Athletics · March 16, 2026
Senior 165-Pounder Places Sixth at Nationals, Wrestling’s First All-American Since 2017
Caleb Hermanson, a manufacturing engineering major, went 4–2 at the Division III championships; sophomore Luis Ortega won a match in his national debut.
Senior Caleb Hermanson placed sixth at 165 pounds at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships over the weekend. That makes him UW–Porter Falls wrestling’s first All-American since 2017 and the twelfth in program history.
Hermanson, the No. 11 seed, beat the No. 6 seed 5–3 in the first round on Friday. After a loss in the quarterfinals, he won three straight consolation matches, the last by a 2–1 decision in sudden victory, to make the podium. He lost the fifth-place match 4–2 and finished the season 31–8.
Sophomore Luis Ortega, wrestling at 141 pounds in his first national tournament, won his opening consolation match by major decision before being eliminated, and finished 1–2. The two were Porter’s qualifiers after the team finished third at the conference championships two weeks ago.
“Freshman year I went 9–14 and seriously thought about quitting. What kept me in it was that nobody here ever made wrestling feel more important than my classes. So I stopped treating a loss like the end of the world. I think that’s the reason I won the close ones this weekend.”
— Caleb Hermanson, senior, manufacturing engineering
Hermanson is also the only wrestler in the bracket who spent the semester before nationals on a co-op. He worked 30 hours a week as a process-engineering intern at a Porter County machine shop and trained at 5:30 a.m. and after his shift. He will graduate in May and has accepted a full-time offer from the same company. The manufacturing engineering degree plan builds in that co-op semester.
Ironclad wrestling’s best national finish is still the 1988 team, which placed ninth as a team and is in the athletics hall of fame. Porter’s eleven earlier All-Americans are listed on the hall of fame wall in the athletic center concourse. Hermanson’s name will be added this spring.
“He beat a sixth seed and a couple of guys from programs three times our size,” said Athletics Director Chuck Running. “And he did it on four hours of sleep a night with a co-op job.”
The program returns seven of ten starters next season, including Ortega. Home duals are at Ironclad Fieldhouse and free for students with a Porter Card. The schedule and roster are on the wrestling page.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. These wrestlers, matches, seeds and results are invented, and no real athlete or championship result is reported here.