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  • Photo: Tony Rotundo

    Photo: Tony Rotundo

    Top-Three Finishers at the Last 10 NCAA Tournaments - By the Numbers

    2021 NCAA champion Nick Lee (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Let's take a quick look into the numbers for the last ten years at The Big Dance.

    The following is a compilation of finishes starting with NCAA Champions and going through finalists and Top 3's.

    Penn State dominated in all categories and the blue bloods along with Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State who were dominant. I'm not sure if you would have included Cornell in the 'elite' category prior to the aughts. But they're most certainly there now. Other great performances came from Missouri and Minnesota. Illinois and Northwestern had surprisingly strong decades. And Pat Popolizio ushered in a new era, and a new level of expectations, at NC State.

    Keep in mind that for the 2020 NCAA Championships, I plugged in their respective seeds as their final placement.

    Champions This Decade

    1. Penn State (27): Nico Megaludis, Roman Bravo-Young, Nick Lee, Zain
    Retherford 3x, Frank Molinaro Jason Nolf 3x, Vincenzo Joseph 2x, David Taylor
    2x, Mark Hall 2x ('20), Carter Starocci, Matt Brown, Ed Ruth 3x, Aaron Brooks, Bo
    Nickal 3x, Quentin Wright, Anthony Cassar


    2. Ohio State (11): Nathan Tomasello, Logan Stieber 4x, Luke Pletcher ('20), Myles
    Martin, Kollin Moore ('20), Kyle Snyder 3x


    3. Iowa (10): Spencer Lee 4x ('20), Matt McDonough, Tony Ramos, Cory Clark, Pat
    Lugo ('20), Derek St. John, Alex Marinelli ('20)


    4. Oklahoma State (9): Jordan Oliver, Dean Heil 2x, Alex Dieringer 3x, Chris Perry
    2x, AJ Ferrari


    4. Cornell (9) : Nahshon Garrett, Yianni Diakomihalis 2x, Kyle Dake 2x, Steve
    Bosak, Cam Simaz, Gabe Dean 2x


    6. Minnesota (4): Tony Nelson 2x, Gable Steveson 2x ('20)

    Missouri (4) : Drake Houdasheldt, J'den Cox 3x

    Illinois (4) : Jesse Delgado 2x, Isaiah Martinez 2x


    9. Northwestern (3) : Jason Tsirtsis, Sebastian Rivera ('20), Ryan Deakin ('20)

    North Carolina St. (3) : Nick Gwiazdowski 2x, Mike Macchiavello


    11. Iowa State (2) : David Carr, Kyven Gadsen

    Northern Iowa (2) : Drew Foster, Taylor Lujan ('20)

    Oklahoma (2) : Kendric Maple, Cody Brewer

    Arizona St. (2) : Zahid Valencia 2x

    Rutgers (2) : Nick Suriano, Anthony Ashnault


    16. South Dakota St. (1) : Seth Gross

    Lehigh (1) : Darian Cruz

    North Carolina (1) : Austin O'Connor

    Stanford (1) : Shane Griffith

    Virginia Tech (1) : Mekhi Lewis

    Michigan (1) : Kellen Russell

    Notes: Twenty one schools had an NCAA Champion over this period. The top five schools - PSU, Ohio State, Iowa, Oklahoma St., and Cornell accounted for a whopping 66% of all champs (66 of 100).

    Minnesota had just two individual champs this decade. And of Missouri's four titles, J'den Cox earned three of them.

    Two of Northwestern's three 'titles' came from the canceled year when both Sebastian Rivera and Ryan Deakin were top seeds.

    Finalists This Decade

    The Champs listed above plus:

    1. Penn St. (40): Nico Megaludis 2x, Nick Lee ('20), Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph
    2x ('20), Mark Hall 2x, David Taylor, Matt Brown, Quentin Wright, Bo Nickal,
    Morgan McIntosh


    2. Iowa (20): Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark 2x, Tony Ramos, Montell Marion, Jaydin
    Eierman, Brandon Sorensen, Derek St. John, Michael Kemerer 2x ('20)


    3. Ohio State (19): Joey McKenna, Micah Jordan, Sammy Sasso, Bo Jordan, Myles
    Martin, Kollin Moore, Kyle Snyder, Nick Heflin


    4. Oklahoma State (15): Daton Fix 2x, Jordan Oliver, Josh Kindig, Tyler Caldwell,
    Derek White


    5. Cornell (13): Nahshon Garrett, Brian Realbuto, Gabe Dean, Max Dean


    6. Minnesota (9): Ethan Lizak, Dylan Ness 2x, Brett Pfarr, Tony Nelson


    7. NC State (7): Hayden Hidlay 2x ('20), Trent Hidlay, Nick Gwiazdowski

    Michigan (7): Stevan Micic, Mason Parris 2x ('20), Adam Coon 2x


    9. Missouri (6): Lavion Mayes, Joey Lavallee

    Illinois (6): Isaiah Martinez 2x


    11. Northwestern (5): Jason Welch, Mike McMullan

    Lehigh (5): Brandon Hatchett, Robert Hamlin, Nate Brown, Zach Rey


    13. Edinboro (4): Mitchell Port 2x, David Habat, Chris Honeycutt

    Virginia Tech (4): Devin Carter, Hunter Bolen ('20), Jared Haught

    Wisconsin (4): Seth Gross ('20), Tyler Graff, Connor Medbery


    16. Oklahoma (3): Andrew Howe

    Arizona St. (3): Brandon Courtney

    Rutgers (3): Nick Suriano

    Pitt (3): Jake Wentzel, Ty Wilps, Nino Bonaccorsi


    20. South Dakota St. (2): Seth Gross

    Iowa State (2): Two Champs (see above)

    Northern Iowa (2): Two Champs (see above)

    North Carolina (2): Austin O'Connor ('20)

    Stanford (2): Nick Amuchestegui

    Virginia (2): Jack Mueller, George DiCamillo

    Nebraska (2): Tyler Berger, Tim Dudley

    Wyoming (2): Bryce Meredith 2x

    West Virginia (2): Zeke Moisey, Noah Adams ('20)


    29. Boise St. (1): Jason Chamberlain

    Indiana (1): Taylor Walsh

    Princeton (1): Pat Glory ('20)

    Rider (1): Jesse Dellavecchia

    Lock Haven (1): Ronnie Perry

    Kent St. (1): Dustin Kilgore

    Maryland (1): Jimmy Sheptock

    Notes: Thirty-five different programs were represented in the finals over the past decade. Ohio State edged Iowa in champs, but Iowa flips that in total finalists. Minnesota (5 to 4), NC State (4 to 3), Lehigh (4 to 1) and Michigan (5 to 1), had more runners-up than champs and climb the board.

    Wisconsin, Edinboro, and Pitt didn't have a champ but had at least 3 runners-up.

    Jason Chamberlain was the last Boise St. finalist ever.

    Top Three Finishers

    Most Top 3 Finishers By School

    Finalists Above Plus The Following

    1. Penn St. (44): Nico Megaludis, Dylan Alton, Aaron Brooks ('20), Morgan McIntosh


    2. Ohio St. (29): Nathan Tomasello 3x, Joey McKenna, Hunter Stieber, Sammy
    Sasso ('20), Bo Jordan 2x, Myles Martin, Kollin Moore


    3. Iowa (27): Thomas Gilman, Tony Ramos, Austin DeSanto, Brandon Sorenson,
    Tony Cassioppi 2x ('20)


    4. Oklahoma St. (22): Nick Piccininni ('20), Alex Dieringer, Tyler Caldwell, Chris
    Perry, Cayle Byers, Preston Weigel, Alan Gelogaev


    5. Cornell (17): Nahshon Garrett, Chaz Tucker ('20), Steve Bosak, Gabe Dean


    6. Minnesota (15): Zach Sanders, Pat McKee, Logan Storley, Brett Pfarr, Scott
    Schiller, Gable Steveson

    7. Michigan (14): Stevan Micic, Eric Grajales, Alec Pantaleo, Logan Massa, Myles
    Amine 3x, Adam Coon


    8. Northwestern (12): Sebastian Rivera, Yahya Thomas, Jason Tsirtsis, Ryan
    Deakin, Mike McMullan 3x


    9. NC State (11): Tariq Wilson 2x, Kevin Jack, Pete Renda


    10. Missouri (10): Alan Waters, Jaydin Eierman, Lavion Mayes, Keegan O'Toole

    Nebraska (10): Tyler Berger, James Green 2x, Robert Kokesh 2x, Mikey Labriola,
    Tim Dudley, Eric Schultz ('20)


    12. Illinois (7): Emery Parker

    Virginia Tech (7): Devin Carter, Nick Brascetta, Zach Epperly

    Edinboro (7): AJ Schopp, Mitchell Port, Vic Avery


    15. Wisconsin (6): Tyler Graff, Evan Wick

    Lehigh (6): Jordan Kutler


    17. Arizona St. (5): Zahid Valencia, Tanner Hall

    Stanford (5): Joey McKenna, Real Woods ('20), Shane Griffith ('20)


    19. Oklahoma (4): Cody Brewer

    Pitt (4): Matt Wilps

    Northern Iowa (4): Joe Colon, Parker Keckeisen


    22. North Carolina (3): Austin O'Connor

    Iowa State (3): David Carr ('20)

    Rutgers (3): See Above


    25. Princeton (2): Matt Kolodzik

    Kent St. (2): Kyle Conel

    Lock Haven (2): Chance Marsteller

    South Dakota St. (2): See Above

    Virginia (2): See Above

    West Virginia (2): See Above

    Wyoming (2): See Above


    32. Cal Poly (1): Boris Novachkov

    Binghamton (1): Donnie Vinson

    Clarion (1): Bekzod Abdurakhmanov

    Appalachian St. (1): Austin Trotman

    Columbia (1): Steve Santos

    North Dakota St. (1): Steven Monk

    Oregon St. (1): Amar Dhesi

    Indiana (1): See Above

    Rider (1): See Above

    Maryland (1): See Above

    Boise St. (1): See Above

    Notes: Ohio State had ten third place finishers to Iowa's seven enabling them to leapfrog the Hawks into second place for most Top 3's. Michigan had eight 3rds. That was tied for second most behind Ohio State with Nebraska.

    What might be most impressive is that Northwestern, with seven 3rd, vaults to overall #8 for the entire decade based on most Top 3's.

    Nebraska and Missouri, with 10, was the cutoff for the Top 10 teams best on 3rd or higher for the decade.

    Seven schools didn't have a finalist and did have a 3rd placer.

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