How 3 former Centre County athletes fared at the NCAA Wrestling Championships
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2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships
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Centre County has become a pipeline for sending high school wrestlers to the Division I level.
For the past several years, there have been two to three former county athletes competing for their respective colleges at the NCAA Wrestling Championships — and this year was no different.
Bellefonte graduate Jude Swisher (Penn, 157 pounds), Penns Valley graduate Malachi Duvall (George Mason, 184 pounds) and State College graduate Pierson Manville (Arizona State, 141-pounds) all made the trip to Rocket Arena for the 2026 edition of NCAAs.
It was the third straight trip for Swisher and Duvall, but it was Manville’s first.
The former Red Raiders wrestler made it the furthest in the tournament of the trio, but it was a familiar finish — one win shy of the podium.
“All Glory to God. I’m just so grateful that I get to come here and wrestle, do what I love. A lot of people were not in the blood round. I think that time and time again, I’ve continued to prove that I’m one of the best dudes in the country,” Swisher told the CDT. “How many people get to say that they have this experience? It’s never a guarantee that you’re going to make it through. Last year I was the 14 seed, and this year I was the sixth seed. I could have easily had not made it as far as I did.
“I’m extremely grateful, especially to my coaches, my family, my teammates, who really just supported me. It really feels like a team effort that got us here.”
Swisher opened his tournament by topping fellow Pennsylvania wrestler Dylan Evans of Pittsburgh, 8-2, on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday night, the Quakers wrestler took on another Pennsylvania wrestler in Ty Watters, who competes for West Virginia. The pair have a history going back to their PIAA championships days with Watters topping Swisher in the semifinals in 2022.
Watters kicked Swisher into the consolation bracket with a 7-1 bout. From there, the Bellefonte alum put together a pair of wins over Iowa State’s Vinny Zerban and Virginia Tech’s Ethen Miller to make the blood round — the round where one win there earns All-America honors.
Swisher took on Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon, and Cannon came away with a 14-1 major decision. It’s the same round that Swisher lost to Penn State’s Tyler Kasak in last year’s championships.
“I think what really stands out is I just knew what to expect. When we showed up on Tuesday for that first workout in the arena, it kind of felt like business as usual. What’s not to be grateful for?” Swisher said. “In Kansas City, it was like, lights were pretty bright. In Philly, it was a pretty cool experience getting into it. This tournament, I was a lot more focused, a lot more dialed in, didn’t let that stuff (atmosphere) get to me as much. I’m pretty proud of my performance.”
Manville’s trip wasn’t as long as he would’ve liked, but he still learned a lot from it.
The State College grad received an at-large bid after not getting one of the Big 12’s automatic spots at his weight, which gave him the 28th seed. His season ended Friday night.
“A lot of trial and error, and it’s certainly been a trial. I just stayed steadfast and kept my nose on the grind. I’m just happy to be here,” he said. “I’m an at-large bid guy; there’s probably 30 other guys that didn’t make it past conferences. I’m one of the fortunate few. I’m just happy to wrestle.”
Manville opened his first NCAA tournament Friday afternoon against Lehigh’s Luke Stanich, who was the No. 5 seed. It was a real eye-opener for the Sun Devils wrestler in a 21-5 technical fall loss in 7:00.
When Manville dropped into the consolation bracket, he had to face fellow District 6 alum Luke Simcox, who competes for North Carolina. The pair had a history through high school and were workout partners at Centre County’s M2 Training Center as Simcox, who beat Manville in the PIAA finals their senior year, went to Central Mountain.
On Friday night, Simcox kept his winning ways against Manville but needed a takedown midway through the third period to earn a 5-4 victory, which ended the former Little Lion’s season.
When the match was over, the pair briefly embraced on the mat.
“We just prayed. I got a lot deeper in my faith at Arizona State. I’m just so grateful to have a friend. I talk to (him), like, at least once every two weeks, just see what’s going on, see what he’s doing,” Manville said . “I’m very fortunate to have a good friend like that.”
For Duvall, his time in Cleveland was similar to last year’s in Philadelphia.
He opened Thursday afternoon against Nebraska’s Silas Allred, who pinned the former Rams wrestler last year. This year, Allred used a reversal early in the second period to collect a 3-1 victory.
In the consolation bracket on Thursday night, Duvall opened by pinning Columbia’s Joe Curtis in 1:50 for his 100th career victory.
The Patriots wrestler advanced to face American’s Caleb Campos and led by one point after two periods of wrestling. Campos opened the third period by throwing Duvall to his back, which ultimately ended the Penns Valley alum’s season with a 9-2 loss.
