Bruno’s milestone-studded wrestling season came to a close in Cleveland, Ohio at the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championships. For the first time since 2019, multiple Bears — Andrew Reall ’28, Austin McBurney ’26 and Alex Semenenko ’26 — punched their tickets to the national tournament.
Although the trio fell short of reaching the national podium, Reall and McBurney scored upset victories against higher-ranked opponents. Reall garnered three wins — putting him one takedown short of reaching All-American status — and McBurney, who was seeded last at No. 33 seed in the 149-pound weight class advanced past his preliminary pigtail bracket matchup.
Despite finishing second place in the Ivy League Championships, Semenenko dropped two straight bouts to fall out of the tournament in the 285-pound category.
The tournament marked a debut on the national stage for all three Bears whose breakthrough performances spell promise for future seasons, Assistant Coach Tyler Grayson said in an interview with The Herald.
“I just see where the program has been in the past, and the direction it’s going now,” said Grayson, who coached the team from 2011 to 2018 before rejoining in 2025. “It’s just really exciting,” he added.
McBurney set the tone strong with a Thursday win on the mat.
The senior started the first period fighting off a deep single leg takedown attempt from his opponent, Michigan State University’s Clayton Jones. Although Jones took down McBurney in the first period, McBurney remained undeterred, answering aggressively with well-executed reattacks after escapes and defended shots. For the remainder of the match, the two opponents continued to put pressure on each other, but McBurney walked away with the win.
Rising from last seed, McBurney faced a looming challenge: No. 1 seed Shayne Van Ness from Penn State University. Outmatched but nonetheless showing off a willingness to scrap, McBurney lost by technical fall and moved into the consolation bracket.
There, McBurney avenged a regular season loss to Lock Haven Commonwealth University’s Lucas Kapusta. Kapusta was the first to score, earning two points off a reversal after a mat-return attempt from McBurney went awry. But McBurney remained composed, swiftly finishing a well-timed double to put Kapusta down and win the match.
The next round was not as kind to McBurney — he lost 8-1 to No. 15 seed Ryder Block from Iowa University.
Reall also ended up in the consolation bracket after a 4-2 loss in his first match against Rutgers University’s No. 15 seed Remy Cotton. Throughout the fight, he looked to heavy handfighting and snaps for control. Unfortunately, Reall’s attempts were not enough to overcome Cotton, who scored the first and only takedown of the match to seal his victory.
The loss moved Reall to the consolation bracket, but undeterred, he said he made the necessary adjustments. “I made it a bigger moment than it actually was,” Reall said in an interview with The Herald.
Grayson, who has coached Reall since middle school, said that Reall “kept his composure, battled back, got the game-deciding take down and finished on top.”
For the remainder of the weekend, under the bright lights and the gaze of spectators in Rocket Arena, Reall said that he “wrestled freely,” committing to takedown attempts rather than being overly defensive.
Reall also secured wins in the consolation bracket, piecing together the offensive pressure and coordination that was missing from his first match. After a 2-0 win against Utah Valley University’s Kael Bennie in the opening consolation match, Reall earned two more victories, including a 5-4 triumph over Missouri State’s No. 25 seed Evan Bates, which he said was his “favorite match of the season.”
Reall’s season came to a close after he dropped a tight match 4-2 to No. 11 seed Camden McDanel from the University of Nebraska. Despite the gut-wrenching loss, Reall left Ohio tied for the most single wins in program history at 37.
In a statement to Brown Athletics, Head Coach Jordan Leen said Reall “etched his name into the history books with the greatest regular season in program history.”
“(Reall’s) story is just getting started,” Leen added. “I’m excited to see where our program goes from here.”
Chiupong Huang is a senior staff writer covering sports.
