LANCASTER, Pa. – The Division I Franklin & Marshall wrestling team has announced its 2025-26 schedule. The Diplomats are set for busy year on the mats with 10 duals and 10 tournaments – including both the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational, Midlands, and Lehman Open which highlight a very competitive schedule.

The 2025-26 season will get started on November 2 at the Southeast Open. That tournament will mark the fourth straight year that the Diplomats will open in Roanoke, Virginia. F&M will also face familiar tournaments in November at the Journeyman Collegiate Classic (Nov. 9), Millersville's Shorty Hitchcock Memorial (Nov. 15), and the Keystone Classic (Nov. 23).

The dual portion of the schedule opens at home with an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Independence Division matchup against LIU on Sunday, November 16. The first half of the schedule additionally features three duals in South Carolina on December 18 as the team is set for a quad meet with host Presbyterian, along with Air Force and Davidson. Southern Conference opponents Presbyterian and Davidson both return to the schedules after those teams last met in 2023. F&M will be competing in a dual against Big 12 school Air Force for just the second time in program history as the Diplomats headed to the academy in Colorado during the 1979-80 season and came away with a 31-13 victory.

A big addition to this year's schedule will be the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on December 5-6. The premier early season individual tournament of the college wrestling season featured 130 ranked wrestlers a year ago and had six of the top 10 and 16 of the top 25 teams from last year's NCAA Tournament. The Diplomats will face another tough tournament to close the month with the Midlands Championships set for December 29-30 in Evanston, Illinois. When the calendar flips to 2026, much of the Division I landscape will turn its attention to Lancaster when the Diplomats host the David H. Lehman '68 F&M Open on Friday, January 9. Twenty-two Division I programs sent wrestlers to compete at 2025 Lehman Open, with a total of 50 different Division I teams having wrestled in this tournament since its inception during the 2013-14 season.

EIWA duals make up the majority of the team's action in January and February. F&M will host Hofstra (Feb. 1) and Morgan State (Feb. 11) in the Mayser Center, with conference trips to Binghamton (Jan. 17), Sacred Heart (Jan. 24), and Drexel (Jan. 31) also on the docket. The dual against Morgan State – the newest member of the EIWA after the program's return – will be the first-ever dual between the two programs. The dual season comes to a close on Sunday, February 15 with a 2 p.m. match against local rival Millersville to decide the Rupp Cup which has gone to the Diplomats during the last five meetings. The Messiah Open (Feb. 7), Patriot Last Chance Open (Feb. 22), and Zingos National Tournament (Mar. 1) will give valuable mat experience to the team which has 39 wrestlers for the upcoming season.

The EIWA Championships are set for March 6 and 7. The Diplomats have had multiple place winners at their conference championship every year since 2022, including three place winners during the past two seasons. In total, the returning Diplomats have combined for seven placements at the EIWA Tournament. NCAA Qualifiers will advance to the Division I Championships in Cleveland, Ohio from Thursday, March 19 through Saturday, March 21.

The upcoming season looks to boast one of F&M's deepest and most experienced squads in recent history with 14 different wrestlers who have previously competed in the postseason. That group is led by 2024 NCAA qualifier and Elite 90 Award Winner James Conway who is returning alongside Pat Phillips after they both redshirted a season ago. They will join fellow senior Mason Leiphart as three-time postseason participants entering their senior campaigns. That senior class is bolstered by Bryce Kresho who led all Division I wresters in wins last season while. Fellow seniors Josh Hillard and RJ Moore are returning EIWA place winners. Nick Alvarez and Josh Palmucci have also made multiple trips to the postseason throughout their careers.