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Nebraska wrestling today announced the signing of Mac Crosson (Indianola, Iowa), Sam Howard (Boonville, Ind.) and Ben Ziola (Omaha, Neb.) to its 2027 signing class. The three state champions and national-level standouts have made their commitments official.
Crosson is a two-time Iowa 3A state champion who also placed third at the state tournament as a freshman. He won state titles at 138 pounds in 2025 and 165 pounds in 2026 after finishing third at 113 pounds in 2024.
He capped his 2026 campaign by going 6-0 to win the Defense Soap Super 32 Challenge at 157 pounds. He also won the Who’s Number One title at 157 pounds, beating Michael Romero 2-1 in sudden victory. Crosson trains with the Sebolt Wrestling Club.
Howard owns a 106-5 career record at Boonville, including 17-1 during his junior season in 2025-26. He placed second at the 2026 Indiana state tournament at 190 pounds after qualifying for state the year before. He also won the 2025 Carnahan Memorial Invitational and the 2025 Spartan Classic at 190 pounds.
In the national freestyle scene, Howard won the 215-pound title at the 2026 Junior Freestyle Nationals. He placed fifth at 92 kilograms at the 2025 UWW U17 Freestyle Nationals and eighth at 175 pounds at the 2024 16U Freestyle Nationals.
Ziola, a three-time Nebraska Class B state champion, joins the Huskers from Omaha Skutt, following older brother Cade Ziola, a current Nebraska heavyweight and fellow Skutt state champion.
He won his first state title at 106 pounds as a freshman in 2024 and has moved up the weight scale each year since, winning at 126 pounds in 2025 and 150 pounds in 2026. At the 2026 state tournament, he went 4-0, including two pins, and defeated York’s Colt Eimermann 13-3 in the final.