Nebraska Wrestling: Lovett and Cronin Win Gold at Pan-Ams for Team USA; Smith and Labriola Medal for Puerto Rico
Lovett looked impressive on the way to gold, outscoring his opponents 31-0 in first Senior Pan American Championships
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 22: Ridge Lovett of the University of Nebraska is declared the winner after wrestling Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech University in the 149-pound class championship match during the Division I Men's Wrestling Championship held at the Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Isaac Wasserman/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) | NCAA Photos via Getty Images Nebraska not only had the most former wrestlers of any college in the United States competing at the Pan American Championships, they all found a way to the medal stand. Represting Team USA, Ridge Lovett and Liam Cronin both won gold medals, while Caleb Smith and Mikey Labriola both won silver — both representing Puerto Rico.
Four former Huskers competed at Pan-Ams. They went a combined 13-2 with their two losses to Americans Ridge Lovett 🥇 70kg Liam Cronin 🥇57kg Caleb Smith 🥈 61kg Mikey Labriola 🥈 79kg — Dylan Guenther (@DguenthWrestle) May 10, 2026 Nebraska wrestlers have been going through a resurgence of late — both Lovett and James Green won US Open titles last month and will wrestle in Final X where Team USA decides its World Team. Smith and Labriola are set to represent Puerto Rico at the World Championships this year at the end of October.
In addition to those four at the Senior level, Nebraska also has LJ Araujo set to represent Brazil at the U20 World Championships and Omar Ayoub already qualified for U20 Worlds for Puerto Rico. Araujo won U20 World bronze at 79 kg in 2024, and Ayoub was a World bronze-medalist last year at 61 kg. Nebraska also has guys like Antrell Taylor, Christopher Minto and Camden McDanel who will likely make runs at making the U23 team for Team USA later this month.
McDanel is a two-time U20 US Open champion and won U20 World bronze in 2023 at 97 kg. Now to breaking down how these four former Huskers did this weekend at Pan-Ams. Ridge Lovett 70 kg — Team USA After winning a US Open title in April, Lovett backed it up with a dominant run at Pan-Ams and looks like he could be the future and the present for Team USA at 70 kg.
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