2022-23: Graduate student ... Competed at 149 lbs ... Finished the year with a 24-6 record, going 9-1 in dual action ... Scored bonus points in nine wins ... No. 7 seed at NCAA Championships ... Opened year with a 10-3 decision over Jarod Verkleeren of Virginia (11/20) ... Placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2-3), knocking off No. 3 Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State) by a 2-1 final to take third ... Won the 149-pound title at the Midlands Championships (12/28-29), a run that was highlighted by a thrilling 4-3 decision over No. 5 Kyle Parco (Arizona State) in the final ... Opened Big Ten dual meet slate with a 2-1 (TB-3) win against No. 15 Michael Blockhus in the 'Cats win over Minnesota (1/7) ... Scored a 3-2 decision against No. 8 Max Murin of Iowa (1/13) ... Held off Nebraska's Dayne Morton by a 4-2 scoreline (1/15) ... Coasted to a 7-3 decision over Jake Harrier in thrilling dual meet victory over in-state rival Illinois (1/20) ... Picked up a 12-4 major decision triumph against Anthony White in road win at Rutgers (1/29) ... Closed regular season with back-to-back major decision wins, cruising past Northern Illinois' Anthony Cheloni, 16-5 (2/10), and Purdue's Jaden Reynolds, 15-5 (2/12) ... Placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships (3/4-5) ... Picked up two wins at the NCAA Championships (3/16-18), including a 3-1 win over Minnesota's Michael Blockhus in sudden victory to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
2021-22: Redshirt senior ... Competed at 149 lbs ... No. 19 seed at NCAA Championships ... Posted an 8-3 record in regular-season duals ... Finished in 4th at the CKLV Invitational after decisions over #18 Jaden Abas of Stanford and #34 Legend Lamer of Cal Poly ... Won a major decision over Caine Tyus of SIUE (12/29) ... Won a technical fall over #52 Jarod Verkleeren of Virginia (12/29) ... Defeated No. 26 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) by a 6-1 decision (1/9) ... Pinned Christian Kanzler of Illinois in 1:49 (1/29) ... Earned a 16-5 major decision win against Northern Illinois (2/13).
2020-21: Redshirt Junior ... Competed at 149 lbs ... Earned a career-best third place national finish at the 2021 NCAA Championships and earned his first-ever All-American honors, becoming the third 149 lb wrestler in program history to lock up All-American status ... Entered the NCAA Championships as an at-large No. 25 overall seed and defeated five Top-10 seeds, including the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds on Saturday, on his way to an impressive 6-1 showing at the championships.
2019-20: Redshirt sophomore … Competed at 149 ... Picked up a commanding victory in his first win of the season by major decision over Brent Moore of Virginia Tech (11/10).... Competed in a thriller against #3 Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa), losing in a tight, 4-3 decision (11/17) ... Won in a major decision over North Dakota State's Jaden Van Maanen (11/24) ... Recorded six wins as the eighth seed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational en route to a third place finish, with wins over #8 Brock Zacherl of Clarion and #7 Griffin Parriott of Purdue (12/7) ... Defeated Mousa Jodeh of Illinois in a 2-1 win by decision, notching his first win in Big Ten play this season (2/2) … Won by a 5-2 decision against Alex Hrisopoulos of Michigan State for his second consecutive Big Ten victory (2/7).
2018-19: Redshirt first-year ... Competed at 141 lbs. ... Racked up six wins at the Midlands Championships en route to taking third place (12/29-30) ... Won each of his first four matches at Midlands before taking his only loss to top-seeded Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) via decision ... Recorded a dominant, 8-1 decision in the third-place match over Michael Blockhus (Northern Iowa) ... Won three matches at the CKLV Invitational (11/30-12/1) ... Recorded a win by fall in just 1:16 in his first career varsity match for the Wildcats (11/4) ... Ranked nationally in FloWrestling's preseason poll ... Won UWW Junior Nationals and UWW Junior World Team Trials to make the Team USA UWW Junior Freestyle World Team.
2017-18: True first-year ... Competed unattached at 141 lbs ... Won the Duhawk Open, thanks to three-straight tech falls (1/27) ... Took seventh place in his first Midlands Championships (12/29-30) ... Topped Cal Poly's Colton Schilling via a 10-2 major decision in the seventh-place bout ... Finished in second place at the Cleveland State Open (12/16) ... Came in second place at the Eastern Michigan Open (11/11) ... Won three straight bouts at the Michigan State Open (11/5) ... Recorded a win by fall over Nate Limmex of Purdue.
2017-18 Match-by-Match Results
High School: Three-year varsity member and team captain for Mount Carmel … Coached by former All-American Alex Tsirtsis … Posted a 40-5 record his junior year … Won All-State and All-America … Team took third place at State in 2016 … Member of the Harvey Twisters club for ten years … Member of the honor roll and National Honor Society.
Personal: Born Yahya A. Thomas … Son of Bilquis and Ismail Thomas … Was a teammate of former Wildcat Bryce Brill at Mount Carmel … Chose Northwestern over Columbia, Penn, Old Dominion, Chicago, and Northern Illinois … Anticipated major is materials science and engineering.
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*Includes matches while competing unattached
2021-22: Redshirt senior ... Competed at 149 lbs ... No. 19 seed at NCAA Championships ... Posted an 8-3 record in regular-season duals ... Finished in 4th at the CKLV Invitational after decisions over #18 Jaden Abas of Stanford and #34 Legend Lamer of Cal Poly ... Won a major decision over Caine Tyus of SIUE (12/29) ... Won a technical fall over #52 Jarod Verkleeren of Virginia (12/29) ... Defeated No. 26 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) by a 6-1 decision (1/9) ... Pinned Christian Kanzler of Illinois in 1:49 (1/29) ... Earned a 16-5 major decision win against Northern Illinois (2/13).
2020-21: Redshirt Junior ... Competed at 149 lbs ... Earned a career-best third place national finish at the 2021 NCAA Championships and earned his first-ever All-American honors, becoming the third 149 lb wrestler in program history to lock up All-American status ... Entered the NCAA Championships as an at-large No. 25 overall seed and defeated five Top-10 seeds, including the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds on Saturday, on his way to an impressive 6-1 showing at the championships.
2019-20: Redshirt sophomore … Competed at 149 ... Picked up a commanding victory in his first win of the season by major decision over Brent Moore of Virginia Tech (11/10).... Competed in a thriller against #3 Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa), losing in a tight, 4-3 decision (11/17) ... Won in a major decision over North Dakota State's Jaden Van Maanen (11/24) ... Recorded six wins as the eighth seed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational en route to a third place finish, with wins over #8 Brock Zacherl of Clarion and #7 Griffin Parriott of Purdue (12/7) ... Defeated Mousa Jodeh of Illinois in a 2-1 win by decision, notching his first win in Big Ten play this season (2/2) … Won by a 5-2 decision against Alex Hrisopoulos of Michigan State for his second consecutive Big Ten victory (2/7).
2018-19: Redshirt first-year ... Competed at 141 lbs. ... Racked up six wins at the Midlands Championships en route to taking third place (12/29-30) ... Won each of his first four matches at Midlands before taking his only loss to top-seeded Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) via decision ... Recorded a dominant, 8-1 decision in the third-place match over Michael Blockhus (Northern Iowa) ... Won three matches at the CKLV Invitational (11/30-12/1) ... Recorded a win by fall in just 1:16 in his first career varsity match for the Wildcats (11/4) ... Ranked nationally in FloWrestling's preseason poll ... Won UWW Junior Nationals and UWW Junior World Team Trials to make the Team USA UWW Junior Freestyle World Team.
2017-18: True first-year ... Competed unattached at 141 lbs ... Won the Duhawk Open, thanks to three-straight tech falls (1/27) ... Took seventh place in his first Midlands Championships (12/29-30) ... Topped Cal Poly's Colton Schilling via a 10-2 major decision in the seventh-place bout ... Finished in second place at the Cleveland State Open (12/16) ... Came in second place at the Eastern Michigan Open (11/11) ... Won three straight bouts at the Michigan State Open (11/5) ... Recorded a win by fall over Nate Limmex of Purdue.
2017-18 Match-by-Match Results
High School: Three-year varsity member and team captain for Mount Carmel … Coached by former All-American Alex Tsirtsis … Posted a 40-5 record his junior year … Won All-State and All-America … Team took third place at State in 2016 … Member of the Harvey Twisters club for ten years … Member of the honor roll and National Honor Society.
Personal: Born Yahya A. Thomas … Son of Bilquis and Ismail Thomas … Was a teammate of former Wildcat Bryce Brill at Mount Carmel … Chose Northwestern over Columbia, Penn, Old Dominion, Chicago, and Northern Illinois … Anticipated major is materials science and engineering.
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| Season | Overall W-L | Dual Meet W-L | Big Ten W-L |
Dual Points For-Against | Big Ten Champs. | NCAA Champs |
Pins For-Against | Tech Falls For-Against | Major Dec. For-Against |
| 2017-18* | 16-6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 |
| 2018-19 | 12-9 | 3-6 | 0-4 | 14-20 | -- | -- | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1-2 |
| 2019-20 | 16-8 | 6-2 | 3-1 | 24-6 | 3-3 | -- | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4-0 |
| 2020-21 | 8-5 | 6-2 | 6-2 | 20-6 | 2-3 | Qualified | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| 2021-22 | 16-8 | 8-3 | 5-3 | 32-9 | 1-2 | Qualified | 4-0 | 1-0 | 3-0 |
| 2022-23 | 24-6 | 9-1 | 7-1 | 33-3 | 3-3 | Qualified | 2-0 | 0-0 | 7-0 |
| Career | 92-42 | 32-14 | 21-11 | 143-44 | 9-11 | -- | 8-0 | 5-0 | 20-2 |
*Includes matches while competing unattached