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  • Photo: Tony Rotundo

    InterMat Staff •

    Photo: Tony Rotundo

    2021-22's Top 50 Collegiate Wrestlers: #1 and #2 (The Decision)

    Spencer Lee (top) and Gable Steveson (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)

    In the months leading into the NCAA wrestling season, InterMat embarked on a fun project to rank the top-50 active collegiate wrestlers. That feature spilled over into the regular season and will conclude today as we reveal the top-two wrestlers in college wrestling.

    The funny part about this entire project is that number one and number two were the easiest to determine. Perhaps even Yianni Diakomihalis at number three. But numbers four through 50, that's up for plenty of debate. Especially in an unusual year where 11 former NCAA champions (seven were unbeaten in 2021) and 12 other NCAA runner's-up return. A typical season may have half that amount.

    Now projecting Spencer Lee and Gable Steveson at numbers one and two does not require any deep analysis or debate, but separating one of the two as #1 has and will spark plenty of discussion. Even after the 2021 NCAA Championships, the Hodge Trophy was awarded to both of these remarkable wrestlers. That decision had been made only once before in the history of the award (since 1995).

    We've decided to release number one and number two together as it would be very apparent who's who if number two was released the day before number one. The format for this will also differ from #3-#50. In those, we gave a detailed background of the competitors and key moments during their collegiate careers. This article will outline the case for both Lee and Steveson, before getting to a conclusion. So, let's get down to it!

    The Case for Spencer Lee:

  • First and foremost, three NCAA titles, with an extremely strong possibility of four. Of all the greats that have come through our sport (Steveson included), only four have won four DI titles. The old saying is that “more people have walked on the moon” that won four.

  • Two Hodge's: Since the Hodge Trophy was awarded starting in 1995, only five wrestlers have won the trophy on multiple occasions. Cael Sanderson x3, Ben Askren x2, David Taylor x2, Zain Retherford x2 and Lee. Another could put him with Cael as the only wrestlers with three. Lee became the first wrestler at the lowest weight class 118/125 to earn the trophy.

  • Sheer Dominance. In order to win the Hodge, you have to now only win, but win big. Lee has done that throughout his career. During his 80 career bouts, Lee has maintained an 80% rate of bonus points. His “lowest” year was his sophomore campaign in which he registered over 73%.

  • The weight class (2018). While Lee's current weight class is not as strong as others. His 2018 bracket was absolutely loaded. It featured returning national champions Nathan Tomasello (2015) and Darian Cruz (2017), along with future champion Nick Suriano (2019). The podium also featured past finalists Ethan Lizak (2017) and Zeke Moisey (2015). Plus a freshman, Sebastian Rivera. At nationals, Lee pinned Tomasello and Nick Piccinnini to make the finals before downing Suriano, 5-1.

  • Though the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled, Lee was awarded the AAU James Sullivan Award, which is given out to the “Most Outstanding Amateur Athlete in the United States.” Lee was only the seventh wrestler to ever win the award, joining Rulon Gardner (2000) and Kyle Snyder (2017) as the only to do so since 2000.

  • It's hard to quantify or judge to what extent Lee has been competing injured throughout his collegiate career, but he has fought through various ailments and continued to win. He has no ACL's!

  • Lee heads into his final year of eligibility on a 35-match winning streak, one that has spanned three (going on four) different seasons. He has not lost since the 2019 Big Ten finals.

  • On the international front, Lee has a pair of Junior World titles and a Cadet title to his name. In 2019, he won Senior Nationals at 57 kg.

    The Case for Gable Steveson

  • The “elephant in the room” is Gable Steveson's Olympic gold medal. In our rules for the top-50 list, we mentioned that international credentials would play a role. They certainly did for others among the top-50 that were Cadet/Junior World medalists or performed well at the Olympic Trials. While this list is primarily for collegiate achievements, we all watched Steveson's remarkable run to the pinnacle of wrestling in Tokyo and can't ignore it.

  • After three years of collegiate competition, Steveson's career record sits at 68-2. Both of his two losses came as a true freshman and both were to the same opponent (Anthony Cassar), who would go on to win a national title. Steveson enters the 2021-22 season on a 34-match winning streak.

  • Steveson's bonus point rate through three years is almost 66%. Typically heavyweights aren't able to light up the scoreboard like lightweights, so he should get credit for such a high rate.

  • Gable's weight classes have been and will continue to be loaded. With Tony Cassioppi's recent U23 World Title, Steveson now has four other age-group world champions competing at his weight. He has competed against three of them in collegiate competition (Mason Parris, Cassioppi, Greg Kerkvliet) and outscored them 84-38.

  • As mentioned above, Steveson was named a co-Hodge Trophy winner with Lee after the 2021 NCAA Championships. He is only the fourth 285 lber to receive the honor, joining Steve Mocco - 2005, Stephen Neal - 1999, and Kerry McCoy - 1997.


    The Decision

    By the slimmest of margins, #1 belongs to Gable Steveson.

    The deciding factors are the level of competition and parsing through the pair's career losses. And an Olympic gold medal.

    Steveson's only career losses came to Cassar in the Big Ten finals and NCAA semifinals. Lee has career losses to Ronnie Bresser, Nathan Tomasello, Sebastian Rivera, and Nick Piccininni (by fall). Of the group, only Tomasello has appeared in an NCAA final.

    Steveson's competition in the last two Big Ten final's and the 2021 NCAA championship match came from Mason Parris. Over the last two seasons, Parris is 40-0 against everyone not named Gable and 0-3 against the Gopher. Lee's 2021 NCAA podium did not include any returning NCAA All-Americans and only one 2020 NWCA 1st Team AA (Drew Hildebrandt).

    If you look through the top-50, we didn't just go strictly on NCAA placement, as some non-NCAA champions were ahead of past champs, non-finalists were ahead of finalists, and so forth. So, while Lee has the huge advantage with national titles, it's not the be all, end all.

    For the rest of the top 50:

    #50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)

    #49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)

    #48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)

    #47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)

    #46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)

    #45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)

    #44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)

    #43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)

    #42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)

    #41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)

    #40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota)

    #39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)

    #38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)

    #37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State)

    #36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa)

    #35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)

    #34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)

    #33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell)

    #32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton)

    #31 - Max Dean (Penn State)

    #30 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)

    #29 - Mike Labriola (Nebraska)

    #28 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)

    #27 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa)

    #26 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)

    #25 - Evan Wick (Cal Poly)

    #24 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa)

    #23 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)

    #22 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)

    #21 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)

    #20 - Trent Hidlay (NC State)

    #19 - Stevan Micic (Michigan)

    #18 - Hayden Hidlay (NC State)

    #17 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)

    #16 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa)

    #15 - Mason Parris (Michigan)

    #14 - Shane Griffith (Stanford)

    #13 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)

    #12 - Carter Starocci (Penn State)

    #11 - Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)

    #10 - Myles Amine (Michigan)

    #9 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)

    #8 - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)

    #7 - Austin O'Connor (North Carolina)

    #6 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State)

    #5 - David Carr (Iowa State)

    #4 - Nick Lee (Penn State)

    #3 - Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
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