The criteria isn't fixed, but how many times a wrestler made it to the round of 12 is often times the most influential piece of data, followed closely by highest postseason seeding and significant wins. High school records and expectations don't play a significant factor, though some selections were buoyed by these when combined with solid college careers.
If you think I've missed any names -- and I'm sure I did -- please feel free to send an email or leave a comment.
Honorable Mention: Noel Thompson (Hofstra), Cameron Wade (Penn State), Tucker Lane (Nebraska), Mike Benefiel (Oklahoma State), Luke Manuel (Purdue), Mitch Mueller (Iowa State), Trevor Stewart (Central Michigan), Jonny Bonilla-Bowman (Virginia Tech/Hofstra), Matt Azevedo (Arizona State/Iowa State)
10. Corey Jantzen (Harvard)
The younger brother of Harvard NCAA champion Jesse Jantzen was always near the top of his weight classes ... when he was competing. Often injured and with time off the mat, Jantzen's career was puzzling to many on the outside. Jantzen sat out in 2010 and 2011, and medical forfeited in 2009. He was 0-2 at the 2008 NCAAs. His career ended at the 2012 NCAA tournament with losses at 149 pounds to Dylan Ness of Minnesota and Donnie Vinson of Binghamton.
Nick Passolano celebrates after pinning Iowa's Cole PapePassolano, who competed at 165 pounds and 174 pounds, was a four-time NCAA qualifier under Bobby Douglas at Iowa State. He registered some big wins in his college wrestling career, but was never able to find the NCAA podium in March. One of Passolano's shining moments as a Cyclone came when he pinned Iowa's Cole Pape in 36 seconds to break ISU's 30-dual meet drought to the Hawkeyes. Following his collegiate career, Passolano finished fourth at the 2005 U.S. World Team Trials in freestyle, and had wins over two-time NCAA champion Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State) and NCAA champion Luke Becker (Minnesota).
8. Patrick Bond (Illinois)
He never made it to the round of 12, but Patrick Bond was one of the most talked about wrestlers to never earn All-American honors. The four-time NCAA qualifier seemed like a lock as a freshman in high school to place at the tourney, and by the time he ended up at Illinois (compliments of fellow Great Bridge High School alumnus Carl Perry) everyone expected he'd find the podium and possibly even the top of it. What makes Bond different than other high school to college flameouts is that he was highly ranked all four years and placed in the top five in the Big Ten each year, and had a legitimate shot at placing in every trip to NCAAs. Anyone who'd ever watched him wrestle could see that he had more talent than almost anyone he faced. But when it came time to chalk up four wins in March, Bond couldn't manage the task and tallied his best performance with a 2-2 showing in 2010. Bond's career was littered with highlights, including wins over Dallas Herbst (Wisconsin) and J.D. Bergman (Ohio State), as well as being ranked in the top 20 nationally for much of his career.
JohnMark BentleyJMB was a total stud. In addition to compiling a 31-2 record as a senior, the Carolina wrestler was a three-time ACC champion and three-time NCAA qualifier. In 1998 JMB lost to Iowa's Jeff McGinness, a two-time NCAA champion, on the topside of the bracket, and dropped his second wrestleback match. In 1999 his dreams of wrestling through the consolation bracket were crushed when he was disqualified against an Oregon State wrestler.
JMB's career ended in 2001 with a round of 16 wrestleback loss to Reggie Wright of Oklahoma State. There is an upside to all the disappointment. After college JMB got into coaching and is now one of the top college coaches in the country, turning around the Appalachian State program. Last season App State had two NCAA All-Americans, the team's best performance in over 40 years.
6. Cole Sanderson (Iowa State)
Cole Sanderson, the second oldest of the four Sanderson brothers, was a tough matchup for anyone who stepped foot on the mat with him. He was a bit unorthodox and a very proficient scrambler. Sanderson qualified for the NCAAs four times, and was seeded in the top ten in three of those four NCAA tournament appearances. He lost in the NCAA quarterfinals as a junior and senior, and both years came up one win short of All-American honors, losing in the round of 12. Nebraska's Bryan Snyder knocked out Sanderson as a junior, while Penn's Yoshi Nakamura eliminated the Cyclone the following year.
5. Rollie Peterkin (Penn)
A three-time round of 12 wrestler, Peterkin enjoyed an incredible career at the University of Pennsylvania, and were it not for Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan, Peterkin would probably have been a two-time All-American.
In 2008 the 125-pound wrestler's round of 12 loss came in overtime at the hands of ODU's James Nicholson 5-3. Peterkin improved the next year, making it to the quarterfinals where he lost to Paul Donahoe of Nebraska 7-3, before dropping to the consolation bracket where he faced Sentes and lost. After taking the 2010 season off from NCAA competition, the 2011 NCAAs were shaping up to be Peterkin's best chance to place. The Penn wrestler had beaten No. 4 Lou Ruggirello at the Southern Scuffle and was seeded tenth heading in, but suffered a 7-5 first-round loss to the wrestler from Utah Valley. Unshaken, Peterkin climbed his way back, winning three straight in the consolations. But in the end it wasn't to be. Peterkin once again lost to Central Michigan's Sentes and ended his career without an All-American statue.
Ralph DeNisco (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)A two-time round of 12 wrestler at Wisconsin and a four-time NCAA qualifier, DeNisco was consistently ranked in the top 15 nationally. His NCAA journey started in 2001 at 184 pounds, where he went 1-2. His 2002 NCAA tournament was going much better until he ran into Lehigh's Rob Rohn and his cement mixer in the quarterfinals and lost by fall. DeNisco dropped to the round of 12 where he suffered a loss to fellow New Jersey native Tom Tanis of Rutgers (the last All-American for Rutgers). DeNisco was poised for a strong performance in 2003, but lost his pigtail match to eventual third-place finisher Josh Lambrecht of Oklahoma. From there he won four straight matches to put himself back in the round of 12 where he met up with Ben Heizer of Northern Illinois and lost. He finished his career in 2004 with a round of 16 performance.
3. Scott Jorgensen (Boise State)
Best known for his current career as an MMA bantamweight, Scott Jorgensen started his combat sports career as a star member of the Boise State Broncos. Jorgensen was a three-time round of 12 wrestler, but dropped each of his All-American matches by decision. In 2005 he lost a close championship bracket decision to eventual champion Travis Lee (Cornell) before dropping his round of 12 match to Matt Sanchez of Cal State-Bakersfield. His other round of 12 losses were in 2004 to two-time NCAA champion Johnny Thompson (Oklahoma State), and in 2006 to Minnesota's Mack Reiter.
2. Ralph Everett (Hofstra)
Few wrestlers of the past 15 years have played a more substantial supporting role to history than Hofstra's Ralph Everett. He started his history book career when he was the 100th consecutive win for NCAA wrestling great Cael Sanderson, which broke Dan Gable's record. Everett continued those record-making ways the next season when he became the first wrestler to beat Greg Jones at the 2003 NCAA tournament. Had Jones beaten Everett and continued on to win in the finals, he might have become a four-time NCAA champion. As it was he'd dropped down to the consolation bracket where he lost to Rashad Evans of Michigan State -- another wrestler who has made it big in MMA.
As for Everett, he'd go on to lose 4-1 in the quarterfinals to Pitt's Carl Fronhofer before bowing out in the round of 12 to Curtis Owen of Arizona State 6-5.
Everett actually beat me 5-4 at the 2004 NCAAs, but went on to lose a tight 2-1 match to Edinboro's Matt King in the quarterfinals. Next, he suffered an overtime tiebreaker loss in the round of 12 to Jake Klein of Nebraska. In summation: three-time NCAA qualifier, two-time round of 12, and the guy to end Greg Jones' dream of four NCAA titles.
Scott Justus battles Purdue's Ben Wissel in a pigtail match at the 2003 NCAA tournament (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)One of only a handful of No. 1 seeds to never place at an NCAA tournament, Scott Justus was a big, funky, and strong animal. When it came time to deliver he just wasn't able to convert those attributes into hardware. In addition to not converting on his top seed in 2002 -- he lost to Rowdy Lundegreen (Cal State-Fullerton). Justus was two-time round of 12 (2001, 2003) and a four-time NCAA qualifier. He was a quarterfinalist in 2001, beating eventual two-time NCAA champion Damion Hahn (Minnesota) before losing up top to Viktor Sveda (Indiana). In 2003 he lost his pigtail match but roared back to the round of 12 before losing a lopsided major decision to Princeton's Greg Parker.
Justus is also a dead ringer for UFC light heavyweight Forrest Griffin.
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