CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – So nice, they did it twice. For the first time in nearly 40 years, TCNJ Wrestling is home to multiple national champions.
 
Garrett Totten and Hunter Mays etched their names into the annals of one of the sport's most storied programs on Saturday night, cruising to dual national titles at 133 and 174 pounds, respectively. Totten defeated 3^rd-seeded James Day of Wabash, 8-1, while Mays took down 6^th-seeded Bryce McDonough of Luther, 8-6, to polish off a perfect season.
 
Both runaway winners as No. 1 seeds, Totten and Mays are the first pair of TCNJ teammates to win NCAA titles in the same year since Tim Jacoutot, Greg MacDonald, and Vic Pozsonyi all did it in 1987.
 
Thanks to its title-winning tandem, the Lions finished 5^th in the team standings with 58.5 team points, the highest in head coach Joe Galante's 15-year tenure and matching the best national placement since Galante's senior season in 2007.
 
Vinnie Santaniello joined Totten and Mays as All-Americans, placing 6^th at 141 pounds after dropping three bouts by a combined four points.
 
The symmetry of this glorious Saturday night was too much to ignore. Both joined Galante's program as Division I transfers for the 2024-25 campaign, Mays at the start of the year from Lehigh and Totten in the middle of the season from Navy.
 
For Totten, the first family of Garden State wrestling added another title belt to its ranks. Both his father, Brandon, and uncle, Justin, were Division III national champions – Brandon was a two-time champ at Delaware Valley (1995 and 1996), while Justin won the 141-pound crown in 1999 at TCNJ.
 
Totten and Mays are the fourth and fifth NCAA champions in the Galante era at TCNJ, joining Mike Denver (2012), Ryan Budzek (2019), and Nick Sacco (2024). Totten is the first 133-pound champ since Dave Ilaria in 2003, while Mays is the first 174-pound winner in program history; Kevin Walzak (1981) and MacDonald (1987) won at 177.
 
It was a day of many-fold redemption for Totten. A year ago, he was undefeated coming into the NCAA semifinals, but let an early 6-2 lead slip away in an eventual one-point loss, with two straight setbacks after that dropping him into sixth place. This time, he saw his way through.
 
Totten needed just 25 seconds to get on top with a quick takedown of 4^th-seeded Jude Robson of Roanoke. Carrying a 3-1 lead into the second, he upped his edge to 5-1 with an escape and a stalling penalty on Robson. The Maroon got within 5-3 on an escape and a stalling penalty on Totten, but TCNJ's star warded off Robson's bid for a last-second takedown and won 6-3 on riding time.
 
The redemption tour continued on the biggest stage, against an opponent who defeated him in the consolation semifinals a year ago. The rematch went Totten's way.
 
Totten notched the first takedown about 30 seconds into the tilt. He led 3-1 after one, then rode out the entire second period to clinch riding time. An escape made it 4-1, and it stayed there until the final 15 seconds, when Totten put an exclamation point on his dominating run through the tournament with a takedown and a celebration fit for a king.
 
Mays continued his own run of dominance right to the title. In a rematch of the Region III championship, Mays cruised to a 13-4 major decision over 3^rd-seeded Ty Finn of NYU, posting a pair of takedowns in the first period and one in each of the next two to punch his ticket to the title bout.
 
After a scoreless first period in the final, Mays trailed for the first time all tournament as McDonough started the second on bottom and escaped. But Mays stuck his shot and got the opening takedown midway through the frame, taking a 3-2 lead into the final frame. He made it 4-2 with an escape before effectively sealing the crown with a takedown at the edge of the circle with 54 seconds to go. McDonough managed to get a takedown with less than 10 seconds left and quickly let Mays go, but his last-ditch efforts at another one proved futile.
 
Santaniello trailed top seed and reigning national champion Mark Samuel (Roanoke) 4-0 in the first period, but worked a reverse to cut that margin in half. After a scoreless second period, Santaniello got within 5-3 on an escape but was unable to get the takedown he needed, conceding a 5-4 decision after Samuel was charged with stalling in the final seconds.

Santaniello lost a narrow 4-2 decision to 6th-seeded Pierre Baldwin of Central in the consolation semifinals, then wound up on the short side of another tight tilt against 8^th-seeded Hayden Myers of Wesleyan, who claimed the fifth-place bout with a 3-2 decision.
 
NOTES

• Mays finished the 2025-26 campaign a perfect 28-0 and is 58-8 in his two seasons at TCNJ
• Totten went 34-4 this season, ending the year on a 22-match winning streak and improving his career record with the Lions to 55-7
• Santaniello finished 23-4 in his first season in Division III