There certainly are plenty of compelling storylines that immediately come to mind when you ask that question.
Not surprisingly, the greatest streaks in college wrestling have coincided with some of the best stories in the sport's history.
Here is my list, in no particular order, of some of the most impressive streaks there have been at the collegiate level:
Cowboy Up
A list about college wrestling greatness wouldn't be complete without Oklahoma State, the winningest program in NCAA history. The Cowboys set the NCAA record of 76 consecutive dual meet wins from 1937-51, a mark that still stands. The Cowboys also are tied for second on the list -- OSU won 69 straight duals from 1921-32 and again from 1996-99. Iowa also won 69 straight duals before tying Oklahoma State in a 2011 meet.
Iowa captured a record nine straight consecutive national championships under Dan Gable (Photo/George Tiedemann, Getty Images)Golden era in Iowa City
It's crazy to think that the Iowa Hawkeyes won a record 25 straight Big Ten tournament titles. But that's exactly what Iowa did from 1974-98. Iowa's streak of Big Ten titles came during a time when the Hawkeyes captured a record nine consecutive national championships from 1978-86.
Division III dominance
The last time a team other than Wartburg or Augsburg won the NCAA Division III team title was when Ithaca won in 1994. It's been one of the Burgs ever since. Wartburg College has captured a record 14 DIII national tournament championships with Augsburg right behind at 13.
Grand View's great run
Coach Nick Mitchell has built a dynasty at Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa. Mitchell's team has dominated the NAIA ranks for the past decade, capturing nine consecutive national titles. Grand View also has a current streak of 88 consecutive dual meet victories.
Cornell's Ivy League streak
Cornell's run of Ivy League dominance finally came to an end when its 92-match winning streak was snapped against Princeton in 2020. The Tigers ended the Big Red's impressive run with a 19-13 win on Feb. 8 in Princeton, N.J. Cornell's streak of 92 straight league dual wins dated back to the 2001-02 season.
Lee Kemp had 96 straight wins at WisconsinBadger tough
Wisconsin standout Lee Kemp was one of the best American wrestlers of all-time. And his numbers back it up. Kemp's streak of 96 straight wins for the Badgers was No. 2 on the list after he won his third NCAA title in 1978.
The legend of LeVesseur
Marcus LeVesseur captured four NCAA Division III titles for Augsburg College while winning all 155 career matches. He also was a member of two national championship teams. He won 296 straight bouts after winning his final 141 matches in high school.
Heavy hitter Haselrig
Pitt-Johnstown's Carlton Haselrig won 122 straight matches while battling foes in all college divisions. He finished third at the NCAA Division II Championships as a freshman before going on to one of the most prolific careers in college history. He won a combined six NCAA titles, capturing three DII crowns and three DI titles from 1987-89.
Davis achieves perfection
Notre Dame College's Joey Davis captured four NCAA DII titles while compiling a perfect 133-0 record in college. He became the first DII wrestler to finish a four-year career unbeaten and just the third collegian overall to accomplish the impressive feat.
Wartburg's amazing feat
Wartburg College established an amazing streak of 220 consecutive conference dual meet wins. The 26-year streak finally ended when the top-ranked Knights fell to No. 3 Loras 19-17 this past February. Wartburg saw its streak of 27 consecutive conference wrestling titles end.
Gable nearly ran the table
Dan Gable never lost a match in high school. And he had never lost a match in college until he stepped on the mat for the final bout of his career at Iowa State. Gable had compiled a remarkable combined record of 181-0 in high school and college, including an NCAA record 117 straight wins at ISU. That's when Gable suffered a stunning 13-11 upset loss to Washington's Larry Owings in the 1970 NCAA finals. Gable set the NCAA record for consecutive pins with 25.
Cael Sanderson gets his hand raised after winning his fourth NCAA title and finishing undefeatedSanderson: Simply the best
Cael Sanderson went an incredible 159-0 in four seasons as an Iowa State Cyclone from 1998-2002. No NCAA Division I wrestler has completed a four-year collegiate career unbeaten before or since Sanderson achieved history. Sanderson also has led the way for a pair of impressive runs as the head coach at Penn State. His Nittany Lion teams won four straight NCAA titles from 2011-14 and again from 2016-19.
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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