“I’ve been wrestling since I was like five or six years old. When I first watched the tournament, I was like, ‘Oh I wanna be on the national level,” said Vince Robinson in an interview with The Nubian Message. Robinson, a second-year sport management major and current redshirt freshman on the NC State wrestling team, won the NCAA 125-pound championship title on March 22, 2025.
Vince Robinson swept through his bracket — that contained several of the best wrestlers from across the country — with ease. During his first four matches, he managed to win without difficulty, leading him to the final.
Robinson’s Bracket
First Round – No. 29 Joey Cruz (Iowa; 12-1 major decision)
Second Round – No. 13 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton; 6-4 decision)
Quarterfinals – No. 12 Dean Peterson (Rutgers; 4-2 decision)
Semifinals – No. 8 Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh; 4-2 decicsion)
Finals – No. 7 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State; 2-1 decicsion, TB-1)
After beating Dean Peterson and Sheldon Seymour for the second time this season, Robinson advanced to the final where he faced Troy Spratley on March 24, 2025. The two had a tight match throughout. Going into sudden victory overtime, neither wrestler managed to score in the two minutes. They moved to tiebreaker ride-outs, where the wrestler who scored first during regulation chooses their starting position. When the player at the bottom escapes, they earn a point. In this case, Robinson chose to start at the bottom and secured an escape point within a few seconds of the first tiebreaker period. With a tense ending, Robinson secured the 2025 NCAA 125-pound championship title with a 2-1 win.
Robinson is the eighth wrestler at NC State to win the NCAA wrestling championship since 2018 winner, Michael Macchiavello, who won the 197-pound title. Overall, NC State finished eighth in the tournament. Their 2025 NCAA championship placement marks the program’s 11th
season in a row placing within the top 20.
The Nubian Message interviewed Robinson on what it was like for him to get such a huge accomplishment, and childhood dream, come true.
“It was breathtaking, honestly, because it was like I’ve been dreaming about this tournament since I started watching it,” he said. Robinson persevered through a lot of obstacles when moving up the wrestling ranks.
But his path to stardom was far from easy. He tore his meniscus prior to the season and had to get surgery, keeping him out of action for three weeks.
“I think the most support was from my dad and Coach Zack Esposito,” Robinson said about those who kept him
motivated through those trying times.
“[Tommy Gantt] was the one that saw it in me a lot. It was days I didn’t even wanna get up. 7 a.m. [or] 8 a.m., he calling my phone and it’s like ‘Ain’t nobody going in; why I have to go in. Why me?’ And he was like, ‘You wanna go win, right?’”
Robinson also praised his teammate Ryan Jack, a senior studying sport management and redshirting this season. “Jack was a big part of that too, ’cause I could call him at any time and I wanna work out, he’ll say ‘alright’. He’ll never say no.”
His impressive run during this season created new expectations for his time at NC State. Robinson’s family, teammates and coaches have provided him with guidance and support. With his goals and ambitions ahead of him, he can easily meet these expectations and leave a lasting impact on the wrestling program and NC State as a whole.
“Just because [you had] one dream you wasn’t able to achieve, it don’t mean you can’t achieve another one.
