2x NCAA All-American Max Dean (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)Welcome to a new recurring feature from InterMat as we lead into the 2021-22 collegiate season. We are about 50 days away from the start of the new season, so what better way to ring in the new year than to use that time to count down the top-50 current collegiate wrestlers. Each day a new wrestler will be released.
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#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)
Next is…
Max Dean (Penn State)
Weight: 197 lbs
Year: Junior
Career Record: 57-12
Hometown: Lowell, Michigan
College Accomplishments: 2019 NCAA Runner-Up, 2019 EIWA Champion, 2018 NCAA 8th Place
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #4 at 197 lbs
When Gabe Dean arrived in Ithaca during the fall of 2012 as a relatively under-the-radar recruit, it wasn't overly noteworthy. After four All-American honors and a pair of national titles, Gabe raised the bar for his younger brother, Max. The younger Dean was a solid recruit in his own right after winning a pair of Michigan state titles, while excelling on the football team.
Like many Cornell wrestlers, Dean took a grayshirt year in 2016-17. Dean made the most of this opportunity and participated in 33 bouts while competing unattached. After suffering close losses in his first two outings, Dean went on a good run that saw him head into the Southern Scuffle with a nine-match winning streak.
At the Scuffle, Dean was able to notch three wins before getting eliminated without placing. For his grayshirt year, Dean went 26-7 and grabbed tournament titles at the NY State Intercollegiate Open, the Cleveland State Open and the Brockport Open.
With Gabe having graduated in 2017, the 184 lb spot belonged to Max during the following year as a freshman. Max's Cornell debut occurred at the Bearcat Open, as he captured bonus points in four of his five bouts. In mid-November, Dean took the mat in a dual meet and pulled out a win against returning All-American Drew Foster (Northern Iowa). They might meet later on.
Well, later on, turned out to be two weeks later at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Foster turned the tables with a 9-5 win. Dean ducked out of Vegas with a 2-2 showing, also losing to Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech).
Those setbacks in Vegas turned out to be Dean's last loss of the regular season. That winning streak included victories over five eventual national qualifiers and one All-American.
At his first EIWA Championship event, Dean advanced to the finals to meet Ryan Preisch (Lehigh). Preisch was not in the Mountain Hawks lineup when they met Cornell in the dual season. The Lehigh veteran prevailed via pin. A runner-up up finish was good enough for the ninth seed at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
After an opening-round major decision over Northern Colorado's Dylan Gabel, Dean and Foster were on a collision course, once again. In the Round of 16, Dean cruised to a 6-0 decision in the latest chapter of this budding rivalry. That win set the stage for a quarterfinal contest with top-seeded Bo Nickal (Penn State). Dean fared better than most and went the entire seven minutes with the Nittany Lion superstar, but ultimately fell, 13-7.
The quarterfinal loss to Nickal meant Dean would have to win a Round of 12 bout if he wanted to earn All-American honors. That he did. Dean came out on top of a hard-fought 6-4 win over Bryce Carr (Chattanooga). Dean fell into an early 4-1 hole, but battled back for the win. With a spot in the top-eight guaranteed, Dean dropped his next bout against fellow freshman Taylor Venz (Nebraska). Dean's season ended after a 6-3 loss to Chip Ness (North Carolina), an opponent he defeated earlier in the year, in the seventh-place bout.
The sophomore year for Dean started with a pair of bonus-point wins in dual meet competition. He then moved on to a loaded bracket at the CKLV Invitational. Although Dean posted a win over Ness, he still dropped three bouts and finished in eighth place.
The next dual was a “get-right†opportunity as Dean was back in top form, defeating rival Foster by a 6-5 margin. About two weeks later, at the South Beach Duals, Dean went 3-1 and suffered his first career dual meet setback to Dylan Wisman (Missouri).
That loss to Wisman gave way to a new eight-match winning streak that would include almost the entire balance of the 2018-19 season. That run featured wins over Ness and All-American Zavatsky, one of the foes that defeated him in Vegas. Another opponent that was victorious over Dean in Vegas was the eventual champion, Myles Martin (Ohio State). Martin got his hand raised again at Dean's expense in the final dual meet of the season, 13-6.
Like his freshman year, Dean made it through the early rounds of the EIWA Championships with little adversity. And once again, he'd face Preisch with a title on the line. This time Dean took a 3-0 win and the title. The EIWA title helped Dean receive the #5 seed at the 2019 national tournament.
Dean's tournament started with an EIWA foe that he missed during the regular season and conference tournament, Noah Stewart (Army West Point). Stewart had no answers for Dean's offense and he rolled to a 13-2 major decision. Though Dean was the favorite on paper in the Round of 16, he got pushed to the brink by #12 Cash Wilcke (Iowa). Dean managed to survive on the strength of a takedown during the sudden victory period to advance.
A second-round upset by #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) managed to put the freshman Panther in the quarterfinals opposite Dean. No sweat, as Dean clinched All-American honors with a 6-0 decision.
Dean's semifinal opponent was another familiar face; the undefeated, top-seeded Myles Martin. Almost a month to the day where Dean was almost majored by Martin, the Big Red sophomore was able to pull one of the biggest upsets of the tournament and defeated the 2016 national champion, 5-4.
As luck would have it, opposing Dean in the final was Drew Foster. This would be the fifth time that the two squared off in a two-year span. Dean headed into the match with a 3-1 advantage in their previous encounters. The final meeting went Foster's way as he capped an amazing run and became his school's first national champion in two decades after a 6-4 win.
Following the 2018-19 season, Dean won the U23 World Team Trials in freestyle. He planned to sit out the 2019-20 season to pursue a spot on the Olympic Team. Dean participated in the U23 World Championships in late October and finished in 19th place.
As we know, the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled at the onset of the Covid pandemic, so had he competed for Cornell, Dean would have burned a year of eligibility without a national tournament. He and his Cornell teammates did not get a chance to wrestle at all in 2021 as the Ivy League did not allow competition in any sport.
After appearing in the transfer portal, Dean made his transfer to Penn State official in May.
Strengths: Dean is a strong handfighter that holds good position. While he's fundamentally solid offensively and can execute a variety of attacks, the bulk of his offense against good competition is predicated on his opponent. Either from a reshot or with a counter is where Dean is at his best. Dean's able to turn it into another gear after snapping and spinning for two points. His scrambling skills are probably underrated. On the mat, Dean's is good at tying up wrists and amassing riding time.
2021-22 Outlook: First of all, Dean and returning All-American Michael Beard are slated to compete for the starting role at 197 lbs for PSU. We'll see how the change of scenery and coaching impact Dean's on-the-mat results. Even from what we've seen of Dean in the past, he's capable of taking a title at 197 lbs. While returning champion AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) is back, the Cowboy freshman had plenty of close matches and hasn't separated himself from the field.
2x NCAA All-American Max Dean (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
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