 cemented himself as a heavyweight finalist.
McBurney entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed ready to win. He ended the day in third place to qualify him for the NCAA tournament.
“I lost to a bunch of those Ivy opponents pretty close in the year, and I knew I was right there with them, and I knew I could beat them all,” he told The Herald.
Early in the day, McBurney lost 10-4 to Princeton’s No. 3 seed Eligh Rivera. But he was able to rebound from the loss quickly.
“The main adjustment from that was to just stop all his shots in space, because if I stopped that, he wasn’t going to take me down,” McBurney said.
McBurney would go on to garner an 8-2 upset victory over Rivera, improving his record from last year’s 2-14 to 21-13.
Semenenko — the final Bear to qualify for the national championships — cemented Bruno’s position as a wrestling powerhouse.
As the No. 2 seed, Semenenko’s first tough match came in his semifinals duel against Penn’s John Pardo, who he had previously bested earlier in the season. Semenenko secured a takedown off an ill-attempted shot from Pardo, sprawling and cutting around the back to draw the win.
Although the Bears made history at the Ivy Tournament this past weekend, they are not celebrating just yet. Reall said he is trying “not to get too high off this win and trying to stay focused for nationals.”
Chiupong Huang is a senior staff writer covering sports.
