Once a Wildcat
All-Americans & national champions.
Wildcats who placed at a college national tournament, from the 1971 NCAA tournament to the 2025 NCAA and NCWWC titles ... and the ones who kept going onto the world stage.
Placed at a college national tournament
Every Wildcat who placed.
NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III, NAIA and the NCWWC. Every line below was earned competing for a college, and every card's headline counts only the body named on it ... an honor from a different organization is listed under its own label, never folded into the count. In order of graduating class, 1968 to 2019.
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Bill James
NCAA Division I All-American
Wildcat class of ’68
- 1971 · 6th
River Falls High School class of 1968 and the 1966 conference champion, then a cadet at West Point, class of 1972, where he captained the Army team. The program's first NCAA Division I All-American, thirty-one years before Kevin Black. Son of UW-River Falls coach Byron James.
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Gee Pope
2x NAIA All-American
Wildcat class of ’71
- 1974 · 4th
- 1975 · 2nd
River Falls High School class of 1971 and a state qualifier for the Wildcats that year, then a two-time NAIA All-American at UW-River Falls. The college and the high school are separate institutions that share a name.
Student Voice, UW-River Falls, 1975
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Dave Brandvold
National Champion
NCAA Division III
Head coach · 1990-2008
- 1984 · 6th
- 1985 · champion
Won the 1985 final 7-3 at Augustana, coached by Byron James. Our coach, not our alum: He grew up in Spring Valley and won this title for UW-River Falls, the university across town, then led the Wildcats as head coach from 1990 to 2008 ... 205 dual wins. Counted here because the title is River Falls wrestling history; not counted as a Wildcat graduate.
Student Voice, UW-River Falls, 1985
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Brady Cudd
2x NCAA Division III All-American
Wildcat class of ’97
- 2001 · 5th
- 2002 · 2nd
Academic All-American ... not an athletic honor
- NCAA Division I · Academic All-American, 2000 (Wisconsin).
- NCAA Division III · Academic All-American, 2001 and 2002 (UW-La Crosse).
No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters
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Kevin Black
NCAA Division I All-American
Wildcat class of ’98
- 2002 · 4th
UW Athletics
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Tony Black
NCAA Division I All-American
Wildcat class of ’99
- 2003 · 5th
Academic All-American ... not an athletic honor
- Wrestling USA · first-team Academic All-American, 1999.
- Verizon / CoSIDA · second-team Academic All-American, 2003.
UW Athletics
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Trevor Brandvold
2x NCAA Division I All-American
Wildcat class of ’06
- 2010 · 6th
- 2011 · 4th
UW Athletics
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Sam Johnson
NCAA Division III All-American
Wildcat class of ’09
- 2011 · 6th
Courtesy Cam Loomis
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Mitchell Williamson
National Champion
NCAA Division III
Wildcat class of ’18
- 2025 · champion
- 2026 · 2nd
Other national honors
- 2021 · champion · NJCAA · Iowa Lakes
Beat Carl DiGiorgio of Coast Guard 4-1 in the 2025 final; lost the 2026 final 4-1 to Josh Harkless of RIT. The NJCAA title is a separate governing body's championship, so it is listed under its own label and not counted in the NCAA lines above.
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Nathan Fuller
NCAA Division III All-American
Wildcat class of ’19
- 2023 · 7th
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Macey Kilty
National Champion
NCWWC
Wildcat class of ’19
- 2025 · champion
NCWWC is women's collegiate wrestling ... a national championship in its own right, and not one of the NCAA divisions counted above. River Falls High School class of 2019: raised in Stratford, she transferred here for her junior year to train under Kevin Black and graduated a Wildcat.
After college — senior & world level.
Open competition, wrestled for a club, for the United States, or unattached rather than for a school ... so it is counted separately from the college honors above and never inside them. A name on both walls is one athlete: the college card carries the college placing, this one carries the rest.
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Trevor Brandvold
Senior & world level
Wildcat class of ’06
- 2011 · 2nd · Olympic Trials Qualifier · 96 kg
- 2012 · champion · Holiday Cup · 96 kg
- 2013 · 6th · U.S. Open · 96 kg
Also 2x NCAA Division I All-American, Wisconsin
Second at the Olympic Team Trials QUALIFIER in 2011 ... not at the Olympic Trials themselves. Both his university bios say he wrestled in the finals of the Olympic Trials, and that is not what happened: he wrestled the final of the qualifier. At the 2012 Trials he went 2-2 and was eliminated in the consolation bracket. 2013 was his only U.S. Open.
UW Athletics
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Macey Kilty
Senior & world level
Wildcat class of ’19
- 2023 · World silver · 65 kg
- 2024 · World bronze · 65 kg
- 2025 · 5th · World Championships · 65 kg
- 2021 and 2024 · 2nd · U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Also NCWWC National Champion, Iowa
Three-time U.S. Senior World Team member and a two-time Pan American champion. Not an Olympian ... twice the runner-up at the Olympic Team Trials, which is why no line here says Olympic team.
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Ali Howk
Senior & world level
Wildcat class of ’18
- 2022 · bronze · U23 World Championships · 55 kg
- 2023 · champion · U.S. Open · 55 kg
- 2023 · silver · Pan American Championships · 55 kg
River Falls High School class of 2018 ... the national No. 1 at 112 lbs as a senior. The 2022 bronze is an under-23 age-group world medal, not a Senior World medal, and is never printed as a world championship.
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Collin Cudd
Senior & world level
- 2005 · 7th · U.S. Nationals freestyle · 55 kg
- 2006 · 4th · U.S. Nationals freestyle · 55 kg
Open senior competition, wrestled unattached rather than for a college programme ... which is why these two placings sit here and not on the wall above. His 2003 Junior Nationals placing was won at high-school age and is on the high school honours page.
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