26 Mar 2025 Little Rock Wrestling lands two All-Americans for the second year in a row

PHILADELPHIA — One brand new All-American and a newly crowned back-to-back All-American have etched their names into Little Rock wrestling history tonight. Safe to say, the second day of the NCAA Division I Championships ended with a bang on March 21 thanks to the duo of Matty Bianchi and Stephen Little.

“It’s been a great tournament full of serious ups and downs,” commented head coach Neil Erisman. “Incredibly happy for our two All-Americans. They wrestled their tails off and fought hard.”

Bianchi became the program’s third-ever All-American, joining the two from last season, and will be competing for seventh place in tomorrow’s medal matches. Despite dropping his Quarterfinal match by just one point, he bounced back at night to claim a victory in tiebreakers over the no. 9 seed from Minnesota in another upset.It marked his tightest win yet in a thrilling tournament for the redshirt junior, having won in sudden victory overtime and by a one-point decision with a last-second takedown yesterday. While Bianchi’s next match was a loss in overtime, it goes to show that his strategy of always moving forward kept him doing exactly that.

For the second year in a row, Little will come home with some hardware, and this time around will end up higher than his previous appearance, a seventh-place finish in 2024. He’s still working his way through the wrestle backs after winning four straight matches today in the consolation bracket, meaning the redshirt sophomore has a chance to advance to the third-place bout tomorrow or move to the fifth-place match.