Farmington native Ivan Smith earns First Team Academic All-American honors
Farmington native Ivan Smith paired a 3.99 GPA in social work with a seventh-place NCAA finish, becoming NMHU’s first Academic All-American since 2015.
Farmington native Ivan Smith paired a 3.99 GPA in social work with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, and College Sports Communicators named him a First Team Academic All-American. The honor made Smith the ninth student-athlete in New Mexico Highlands University history to earn Academic All-American recognition and the first NMHU honoree since 2015.
Smith, a 2023 graduate of Farmington High School, built that profile long before he arrived in Las Vegas, New Mexico. He won back-to-back New Mexico Activities Association state wrestling championships for the Scorpions, taking the 170-pound title in 2022 and the 172-pound title in 2023. He finished those seasons 31-1 and 43-1, beating Miguel Andrade of Los Lunas in the 2022 final and Tomas Herrera of Gadsden High School in the 2023 championship match.
At New Mexico Highlands, Smith competed in the school’s only intercollegiate wrestling program. He finished the 2025-26 season 32-6 overall, went undefeated in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual competition, earned First Team All-RMAC honors and was named the RMAC Men’s Wrestling Academic Athlete of the Year. College Sports Communicators listed him among five total Division II men recognized on the 2025-26 Academic All-America men’s at-large teams.
Head coach Chris Freije said Smith has been a "staple" of the program since arriving on campus and said there are "no barriers" to what he can achieve.
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