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
11 athletes, 16 national placings, 3 national titles.
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, from the 1971 NCAA tournament to the 2025 titles.
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NCAA Division I
Bill James
Wildcat, class of 1968
NCAA Division I All-American
- 1971 · 6th at 134 lbs.
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.
No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters
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NAIA
Gee Pope
Wildcat, class of 1971
2x NAIA All-American
- 1974 · 4th at 134 lbs.
- 1975 · runner-up at 134 lbs.
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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National Champion
NCAA Division III
Dave Brandvold
Coach, not alum · 1990-2008
NCAA Division III National Champion
- 1985 · champion at 177 lbs, won the final 7-3 at Augustana.
- 1984 · 6th at 177 lbs.
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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NCAA Division III
Brady Cudd
Wildcat, class of 1997
2x NCAA Division III All-American
- 2001 · 5th at 141 lbs.
- 2002 · runner-up at 141 lbs.
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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NCAA Division I
Kevin Black
Wildcat, class of 1998
NCAA Division I All-American
- 2002 · 4th at 133 lbs.
UW Athletics
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NCAA Division I
Tony Black
Wildcat, class of 1999
NCAA Division I All-American
- 2003 · 5th at 125 lbs.
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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NCAA Division I
Trevor Brandvold
Wildcat, class of 2006
2x NCAA Division I All-American
- 2010 · 6th at 197 lbs.
- 2011 · 4th at 197 lbs.
UW Athletics
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NCAA Division III
Sam Johnson
Wildcat, class of 2009
NCAA Division III All-American
- 2011 · 6th at 197 lbs.
Other national honors
- NAIA · 6th at 197 lbs, 2014, for the University of the Cumberlands.
Courtesy Cam Loomis
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NCAA Division III
Nathan Fuller
Wildcat, class of 2019
NCAA Division III All-American
- 2023 · 7th at 165 lbs.
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National Champion
NCWWC
Macey Kilty
Wildcat, class of 2019
NCWWC National Champion
- 2025 · champion at 145 lbs for Iowa.
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.
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National Champion
NCAA Division III
Mitchell Williamson
Wildcat, class of 2018
NCAA Division III National Champion
- 2025 · champion at 285 lbs, beat Carl DiGiorgio of Coast Guard 4-1 in the final.
- 2026 · runner-up at 285 lbs, lost to Josh Harkless of RIT 4-1.
Other national honors
- NJCAA · 2021 · national champion at 285 lbs for Iowa Lakes.
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.
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.
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Trevor Brandvold
- USA Wrestling · 2011 · runner-up at 96 kg, U.S. Olympic Team Trials Qualifier.
- Minnesota Storm · 2012 · champion at 96 kg, Holiday Cup, 3-0 in the round robin.
- USA Wrestling · 2013 · 6th at 96 kg, U.S. Open.
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.
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Macey Kilty
- United World Wrestling · 2023 · World silver at 65 kg, Belgrade.
- United World Wrestling · 2024 · World bronze at 65 kg, Tirana.
- United World Wrestling · 2025 · 5th at 65 kg, World Championships.
- USA Wrestling · 2021 and 2024 · runner-up at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
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
- United World Wrestling · 2022 · bronze at 55 kg, U23 World Championships.
- USA Wrestling · 2023 · champion at 55 kg, U.S. Open.
- United World Wrestling · 2023 · silver at 55 kg, Pan American Championships.
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
- USA Wrestling · 2005 · 7th at 55 kg, U.S. Nationals freestyle.
- USA Wrestling · 2006 · 4th at 55 kg, U.S. Nationals freestyle.
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.
Their high school national honors Wildcats wrestling in college now Every state champion and qualifier
