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  • Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    Christopher Miller •

    Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    Eight takeaways from NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships

    The NCAA hosted its annual NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships this past weekend at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Even better, some 2,000-plus fans and family members were in attendance to see the biggest tournament in college wrestling unfold.

    Here are eight takeaways from the 2021 NCAAs.

    Iowa Hawkeyes back on top

    The drought is finally over. The long 11-year wait for Iowa's 24th team national title, and the first team title of the Spencer Lee era, has happened. Iowa finished the team race with 129 points, 15.5 in front of second-place Penn State. The team title is the first since 2010. Also, Hawkeye 125-pounder Spencer Lee became the seventh three-time national champion in program history.

    As great as these various accolades are for not only the Iowa program, but Lee individually, and Iowa's seven All-Americans, the achievements were marred by a variety of other issues: News that Lee has once again suffered an ACL tear, but this time to his other knee, a seemingly severe, yet undisclosed injury to Alex Marinelli, which forced the senior 165-pounder to medically forfeit out of the tournament prior to the round of 12, and more behavioral troubles off the mat for lightweight Austin DeSanto who finished third at 133 pounds.

    Nonetheless, congratulations to Iowa for a great season and a well-earned team title.


    Iowa won, but Penn State stole the spotlight

    Iowa may have won it all, but the Nittany Lions are the team everyone is still talking about. Ironically, the 2021 season was regarded as a "down year" for the grapplers that call Happy Valley home. That being said, what Penn State did this season was still pretty outstanding.

    Sanderson and the Lions took second nationally, produced four national champions, and took two individual titles away from their Hawkeye rivals. Additionally, PSU accomplished all of this this with five freshmen in the starting lineup.

    While Penn State wasn't atop the preverbal mountain at season's end, they sent a message to the rest of the college wrestling world with their showing in the finals. That message: The Penn State wrestling dynasty isn't dead. It has merely reloaded.


    Congratulations to unattached 165-pound NCAA champion Shane Griffith

    No matter where your allegiances land as far as college wrestling fandom is concerned, I'm sure you share in the outrage and discontent that the Stanford wrestling program is set to be dropped next season. Everyone in wrestling knows that Stanford has a rich wrestling history, one that spans over a century. Similarly, Stanford has established itself as a top-20 program every year for quite some time now.

    Time will tell what happens to the Cardinal wrestling program, but a tip of the cap to Jason Borrelli and all of his athletes, not just those in St. Louis this weekend. The way this team has persevered in light of all the adversity it has faced over the last year is remarkable.

    From fundraising efforts to the performance of these dedicated student-athletes on the mat, they have done all they can to save this historically proud and successful program. Quite frankly, if the events of this weekend aren't enough to #SaveStanfordWrestling, I don't know what will be enough to save it.

    Lastly, kudos on the unified decision to wear all-black singlets and attire. It was a powerful statement and a brilliant way to send a message. Now, I'll say it again, #SaveStanfordWrestling.



    Northwestern's Yahya Thomas (149) placed third as the No. 25 seed (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    NCAA tournament seeds are meaningless ... just ask Yahya Thomas and Wyatt Sheets

    Northwestern's Yahya Thomas (149) and Oklahoma State's Wyatt Sheets (157) deserve a round of applause. As a No. 25 seed, Thomas was able to find his way to a third-place finish. And the Wildcat looked dominant along the way.

    As for Sheets, the Cowboy, who clearly wasn't completely healthy, earned All-America honors as a No. 33 seed who got in the tournament as an injury alternate. To reach the podium under such conditions is commendable and historic. Sheets is the highest seed to ever reach All-America status since the entire field was seeded.

    These two men (and others too) prove that anyone can beat anyone in this sport. They are a testament to why you wrestle every match.


    The West Coast and mid-majors can scrap too

    All too often it's the blueblood programs and conferences that become the focal point of the sport. With that, what makes NCAAs so great is that it gives you storylines and coverage of athletes and teams you don't traditionally hear much about.

    Whether it's Little Rock having its first-ever NCAA qualifier in Paul Bianchi, or Rider and Cal-Poly putting guys on the podium with Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider) and Bernie Traux (Cal-Poly), or Arizona State storming to an unexpected top-four team finish to take home some hardware, or Utah Valley's impressive showing. All of these feats were great to see.

    While the above isn't an all-inclusive list, it was nice to see the bluebloods share some of the spotlight this weekend.


    The NCAA got it wrong … Josh Heil deserved better

    I won't reiterate all the details of the match between No. 20 Josh Heil of Campbell vs. No. 4 Boo Lewallen of Oklahoma State because anyone taking the time read this far into my article is likely keenly aware of the incident I am referring to.

    But, in short, with seven seconds left Heil successfully defended Lewallen's takedown attempts and won the match by a point to upset No. 4-seeded Lewallen. But there was a clock operator error that gave Lewallen a second chance and seven additional seconds to get a winning takedown. On the second attempt, Lewallen gets the takedown and wins. As a result, Heil is relegated to the consolation side of the bracket.

    While this wasn't the only questionable officiating call on the weekend, it was by far the most egregious. Simply put, this rule (or lack thereof) must be fixed in the offseason. This injustice cannot occur at such a high level on this big of a stage.


    Happy to see guys find success in new singlets

    Just like it is refreshing to see athletes from a wide array of programs see success on a national stage, it was also awesome to see the success of multiple wrestlers who have been or will soon be forced to transfer due to their first institution cutting its wrestling program.


    One final note

    The last takeaway worth mentioning is extending a sincere thank you to all the efforts of the athletes, coaches, support staff, venue personnel, ESPN, and anyone else involved with putting on and producing this event -- an event many questioned the feasibility of not long ago.

    Over the entire event, not a single positive COVID-19 test was reported.

    Similarly, in a year in which fans missed out on the in-person experience, ESPN stepped up its coverage so fans could still see the best event in NCAA wrestling in its entirety.

    Just a few years ago, we were struggling for any television or streaming access. In 2021 though, fans didn't have to miss a single match.
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