CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – TCNJ wrestling star Garrett Totten etched his name into the annals of one of the sport's most storied programs on Saturday night, cruising to the NCAA title at 133 pounds. Totten defeated 3^rd-seeded James Day of Wabash, 8-1, to become the Lions' first 133-pound national champion in over two decades.
  
The Lions finished tied for 10^th in the team standings with 37.5 team points, their second top-10 finish in the last three seasons. 
 
Vinnie Santaniello joined Totten as an All-American, placing 6^th at 141 pounds after dropping three bouts by a combined four points.
  
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 is the fourth NCAA champion in the Joe Galante era at TCNJ, joining Mike Denver (2012), Ryan Budzek (2019), and Nick Sacco (2024). He is the first 133-pound champ since Dave Ilaria in 2003.
 
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.
 
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

• 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