Saturday, August 14, 2021

Defending The Title: 1989: Those Who Did and Those Who Did Not Defend the Title

 East Stroudsburg's Jack Cuvo & Pat Santoro of Pittsburgh both picked up their second NCAA titles.  1987 NCAA champs Tim Krieger of Eric Voelker of Iowa State both returned to earn their second NCAA titles.  Carlton Haselrig of Pittsburgh-Johnstown won his third NCAA DI title. 

Cross, Kendall | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
1989 Champion 126
Kendall Cross of Oklahoma State 


A State champion out of Mustang High School, Cross's NCAA title came in his junior season of 1989.  He finished 6th in 1988 and 3rd in 1989. He later won gold medals at the 1996 Olympics and the 1997 World Cup. 
1989 Champion 134
Sean O'Day of Edinboro 

O'Day was a senior when he won the NCAA title for the Fightin' Scotts.  Also finishing in 7th place as a sophomore in 1987 and as the NCAA runner-up in 1988 O'Day finished his career with a 116-24 record. 

1989 Champion 158 
Dan St John of Arizona State 

A graduate of St. Joseph High School the best St. John ever did at the Ohio state championships was 3rd.  Placing 3rd at the NCAA's as a sophomore in 1988, St John won back to back NCAA titles for the Sun Devils in 1989 and 1990.  He carried a GPA of 3.4. 

UW Wrestling All-Americans | Wisconsin Badgers
1989 Champion 167 
Dave Lee of Wisconsin 

A two time BIG 10 champion, Lee was 6th in the nation as a junior in 1988, winning the NCAA title his final year as a Badger in 1989. 
1989 Champion 
Chris Barnes of Oklahoma State 

A two time state champion for Oologah High School, Barnes had a rough start to his career at Oklahoma State. For personal and financial reasons he left school upon his first attempt at Oklahoma State. He returned and in his freshman season of 1987, he ended the year with a losing record of 11-15.  He made vast improvements over the spring, summer and fall.  Returning as a sophomore in 1988, he won his first of what would be three BIG 12 titles. He finished the season 4th in the nation.  The next two seasons of 1988 and 1989, he won back to back NCAA titles. 

=== 

Cuvo, Santoro, Krieger, Voelker and Haselrig previously mentioned 

Cross did not repeat

St John and Barnes both repeated 

O'Day and Lee both seniors 







1 comment:

  1. Thats amazing. From 11-15 to NCAA ALL american. He busted his ass after freshman year. As many wrestlers find out, college strength is entirely different then high school strength. Thats a huge wake up call entering College Wrestling.

    ReplyDelete