On March 17-19, the biggest wrestling tournament of the year met the most famous arena in sports. The NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships, hosted in Madison Square Garden for the first time brought 330 of the best collegiate wrestlers together for a three-day battle in which individuals strap team colors and pride to their backs, literally and figuratively, for a chance at glory.
The goal for each of the 330 young men is to get their hand-raised Saturday night, on an elevated stage-- in short, to win a D1 National title. Much easier said than done. The 330 wrestlers are split equally across the 10 men's college wrestling weight-classes (125lbs, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, 197, 285). All competitors that take the mat Thursday earned their time on the arena floor. Besides making weight (i.e., being at or below a given weight, e.g. a 157lbs wrestler must weigh 157.0 or less; 157.1 would not pass) and passing skin-examinations, the gentlemen earned their spot in the tournament via season-long performance and placement at conference tournaments (e.g., Pac-12s, B1Gs, Big12s). As with most domestic wrestling tournaments, the D1 national tourney is double-elimination. For those who win on Thursday, their only prize is another looming weigh-in Friday morning and the start of the quarterfinal round. For those who continue to win on Friday? Another weigh-in on Saturday and, you guessed it, more matches. Anyone that suffers one loss survives in the consolation round, where the top-8 finishers earn the title of “All American”. Winners of Friday night's semifinal round get a shot at gold Saturday night in the tournament finale: The Finals. Where dreams are fulfilled-- or crushed-- in front of 20,000 people.
For the passionate fan, this tournament is anxiety-provoking from start to finish and the 2016 event did not fail to deliver. The storylines, the matches, the emotion all combined to make the 2016 inception of the D1 National Tournament one of the best ever. Over three days, 110,194 attended the tournament in Madison Square Garden. Being hosted in the Big Apple brought eyes and interest to the oldest sport, particularly salient in the lead up to this year's Rio Games. Here are some of my favorite shots from March Matness, special thanks to WrestlersAreWarriors and Tech-Fall for the coverage and all you do for wrestling. The following shots include a couple portraits from Ben Lowry, photographer for The New Yorker. This excerpt from Reid Singer’s follow-up article, titled "The Faces of College Wrestlers", poetically elaborates on the physiques and appearances of the wrestlers below:
“This constant training causes young wrestlers to look haggard but phenomenally fit, a contradiction that the photographer Ben Lowy captures in his post-match portraits from the weekend’s events. The athletes are required to wear headgear during collegiate matches but not during practice, and the repeated bruising leaves their ears permanently thick and lumpy, their faces bony and hollowed-out, with cheekbones so high their eyes swell like a boxer’s. Long sprints make their legs lean and explosive, tightly muscled and dense. Thanks to endless rope climbs and pull-ups, their arms are often thicker below the elbow than above—the “Popeye effect.” “It is not a beautiful body,” John Irving wrote of the Olympic wrestler Dan Gable, in a 1973 article for Esquire. “It is no more pretty than an axhead. It is no more elaborate than a hammer.”
University of Iowa Head Coach Tom Brands
Daniel Lewis, 165lbs for the University of Missouri.
Issac Jordan of the University of Wisconsin, victor in the 165lbs semi-finals over his cousin, Bo Jordan.
Ty Walz, 285lbs (aka Heavyweight) for Virginia Tech.
Brandon Sorenson of the University of Iowa, runner-up at 149lbs.
The following photos are from the final match of the 2015-2016 domestic season: the 285lbs, heavyweight final. An important note: Kyle Snyder of the Ohio State University, who in September of 2015 became the youngest Senior Men's Freestyle World Champion (at 19) for the United States, returned after taking 2nd at NCAAs (at 197lbs) in '15. Across the mat from the World Champion would be 2x defending NCAA D1 Heavyweight Champion and Senior, Nick Gwiazdowski of North Carolina State University, who looked to be the first 3x D1 285lbs champion since 1989.
