The growth and maturation of Wyoming’s Joey Novak was on full display at the 2025 NCAA Championships inside Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. And it was never more evident than in the fifth-place match Saturday afternoon at 197 pounds.

Novak, seeded 15th, pulled off his third upset of the tournament, defeating No. 12 Stephen Little (Little Rock) via major decision, 8-0. Those two met during the 2024 NCAA Championships and Little beat Novak by major decision, 13-5.

The 16-point turnaround was just one piece of evidence of Novak’s growth from a year ago. It was also one of four bonus-point wins for Novak at the 2025 Championships and three of those were in succession to earn All-American status.

“What a jump in levels for him. It was his maturity, competitiveness and belief in himself,” head coach Mark Branch said. “He had a bad Big 12 Tournament to his standards and to our standards. So, for him to believe in himself and come here and wrestle guys he was not favored to be in the match with, is a huge testament to what he’s doing right now.”

Wyoming finished 22nd as a team, its highest finish since 2018. The Pokes racked up 19.5 points and again many of those were accumulated by Novak.

“He fought all weekend for the team,” Branch said. “He came out today not satisfied, and that’s a hard thing to do when you accomplish the main goal (being an All-American) you’ve had all season. When you go to bed at night, it’s easy to turn that switch off and not stay focused on what you have in front of you. But he didn’t do that, and ending your season with a win is how you want to go.”

Novak owned a 6-2 record at this year’s NCAAs. He defeated Little, No. 5 Michael Beard (Lehigh), No. 9 Zac Bruanagel (Illinois) and No. 17 Nik Stemmet (Stanford) all by either major decision or fall.

He beat No. 18 Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell) and No. 20 Camden McDanel (Nebraska) by decisions and dropped matches to No. 2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) and No. 3 AJ Ferrari (CSU-Bakersfield).

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

149: No. 30 Gabe Willochell (0-2)

First Round: No. 3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) fall Willochell, 4:12

Consolation Pigtail: Wynton Denkins (Campbell) sudden victory Willochell, 17-14

157: No. 13 Jared Hill (0-2)

First Round: No. 20 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) decision Hill, 2-0

Consolation First Round: No. 29 James Harrington (Harvard) fall Hill, 5:46

184: No. 19 Eddie Neitenbach (2-2)

First Round: No. 14 DJ Parker (Oklahoma) major decision Neitenbach, 10-0

Consolation First Round: Neitenbach fall No. 33 TJ McDonnell (Oregon State), 1:08

Consolation Second Round: Neitenbach sudden victory No. 20 Nick Fine (Columbia), 9-6

Consolation Third Round: No. 22 Donnell Washington (Indiana) technical fall Nietenbach, 19-4

197: No. 15 Joey Novak (6-2)

First Round: Novak decision No. 18 Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell), 8-1

Second Round: No. 2 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) technical fall Novak, 16-1

Consolation Second Round: Novak fall No. 17 Nikolas Stemmet (Stanford), 4:23

Consolation Third Round: Novak fall No. 9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois), 5:31

Blood Round: Novak major decision No. 5 Michael Beard (Lehigh), 13-4

Consolation Quarterfinals: Novak decision No. 20 Camden McDaniel (Nebraska), 4-2

Consolation Semifinals: No. 3 AJ Ferrari (CSU-Bakersfield) decision Novak, 5-3

5th-Place Match: Novak major decision Stephen Little (Little Rock), 8-0

HWT: No. 30 Sam Mitchell (1-2)

First Round: No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) technical fall Mitchell, 15-0

Consolation Pigtail: Mitchell decision No. 33 Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State), 5-0

Consolation First Round: No. 19 Cory Day (Binghamton) fall Mitchell, 5:58