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Andrew Alirez
Personal information
Full name	Andrew Michael Alirez
Born	August 19, 2000 (age 24)
Home town	Greeley, Colorado, U.S.
Weight	141 lb (64 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
Club	Northern Colorado Wrestling Club
Coached by	Troy Nickerson
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing the United States
International Tournaments
US National Championships
U20 Pan American Championships
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing the Northern Colorado Bears
NCAA Division I Championships
Big 12 Championships

Andrew Michael Alirez (born August 19, 2000) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms.^[1] In freestyle, he is a two-time US National champion, and in folkstyle, he is an NCAA National champion at 141 pounds out of the University of Northern Colorado.^[2]

Career

High school

Alirez attended Greeley Central High School, where he was a four-time state champion, multiple-time US freestyle All-American and a U20 Pan American champion.^[3]

The top-recruit in the country, Alirez committed to the University of Northern Colorado.^[4]

University of Northern Colorado

2019–2020

At the beginning of the year, Alirez recorded a fourth-place finish at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in freestyle, with a notable win over two-time NCAA champion Dean Heil .^[5] Back to folkstyle, Alirez, a true freshman, took first at the Northern Colorado and the Cowboy Open tournaments, as well as second at the Southern Scuffle, during regular season.^[6]

After a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, it was announced that the NCAA National Championships had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting his season short to end it with a 23–4 record.^[7]^[8]

2020–2021

Before the season, Alirez claimed the US National Championship at 65 kilograms in freestyle, recording wins over US Open runner-up Joseph McKenna and veteran Evan Henderson.^[9] Back to folkstyle, Alirez went 4–0 during the season before surrendering to an injury, but still qualified for the NCAA tournament.^[10]

2021–2022

After dropping down from 149 to 141 pounds, Alirez placed second and third respectively at the CKLV Invitational and the Southern Scuffle during regular season.^[11]^[12] Alirez then claimed his first Big 12 Championship title with wins over highly ranked wrestlers, but fell short of All-American honors at the NCAA National Championships, ending his season with a 24–5 record.^[13]

2022–2023

During regular season, Alirez compiled an undefeated record and racked up titles from the Cougar Clash Invite and the Southern Scuffle.^[14] He then earned his second-straight Big 12 Championship before the National tournament.^[15]

At the NCAA tournament, Alirez became the first NCAA Division I National champion in UNC's history, with hard-fought wins over Lachlan McNeil from North Carolina, Beau Bartlett from Penn State and Real Woods from University of Iowa, to close out an undefeated season with 28 wins and no losses.^[16] After the season, he was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Year, and was a Dan Hodge Trophy finalist.^[17]

In July, Alirez went back to freestyle to compete at the Poland Open, where he notably took out three-time World Champion Haji Aliyev in the first round to advance and defeat All-American Josh Finesilver, and lastly, took a forfeit over Mikyay Naim to claim the title.^[18]

In September, Alirez announced he would be using an Olympic redshirt for the 2023–2024 season.^[19] On December, Alirez became a two-time US National champion in freestyle with wins over All-Americans Beau Bartlett and Austin DeSanto, and US Open champion Alec Pantaleo, qualifying for the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials.^[20]

2024

In April, Alirez competed at the US Olympic Team Trials, where after defeating NCAA finalist Beau Bartlett, he fell to US National champion and top-seeded Nick Lee in a tight loss, and subsequently forfeited out of the tournament.^[21] In June, he fell to fellow NCAA champion Jesse Mendez at Beat the Streets.^[22]

Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
Loss	17–4	Jesse Mendez	1–4	June 5, 2024	2024 Beat the Streets	New York City, New York
2024 US Olympic Team Trials DNP at 65 kg
Loss		Nahshon Garrett	FF	April 19, 2024	2024 US Olympic Team Trials	State College, Pennsylvania
Loss	17–3	Nick Lee	9–11
Win	17–2	Beau Bartlett	6–2
2023 US Nationals at 65 kg
Win	16–2	Beau Bartlett	8–0	December 16–17, 2023	2023 US Senior Nationals	Fort Worth, Texas
Win	15–2	Alec Pantaleo	4–3
Win	14–2	Austin DeSanto	TF 10–0
Win	13–2	Henry Porter	TF 10–0
2023 Poland Open at 65 kg
Win		Mikyay Naim	FF	July 26–30, 2023	2023 Poland Open	Warsaw, Poland
Win	12–2	Josh Finesilver	TF 10–0
Win	11–2	Haji Aliyev	8–0
2020 US Nationals at 65 kg
Win	10–2	Evan Henderson	5–1	October 9–11, 2020	2020 US Senior Nationals	Coralville, Iowa
Win	9–2	Yahya Thomas	7–1
Win	8–2	Joseph McKenna	6–4
Win	7–2	Mitch McKee	11–5
Win	6–2	Josh Heil	TF 10–0
Win	5–2	Lawrence Saenz	TF 10–0
2019 Dave Schultz Memorial 4th at 65 kg
Loss	4–2	Bryce Meredith	2–7	January 24–26, 2019	2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Win	4–1	Dean Heil	12–4
Win	3–1	Jordin Humphrey	TF 10–0
Win	2–1	Joey Lazor	8–2
Loss	1–1	Bryce Meredith	7–8
Win	1–0	Adam MacFadyen	TF 10–0

NCAA stats

Season	Year	School	Rank	Weigh Class	Record	Win	Bonus
2024	Olympic RS	University of Northern Colorado
2023	Senior		#1 (1st)	141	28–0	100.00%	71.43%
2022	Junior		#13 (DNP)	141	23–5	82.14%	35.71%
2021	Sophomore		#6 (DNQ)	149	4–0	100.00%	75.00%
2020	Freshman		#11	149	23–4	85.19%	55.56%
Career					78–9	89.77%	55.06%