First off, thank you for reading "Defending the Title." Over the last few months this has been a fun little series to work on. I set out asking out of all of our national champions, who all won the title as a senior? Out of the underclassmen, who was able to repeat and who wasn't? Looking over and studying 86 NCAA DI championship brackets, I now have my answers to those questions.
I have decided that 2017 will be the final "Defending the Title" as 2018 on, champions are still active in NCAA wrestling.
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Dean Heil of Oklahoma State wins title #2
Zain Retherford of Penn State wins title #2 of 3 (wins again in 2018)
J'Den Cox of Missouri finishes off his career as a 3 time champion
Kyle Snyder of Ohio State wins title #2 of 3 (wins again in 2018)
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| 2017 Champion 125 Darian Cruz of Lehigh |
A two time state champion for Bethlehem Catholic high school, Cruz made an immediate impact for the Mountain Hawks taking 7th place All American honors in his true freshman year of 2014. Taking a redshirt in 2015, he finished one match shy of All American honors as a sophomore in 2016. His NCAA title performance came in his junior season of 2017, as he finished 5th in the nation as a senior in 2018. Finishing his career with 120 victories, he continued to coach at Lehigh. Brother Randy was a standout himself, winning an EIWA title and All American honors for Lehigh as well.
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| 2017 Champion 133 Cory Clark of Iowa |
A four time state champion for South East Polk high school, Clark came to the University of Iowa to do one thing and that was win a national title. Finishing 5th as a freshman in 2015, he came ever so close the next two seasons of 2015 and 2016, finishing as the NCAA runner-up. Blatantly refusing to leave Iowa without the gold he sought, he won the NCAA title as a senior in 2017.
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| 2017 Champion 157 Jason Nolf of Penn State |
A three time state champion for Kittanning high school, Nolf settled for NCAA runner-up honors in his freshman season of 2016, and it was nothing but win, win, win, win from there on out for the Nittany Lion. Nolf was thrice the NCAA champion, winning titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Post college he won Pan-American Gold.
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| 2017 Champion 165 Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State |
A two time state champion for Pittsburgh Central Catholic, there will forever remain a * next to the name of Vincenzo Joseph. Winning NCAA titles back to back as a freshman and sophomore in 2017 and 2018, he finished as the NCAA runner-up in 2019. Would he have had a fourth NCAA finals appearance, with a possible third NCAA title? The world will never know as he was robbed of his opportunity due to the tragedies of Covid-19. Nevertheless one of the all time greats in Penn State history, Joseph now pours his knowledge into the wrestlers at Stanford.
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| 2017 Champion 174 Mark Hall of Penn State |
Another wrestler robbed of potential by Covid-19 was Joseph's teammate Mark Hall. Considered by many to be the greatest High School wrestler Minnesota has ever produced, the Apple Valley product is the only wrestler in the history of the state to win six state titles. Competing for the Nittany Lions, he won the NCAA title as a freshman in 2017, finishing as the NCAA runner-up in 2018 and 2019. How he would have done in 2020 will forever remain a mystery. In between his sophomore and junior seasons, he won Pan-American Gold.
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| 2017 Champion 184 Bo Nickal of Penn State |
Overall the state of Texas gets to claim him as he won three state titles for Allen High school, but I'm sure New Mexico wants no one to overlook the fact that he first made the state finals there as an eighth grader. I knew if Texas ever got on board, got behind wrestling and started to put it in all of its public schools that it was only a matter of time before the lone star state produced an NCAA champion.
Finishing as the NCAA runner-up in 2016 as a freshman, he won NCAA titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Post college he has continued to wrestle as well as mixed it up in MMA. His Dad played football at Chadron State and his mother played basketball as San Diego State and later got into boxing.
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Heil, Retherford, Cox and Snyder already mentioned
Cruz did not repeat
Hall did not repeat, but very well could have in 2020.
Joseph repeated in 2018, did not in 2019, and we'll never know for 2020
Nolf repeated in 2018 and 2019 as did Nickal
Clark was a senior
Again a big thank you for following this series. I appreciate your readership! Thank you!
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