Two Kent State wrestlers, senior Blake Schaffer (197) and junior Christopher Earnest (157), competed on the first day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
For coach Josh Moore, the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships are the first he has appeared in as a coach and the first time the KSU program has gone in three years.
“We have a really good group of young men, and even with the changes of the coaching and philosophy, these guys have really bought into it,” Moore said. “They showed that they are willing to listen and learn and put in the work.”
Despite both wrestlers being eliminated from the second session of competition, Schaffer recorded the first NCAA Nationals win of his collegiate wrestling career.
“I think if you look at Blake’s career, he has continuously improved from year to year,” Moore said. “Even though he was at a successful place to get to the MAC Championships, he has never qualified for Nationals [until this year].”
In the preliminary matches of the tournament, Schaffer was the No. 32 seed. His first and only winning match of the competition was against the No. 33 seed from Air Force, freshman Karson Tompkins (197). Schaffer was victorious against Tompkins with a final match score of 4-2.
He went on to wrestle a national champion from Penn State, sophomore Josh Barr (197), for his second match of the day. Barr took control of the match by achieving a significant amount of takedowns to earn him a technical fall against Schaffer, 20-4.
Moore praised Schaffer’s grit and commitment in the sport.
“A lot of credit goes to him for sticking with this sport for most of his life,” Moore said. “Wrestling in college is very difficult, and he proved that he was physically and mentally strong enough to get through it.”
Schaffer’s final matchup of the day was sophomore Branson John (197) from Maryland. While Schaffer wrestled hard, it did not prove well enough against John, who won the match 5-0. This was Schaffer’s last match of his wrestling career.
“This year is special for him to finally take the next step, to get to nationals, and then win a match was huge,” Moore said. “Obviously, we had bigger goals than winning one match but I think this is a step in the right direction.”
For Earnest’s matches for the Nationals he competed in two matches, both resulting in a loss for the junior Flash.
The first round for Earnest was a battle against freshman Will Denny (165) from North Carolina State. He was able to stand his ground in the first portion of the match, but ultimately Denny pulled out a 13-1 major decision win.
His second and final match of the Championship was against a wrestler from Indiana, redshirt junior Tyler Lillard (165). Lillard completed three takedowns off the bat and ended up with a pin against Earnest in the final period of the match.
This was Earnest’s first season with KSU Wrestling. Even though he did not win any National titles, he was able to make it to the tournament and won a Mid-American Conference title, marking a successful season.
“Chris is amazing,” Moore said. “What we have told him this year is to keep smiling and having fun. When you put too much on yourself and you’re stressed about the result you’re going to tighten up and our focus for him was to have fun and smile.”
Not only were the Flashes successful in making it through the MAC championships and NCAA Nationals, but they ended the season with the most dual wins they have had in over eight years.
The completion of the NCAA Wrestling Championships was the finale to the 2025-2026 wrestling season for the KSU.
“We will continue to share the message of consistency and always improving or developing some part of your wrestling or mental part of your game,” Moore said. “Continually just trying to get to know them, motivate them and put them in a good position to be more successful for next season.”
Felicity Scott is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
