Royals, Wildcats maintain grip on team titles

WIESBADEN, Germany — Naples captain Julian Parker could tell his coach was nervous during the final rounds of the 2026 DODEA European wrestling championships on Saturday.

The Wildcats’ dynasty was in jeopardy, as they, Rota and Aviano were within a few points of each other in the Division II team title race. Parker, who lost in the 138-pound final, wasn’t as worried.

It turned out Parker was right. Naples squeaked out a fourth consecutive mid-sized school title with 103.5 points, ahead of the Saints. The Admirals took third.

Naples managed the feat despite not having a single individual winner.

“It was really tough this year,” Parker said. “We had a lot of new wrestlers, but through training and just trusting our coaches, we were able to come out on top.”

The Wildcats weren’t the only team accomplishing a four-peat.

Ramstein continued its dominance over Division I, amassing 334.5 points. Second-place Stuttgart totaled 253.5, while third-place Kaiserslautern recorded 133.

In Division III, Alconbury won for the second-straight campaign with 66.5 points. Hohenfels’s 22 points were good enough for second place.

Rhys Barlow, the champion at 150 who completed a perfect 26-0 season, said these Royals weren’t as good as the team during his first season wrestling. Yet the team was more than strong enough to keep with the winning tradition.

“Two years ago, that wrestling generation was really strong, really powerful,” Barlow said. “This year wasn’t as good in every weight class as back then, but next year, they’ll be more competition in lower weight classes.”

Nate Greene, a sophomore who picked up a second European title at 132, shares his teammate’s belief that the well won’t be going dry any time soon.

“I feel like it’s going to keep running on,” Greene said. “We have great coaches, great staff, and they just push us all. I believe the rest of the underclassmen can strive for their victories as well.”

Ramstein’s Levi Lasher had seen plenty of Kaiserslautern’s Jaden Dean this season. So he understood just how to tackle him.

“He’s a strong guy,” Lasher said. “I knew I was going to have to keep him off my head and just keep my distance.”

Lasher’s plan worked to perfection, as the Royal controlled the Raiders from start to finish for a 13-0 victory.

The Ramstein wrestler really pulled away in the third period, starting with a takedown at the 4-minute, 15-second mark. Lesher spent the next 1:45 seeking a pin while picking up five more points.

Ramstein’s Ethan Holdren and SHAPE’s Reilly Tobias spent most of the 113 final hand-fighting, trying to see which one of the two could get the upper hand.

That led to a cagey match that placed a premium on every single point. Holdren managed to pique it out in the end, defeating last year’s 106 champion 2-1.

“There’s so much pressure because you just don’t know what they’re going to do next like a throw or any kind of shot,” Holdren said.

Reilly held a slim 1-0 advantage heading into the third period, but as Holdren tried to get up from the down position, the Spartan received a penalty for an illegal slam, tying the contest.

At the 4:53 mark, Holdren escaped to take the lead. After that, Holdren and Reilly stayed high with most of their attempts, and the Royal saw out the victory.

“Last year, I only placed fifth. Now, it’s just so weird being up on top,” Holdren said.

Rota’s Matthew Igelsias Rodriguez lost to Vilseck’s Cael Rowley in their fifth and final pool-play match via a technical fall.

That results played in his head ahead of Saturday’s final. And it was the Admiral who got the last laugh with a pin at 5:09.

“Now, I got my vengeance,” Iglesias Rodriguez said.

Early in the third period, however, Igelsias Rodriguez was looking at another defeat to the Falcon. The Admiral fell behind 5-0 when Rowley recorded a takedown at the 4:17 mark.

Igelsias Rodriguez flipped the script 40 seconds later, though. He got a reversal and 12 seconds later, heard the smack on the mat signaling he had won.

“I felt like I couldn’t do any more, but then I remembered what I talked through with my parents. I remembered, ‘I can’t lose. I can’t let them down,’” Iglesias Rodriguez said. “I preserved.”

Kaiserslautern’s Joshua Kim had gotten himself on the podium the past two seasons with second- and third-place finishes, but the ultimate prize had eluded him.

“I feel like it’s been coming to me,” Kim said. “This year, I had to finish first.”

Not only did Kim manage to take first with a 13-5 win over Wiesbaden’s Alejandro Rios Cuellar, but he also completed an undefeated season.

The Raider wasted no time getting points and led 6-1 after the first period. That advantage grew to 13-3 just 18 seconds into the third frame with an escape. From there, Kim cruised to the finish line, just giving up a pair of stall points.

“Honestly, hard work’s what got me here,” Kim said. “The days when I didn’t want to go out 5 a.m. run that I still did, eventually that all adds up.”

Greene said he didn’t have the right mindset heading into his final round-robin matchup with Vicenza’s Liam Dokos on Friday, which led to a Cougar victory.

The Royal was determined to make sure that didn’t happen during Saturday’s title contest.

“I learned I need to get my head in the game because my head was not in the game,” Greene said. “It definitely was a mental battle.”

Locked in, Greene took care of business, pinning Dokos at the 1:44 mark. The fall came just 9 seconds after the Royal sophomore produced the match’s first points with a takedown.

“I was expecting it to go all three periods, maybe even overtime,” Greene said. “He just got caught, and I used it.”

It took some time before any fireworks were lit between Stuttgart’s Rucell Phillip and Parker, but when things got going, they were in the Panther’s favor.

Phillip scored 6 seconds into the second frame and never trailed en route to a 7-1 victory. The Stuttgart wrestler only allowed a point during an escape by Parker at the 4:50 mark, and he finished the contest via a takedown with 30 seconds remaining.

“It’s one of my best experiences because I worked really hard for it,” Phillip said. “Coming in second last year, I really wanted it this year.”

Alconbury’s Jacob Stuhler was used to experiencing great regular seasons, only for things to peter out in the postseason.

Yet the line in the song “Too Fast” by Jason Aldean struck a chord with the Dragon.

“His lyrics, ‘I don’t want to be a restless soul/running on empty, burning up the road,’ that’s what really drove me through the season, not wanting to be restless sleeping tonight, thinking about this,” Stuhler said.

He had no reason to be restless Saturday. Stuhler pinned Naples’ Hayden Schmall at 5:14 to complete a 22-0 season.

The match was tied 4-4 early in the third frame. Schmall, who began the period in the down position, escaped to take the lead.

Stuhler said he looked up at the scoreboard to see he had 1:15 left to get the crown. That sparked a 20-second stretch in which the Dragon took the lead via a takedown and then pinned the Wildcat.

“I thought, ‘It’s now or never. I’ll do it now. I might never see a chance like this again,’” Stuhler said.

Barlow has seen the growth in his teammate and sparring partner Ryan Parvin.

Parvin didn’t place at the 2025 European tournament, while Barlow placed fourth. Yet Saturday, they found themselves on opposing sides for European glory.

Barlow got the better of his teammate, pinning Parvin at 1:55. But Parvin did have a 4-3 advantage 1:10 into the contest before Barlow flipped things in the closing seconds of the first period.

“I’m amazed that we both came this far,” Barlow said. “Seeing how far we came from first and second place together is really beautiful to me.”

Stuttgart’s Dane Westberry admitted he underestimated his teammate, James Chen, ahead of Saturday’s final.

The senior found himself in a tight contest where neither could get the better of the other in regulation and even the first overtime period. In the end, Westberry did get past Chen in the second extra session, 10-7.

“I was definitely trying not to be mean to him or hurt him, but he came out strong with a bunch of energy,” Westberry said. “I wasn’t really ready for it.”

Westberry explained he wasn’t nervous about going to overtime. Even after Chen got a point for escaping during the first 30 seconds, he didn’t panic.

Instead, Westberry escaped during the second 30-second half and then got a takedown with seconds remaining.

“I don’t even think about it,” Westberry said. “I just think it’s another period, it doesn’t matter if he takes me down. I’m not worried about it. I know I’m work my game and be successful.”

Stuttgart’s Kai Lewis and Ramstein’s Xavier Schumacher met during the first weekend of the regular season, and the Panther was looking forward to ending his season with a tough match against the Royal.

That rematch didn’t come to fruition, though. Schumacher suffered a knee injury during his semifinal win Friday and couldn’t compete in Saturday’s final.

“I was excited to run it back and see how much better he’s gotten and if I’ve gotten any better,” said Lewis, who picked up his second European crown. “Unfortunately, both of us are kind of injured, and he couldn’t wrestle. So, it is what it is.”

Those watching Cruz Cottingham of Aviano take on Ramstein’s Noah Fillmore probably couldn’t tell it was the Saint’s first European final.

The senior cruised past the Royal for a 9-0 victory, sealing a 21-0 season in the process.

Cottingham led 3-0 after the first period, and he nearly pinned Fillmore near the end of the second frame.

An escape 40 seconds into the third period left Cottingham with little to do at the end.

“The match played out how I wanted,” Cottingham said. “I wish I had a little more gas in the tank.”

Aviano’s Tyler Mellon wanted to play soccer in the spring, but his grandmother gave him one piece of advice:

“She’s like, ‘You got to pick a sport and go as hard as you can,’” Mellon said. “I chose wrestling.”

That decision proved the right call.

Saturday, Mellon became the second Saint to complete an unbeaten season and earn a European title with an 11-6 decision over Lakenheath’s Wesson Roney.

The Aviano senior jumped out to a 9-2 advantage midway through the match, but Roney didn’t go quietly. The Lancer got a takedown late in the second period to pull within four points.

In the third, Mellon escaped and avoided the attacks from his opponent.

“I’ve been working on that a lot,” Mellon said. “My cardio was so good, and my coaching staff just giving me the best techniques they possibly could.”

Ramstein’s Chris Farrington hadn’t wrestled Naples’ Hans van de Mortal before Saturday’s final. He did see the Wildcat’s performance against Lakenheath’s Jessiah Cruz in the semifinal that ended in a quick pin.

“I was like, ‘Oh, he must be pretty good,’” Farrington said. “So, I tried to come out here with my best.”

His best turned an early deficit into a rout. Farrington beat van de Mortal 20-5.

Trailing one point after the first period, the Royal outscored van de Mortal 18-2 the rest of the way.

“He started charging at me, and I was able to slip in the other shots or snap,” Farrington said.

Stuttgart’s Linus Soto had dropped his previous two matchups with Wiesbaden’s Dan Garin, the defending DODEA-Europe heavyweight champ.

In those two losses, the Panther sophomore learned a thing or two. Those lessons led to him upsetting Garin for an 8-4 decision.

Garin started the scoring with a reversal at the 2:20 mark. Soto, though, rattled off the next six points with a reversal of his own and four near-fall points.

Early in the third, Garin clawed back to make it a two-point contest, but Soto responded almost immediately and pushed the advantage back to four with a reversal.

That proved more than enough for the Panther.

“The thing I’ve been struggling with is pacing my energy throughout the three (periods) so I would have enough for the final stretch,” Soto said. “Last time I faced him, I went all out, thinking I’d get one good chance, and would never work.

“But I had to believe and I did beat a champion.”

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