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Good luck to all the wrestlers and may you all have a tournament full of fun & cheer! ‘Twas the night before weigh-ins, and all through the gym, Not a wrestler was eating, not even a slim. The singlets were hung in the lockers with care, In hopes that tomorrow, a win would be there. The coaches were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of takedowns danced in their heads. And I in my warm-ups, my headphones on blast, Had just settled in for a cut that must last. When out in the hallway there rose such a clatter, I sprang from my bench to see what was the matter. Away to the door, I moved in a flash, Tripped over my headgear and fell with a crash. The fluorescent lights cast a bright, eerie glow, Illuminating the shadows that danced down below. When what to my tired, sore eyes should appear, But Cael Sanderclaus, with a smirk ear to ear. “Get rest,” he commanded, his voice low and deep, “For tomorrow, you battle—the title to keep. Your training is done, your mindset is right, Now dream of that podium and wrestle with might.” Then back to my spot, I walked with a yawn, Knowing the tournament soon would be on. I whispered to myself as I lay down my head, “I’ll leave it all on the mat—no regrets when I’m dead.”

You must be from PA. Your list is limited to the 2000s, with PSU guys and one of PA's all-time great HS wrestlers. Hey, I get it, I'm from PA as well. However, here are some other options: LEE KEMP Ed Banach, Alex Dieringer, Stephen Abas, Barry Davis, Jim Zalesky, Joe Williams, Eric Guerrero, and there are many other to consider.

I'm going with Nolf. 117-3 career with really only 2 losses his freshman year to 2-time NCAA champion IMAR (the other "loss" was an injury default), whom he also pinned. 60 pins (an average of 15 per year; something rarely done even once a year anymore), the most pins in PSU history. 103 bonus point wins. And perhaps the most innovative, fierce, and fun guy to watch in his generation

125: Stevo Poulin viral fame Lilledahl trying to break the Suriano curse, also not trying to be PSU’s 2nd straight true freshman #1 seed not to AA Matt Ramos still looking for a title after one of the biggest upsets of all-time Potential for Strickenberger/Spratley round 3 and what the celebration would be 133: Braeden Davis probably considered PSU’s biggest risk to getting 10 AA’s Ayala/Noto potential matchup of 2nd and 3rd placers last year in the second round Potential for Byrd/Ayala rematch. Also Byrd has a really tall girlfriend 141: Returning champ Alirez as the 8 seed Potential for Bartlett/Mendez again AJ Rallo (and Devan Hendricks at 184) first qualifiers for Bellarmine Todd Carter at #13 is Gardner Webb’s highest seed since 2006. Not sure when their last AA was 149: Henson trying to repeat The pigtail features the guys with the least (Travis) and most (Denkins) matches Sammy Alvarez trying to follow in Quinn Kinner’s footsteps and AA after transferring from the Power 5 to Rider 157: Teemer/Shapiro another potential round 2 matchup of returning 2nd and 3rd placers Kasak/Shapiro potential battle of concussion sufferers Hipolito always exciting Potential Blaze/Kasak matchup with Blaze’s brother being a future teammate of Kasak 165: Mesenbrink/Mulvaney both AWA guys Julian Ramirez 3x R12 with some great career wins, can he break through Potential matchup of former teammates with Mesenbrink/Barraclaugh, first round matchup of current/former Iowa guys Caliendo and Riggins. Former Hawkeye Drake Rhodes also in the bracket Andrew Sparks didn’t start wrestling until high school 174: Potential rematches of O’Toole/Haines or O’Toole/Hamiti Likely Haines/Hamiti semi pitting Taylor’s current pupil vs an old one Kennedy looking for his first AA finish after going R16 then R12 Multiple former AA’s seeded in the 20’s in Wolak (24) and Turley (29) Tyler Brennan situation… 184: Obvious story of Starocci going for 5. Potential rematches with either Keckeisen or McEnelly. Can McEnelly take out Keckeisen? Unlikely to see the long-awaited Starocci/Arnold match but it’s possible 33 seed McDonnell had lost a bunch of matches in a row before winning Pac 12’s 197: What will AJ look like against top 5 competition? Will he wrestle back if he loses? Potential Stout/Stout match in round 2 How healthy is Barr? Can Beard win a rematch against his former team (but not former teammate) Will Buchanan become Iowa’s first high profile transfer to win a title? (He is also one of Iowa’s best chances to continue their long finalist streak) 285: Does anyone have a chance against Gable? Who out of Hendrickson/Kerk (most likely) gets to the finals against him? Heindselman trying to follow in Davison’s footsteps of an impressive finish from a heavyweight transferring to Michigan After showing promise in previous years with big wins, Pitzer didn’t have a great regular season but then won ACC’s, can he continue the momentum? Can Kueter continue his momentum from B10’s? Owen Trephan undefeated after transferring from NC State mid season

i typically have the TV on espn and my computer streaming the other mats. i also have track wrestling up so i can see all the scores. mom and the kids know that this is dad's special tv weekend.

I did this list of wrestlers from other divisions who won the NCAA tournament (now D1) a while back. Not sure it is 100% complete. The bolded/underlined are wrestlers who also won most outstanding wrestler.

This is hilarious.

Won't be able to attend for a couple more years so watching from afar. But at least I have lots of "meetings" booked Thursday and Friday during the middle of the day. 65" x 3 screens side by side jumping mat to mat on mute. Laptop set to octobox and Shane Sparks is the only audio which is pushed to my surround system showing Scott Hanson how it's done. That's what I use to determine which mats to watch. Saturday night everything moves to the 120" projector screen. I randomly shout. I yell "THAT'S TWOOOO!" My wife texts me to shut the hell up or I will wake up the kids and also reminds me that it's THREEE and nearfalls are worth four points now so why don't I grow up and get with the times. I take another sip of my scotch and don't make a sound the rest of the evening. Life is amazing.

Having watched and now gone many times, I think the session rank is pretty clear, but I'll hear from others. 1. Session 4 (Semi/blood round) 2. Session 6 (Finals) 3. Session 3 (Quarterfinals) 4. Session 2 (Round 2) 5. Session 5 (Medal matches) 6. Session 1 (Session 1)

Mark Schultz? A few losses in the mix, but not when it was all on the line. Then add in 3 World Titles. One reason I put him up is Schultz vs Banach. Mark went up a weight to knock off Ed Banach who was being heralded as a great 4 timer - before he had won his 3rd NCAA title. From Wikipedia. Schultz was voted by his peers "College Wrestler of the decade" in the book "The Golden Era of Amateur Wrestling: 1980's" by Reginald Rowe. Schultz attended UCLA and went 18-8 at 150 & 158 lbs his freshman year. In the summer of 1979 Mark and Dave Schultz made the Junior World Team, met Oklahoma Assistant coach Jim Humphrey who convinced them to transfer to Oklahoma University. In August, 1979 Mark and Dave Schultz transferred to the University of Oklahoma & redshirted. During Mark and Dave's redshirt year Dave won every tournament he entered while Mark failed to place at every tournament. Mark was unranked among the top 20 wrestlers in the nation until November 1980 when Schultz defeated #1 ranked Mike DeAnna 8-1 in the finals of the Great Plains Tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. Schultz went from being unranked one week to ranked 2nd the next week. In the following three years (1981–83) Mark won three NCAA titles. Schultz was the NCAA Champion his sophomore year at 167 lbs. He defeated his Great Plains opponent, Iowa Hawkeye senior Mike DeAnna 10-4 in the 1981 NCAA Finals in Princeton, NJ. Matt Reiss, 1980 NCAA Champion at 167 lbs took 8th at 167 in 1981. Schultz moved up to 177 lbs his junior year where he faced another Iowa Hawkeye in the NCAA finals, two-time NCAA Champion (1980, 1981) Ed Banach.[8] Schultz had lost to Banach 4 times before 1982. Schultz said Banach was the best conditioned wrestler he ever faced and saw him run a mile in about 5 minutes. A month before the 1982 NCAA's Schultz defeated Banach 10-9 in the Oklahoma vs. Iowa dual meet at Lloyd Noble Arena. The 2 teams ended the dual in a 19-19 tie. In 1982 the 1980 NCAA Champion at 167 lbs, Matt Reiss, moved up weight which meant there were 4 NCAA titles represented at 177 lbs.[9] Banach was exceptional defeating every opponent except one in the 1980, 1981, and 1982 NCAA's by fall or superior decision. Banach was on track to become the first 4-time NCAA champion in history; however, Schultz won 16-8 in "one of, if not the best, NCAA finals match of all time"[10] and was named Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.[11] In 1983 Schultz set the University of Oklahoma record for most victories (27) in an undefeated season and was voted Oklahoma University Student-Athlete of the year. In the 1983 NCAA's in Oklahoma City, Schultz defeated Duane Goldman 4-2, the 3rd Iowa Hawkeye he faced in the NCAA finals.

How do I watch on a regular TV channel using Cable / Hulu / YouTube TV, etc? All Thursday/Friday/Saturday daytime sessions will be on ESPNU. The Thursday evening session is on ESPN, the Friday evening session is on ESPN2, and the Saturday evening session is on ESPN. How do I watch individual mats, the Octobox, and upcoming assignments? You need an ESPN+ subscription. You may already have this if you have a Disney/Hulu bundle, or you may have it individually. I don't know if I have ESPN+ / How do I get a subscription? Click this link here How much does it cost? As cheap as $11.99 for a one-month subscription. You can also choose from the a la carte for an annual package or build custom bundles with Disney+ and Hulu Is it easy to cancel? Yes. Unlike some companies that offer hard to cancel wrestling subscriptions such as Flo, ESPN+ is very easy to cancel after your three day nattys bonanza. What can I watch ESPN+ on? Smart TVs and smart sticks like Roku and Amazon Fire. You can also watch from your computer, phone, or tablet. Can I watch on multiple devices? Yes! Each year I have 4 big screens and a laptop. My setup would make @jagger712 jealous.

Things that make you go hmmmmm. Check the number of replies:

I hear about growing the sport and getting more media coverage, but did anyone watch the wrestler's press conference and coach's press conference? Ferrari showed up at the end, so there were four chairs and three wrestlers. Then the coach's conference had an empty chair next to David Taylor. Who was supposed to sit there? Very weird. C'mon, make it mandatory for coaches and top wrestlers to be available to the media.

As a reminder, gents - please type your pick here - EVEN IF ZOOM (unless you say otherwise). Please keep it to something like this... Weight, Wrestler, School So for Starocci: 184, Starocci, Penn State

These are the primary sources for portal entries: 1) Wrestlestat Transfer Portal: https://www.wrestlestat.com/transferportal 2) FloSports will publish a new tracker each year where they also keep track 3) Social Media: X and Instagram 4) Wrestling team forums I have been aggregating these by hand for the last few years, but it's becoming too much. I've tried learning python so that the community can still have the information, but I have found it difficult to manage on the side of what is already a lot on my plate

And an opening at 285 with Luffman graduating. Plus, their three other 285s were a combined 0-3 on the year. (And it’s a better school) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How many have a Blood Round!!!

My vote is for Gray Simons. 1960-1962. From little Lock Haven.

But they heard there was something fishy about all this.

After getting over a thousand prisoners back, the least Hamas could do is give back the few hostages they still have, both dead and alive. That's not enough for RV. Reminder to RV. Gaza was in Israel's possession until they gave it to the Palestinians during Bush's term. I expect that you complained about that situation too. They got land and almost immediately used it to stage rocket attacks and incursions. No wonder no other middle eastern country will take them in. They are crazy and ghoulish. Who wants that in their country? RV, rather than move to Canada, you should move to Gaza City and help those poor people out. mspart

This is the right answer. I don't know any wrestlers that want their season to cut across 2 academic semesters of school. Moving to spring-only also moves NCAAs away from basketball championships, which takes eyeballs away from wrestling. Really a no-brainer.

Peanut Butter flavored cookies to be exact. Not those overrated Oreos.

Those dolphins had no porpoise.

I can do some commentary... but since I'm a working man, I can only get in once in a while. Night time sessions would be doable, although I would be following LEHIGH. As for the B1G... I don't subscribe to that streaming service (last time I did, it was only for the Midlands when one of the LEHIGH wrestlers were in it (Stanich & Beard won it then.) Besides, I was at Stabler watching the EIWA's. I'll do what I can, 'kay? D3

I’m starting to get the feeling you’re not a big fan of Trump.

Has anybody in the PSU world said anything nice publicly about DT since he took the OSU job? I've only seen Cael be dismissive and his athletes talk trash. It's super weird.

lol.. the true jew hating viking comes out

Won as freshmen: 25%, 7 of the 28 McIlravy, Banach, Hutton, Rosholt, Cox, Lee, and Jones. Did not win as seniors: 1

True TDS is making this sick accusation somehow about Trump...or even a R vs D thing...grow up

A couple of tidbits before the final summary. 56 entries 97 of 170 wrestlers have been chosen by at least one entrant. 42 of 61 schools with wrestlers in the #17-#33 range, have had a wrestler selected. No wrestlers with a #30 seed have been selected. Indiana and Cornell are tied for the most wrestlers selected with 6 each. Northern Iowa is alone in third with 5 wrestlers selected. Five teams have had 4 wrestlers selected.

Thought Biden already did, hence why he started the season.

The OG blast double. One train wreck of a tournament from being a legend

It means the same thing, even when you use it. You start with a non-sequitur point that most could agree with, but then you go too far. There is no prior history of our country allowing monsters to enter and prey on the most vulnerable of its populace. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Mike Caruso!!! I have a trading card of his from when he sold insurance to my father about thirty years ago

Love that list, thanks for putting in the leg work on that. Looking at those opponents, I think you can slot starocci right between brooks and yianni, and you have a perfect list going from worst to best.

The Three-Timers From The Freshman Ineligible Era

Hey @fishbane, good stuff! Here's some more courtesy of AWN. The short answer is that Carlton Haselrig took 3rd in the 1988 Olympic Trials at heavyweight (Seoul Olympics). There was first a Final Olympic FS Qualifier held in March 1988 in Topeka KS to set up the ladder. What is listed: 1. Bruce Baumgartner (NYAC) d. Tom Erikson (Sunkist) 11-2 3. Carlton Haselrig (Foxcatcher) ... it was noted that Haselrig lost 12-3 to Erikson and that Big Bruce had 3 shutouts 4. Matt Ghaffari (Sunkist) 5. Joel Greenlee (Panther) 6. Curtis Riley (Broncho) Then in Pensecola FL in June the Final Olympic FS Trials were staged. Based on the results it was a 3-man round robin followed by best 2-of-3 knockouts. Final placements: 1. Baumgartner 2. Erikson 3. Haselrig 4. Ghaffari 5. Greenlee Ghaffari d. Greenlee 6-5 Ghaffari d. Riley 18-3 Haselrig d. Ghaffari 5-9, 9-3, fall 5:37 Erikson d. Haselrig 7-3, fall 5:30 Baumgartner d. Erikson 10-2, 8-2 On a sad note, while paging through the issue I noticed the report of the Koslowski brothers winning the Greco spots at 220 and Hwt. RIP Duane Koslowski. And also RIP Brother Morris Johnson who took 4th at Hwt at those 1988 Greco Trials.

I think nolf is better than Cstar. Zane and Bo too.

"Erikson defeated Carlton Haselrig, 7-3, and then pinned him in 3:20." I think this was the finals of the challenge tournament. Erikson then lost to Baumgartner in the trials final. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1988/06/18/smith-advances-into-finals/62648595007/

I'm glad there was an alternative option to get them home.

I think Carter is being undervalued on this thread, largely because the biggest assets he brings to the table are either not particularly fun to watch (his defense) or not visible to the naked eye (his will to win), and these stats won't show up on a comparison chart. I think the Dake comparison is apt on his defense. He's just incredibly hard to score on. If I were ranking all the four-timers on that score, I'd have him second only to Dake. But the will to win is the big one. Of all the 4-timers, if they are in a zero-takedown match, what are the odds they will prevail? For Carter, I'd put it at about 95%. He's by far and away the best 4x'er on this, which makes him undervalued when you use more measurable stats. Yes, a big part of that is he's an excellent rider while also being nearly impossible to ride. Part is an ability to make mid-match adjustments. But its more than that. In matches decided by 2 points or less, he's 20-1 (actually 20-0 if you exclude his very first match, the 10-9 loss to DJ Washington, which you get the sense he's been avenging ever since). He's 7-0 in matches that went to OT. And if you watch enough of the matches, you start to realize how inevitable it is. It's not that he's unbeatable -- it's that to do so, you need to bring a whole lot more to the table than just being close in skill. Maybe an offense like Brooks/Taylor, or a total package like Dake. But there's no "almost beating" Carter. There's no "whew, that SV match could've gone either way" with Carter. I think that in his mind, his likelihood of winning is just as high in a SV match as it is when he's up 14-0, and the stats bear that out. The only variable is the amount of bonus points, not the chances of prevailing. People talk about how Ferrari was "right there" with Carter, but the truth is, Carter wins that match 20 of 20 times. Keckeisen and McEnelly have a non-zero chance of an upset but are WAY bigger underdogs than the closeness of score of their most recent matches would suggest. I'd put Carter behind Cael, Dake, and *probably* Brooks, but ahead of Smith, Yianni and Stieber.

He’s always been a greedy bastard. 159 for me. None for you.

One of Iowa's recruits has a nice looking mom.

Babylon Bee: Federal Judge Orders Astronauts Be Returned To Space Station U.S. — A district judge has issued a ruling saying Trump lacked the Constitutional authority to pick up two astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station for several months. SpaceX has been ordered to return the astronauts immediately. "I will not stand by while Donald Trump abuses his power like a dictator," said Judge Earl Flanders in his ruling. "Trump has no authority to pick up these astronauts, and I can say that because I'm a federal judge, and no one is allowed to argue with me, and everyone has to do what I say." Eyewitnesses say the judge then donned a Keffiyeh and spray painted a Cybertruck while screaming "Black Lives Matter." Sources in Washington say Trump plans to brazenly ignore the lawful order and bring the astronauts home anyway. "This is just the kind of wanton lawlessness we should expect from a dictator who is literally Hitler," said one legal analyst. The SpaceX craft docked at the ISS on Sunday and was preparing for the return journey to Earth when the orders stopped the process short. "Please bring us home, I just want a cheeseburger and a nap in a horizontal bed," said one of the crew. At publishing time, Trump was polling at 100% approval among the stranded astronaut demographic. https://babylonbee.com/news/judge-orders-astronauts-be-returned-to-space-station

Wow, I didn't realize there were that many 3-timers. Surely, some of them would have won a 4th if given the opportunity. Crazy that 4-timers are becoming more common even if there are only 6 of them.

You're kind of missing my point. Carter's offensive output, while excellent, isn't even top 25 in NCAA history. But his ability to win close matches is arguably #1 all-time. Who's better? I'm not sure the stats people are throwing around are really capturing that. Especially when treating his two injury default losses at Big 10s as actual losses. The man hasn't had a real loss in over 4 years. If you thrown them out, he's on pace to have four consecutive undefeated seasons -- a feat matched only by Cael. My guess is if you had a "fewest points allowed" (less conceded escapes) category, or "fewest takedowns allowed" category, he'd be at or near the top in those, too. If you're measuring "best all-time" SOLELY by offensive output, and throwing out defense and ability to win close matches and win %, I agree Carter will be in the lower rung of 4x'ers. But I think that's awfully narrow-minded.

WKN, how would these numbers change if you threw out Carter's two injury default "losses" last year at Big 10s? My guess is he'd go up to #2 in your first 2 categories (win % and longest win streak), behind only Cael, and might move up one or two places on bonus % too.