Wrestling Club earns national duals crown

BY KELLAN BYARS

Multimedia Journalist

Tarleton State University Wrestling Club claimed a pair of national titles at the 2026 NCWA National Duals, with both men’s and women’s teams winning gold during an incredible two-day performance.

Over the course of the competition the men’s team only lost eight matches and the women’s team lost six. Both teams competed in six duals over two days. They dominated against many well-established teams and came out on top every time.

Lance Tyler, the team’s 285-pound wrestler as well as club president and founder explained that this season, the teams showed up with undeniable confidence and decided before even stepping on the mat that they were going to win.

“We knew what we were here to do,” Tyler said. “We went in with the mentality that it would happen, and we all watched it happen. It was almost like a reassurance showing us that what we were believing in was true.”

That confidence was ignited by the leadership not just at the matches but in the mat room at home. Tyler recognized that leadership in senior 125-pound wrestler Noah Clayton.

“I did not see him lose a single match, and there was never a second where I’m like, ‘He’s not fighting with everything he has for the team,’” Tyler said.

Tyler described Clayton as a “tone setter.” Being the lightest weight means Clayton typically wrestles first, and it’s up to him to get momentum started.

“Coming out swinging off of the first match, dominating the way he was, it was like every single weight that followed that, we just carried the momentum,” Tyler said.

Clayton acknowledged that it’s a lot of pressure but explained that good things happen when you trust your skills. Clayton uses that pressure to give it his all as soon as the whistle blows and that’s something both teams can feel.

“It amps them up,” he said. “Going out there and getting those bonus points adds energy to the bench, and everybody that wrestles after me feeds off of that.”

One of the biggest moments for the team was their win against Liberty University. The teams met in the semifinals, and no one was quite sure who was going to win.

“They’ve been a program way longer than we have,” Clayton said. “That was kind of the big one. We were all feeling the pressure.”

Clayton won the first round of the match by major decision, giving Tarleton some much-needed points. The win started a snowball effect and pushed the team to compete at their best.

“After that, it kind of let the team know how we were going to compete the rest of the dual,” Clayton said.

One thing the team unanimously agreed on was that the mindset this year was just different. They credited much of that to their coaches.

“Mindset is probably the biggest thing,” Clayton said. “There have been a lot of moments where things have clicked for me, and that’s entirely due to our coaching staff.”

That mindset switch was incredibly important this year as the team’s confidence was built up. They went into competition knowing they could compete with any other team and do well. Clayton said the trust built in practice translated directly to performance under pressure.

“When you step out on the mat, you don’t have to think,” Clayton said. “You can just react because your body’s trained in a way where it takes over.”

National wins for both the men’s and women’s team showed that Tarleton is ready for that next step and the athletes on the team are only getting stronger.

For Clayton, national duals were less about the actual competition and more about what it proved to everyone who saw Tarleton Wrestling compete.

“It showed that we train on another level,” Clayton said. “This group is most definitely ready for the Division I level.”

For Tyler, the title is just a checkpoint on the way to a much larger vision for the program.

“This national dual meet win is the smallest thing this program will ever achieve,” he said.

The gold medals validated what the teams already knew, the culture training and ability to trust each other under pressure paid off. For a team that is still working its way up the ranks nationally, that confidence may be what sets them apart from the crowd.

“When people look back, I want them to remember the culture,” Clayton said. “Everybody has each other’s back. We never let the moment be too big.”

As Tarleton Wrestling continues to grow, the message that the teams want to express is that this success is not just something to be admired but a foundation for the future of Tarleton Wrestling.

Every win raises the standard, and if this season proved anything, it was that the Texans believe their best moments are still ahead.