blueandgold

With all of the recent media coverage of Caitlin Clark in Women's Basketball and what she's done during her tenure at Iowa despite never winning an NCAA Championship, I am curious if the same kind of conversations can be held in wrestling even if they rarely are. As a Hawkeye, Caitlin Clark has been a three-time NCAA season scoring leader, named player of the year twice by three different publications, a Sullivan Award winner, Big Ten player of the year three times, first-team All-Big Ten four times, a three-time unanimous first-team All-American, and the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer among other accolades. Despite her elite résumé, she is a two-time national runner-up. Now, I understand basketball is a team sport, but take a career like Daton Fix's into consideration; he is a five-time Big 12 champion, a four-time NCAA runner-up, a U.S. Open champion, Pan Am and Pan Am Games champion, and UWW world silver medalist while part of the Cowboys. Is he considered to be in GOAT/All-Time Great talks the same way athletes from other sports are, or is it negated due to his lack of NCAA championships? For a hypothetical, let's say a wrestler in the Big Ten won everything imaginable minus the Hodge and NCAA title (ex.: Fix), could he still be in contention with a résumé like this? Fictional Career (For Post) 131-4 career record Four-time NCAA Finalist Four-time Big Ten Champion Three-time Most Dominant Wrestler Three-time Gorriaran Award NCAA season takedowns leader NCAA season escapes leader NCAA Division I all-time takedowns leader Three-time Big Ten Wrestler of the Year Big Ten Freshman of the Year NWCA All-Rookie Team

JB, he’s from Indiana!!!!! Crown Point stand up!

This match is insane

I am now a Dylan Ragusin fan.

I follow D2 and D3 pretty closely. D3 seems to have guys make national and world teams a bit more frequently than D2. Nazar Kulchytskyy, Riley Lefever, and Joe Rau immediately come to mind as names in recent years. NAIA also had Brandon Wright in the mix a few years ago. Overall, I believe the level of wrestling has risen in those divisions and they’re equally exciting to watch.

First and foremost, I apologize if this topic has already been posted. I haven’t kept up with college wrestling much this year and I know rankings don’t tell the whole story, but beyond Ryan Crookham, who are some of the toughest freshmen this year that can make deep runs at NCAAs or potentially win?

Isn’t Destin McCauley one of them?

We been on the upswing as a state in the last few years thanks to Mason Parris, Nick Lee, Jesse Mendez, Chad Red, Brayton Lee, etc. As far as my school, IU, we aren’t there yet, but I hope we will be. Ersland is doing well at Purdue and I hope our in-state talent can continue that trend.

I just came over here from IndianaMat to see the responses my topics on their board would get here. Y’all weak for this lol

Big difference in our posts, buddy. Don’t do that lol

Damn. So, he’s a real life fraud. I thought he would just troll with the Iowa stuff, but I didn’t realize he’s a lame in real life.

Okay. Give me the scoop. What was/were the initial event(s) that has caused everyone here to bust his balls all the time?

Although we have about another month of the dual season, what athlete looks to be in or nearing top form and is poised to All-American, if not win a national title?

There are collegiate programs on all levels who dominate year in and out, and I’m curious to know which of them you think would at least get some All-Americans or a top 10-15 finish in the Division I Championships? Below is a partial list of the top programs in each division. Top D2 St. Cloud State Central Oklahoma Indianapolis Nebraska-Kearney Tiffin UW-Parkside Top D3 Wartburg Augsburg Wabash Mount Union Baldwin Wallace Top NAIA Grand View Life Lindsey Wilson Cumberlands A lot of these programs have been home to national champions and All-Americans who’ve defeated their Division I competition and have also been led by coaches who were former Division I standouts (First that comes to mind is Chris Fleeger’s tenure at Cumberlands), and some former athletes have gone on to domestic and international freestyle success (Tervel Dlagnev, Nazar Kulchytskyy, Riley Lefever, Brandon Wright). What are some programs you think would perform well right now?

Far from a Jimmy Cinnabon. I just decided to be more active on here and bring all of my usual topics from https://www.indianamat.com to InterMat. However, it’s met with mixed reception as I guess college board observers don’t really care about historical discussion and comparisons between generations. I just ask those kinds of questions because I’m trying to up my knowledge of wrestling on the collegiate level.

He’s the only six-time NCAA champion in college wrestling history and yet I hardly hear his name in discussion for best heavyweights or wrestlers overall. I’m also curious to know, is his success the reason for the college division (D2 & D3) being excluded from future NCAA Division I tournaments?

I didn’t think this was a hard question to understand. What coach and/or program has appeared in the NCAA Finals the most without ever having a champion?

I think you’re right about the other question being more interesting

What coaches and/or programs have the most NCAA Finals appearances without a single victory?

This is a team I always think of in the conversation of “best to never win it.” That title could be given to several different teams, but this one belongs in the conversation. They finished the NCAA tournament with seven All-Americans from nine total qualifiers who, combined, scored 104.0 total points. Of the seven All-Americans, two were national finalists: Dylan Ness at 149 and Tony Nelson at Heavyweight. In addition to being named runners-up at the NCAA tournament, they finished the season with a 14-1 overall dual record including wins over Oklahoma State, Penn State, and Iowa, while their lone loss came to Michigan. Tournament wise, they finished third at the Southern Scuffle and secured 8 titles at the Bison Open… Two key memories from this season were Dylan Ness pinning both Dylan Alton and James Green. What are some memories you have of this team?

I always appreciate your input/feedback. Helps me learn stuff I previously didn’t know and/or am curious about.

Absolutely not. That man is a troll. My threads are based around history and generational comparison. His are just hot takes and attacks on Iowa falsely framed as support for PSU.

Which program seems consistently produce All-Americans and/or national champions at a particular weight class? I would have to think Iowa at 125 and Penn State at 174, right? Iowa at 125 Matt McDonough (2010-13) - 2-time national champion, 3-time national finalist Cory Clark (2014) - All-American, 5th place Thomas Gilman (2015-17) - 3-time All-American, 2016 national finalist Spencer Lee (2018-21, 2023) - 3-time national champion, 4-time All-American, 2-time Hodge Trophy winner Penn State at 174 Ed Ruth (2011-12) - 2012 national champion, 2-time All-American Matt Brown (2013-15) - 2015 national champion, 3-time All-American Bo Nickal (2016) - 2016 national finalist Mark Hall (2017-20) - 2017 national champion, 3-time national finalist Carter Starocci (2021-present) - 3-time national champion

Lol how is the #1-ranked three-time national champion ducking anyone?

Yeah, it’s hard to argue with an unbeaten record at the Division I level, but Dake’s feat seems equally as unreal.