Penn State hoists the team trophy after winning the NCAA title in Cleveland (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)CLEVELAND -- The nation's best wrestlers rocked Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena Saturday night at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, with Penn State winning their third consecutive team title, clinched by a first-period pin in the 184-pound finals ... not to mention two freshmen winning individual championships ... and an epic heavyweight title bout that made history.
If that weren't enough, the 2018 NCAAs broke three-day and finals attendance records, with a total of 113,743 fans -- about 700 more fans that at the 2015 NCAAs in St. Louis -- with 19,776 in attendance for the Saturday night finals.
The Nittany Lions and Big Ten rival Ohio State had been back-and-forth on the team championship title race until the 184-pound match when Penn State's Bo Nickal pinned the Buckeyes' Myles Martin.
Two freshmen claimed national titles -- Iowa's Spencer Lee at 125, and, at 141, Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell.
And, it all ended with the 285-pound match, a much-anticipated third meeting between two big men of the Big Ten, with Ohio State's Kyle Snyder edging out Michigan's Adam Coon to become only the fifth three-time heavyweight champ in the 87-year history of the NCAA championships.
True freshman Spencer Lee topped Nick Suriano in the NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The evening began with the 125-pound bout featuring two studs who had made names for themselves in high school wrestling: top-seeded Spencer Lee of Iowa, taking on No. 4 seeded sophomore Nick Suriano of Rutgers. Lee scored a crucial takedown towards the end of the first period, which propelled the Pennsylvania native to a 5-1 victory, making him the Hawkeyes' first true freshman national champ in 25 years, and helping his team to clinch third place in the team title battle. Suriano made history of his own, becoming the Scarlet Knights' first-ever wrestler to make the NCAA finals.
In the post-finals press conference, Lee said of his opponent, "We haven't wrestled each other since I was a freshman in high school. He was a sophomore. So feeling each other out: What do we have? Is there really a big difference? I mean, there is. We both have improved a lot. Hopefully."
At 133, No. 1 seed Seth Gross became South Dakota State's first national champion, scoring a 13-8 win over Michigan's second-seeded Stevan Micic. Gross got off to a great start in the first period, with a takedown and four nearfall points from a bar-arm tilt. Micic tried valiantly to make up the deficit, scoring four takedowns in the second and third periods.
South Dakota State's Seth Gross celebrates with his coaches after winning the NCAA title (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)"It feels amazing," said Gross after winning the title. "Best feeling ever right here. And something I've been working for my whole life. Again getting it done finally after getting second last year, there's a chip on my shoulder this year, need to get it done."
True freshman Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell -- the No. 3 seed -- topped top-seeded Bryce Meredith of Wyoming, 7-4, in the 141-pound finals. The match was full of action, with the lead changing hands throughout, until the Big Red wrestler locked up a cradle for four points in the third period. Diakomihalis became the first true freshman NCAA champ for Cornell since 2010.
When asked about match-changing big move in the final period, Diakomihalis responded, "I can't believe I hit that on him. It's one of those moves that I've hit all through high school. And I kind of got away from it because guys were so aware of it. But at the same time, as soon as he saw it, it was, like, oh, it's going to be there ...
"So it's just kind of what you're talking about staying composed, being able to recognize that you have a position that you could win or you could lose, and learning how to capitalize."
The 149-pound match saw the first of five Penn State finalists ... with top-ranked Zain Retherford concluding his final collegiate match with a 6-2 win over No. 15 seed Ronnie Perry of Lock Haven. The "Zain Train" became only the second Nittany Lion to win three national individual titles (joining Ed Ruth) ... wrapping up a stellar college career with 94 consecutive wins, and tying a school record for most pins.
"I felt a lot of emotions today for sure," Retherford said of his third title bout. "I know my heart was racing all last night and pretty much all today. So I took a walk in the sun and went and saw the lake a little bit, just to get my mind off of things. But definitely emotions are going and you gotta kind of relax. That's what makes this tournament different."
At this point in the evening, Ohio State was holding a two-point lead in the team title race.
Jason Nolf repeated as NCAA champion, defeating Hayden Hidlay in the NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)At 157, sort of the same outcome -- another Penn State win, by the same score, as No. 3 seed Jason Nolf got a 6-2 win over top-seeded -- and undefeated freshman -- Hayden Hilday of North Carolina State. Nolf used a pair of first-period takedowns to seal the victory.
When asked how the thrill of a second title compared to the first, Nolf responded, "That one was a little bit closer match ... Hayden has really good defense. He stays in a really good position."
Nolf addressed weeks of speculation regarding the health of his injured knee by saying, "The knee is feeling really good tonight."
The 165-pound title bout was a rematch of last year's finals -- same wrestlers, same winner -- as No. 2 seed Vincenzo Joseph continued the Penn State win streak going with a 6-1 win over No. 1 seed Isaiah Martinez of Illinois, 6-1. Imar had been a two-time NCAA champ at 157 before losing to Joseph twice at 165.
Joseph addressed the issue of having lost to Martinez at the 2018 conference championships, saying, "Yeah, at Big Tens I felt like I was a little too relaxed. This match I kind of wanted to come out aggressive, push the pace a little bit, make it work a little bit in my favor. That's what I did."
The championship match at 174 was yet another rematch -- this one, from the 2017 NCAA semifinals -- but with a different outcome, as Arizona State's top-seeded Zahid Valencia gained an 8-2 victory over Penn State's Mark Hall. The Sun Devil had nearly 90 seconds of riding time to top off a bout that ended with him icing the outcome with yet another takedown in the closing seconds.
"It's an awesome feeling (to avenge last year's loss to Hall)," said Valencia. "Being out there and seeing all the fans just going crazy after that win, I mean most of them were probably Ohio State fans. But we know it was awesome just being able to get my revenge. Everyone says the exhibition match didn't count. And it really doesn't. Even an undefeated season doesn't really matter. You have to do 5-0 in this tournament. I'm just grateful and blessed to be here."
The 184 pound finals match was one of those "blink and you'll miss it and kick yourself later" kind of moments. Ohio State's Myles Martin scored a blast double, then as InterMat's Josh Lowe described it in live coverage, "then, somehow in some way, Bo Nickal scooted out of it, created a reversal and near falls of his own" before scoring the fall at 2:29 ... sealing the team title for Penn State. "The most electric moment of these championships, and arguably of any," according to Lowe ... a point that's hard to argue.
A reporter asked Nickal about a similar match with a similar outcome from two years earlier.
Bo Nickal was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)"I think about that match every day almost," said Nickal. 'It's something that sticks in my mind. I feel that, one of my goals was to be a four-time national champion coming to Penn State. So not being able to accomplish that, it hurts ... But I think it's just part of the plan that God has for me. It's going to make me a better person. And in the end, I'm really happy with where I'm at and really happy to be able to help my team out a little bit with the pin."
The finals at 197 proved to be just about as thrilling. A takedown in the last 15 seconds provided North Carolina State's Michael Macchiavello -- the No. 4 seed -- with a 3-1 victory over ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) rival Jared Haught of Virginia Tech, who was seeded third.
With the win, Macchiavello not only got a win, but a bit of revenge after having lost to Haught twice during the season. When asked about this, Macchiavello said, "I don't have any words. It's a great feeling. I think I was thinking about if Haught wouldn't have made it to the finals, you could have potentially made the argument, oh, if I had won, which I did, thankfully, if I had won, oh, he won because the way the bracket played out, you know what I'm saying? Because he's the only guy who beat me twice in the year."
The evening concluded with the much-hyped, highly anticipated heavyweight matchup between Snyder and Coon. The two Big Ten big men were 1-1 this year, with the Wolverine winning a dual-meet match, handing the 2016 Olympic gold medalist his first collegiate loss in three years ... only to have Snyder avenge that loss at the conference championships two weeks ago. Who would win the rubber match?
In the weeks since Snyder's loss to Coon, social media was abuzz with discussion concerning the size differential between the two. Snyder gave up nearly a half-foot in height and considerable poundage; for the NCAA finals, ESPN reported that Snyder weighed in at 226, while Coon was just two pounds under the top limit of 285.
An ESPN commentator used the phrase "chess match" to describe Snyder-Coon 3 ... and that seems very appropriate. There was no scoring in the first period; the only scoring in the second was the Buckeye getting a one-point escape. Coon started the third period with an escape of his own to knot the score ... only to have Snyder score a takedown with 20 seconds left. With a last escape near the end from Coon, the final score was 3-2 for Snyder ... making him one of just five NCAA Division I heavyweight champs to win three national titles in college.
When asked about the takedown at the post-match press conference, Snyder said, "Coon is real big, real strong. He's a very good wrestler. He's had a great career. And he's a really good guy ...
"It was a lot of me holding him off, trying to kind of pick and choose my shots and time 'em strategically throughout the match. And I was surprised that he shot at that point. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting me to go underneath of him, and I was about to try to set a couple of things up because I knew there was only 30 seconds left.
"But he took the shot when I had my underhook, and kind of extended himself. So I was able to throw him by and there wasn't much time after that.
"And the team title, yeah, of course, you know, it was an amazing race. It would have been awesome to end my career at Ohio State with a team title. I still believe we have an amazing team."
Instead, the team title went to Penn State for the third consecutive year.
"I'm just happy and proud of these guys, man," said head coach Cael Sanderson. "They did a great job this weekend.
"I think they remained calm and focused on their goals and that's important."
The 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be held in Pittsburgh, the first time that city has hosted the event since 1957.
2018 NCAA Division I champions (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Finals Results
125: Spencer Lee (Iowa) dec. Nick Suriano (Rutgers), 5-1
133: Seth Gross (South Dakota State) dec. Stevan Micic (Michigan), 13-8
141: Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) dec. Bryce Meredith (Wyoming), 7-4
149: Zain Retherford (Penn State) dec. Ronnie Perry (Lock Haven), 6-2
157: Jason Nolf (Penn State) dec. Hayden Hidlay (NC State), 6-2
165: Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) dec. Isaiah Martinez (Illinois), 6-1
174: Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) dec. Mark Hall (Penn State), 8-2
184: Bo Nickal (Penn State) pinned Myles Martin (Ohio State), 2:29
197: Michael Macchiavello (NC State) dec. Jared Haught (Virginia Tech), 3-1
285: Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) dec. Adam Coon (Michigan), 3-2
Final Team Standings
1. Penn State 141.5
2. Ohio State 133.5
3. Iowa 97
4. Michigan 80
4. NC State 80
6. Missouri 61.5
7. Cornell 48
8. Virginia Tech 47.5
9. Nebraska 47
10. Arizona State 43
11. Rutgers 42.5
12. South Dakota State 42
13. Illinois 37.5
13. Oklahoma State 37.5
15. Lehigh 36.5
16. Lock Haven 35
17. Minnesota 27.5
17. Wisconsin 27.5
17. Wyoming 27.5
20. North Carolina 27
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