North Carolina vs. California: A Five-Year Rivalry, By the Numbers

Michael Salomone and Jake Winslow have finished first and second to each other at the National Championship in four of the sport's five sanctioned years — 2021 (Salomone won), 2022 (Winslow won), 2023 (Salomone won), and 2025 (Salomone won). It is, by a wide margin, the most consistent individual matchup in the sport's short history.

Winslow remains the only competitor to have ever beaten Salomone at a National Championship, and the only one to have finished on the Championship podium in all five sanctioned years alongside him. Council statisticians note the head-to-head record — four wins to one for Salomone — closely mirrors each competitor's overall national ranking gap.