2016 became a year of upsets throughout the D1 wrestling National Championships that were held March 17th through the 19th at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In all 10 weight classes, there were surprises that go to show that seeding isn’t everything. Sometimes, rooting for the underdog can end in your favor. What didn’t come as a surprise was Penn State securing the team title after being beaten out by Ohio State in 2015. With five wrestlers in the finals, they meant business. What came as more of a shock was Iowa being left off of the podium in the team race. With three wrestlers in the finals, they had their share of upsets throughout the tournament, especially when Sammy Brooks, a 2-seed and 2016 Big 10 champion, was defeated by TJ Dudley of Nebraska and went on to take 8th place.
Fans were kept on the edge of their seats, especially throughout the exciting finals round where first time champs were made and returning champs held on to their titles. Here’s the breakdown of just exactly how the finals went down.
At 125 pounds, opening up the night, we saw the only weight class without a 1-seed competing in the finals. Nathan Tomasello was the 1-seed who was pinned by Gilman in their semifinal bout. Thomas Gilman of Iowa, 4-seed, took on 3-seed Nico Megaludis from Penn State. This was Megaludis’ third straight appearance in the National finals. Gilman fell by 6-3, giving the Nittany Lion his first National title.
Cory Clark from Iowa, the 2-seeded defending National runner-up and three-time All-American, took on 1-seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell at 133 pounds. Garrett was undefeated this season and is a four-time All-American. In a close match, earning his 149th win, the second highest amount of wins in Cornell history, Nahshon Garrett took the title with a 7-6 final score.
The 141-pound matchup put Dean Heil from Oklahoma State, a two-time All-American 1-seed against Bryce Meredith, the first Wyoming finalist since 1996. Meredith was 14-seed who caused major upsets on his way to the finals stage. He defeated the 3-seeds, 6-seeds and 2-seeds on his trip to the finals throughout the tournament. However, his hopes for overall victory were dashed as he fell 3-2 to Heil.
By far one of my favorite matches of the night was at 149 pounds where #1 Zain Retherford of Penn State took on #2 Brandon Sorensen, a sophomore from Iowa. These two wrestlers are, by far, the most dominant in their weight class and they have separated themselves from the pack. Teammates from Penn State rave about how nice of a guy Retherford is off the mat. A story was told that he was punched in the face by a Russian opponent when competing at the international level because he didn’t like the way that Retherford handled him, and Retherford just laughed it off. Penn State claimed another victory with a major decision 10-1 over Sorensen. Only his teammate Jason Nolf had more bonus point wins this year over Retherford. This was his first national title. After the match and before he went to hug his parents, Retherford handed a young fan in the front row his headgear and shook his hand. That, to me, showed what a class act he is and how deserving he was of a title (even if it came at the cost of an Iowa wrestler losing the match).
At 157, third seed Jason Nolf of Penn State (33-1) wrestled 1-seed Isaiah Martinez (66-1) in an epic rematch. Their only career losses have been to each other. Nolf was the only wrestler to beat I-Mar this year and beat him by pin. I-Mar settled the score at the Big 10’s this year, winning in overtime. A 6-5 win by I-Mar proved that today was his day to beat Nolf once again. This was his second straight title. After the win, he pointed to his heart and told reporters, "Courage, heart, desire, will; something that I base my style on." After losing his stepfather this year, Martinez reflected on telling his stepfather that he would win a national championship this year and he did.
The 165-pound bout had 1-seed Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State against second seed Isaac Jordan, a two-time Big 10 champion out of Wisconsin. To get to the finals, Isaac Jordan had to wrestle his cousin, Bo Jordan. He has been victorious in all of the family reunions, including when they met in the finals at the Big 10s. A 6-2 victory by Dieringer secured his third national title and second at 165 pounds.
In the 174-pound match, number one Bo Nickal of Penn State was upset by number eleven Myles Martin of Ohio State, a true freshman. Nickal was the 2016 Big 10 champ, but he fell short 11-9 after a big six-point move by Martin put him on his back. With six seconds left in the match, Martin started celebrating. This was a move that I was disappointed to see. As an 11-seed, he overcame so many boundaries, but celebrating while the match was still going on was not classy.
At 184 pounds, 7-seed TJ Dudley from Nebraska, who upset number two Sammy Brooks, the Big 10 champ, to get into the finals, wrestled number one Gabe Dean of Cornell, the defending 2015 National champion. In a close match, the result was a score of 5-3 in favor of Dean.
In an exciting match, 197 pounder J'Den Cox, the 2-seed from Mizzou, defeated first seed Morgan McIntosh of Penn State. Cox was a national champ in 2014 during his freshman year, but he fell short last year, taking third. McIntosh was undefeated this year. With a 4-2 win, Cox earned his second national title, becoming the second Tiger ever to do so.
In the most anticipated and most exciting matchup of the night, Heavyweights Kyle Snyder from Ohio state, the 2016 Big 10 champ and the youngest World Champion in history at 19 years old, and Nick Gwiazdowski from North Carolina State faced off. Number one ranked Gwiazdowski was a two-time defending national champ and running on an 88 match win streak, the longest active streak in the NCAA. The bout went into overtime after an exciting seven minutes of back and forth wrestling where Snyder came up with the takedown for two points. NC State challenged the final takedown, but the call on the mat was confirmed. Second seed Snyder won 7-5 and broke Gwiazdowski’s win streak to achieve his first national title.
After an exciting night like this, it’s safe to say that I am already looking forward to the next wrestling season. Iowa has something to prove after coming up short in the team race. Oklahoma State and Ohio State are not backing down and should be included when it comes to talking about who the powerhouse wrestling schools are. The question is, can anyone overthrow the dominant Penn State and reclaim the NCAA team title? We will have to wait and find out next season. Until then, I’m signing off. It has been one heck of a year.
