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Live Saturday Notes: Is there parity in college wrestling? Check out some numbers

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by USA Wrestling

No. 1 seed freshman Bo Nickal of Penn State battles Nathan Jackson of Indiana in the 174 pound semifinals. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors

Posted at 10:20 a.m.


From our friend Norm Palovcsik of the Pennsylvania Roundup – The All-Americans include athletes from 29 states and Canada. The top few states:

12 – Pennsylvania

10 – Ohio

6 – Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan

4 – California

Posted at 9:30 a.m.


Parity. It is a word that has come to college wrestling, as more teams have found a way to compete at the national level and put athletes in position to be All-Americans. In 2016, there were 34 different teams that earned an All-American, and no team had more than six All-Americans.


Four different conferences had at least 10 All-Americans. The Big Ten remains the strongest conference with 31 All-Americans and 13 finalists. But strong athletes are coming from the remaining Div. I conferences.


However, with all the bracket busting in the first four sessions, half of the gold-medal finals feature the No. 1 vs. No. 2 seeds. Go figure.

All-Americans by Team

6 – Penn State, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Virginia Tech

4- Ohio State, Missouri

3 – Nebraska, Cornell., NC State, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa State, Lehigh

2 – Oklahoma, Kent State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Stanford,

1 – Wyoming, Navy, Penn, Wisconsin, Oregon State, Northern Iowa, Old Dominion, Rider, American, Princeton, Indiana, Ohio, Central Michigan, Duke, North Carolina, Utah Valley, Boise State

All-Americans by Conference

31 - Big Ten

13 – Big 12

11 – ACC

10 – MAC, EIWA

4 – Pac 12

1 - EWL


Unseeded All-Americans
– Conor Youtsey (Michigan, 125), Jade Rauser (Utah Valley, 133), Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State, 174), Casey Kent (Penn, 174), Patrick Downey (Iowa State, 197)

Five Finals with No. 1 vs. No. 2

133 – No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Cory Clark (Iowa)

149 lbs. – No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa)

165 lbs. – No. 1 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin)

197 lbs. – No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (Penn State) vs. No. 2 J’den Cox (Missouri)

285 lbs. – No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State) vs. No. 2 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State)


Finalists with the lowest seeds


No. 14 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming, 141)

No. 11 Myles Martin (Ohio State, 174)

No. 7 Timothy Dudley (Nebraska, 184)

Finalists by Team

5 – Penn State

3 - Iowa

2 – Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Cornell

1 – Missouri, Nebraska, NC State, Illinois, Wyoming, Wisconsin


Freshmen in the finals


No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State, 174)

No. 3 Jason Nolf (Penn State, 157)

No. 11 Myles Martin (Ohio State, 174)

Finalist who had family win the NCAAs

• Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin, the 165-pound finalist, follows his father Jim Jordan, a three-time All-American and two-time champion from Wisconsin. Jim Jordan is a Congressman from Ohio.

Returning NCAA champions in the finals

2x – Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State, 165)

2x – Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State, 285)

1x – Isaiah Martinez (Illinois, 157)

1x – Gabe Dean (Cornell, 184)

1x – J’Den Cox (Missouri, 197)

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