Andrew Michael Alirez (born August 19, 2000) is an American

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a two-time US National champion, and in folkstyle, he is an NCAA National champion at 141 pounds out of the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNCO or UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado, United States. It was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has offi ...

Career

High school

Alirez attended Greeley Central High School, where he was a four-time state champion, multiple-time US

All-American and a U20 Pan American champion. The top-recruit in the country, Alirez committed to the

University of Northern Colorado

2019–2020

At the beginning of the year, Alirez recorded a fourth-place finish at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in

, with a notable win over two-time NCAA champion

Dean Heil Dean Heil is a former folkstyle wrestler from Brunswick, Ohio. Heil wrestled collegiately at Oklahoma State, where he was a three-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion. High school career At St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, he ...

. Back to folkstyle, Alirez, a true freshman, took first at the Northern Colorado and the Cowboy Open tournaments, as well as second at the Southern Scuffle, during regular season. After a fourth-place finish at the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Championships, it was announced that the NCAA National Championships had been cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, cutting his season short to end it with a 23–4 record.

2020–2021

Before the season, Alirez claimed the US National Championship at 65 kilograms in freestyle, recording wins over US Open runner-up

Joseph McKenna Joseph McKenna (August 10, 1843 – November 21, 1926) was an American politician who served in all three branches of the Government of the United States, U.S. federal government as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Attorne ...

and veteran Evan Henderson. Back to folkstyle, Alirez went 4–0 during the season before surrendering to an injury, but still qualified for the NCAA tournament.

2021–2022

After dropping down from 149 to 141 pounds, Alirez placed second and third respectively at the CKLV Invitational and the Southern Scuffle during regular season. Alirez then claimed his first Big 12 Championship title with wins over highly ranked wrestlers, but fell short of All-American honors at the

NCAA National Championships Listed below are the colleges or universities with the most NCAA Division I-sanctioned team championships, individual championships, and combined team and individual championships, as documented by information published on official NCAA websites ...

, ending his season with a 24–5 record.

2022–2023

During regular season, Alirez compiled an undefeated record and racked up titles from the Cougar Clash Invite and the Southern Scuffle. He then earned his second-straight Big 12 Championship before the National tournament. At the NCAA tournament, Alirez became the first NCAA Division I National champion in UNC's history, with hard-fought wins over Lachlan McNeil from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, Beau Bartlett from

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

and

Real Woods Real Marshall Ray Woods (born 1999) is an American Freestyle wrestling, freestyle and Collegiate wrestling, folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he qualified to represent the United States at the 2025 World Championships ...

from

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, to close out an undefeated season with 28 wins and no losses. After the season, he was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Year, and was a

Dan Hodge Trophy The Dan Hodge Trophy is awarded each year to the United States of America’s best college wrestler. The trophy is presented at the end of the season by '' WIN'' magazine and Culture House. It is the collegiate wrestling equivalent to the Heisman ...

finalist. In July, Alirez went back to freestyle to compete at the Poland Open, where he notably took out three-time World Champion

Haji Aliyev Haji Aliyev (; born 21 April 1991), is an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia. ...

in the first round to advance and defeat All-American Josh Finesilver, and lastly, took a

forfeit Forfeit or forfeiture may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Forfeit'', a 2007 thriller film starring Billy Burke * "Forfeit", a song by Chevelle from '' Wonder What's Next'' * '' Forfeit/Fortune'', a 2008 album by Crooked Fingers ...

over Mikyay Naim to claim the title. In September, Alirez announced he would be using an Olympic redshirt for the 2023–2024 season. On December, Alirez became a two-time US National champion in freestyle with wins over All-Americans Beau Bartlett and Austin DeSanto, and US Open champion Alec Pantaleo, qualifying for the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials.

2024

In April, Alirez competed at the US Olympic Team Trials, where after defeating NCAA finalist Beau Bartlett, he fell to US National champion and top-seeded Nick Lee in a tight loss, and subsequently forfeited out of the tournament. In June, he fell to fellow NCAA champion Jesse Mendez at Beat the Streets.

Freestyle record

! colspan="7", Senior Freestyle Matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - , Loss , 17–4 , align=left, Jesse Mendez , style="font-size:88%", 1–4 , style="font-size:88%", June 5, 2024 , style="font-size:88%", 2024 Beat the Streets , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;",

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

, - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , , align=left, Nahshon Garrett , style="font-size:88%", FF , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, April 19, 2024 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2024 US Olympic Team Trials , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough and Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a college town, home to the University Park, Pennsylvania, University Park ...

, - , Loss , 17–3 , align=left, Nick Lee , style="font-size:88%", 9–11 , - , Win , 17–2 , align=left, Beau Bartlett , style="font-size:88%", 6–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 16–2 , align=left, Beau Bartlett , style="font-size:88%", 8–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, December 16–17, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2023 US Senior Nationals , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, - , Win , 15–2 , align=left, Alec Pantaleo , style="font-size:88%", 4–3 , - , Win , 14–2 , align=left, Austin DeSanto , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 13–2 , align=left, Henry Porter , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , , align=left, Mikyay Naim , style="font-size:88%", FF , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, July 26–30, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2023 Poland Open , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a grea ...

, - , Win , 12–2 , align=left, Josh Finesilver , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 11–2 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 8–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 10–2 , align=left, Evan Henderson , style="font-size:88%", 5–1 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, October 9–11, 2020 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, 2020 US Senior Nationals , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6,

Coralville, Iowa Coralville is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb of Iowa City and part of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,318 at the 2020 census. History Coralville is the location of the Edgewa ...

, - , Win , 9–2 , align=left, Yahya Thomas , style="font-size:88%", 7–1 , - , Win , 8–2 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 6–4 , - , Win , 7–2 , align=left, Mitch McKee , style="font-size:88%", 11–5 , - , Win , 6–2 , align=left, Josh Heil , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 5–2 , align=left, Lawrence Saenz , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 4–2 , align=left,

Bryce Meredith Bryce Robert Meredith (born April 29, 1995) is an American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes in the bantamweight division. He has previously competed for Bellator MMA. I ...

, style="font-size:88%", 2–7 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, January 24–26, 2019 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6,

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

, - , Win , 4–1 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 12–4 , - , Win , 3–1 , align=left, Jordin Humphrey , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 2–1 , align=left, Joey Lazor , style="font-size:88%", 8–2 , - , Loss , 1–1 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 7–8 , - , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Adam MacFadyen , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , -

NCAA stats

! Season ! Year ! School ! Rank ! Weigh Class ! Record ! Win ! Bonus , - , 2024 , Olympic RS , rowspan=5,

, , , , , , - , 2023 , Senior , #1 (1st) , rowspan=2, 141 , 28–0 , 100.00% , 71.43% , - , 2022 , Junior , #13 (DNP) , 23–5 , 82.14% , 35.71% , - , 2021 , Sophomore , #6 (DNQ) , rowspan=2, 149 , 4–0 , 100.00% , 75.00% , - , 2020 , Freshman , #11 , 23–4 , 85.19% , 55.56% , - , colspan=5 bgcolor="LIGHTGREY", Career , bgcolor="LIGHTGREY", 78–9 , bgcolor="LIGHTGREY", 89.77% , bgcolor="LIGHTGREY", 55.06%

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alirez, Andrew 2000 births Living people People from Greeley, Colorado Northern Colorado Bears wrestlers