There are always some standout statistical performances at the big summer tournaments, but the recent U23 Nationals event appeared to really turn some heads. The following looks at some of the top performances and some other odd statistical occurrences. 
Point Differential
After a big tournament, point differential is often one of the most interesting metrics to look at, because it measures both a wrestler’s offensive and defensive performance simultaneously. In most cases, the top performers in terms of point differential have had the most impressive tournaments. That is certainly the case when looking at this past weekend’s U23 freestyle nationals. The heavyweight champion Lucas Stoddard averaged 4.92 points per minute while allowing his opponents to only score 0.07. His resulting +4.85 point differential was the highest across the tournament by a pretty wide margin.
This past season as a freshman at Army West Point, Stoddard went 22-16 and qualified for the NCAA tournament. He came up short in his quest to become an All-American as he dropped both of his NCAA matches against veterans Lucas Davison (Michigan) and Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech). Stoddard’s performance in freestyle paints the picture of a competitor ready to take another step forward.
The Black Knight wrestler entered the event as the 30th seed, but he was still able to win all seven of his matches by superiority. He allowed only a single match point in the event. That point came against Logan Shephard in the quarterfinals. In the first 30 seconds of the match, the Bucknell wrestler was able to get to a standing single. It looked like he was going to be able to finish the hold, but Stoddard held his whizzer, and Shephard was forced to settle for a step out. Stoddard then took over. By the time the buzzer sounded for the end of the first period, he was up 11-1, and the match was over.
In the finals, Stoddard faced off against a familiar opponent. This past college season, he faced off twice against conference rival Nathan Taylor of Lehigh. Their first meeting came in early November. Taylor scored a 19-3 technical fall with nearly two minutes left in the bout. They rematched in February, and the Lehigh wrestler was slightly less dominant and walked away with a 15-3 major decision.
Perhaps Stoddard learned something from those encounters, he has an edge in freestyle or both. This past weekend, it was entirely one-way traffic in the opposite direction. Stoddard scored a pair of 10-0 victories, and Taylor failed to even make it out of the first period.

Top Five Point Differentials
125 kg: Lucas Stoddard +4.85
79 kg: Patrick Kennedy +3.63
86 kg: John Gunderson +3.51
61 kg: Drake Ayala +3.11
61 kg: Nic Bouzakis +2.71
Points per Minute
East Stroudsburg wrestler Luke Ciampa went 26-10 this past season but came up short of qualifying for the NCAA Division II tournament. He has one year left to try to earn a trip to the national tournament. If his performance at U23 nationals is any indication, he will not be afraid to go for it. He finished only 2-2 at 86 kg in the event, but all of his matches were fast and decisive.
Both of Ciampa’s victories were finished inside the first period. He scored a 13-2 superiority victory over Luke Justice and pinned Jet Galbreath while leading by a 10-2 score. On the other side of the equation, both of his losses were shutout 10-0 victories in under a minute. 
Interestingly, all of the quick matches left him with the highest scoring rate of the entire tournament. He averaged 5.17 points per minute, which slightly outpaced Stoddard. Even with the high scoring rate, his boom-or-bust style left him with a substandard point differential. He actually finished with a negative point differential (-0.22) as his opponents average 5.39 points per minute
Top Five Points per Minute
86 kg: Luke Ciampa 5.17
125 kg: Lucas Stoddard 4.92
70 kg: Samuel Hillegas 4.66
79 kg: Brendon Abdon 4.56
65 kg: Carter Schmidt 4.55
Points Against per Minute
As previously established, Stoddard allowed only one point on his way to the title at 125 kg. However, he surprisingly did not have the best points against per minute rate. That honor belongs to Massoma Endene.
Like Stoddard, he only allowed a single point on his path to the title at 97 kg. However, he had slightly less match time, so he finished with 0.05 points against per minute rate, which eclipses Stoddard’s 0.07. The score against Endene came in the semifinals where he faced off against Stanford’s Nick Stemmet. While holding a 7-0 lead, Endene avoided a hard charge from Stemmet. He held off the takedown, but he did step out in the scramble. That was the only point he allowed in the tournament.
For the last two seasons, Endene was wrestling for Wartburg. He was 54-1 and captured a pair of Division III national titles at 197 pounds. This past season, he transferred to Wisconsin, and he is expected to start for the Badgers in the brutal Big Ten conference. 
Top Five Points Against Per Minute
97 kg: Massoma Endene 0.05
125 kg: Lucas Stoddard 0.07
92 kg: Jacob Cardenas 0.14
65 kg: Roman De La Cruz 0.17
79 kg: Patrick Kennedy 0.20
Highest Scoring Match
In some big tournaments like this, wrestlers will drop out of the event once they hit the consolation bracket. Some other wrestlers will end up in shootouts and fill up the scoreboard. Benjamin Mower and Mikey Squires met in the 86 kg consolation Round of 16 and ended up combining for a whopping 52 points, which was the most of the tournament.
It was clear from the start that it was going to be a high-scoring match. Mower scored a step out in the first five seconds of the contest. He then scored a takedown and a pair of gut wrenches to go up 7-0. However, Squires scored a reversal of his own and followed that up with a turn. After multiple scrambles and reviews, the two went to the break with Mower leading by a 14-13 score. 
The second period was more of the same as both wrestlers continued to get to their offense. Eventually, Mower was able to take over late in the contest. He held a 23-21 lead with 1:16 left in the bout. He spun behind for a takedown and then went to work on top with a pair of gut wrenches. That put him up 29-21. When the match returned to its feet, Squires was visibly exhausted, and Mower got behind for another score. The match was finally over.
Top Four Highest Scoring Matches
86 kg: Benjamin Mower defeated Mikey Squires 31-21
79 kg: Brodie Porter defeated Brady Schuh 26-20
74 kg: Christopher Earnest defeated Tyler Swiderski 21-19
61 kg: Kevin Honas defeated Genaro De La Garza 20-19
Will Lewan Most Match Time Award
The large brackets can also make for some extensive runs through the consolation bracket. Nobody in the tournament spent more time on the mats than Oklahoma State’s Brayden Thomspon. The redshirt freshman lost against Maximus Hale in the Round of 16, but he fought all the way back to a sixth-place finish. Along the way, Thompson wrestled nine matches and collected 47:55 of match time. Multiple wrestlers had 10 matches in the bracket, but nobody spent more time wrestling than Thompson. 

Victory From the Mouth of Defeat
With the ability to win by fall, a wrestler is never technically out of a match until the final buzzer. That was likely never more true than it was for Cole Handlovic. The Cornell wrestler was trailing West Virginia wrestler Samuel Hillegas by an 8-0 score when he reversed a chest wrap and locked up the fall. He scored the victory despite trailing 8-2 on the scoreboard. Across the event, there were 14 matches where the trailing wrestler won by fall, but nobody accomplished this with a greater deficit than Handlovic did against Hillegas.

MANHEIM, PA - The National Wrestling Coaches Association announces the inaugural honorees for the Trailblazer Award, honoring those who have championed the sport of women's wrestling in the collegiate space.
Gary Abbott, Clarissa Chun and Ashley Flavin are the 2024 Trailblazer Award honorees, as nominated by the NWCA's member women's wrestling coaches. The Leadership Group members from both the NCAA and NAIA then voted on the honorees, with Abbott, Chun and Flavin rising to the top of those nominated.
"There is so much great work that has been done to lay the foundation for the growth of women's wrestling and it is bolstering our sport overall," NWCA President Tony Ersland said. "Honoring these individuals for their part in building our sport is something the NWCA is proud and excited to do."
Gary Abbott, Director of Communications and Special Projects at USA Wrestling, has been involved with the promotion and development of women's wrestling since its inception, nationally and internationally, in the late 1980s. In his 35 years serving the sport, Gary has provided coverage of all United States Women's World and Olympic teams, as well as every women's collegiate national championship. He also created both the North American women's collegiate wrestling rankings as well as the ASICS Girls High School All-American Team.
A National Wrestling Hall of Fame Order of Merit honoree in 2020, Abbott also received the NWCA Meritorious Service Award in 2005. He has also served on the Committee for the Advancement of Women's Wrestling, the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship committee, and is a liaison for the women's collegiate wrestling coalition to the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics to champion women's wrestling as an NCAA championship sport.
Clarissa Chun, the first women's wrestling coach at Power 5 institution and head coach of the 2024 NCWWC Champions in the Iowa Hawkeyes, was the first girl's high school wrestling state champion in Hawaii in 1998. After a collegiate career at Missouri Valley College, she went on to represent the United States at 48 kilograms at both the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. Chun won the bronze medal in London, and also wrestled at five Senior World Championships, taking the gold medal at the 2008 Worlds in Tokyo.
One of only four females to earn Distinguished Member honors as a National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee, Chun won five U.S. Open titles. She was a 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist and won four gold medals at the Pan American Championships. She was a runner-up at four U.S. World Team Trials and three U.S. Opens, in a career which spanned 18 years competing at the Senior level. After retiring from competition, Chun became an assistant coach for the USA Wrestling women's national team from 2017-2021, helping lead the US to 17 World medals, including seven gold, four silver and six bronzes, as well as an Olympic gold, Olympic silver and two Olympic bronzes.
Ashley Flavin, the first woman to win an NWCA Coach of the Year honor, is the current head coach at perennial NAIA powerhouse Life University. She was a state champion for Lake Worth (Florida) High School in 2001, and spent five years as a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center. She was a runner-up at the Women's College Wrestling Championships for Oklahoma City University, a 2008 Olympic Team Trials Qualifier, 2008 US Open Bronze Medalist, and a US Open Bronze Medalist and World Team Trials Qualifier in 2011.
The first woman to lead a program to a National title, Flavin did so with the 2022 NWCA National Duals championship won by the Running Eagles. During her decade at the helm of the Life program she has produced two team national championships, five individual National Champions, more than 30 All-Americans, five Olympic Team Trials Qualifiers, 11 World Team Trials Qualifiers and a World Team Member.
The 2024 Trailblazer Awards will be presented at the Celebration of Women in Wrestling, July 27, as a part of the 2024 NWCA Convention in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Since the completion of the U20 World Team Trials, on Saturday afternoon, we’ve spoken at length about the potential of the U20 men’s freestyle team. And for good reason. They have two returning U20 world finalists and six wrestlers that have age-group world medals to their credit. 
But the men’s freestyle is only one-third of the contingent headed to Spain in early September. The Greco-Roman team was also decided in Ohio and the women’s freestyle squad had already been established in mid-April. Both of those teams have plenty of potential, as well. 
The women’s freestyle team has three wrestlers with past U20 world team experience and three team members with age-group world medals. 
It’s no secret that Greco-Roman has lagged behind its freestyle counterparts at all age groups, but this appears to be one of the better American Greco squads recently assembled. Heavyweight Aden Attao anchors the team and has made his third U20 world team. In 2022, he came away with a bronze medal. Counting Attao, there are three wrestlers amongst this year’s contingent that have prior age-group world medals. 
Below are the three teams. Each wrestler is noted at their respective weight class with their home state featured beside their name - plus their best international credentials. 
Men’s Freestyle
57 kg - Luke Lilledahl (Missouri) - 2022 U17 World Champion, 2023 U20 World silver medalist, 2021 U17 World silver medalist
61 kg - Marcus Blaze (Ohio) - 2023 U17 World Champion
65 kg - Bo Bassett (Pennsylvania) -  2021 U17 World Champion
70 kg - PJ Duke (New York) 
74 kg - Ladarion Lockett (Oklahoma) - 2023 U17 World Champion
79 kg - Zack Ryder (New York) - 2x U17 World bronze medalist
86 kg - Josh Barr (Michigan)
92 kg - Connor Mirasola (Wisconsin) 
97 kg - Justin Rademacher (Oregon)
125 kg - Ben Kueter (Iowa) - 2022 U20 World Champion
 
Greco-Roman
55 kg - Isaiah Cortez (California) - 2021 U17 Pan-American gold medalist
60 kg - Cory Land (Alabama) - 2021 U17 World silver medalist, 2x U17 World Team member
63 kg - Otto Black (Colorado) - 2021 U17 World Team member (5th place)
67 kg - Joel Adams (Nebraska) - 2022 U17 World champion, 2023 U20 World Team member
72 kg - Patrick Brackett (Colorado) 
77 kg - Aydin Rix-McElhinney (Maine)
82 kg - Arian Khosravy (California) 
87 kg - Ryder Rogotzke (Minnesota) - 2021 U17 World Team member
97 kg - Soren Herzog (Minnesota) 
130 kg - Aden Attao (Idaho) - 2022 U20 World bronze medalist, 2x U20 World Team member
 
Women’s Freestyle 
50 kg - Anaya Falcon (California)
53 kg - Brianna Gonzalez (California) - 2021 U17 Pan-American gold medalist
55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez (California) - 2019 Cadet World silver medalist, 2023 U20 World Team member
57 kg - Carissa Qureshi (California) 
59 kg - Alexis Janiak (Illinois) - 2023 U20 World bronze medalist
62 kg - Cadence Diduch (Illinois) - 2023 U20 Pan-American gold medalist
65 kg - Reese Larramendy (Nevada) - 2022 U20 World Team (5th Place)
68 kg - Caitlyn Davis (South Carolina) 
72 kg - Jasmine Robinson (Texas) - 2023 U17 World bronze medalist, 2x U17 World Team member
76 kg - Naomi Simon (Iowa)