Cape’s Minto falls one point shy in NCAA final

Mar 19, 2026 1 min read

For Cape Coral’s Christopher Minto, there’s still one hill to climb and one point to overcome.

Minto, a Mariner High grad and now sophomore at the University of Nebraska, fell to undefeated Penn State senior Levi Haines, 2-1, in the 174-pound final Saturday evening at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland. Each wrestler scored one escape point in the match and the difference was a second-period stalling call on Minto.

Minto’s runnerup finish this year improves upon his fourth-place finish last year at 165 and sets him up as a likely favorite to win a title in 2027. He finishes the year as an All American with a 25-6 record and half of those losses were to Haines.

Haines and his Penn State teammates claimed their fifth straight team championship on Saturday while Minto, Breeze Newspapers 2023 co-Athlete of the Year, helped Nebraska to a third-place team finish.