The 20 top athletes in collegiate wrestling will walk onto the elevated platform with one goal in mind.
Being crowned an NCAA champion.
The championship finals are now set for what is always a special night for the sport.
Ten wrestlers will reach the pinnacle at the collegiate level by earning national titles on Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Who are you picking?
Let's take a closer look at the 10 NCAA championship matchups:
125 pounds: (3) Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. (4) Nick Suriano (Rutgers)
Lee said that he and Suriano agreed that if they met in the finals they will put on a show. That matchup will happen now as the two NCAA tournament rookies have reached the championship bout.
Lee, owner of three age-group world titles, has been a bonus-point scoring machine. He even pinned 2015 NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State to avenge a loss from Big Tens. Lee has been a force in the top position and he's wrestled with a fearless and relentless mentality in Cleveland. Who scores the opening takedown will be a huge key in the finals bout.
Suriano, a sophomore who transferred to Rutgers from Penn State, has struggled with injuries and illness in his young career. But Suriano has put it together at the right time and knocked off No. 1 seed and returning champion Darian Cruz of Lehigh 2-0 in the semifinals. Suriano is a strong, physical wrestler who is very stingy and difficult to score on.
Let's hope Lee and Suriano put more than two points on the board and that they put on the show that they talked about. It would be enjoyable for the fans to watch. It's a match you won't want to miss.
133 pounds: (1) Seth Gross (South Dakota State) vs. (2) Stevan Micic (Michigan)
Gross showed an abundance of resolve, grit and moxie by outlasting unseeded Tariq Wilson of North Carolina State in a wild overtime bout in the semifinals. The match was tied 10-10 before Gross countered a shot to pin Wilson in a scramble in sudden victory.
Micic has hit his peak at the right time. He's very good on his feet and that will be a big key against the lanky 5-foot-9 Gross, who excels in the top position. Micic can't get caught underneath.
Gross, a junior, is eager for another shot to win a title after placing second last year. Micic, a past Junior world medalist in freestyle, was fourth at NCAAs last year.
Yianni Diakomihalis defeated Bryce Meredith at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)141 pounds: (1) Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs. (3) Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
Meredith is back in the finals for the second time in the last three seasons. He was second in 2016. His escape was the difference in a 1-0 semifinal win over Ohio State's Joey McKenna.
He will have his hands full against Diakomihalis in the finals. The Cornell freshman is a two-time Cadet world champion who pulled out a 6-4 overtime win over No. 2 Jaydin Eierman of Missouri in the semis.
Diakomihalis handed Meredith his only loss of the season when he prevailed 4-2 in sudden victory in the semifinals of December's Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas. Meredith will look to return the favor in the final match of his remarkable college career.
149 pounds: (1) Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. (15) Ronnie Perry (Lock Haven)
Raise your hand if you picked Ronnie Perry to make the NCAA finals this year. Chances are pretty good that you didn't. But that didn't matter to Perry, a senior who has snagged an unlikely spot in the finals. He knocked off No. 2 seed and past NCAA runner-up Brandon Sorensen of Iowa in the second round and followed with two more wins to reach the finals.
Perry's assignment in the finals will be even tougher. He earned a chance to battle two-time NCAA champion and Hodge Trophy winner Zain Retherford of Penn State. The top-seeded Retherford made a U.S. world team in freestyle in 2017.
Perry obviously is a huge underdog with nothing to lose. But stopping the Zain Train will be very difficult. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Retherford is one of the best we've ever seen at the collegiate level. He's the total package who excels in every position. He's skilled and strong with a gas tank to match.
157 pounds: (1) Hayden Hidlay (North Carolina State) vs. (3) Jason Nolf (Penn State)
Prior to this season, not many people could have envisioned Hidlay landing a spot in the national finals. Not only is the freshman phenom one win from an NCAA title, he is still undefeated with a spotless 26-0 record.
Hidlay will face a difficult challenge in battling Nolf, the defending national champion who was ranked No. 1 before suffering a knee injury in late January.
The MVP for Penn State might be its trainer as Nolf has made a remarkable recovery after what looked initially to be a very serious injury. Nolf beat returning third-place finisher Michael Kemerer of Iowa in the quarterfinals before pounding Ohio State's Micah Jordan by technical fall in the semifinals.
Nolf is the favorite here, but Hidlay is a powerful and physical wrestler who could pose his share of problems for the Penn State standout.
165 pounds: (1) Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs. (3) Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)
Martinez has waited for 365 days to avenge his stunning loss to Joseph in the 2017 NCAA finals. Martinez beat Joseph 4-1 in the Big Ten finals two weeks ago, but that doesn't matter now. What matters will be who wins on Saturday night.
Martinez, a two-time NCAA champion, is in the finals for the fourth straight year. Joseph, a sophomore, is a physical, bruising wrestler you don't want to lock up with. Joseph's style is tough to match up against for anybody, including a talented and experienced wrestler like Martinez.
Martinez is in the best shape of his career and his focus is razor sharp. If he keeps wrestling this way, he will have an excellent shot at becoming the first three-time NCAA champion in University of Illinois history.
174 pounds: (1) Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. (2) Mark Hall (Penn State)
Hall has developed a penchant for winning big tournaments. And now the returning NCAA champion stands one win away from repeating. The Nittany Lion sophomore is already an established star on the international level, winning two Junior world titles and a Cadet world title.
Hall will have a tough battle in the finals against another young standout in Valencia. Hall beat Valencia in the NCAA semifinals last year before Valencia edged Hall in the all-star dual at the start of this season. Valencia is also a top freestyle prospect, winning a Junior world silver medal for the U.S. in 2017.
This could be one of the best matches of the entire finals with two young, hungry sophomore studs set to meet for the third time in their college careers.
184 pounds: (1) Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. (2) Myles Martin (Ohio State)
Nickal won both matchups against Martin this season -- 10-2 in the dual and 7-4 in the Big Ten finals. But Martin can't be counted out in this match between wrestlers that obviously know each other very well.
Martin beat Nickal in the 2016 NCAA finals at 174 pounds. They split matches last year before Nickal won his first NCAA title last season at 184 while Martin placed fifth in the same division.
Nickal and Martin are two explosive and powerful wrestlers with big-move arsenals. Nickal has held Martin to a total of just six points in the 14 minutes they've wrestled this season. Look for more action and more points when they meet again with the national championship on the line. This match could also have a bearing on the race for the team title.
197 pounds: (3) Jared Haught (Virginia Tech) vs. (4) Michael Macchiavello (North Carolina State)
This weight class was considered one of the most wide-open before the tournament and it proved to be true as the event played out this week in Cleveland.
The finals feature two wrestlers who were seeded in the top four, but it still wasn't a matchup many wrestling observers expected to see.
Both Haught and Macchiavello won by fall in their semifinal victories, so we may see plenty of fireworks in the finals.
Haught scored a reversal to outlast Macchiavello 6-4 in overtime in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament finals.
285 pounds: (1) Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) vs. (2) Adam Coon (Michigan)
Round 3 is set now between the nation's two best collegiate heavyweights.
The 6-foot-5, 280-pound Coon won the first meeting 3-1 in the dual before the 5-foot-11, 225-pound Snyder won the rematch 4-2 in overtime at the Big Ten finals.
Snyder is looking to finish his brilliant career with a third straight NCAA title. The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion has excelled despite being undersized in the heavyweight division. He competes at 213 pounds on the international level.
Coon, a past NCAA runner-up, is very mobile for his size and he is difficult to score on. He's also excelled internationally. He captured a Cadet world title and he is a Junior world medalist.
This could be another classic battle between two schools that have a long, storied rivalry in athletics. Snyder has shown a penchant for earning dramatic victories. We will see what he has in store for his final collegiate match against a very strong opponent in Coon.
Craig Sesker has written about wrestling for more than three decades. He's covered three Olympic Games and is a two-time national wrestling writer of the year.
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