Army-Navy Wrestling on President's Day Weekend 2025
by Warren Rosenberg, MetroSports Magazine - February 16, 2025
On February 16th 2025, the eve of national President's Day, members of Americas two oldest two U.S. Military Academies faced off at West Point for a wrestling competition between the Army Black Knights of West Point and the Navy Midshipmen of Annapolis. The event was part of the ongoing Star Games competition.
In an afternoon of spirited competition on the eve of President's Day, these young future leaders would have made 13 former Commanders in Chief proud.
Thirteen American presidents, Commanders In Chief of the U.S. Armed Services, are known to have been engaged in the sport of wrestling. George Washington was known to have won a “collar and elbow” wresting championship at the age of 17 and, at the age of 47, a decade before becoming president while serving as Commander of the Continental Armies, defeated seven members of the Massachusetts Volunteers in wrestling matches. Abraham Lincoln earned the title of County Wrestling Champion in New Salem, Illinois at the age of 21 by defeating Jack Armstrong. Prior to entering law school, it is reported that Lincoln captured 300 victories over a 12 year period against only one defeat, to Hank Thompson in 1832. In 1992 Lincoln was posthumously recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as an Outstanding American in the sport of wrestling. Other U.S. presidents known for their participation in wrestling include George Washington, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Jackson, Calvin Coolidge, Zachary Taylor, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.1
This past Sunday’s wrestling event consisted of 10 individual bouts of which Army prevailed in 7 of them with Navy taking 3. Based upon points assigned during the bouts, Army scored a 22-10 win on points. The individual bouts were scored as follows:
125 pounds: Charles Farmer (Army) def. Nick Treaster (Navy) by major decision, 14-2 / 4-0 Army
133 pounds: Ethan Berginc (Army) def. Brendan Ferretti (Navy) by decision, 5-0 / 7-0 Army
141 pounds: Josh Koderhandt (Navy) def. Richard Treanor (Army) by major decision, 16-4 / 7-4 Army
149 pounds: Trae McDaniel (Army) def. Kaemen Smith (Navy) by decision, 7-2 / 10-4 Army
157 pounds: Jonathan Ley (Navy) def. Dakota Morris (Army) by decision, 7-2 / 10-7 Army
165 pounds: Gunner Filipowicz (Army) def. Dylan Elmore (Navy) by decision, 2-0 / 13-7 Army
174 pounds: Danny Wask (Navy) def. Dalton Harkins (Army) by decision, 7-4 / 13-10 Army
184 pounds: Jakob Gilfoil (Army) def. Daniel Williams (Navy) by decision, 2-0 / 16-10 Army
197 pounds: Wolfgang Frable (Army) def. Payton Thomas (Navy) by decision, 7-2 / 19-10 Army
285 pounds: Lucas Stoddard (Army) vs. Jacob Lucas (Navy) by decision, 1-0 / 22-10 ArmyAr
Of special note was the half-time ceremony in which members of the West Point Wrestling class of 1972 presented the academy with a gift of one million dollars (below).
With the USAA Army-Navy Star Series Championship yet to be decided, this weekend’s wrestling match was part of a 3-Star weekend with Stars on the line in the West Point wresting competition and in the men’s and women’s basketball double header at Annapolis. Prior to this past weekend’s events, Army was the Star Series leader with 9 Stars earned against 7 for the Navy. With the Army win in wrestling and a split against Navy in the basketball double header Army came out of the weekend with an 11-8 advantage in the Star Series.
Above and Below: West Point Cadets enjoying the action from the sidelines
Reference 1. Bob Dellinger. Presidents Have a Long Wrestling History. National Wrestling Hall of Fame https://nwhof.org/national-wrestling-hall-of-fame/pages/presidents-have-long-wrestling-history
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