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Welcome and good evening, wrestling fans, to the 2024 NCAA Division two Wrestling Championships. Located here at Hartman Arena, just about 15 miles north of Wichita, Kansas. Tonight we have some action packed, loaded bouts here for the finals for this beautiful Saint Patrick’s Day weekend. Again it’s a great weekend wrestling fan. Saint Patrick’s
Day and wrestling at the same time. It doesn’t get much better than that. I’m your host, Cy Wainwright here joined with my co-host Josh Portillo. Josh, what match are you most excited for tonight? Yeah. So one match that really sticks out is going to be the 133 pound match. We’ve
Got returning national champion Gavin Kioko for Glenville State. He was their first ever national champion. He’s going to go up against Gabe Hixenbaugh for Montevallo now. He’s been a lot of firsts for that program already as well. It’s a first year program, but he’s their first national qualifier, their
First All American. And he could very well be their first national champion tonight. Yeah, that’s exciting stuff. I had a chance to talk with Daniel omb, their head coach and Michael Lane beforehand and you know Gabe was a Division one transfer top 20 guy from Campbell University up there with Scottie
Sintez and Kerry Kolat product. So, I mean, it’s exciting to see those guys make that transition to this level and have instantaneous success. We see that a lot with a lot of different people, especially at this level. But let’s talk about the 125 pound match since it’s coming up next. Here we have
Christian Mayhugh Elkhart, Indiana product, fifth year senior was the three seed here in this tournament. He had a great first couple bouts. One of a sudden tie breaker there in the quarterfinals against Nebraska-kearney. And then obviously in the semifinals against Corrigan, who Wisconsin-Parkside. So again we’re excited to see him. And
What tell us about the green corner. Yeah. So in the green corner we’ve got Jackson Roman. He was a national finalist last year for Augustana. And he had arguably one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. Last year. He took out two time national champion Coe Leah of
West Liberty. So he’s back in the national finals again. And I’m sure he’s going to be coming for that national title. Yeah And his semifinal match today was exciting. I mean, he took a Joplin from Lander in a sudden victory there and was taking shots, being really relentless on the offensive attacks there.
And a stop call man. I mean, you know, you hate to lose that type of bout, but sometimes those things do happen. And, you know, 3 or 4 shots there in that two minute sudden victory period, Roffman got awarded the stall call and ended up winning the point by a penalty violation.
Yeah And you know, Roman is definitely a shooter. That’s his style. Attack, attack, attack. And, you know, you can argue Joplin is just defending, but when Roman shoots off 50 attacks, then, you know, it’s going to be easy for Joplin to get caught for stalling and mayhem. On the other hand, he’s
Super slick with his counter offense, so I’m curious to see how this is going to play out matchup wise because Roman is going to be shooting a lot, but Mena has some really good counter offense for sure. And you know, I always like to point out you’re 125 pounder. I’m a
Former heavyweight. You know, here we are at 7:00, two days after the tournament. Weight cutting is over. What do you think these guys are going to walk out here tonight weighing, I can say an average is maybe like 140, but, I don’t want to call any people out, but there
Are some All-Americans in my weight class that said they were up to 150 by the time that the All-American parade happened. Wow. Now, I don’t know if he was exaggerating, but, they’re definitely probably excited to put on some weight after this. Oh for sure. I guarantee you they probably had themselves a
Snicker bars or two, maybe a Coke. And you know, these guys tonight, depending on who wins and who doesn’t win, they’re going to be celebrating as well. And I’m assuming they’ll find something delicious to eat as well. Yeah. Hey, I’d say they deserve, you know, a little snack anyways. You know, it’s
Been a long season and, yeah, you know, they deserve something regardless of how they feel. What would be your Post championship meal if you had something you wanted to eat, I was a big ice cream guy. I didn’t really like it during the season because I feel like I couldn’t compete. Good. But
Yeah, ice cream is my thing. Sure. Awesome, man. How about you, I would probably have to say chicken wings. I’m a lifetime heavyweight, so, you wouldn’t expect anything subtle from me. That would be anything that healthy or subconscious by any means. And And here we are coming out. Christian Omaha here
In the red corner. Like I said earlier, fifth year senior Elkhart, Indiana product. I mean, this guy has been on the national stage for as long as I can remember and, has had a lot of success. He’s a multiple time All-American, Coach Christian and the University of McHenry have done a fantastic job
Developing and turning this program in that transition from Naia to the Division two level. And here they are today, potentially going to take home a team trophy. Definitely. I’m excited for this one again. Lehigh is really strong with this counter offense. And that’s how he won his semifinals match
When he pinched Shane Corrigan in the semifinals. And here comes the green corner here. Jackson Rothman. Schreiner. Minnesota product coached by Jason Rettenmaier. Coming out here walking confidently and on the way in. You see, Augustana (South Dakota) brought a very big conglomerate of people over there in that southwest corner
Here at Hartman Arena. And, they’ve been out tailgating all day. I saw they were having pancakes and sausages and they have like 200 people out there. So they’re going to be excited being close to home and have a chance to bring home a national championship. 125 pounds. Yeah. Augustana always has a really
Loud and rambunctious crowd. You know, we do it against them Nebraska-kearney duals against Augustana a lot. And I’ll say it wasn’t a very fun place to do it just because their crowd gets so into it. Sure. Well, here we are getting ready to start off here. Both of our officials here look
Like they’re ready to rock and roll here. There are some mikes down on the mat, so you’ll get some mat side feedback. People paying attention at home on NCAA.com and on flow wrestling. Here we go. It’s going to be a great night of wrestling. Both guys are getting their anklets
On here. The officials are making sure they got the names correct. And all of the head table workers are ready to rock and roll. Yep. The athletes are strapping on the ankle bands just about ready for warrior fans. It’s time to run for a national championship. I’m excited for this one. Usually
The 25 pounders, they’re like the spark plugs of Cal State Dominguez Hills, you know that? Oh yeah, lightweights are fun to watch. Let’s hope they open it up and we get some good action here. Here we go. Nice little leg attack attempt there. Front headlock here by Mia. Mia really
Needs to snap him down to the mat. Get pressure on that back and get the hand down there to make it tough for Rotherham to recover. Yep. I feel like we’re going to see a lot of exchanges like this again. Like I said, Roman’s a shooter, but he has
Really good at catching front head and with his counters. And both of these guys are very large. Number of 25 pounders. I mean, they’re longer, lanky and strong. It’s going to be exciting to see when they’re feeling healthy right now. And not an hour or two after weigh
Ins to see what they can do. Yeah for sure. And I mean Christian Mia, he started his career at 133 his first two years. He did have a really tough teammate. At 125, Marcus Pavlik. But he received Roman in on a shot again, but not super deep in that 5050 position over
Under his Wentworth Gordon. So nothing coming from it. Three time national qualifier. It’s like they’re feeling each other out, you know, heads are down. They’re in a ear to ear tie here obviously. And oh nice leg attack attempt by Robbins. Got it. Now he’s got a back to that
5050. So already it’s about four shots to none for Roman. But yeah it’s taking him to the edge right here. But they’re going to send her back up anyways. Jackson’s the first 125 pounds, since 2014 for Augustana. The last one was TJ Northam. But before that was, Al Miner, from
Owatonna, Minnesota or Al Meager. My apologies. My handwriting is terrible. So at the super regional tournament, Jackson Roman actually got second, losing to Shane Corrigan in the finals. And that’s who Nina just beat in the semifinals. And here we go again. Just like we saw in the semis. It’s Alcorn State here.
Jackson is relentless on those offensive attacks. Very long, very strong. And he has a high percentage of finishing. If you can get his hands long. Yep. I had a feeling it might play out like that again. Roman He’s an attack machine so he just keeps firing him off. But Indiana is
Going to look for his opportunity and he can definitely sneak out a takedown here himself. Yeah I think that, you know, Mia’s really got to get on the counter offense here. Look for an outside single or a re attack there because Jackson’s going to keep coming straight and trying to shoot
That head inside. Single there to what would be our left or Mia’s right leg. 30s here. Left in the first period. Nice fake there by Roman. Looking for Utah Rockford 15 seconds here. Another shot by Jackson. He’s got his hands locked here. He’s driving up to his feet. He needs
To sit him down here, run the pipe or double off Baazigar, maybe. Nope. Went back to the mat. Mia’s got a shin whizzer here. He’s trying to short time. We’re going to get here. And that’s going to be the period, folks. A little late action there. Yeah, but Mia, with that
Stingy defense, Roman did a good job of getting that leg up in the air. Mia is going to be really hard to finish on the ground for sure. And you can tell they’re you wish they would have shot that, you know, maybe, 20 or 30s into the match. We
Could have had a whole flurry there for three minutes. Yeah exactly. I feel like he kind of had to rush a little bit on the finish, so couldn’t quite get the finish. But Mia is going to start bottom here in the second period. Jackson’s tough on top here. Pulling him down here.
Looks like he’s going to a little short half and a thigh pry there a roll attempt by Mia. And he’s able to hit a change over and get to his feet. Yeah that was interesting man. I was really patient and he looked relaxed and didn’t rush things.
And then he hit that little sit out right there and got his escape. For those of you who’ve been watching at home, the number one and number two seeds not nice leg attack here by Christian. He’s a low single leg attack here. Oh, he’s on a leg attack. Oh, he’s got to step
Over. He’s got to pop his head. He’s going to get the finish here. Wow. So there it is Christian Mia a little bit of a counter attack. He’s going to go up 4 to 0. You said it earlier the way he was going to win this bout was counter offense. And
There it was. But both one and two seeds at this weight lost earlier. Joplin of Lander got beat in the semis by Jackson, and Mia beat Coe Oregon from Wisconsin-Parkside in the semis. So it’s exciting to see some underdogs play out very well here at this 2024 N-c-double-a Championships. Look to our feet
Here and one point escape one point about 50s left here. And Mia does have a stall warning even though he is up four one. Just interesting to see how Jackson uses this to his advantage in a situation. It would be huge for Jackson to sneak out a takedown with short
Time here picking things up. Nice recover there. He’s looking to chase an ankle. You can tell by Mia’s face he’s looking left and right and again, he’s comfortable here. There’s a positions that he’s finding 28 seconds here. 17 seconds advantage. Time for Christian. 15. Jackson’s moving forward. Mia’s kind of sidestepping a
Little bit, but, I mean, he does have the lead, so it doesn’t need to do that. There’s that second stall call we talked about, and Mia still almost snuck out that counter right there. No he’s looking to snag an ankle. And that’s how he got that first takedown here.
Augustana (South Dakota) here at Jackson’s choice. You pick top bottom or neutral. Yeah. He’s going to he’s going to go bottom . Let’s see this takedown again. Yeah great. Outside single he shelfs it kind of comes the middle. There Jackson takes down. He comes right up to his feet. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
Crotch lift right to a Turk two. He does. That’s going to at least eat eat a little bit of clock here. Roman’s going to want to try to crawl for it and get his knee through. And there he does it. Now he’s going to want to try to get his hips up.
He’s getting that wing there on the left side. Short half on the right. Quad pod there by Jackson . He’s coming up to his feet trying to stay on. Doesn’t want to get pulled out 47 seconds here of writing time. Just about a minute now. So wrestling on
The edge here. And they’re going to go out of bounds. So a minute 20 on the clock. And Mia has three seconds away from having writing time. So if he gets that riding time over a minute and it sticks at the end of the match, it’s going to be an extra point.
Coach Kisken over there telling Christian to keep him down. Rothman’s up, he hits a switch. Nice transition there by Christian Amaya’s riding tough right now. He might just try to ride him out the rest of the period for the national title. He’s got one minute here. Something big’s got to happen.
If you’re Jackson here on bottom, he’s got him flattened out. Lehigh was a fifth place All-American and then he failed to place the next year. And then he was fifth last year. This year he’s looking for the national title. If he can keep this ride out 45 seconds here he
Is doing a fantastic job on the top position, staying in bounds right now, keeping those feet in . Yeah. And so there’s 30s here. If you’re Roman you need to get a new start here. You almost want to tell him to crawl out here, even though it’s not advised for potentially fleeing
The match. You almost have. Yeah, you have to. I mean, he’s there. He goes now 22 seconds here. We got a flurry. All right, here we go. 22 seconds. Coach Brett Meyers telling him to dig deep. Here. 20s go! Big move here. Let’s see what Jackson’s got here. With 22
Seconds left here in this 125 pound weight class. One good breakdown from Lehigh is all it could take. Let’s see what their first moves are. Tries a switch. Decent chop there. And he may have chops him forward. There’s 15 seconds left and he’s got him flattened out. And the McHenry
Coaches are excited over there. Oh yeah. Celebrating And that’s going to be it 125 pounds. Your 2024 NCAA champion is Christian Mayhugh of McKendree University. Holy cow Christian Mayhugh gets it done 25 pounds National champion. What a great match to start this first of ten bouts tonight here in Park City,
Kansas. Super fun match. It looked like it was Roman kind of dictating the pace from the beginning, but Mayhugh got that counter takedown and that tough Rider did. Christian Mayhugh national champion. All right, so let’s talk about this replay again. It was, Jackson Roman taking a lot of the shots early.
There’s another shot from Roman Mayhugh. Did get called for stalling early and gave up a couple style points, but this counter takedown here is what really separated the match. Here And then his ride out in the third period. I mean, the ride out is what did it for him
Because Roman is dangerous and neutral. Fifth twice in the past four years. This is a redshirt senior talk about what this 2024 NCAA championship means to you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah I mean, it was about time I got this thing done after six years, you know, but I’m just grateful.
I’m blessed. And I just want to thank God. Yeah. I’m just. Congratulations. Now talk about what’s your biggest inspiration? What led you to this point? What got you in the sport of wrestling, well, just growing up middle school, one of my best friends got me into wrestling.
My brother, he was. He got me into it a little bit, too. So I just. I abandoned all sports to pursue wrestling. And I’m super grateful. Well, thank you, Christian. Congratulations on your 2024 NCAA Championship for McKendree University. All righty. So up next at 133, we’re going to have Gabe Hixenbaugh of
Montevallo taking on Gavin Quiocho of Glenville State . Plattsburgh State. Are you enjoying my time inside? I’m welcome back. Here we are at 133 pound weight class. Where we have Gabe Hixenbaugh of Montevallo University coming out of the red corner. Their coach by Michael Land and Daniel Ownby
. It’s going to be exciting match. We talked about this one in the in the prelude a little bit prior to our first bout of the night, and then talk about the green corner. Yeah. So in the green corner we’ve got Gavin Kioko of Glenville State. He’s the returning national champion
At 133. So he’s coming for title number two. He was Glenville State’s first ever national champion. And now he’s trying to be their first ever two time national champion. Yeah, I’ll tell you what this is about that we’re both excited for. They wrestled Midwest Classic I want
To say it was a 2 or 3 point bout six four, seven four. I was there in person and I can’t remember off the top of my head. Four, two. But, you’re talking about two guys here who stay in great position that really try to work. Guys out of position.
Hixenbaugh is a hammer on top. Kiyoko makes tons of things happen by his ability. Just to wrestle through positions. Yeah, 100. And I think they both have some. They’re both really hard to score on two. So I’m curious who’s going to be able to break through and get the takedowns
Here. Yeah. And this isn’t Kiyoko’s first time we talked about earlier and last year he had a barnburner of a tournament coming in as sixth seed, I believe in 2023. And then working his way to the finals. And he’s out there ready to shake hands and get this thing
Started. Yeah, he’s been ready for a minute. He’s ready to get the show started. I think it’s a new version of Tony Ramos staredown. Yeah, you just stand there and stick your hand out. If Montevallo wins this match, this will be the first national championship in their school’s
History in any sport. So it’s exciting time for the Purple and gold Falcons. As you can see here. Kyoko’s like a firework. He’s explosive. He’s trying to pick up the pace and create opportunity and cause chaos. It looks like he’s close. Yeah. So I mean both of these guys are
Already history makers. That’s something that’s pretty cool. And they’re both still not done yet. But again, Kyoko. First ever national champ for Glenville State Gabe Hixenbaugh. First ever All-American for there for Montevallo. Did you get a chance to watch the semifinal with Hixenbaugh? He’s got that takedown there with
0.10 seconds left on the clock. Oh, yeah, I was commentating that match too, and it was a barnburner. It was very back and forth, but, Hixenbaugh was actually on bottom with about 10s left, got a quick escape and snuck out a takedown with your right about half a second left.
It was pretty much as close as could be, but I do think it was in time. And yeah, pretty cool way to make the national finals. From my personal experience, I would not want it that close. Yeah yeah. But, you know, he never stopped wrestling and got
It done. So about a minute in and both wrestlers are still kind of feeling each other out. Two different styles here. You got one guy, like I said fast, quick and explosive and game slow methodical with control. Nice single there. He’s got his feet off the ground. He’s trying
To knee slide. Looks like he’s going Iranian or backdoor here. And Kyoko is doing a great job of trapping the ankles. Let’s see if Hixenbaugh tries to isolate one leg or what his plan is here. Kyoko looks pretty comfortable. It looks like he wants a stalemate tying them
Both up here. Not really that. Now he got a foot free. He might be able to turn it. Watch the leg pass. Wait on that front foot there. If I’m hixenbaugh, maybe look for a cradle here if he can get his hands around. But he’s not very long. Watch that
Knee there. Yeah. Kyoko is being stingy here, so no takedown. Nagi Hixenbaugh was close there, but no takedown. That single leg is kind of a hixenbaugh trademark leg attack. Yeah, he got to it a lot against, Barnhart in the semis as well. And I cover a lot of super NCAA,
Super Region two wrestling. And so I’ve seen him wrestle a significant amount this season, and I’ve seen him do that countless times. 125 pound to all Americans, please report to the chairs of Honor 125 recap both their battles to get here. This this 2020 back to that single again. He’s back to it.
Let’s see if he can get the finish this time. Doing a great job. He sits the corner up Granby. Nothing yet. Time three point takedown there for Hixenbaugh. There it is. Just about 30s left in the first. If you can get a ride out here, it’ll be huge. And conversely,
He’s got to get one here. He’s trapping that arm. He’s got a nice tight waist there. Looks like he might just try to get a quick set here. So period’s going to end 3 to 0. Hixenbaugh on the lead over returning champion Kyoko Colgate. Looks like it’s going to be Greene’s
Choice. And he looks over to Dylan Cottrell in the corner. And Coach Cottrell tells him to go down. Yeah, that takedown was huge. I mean, Kyoko tried to roll out of it, but Hixenbaugh followed really well and now he’s got a three point lead heading into the second period
Of action here. So we talked about it briefly that single, that’s his trademark takedown 100. Nice stand up there by Kyoko. Let him and he lets him go here. Riding time 38 seconds. We talked a little bit about Hixenbaugh semifinals. Keuka had Echevarria from Gannon, who upset the two and the seventh
Seed to get there, a guy who basically was out to upset people. But Kyoko did a great job of putting that to rest. Yeah, definitely anticipated a semifinal match. That was the national finals last year between Kyoko and Quinn Campbell from Chadron State. But again, Echevarria had that upset in the
First round and Kyoko ended up scoring A90 major over Echevarria to make the finals here tonight. 129 pound Hixenbaugh and Alabaster, Alabama native and, kyoko’s. Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg South High School here Rhodes will begin immediately. So a minute left here in the second. We’re about halfway through the match.
Hixenbaugh going to grab a two on one here. He’s trying to rush and it looks like there Kyoko is trying to circle and get his head in a good position. Radford Here they are, still fighting wrist control. Fighting head position inside ties. Coach Ole Miss tell him to push. Pull 30s
Here. Left in the period. Level change attempt there by Kyoko. Nice. 360 attempt. He’s trying. Yeah. I’ve seen Kyoko hit that 360 before and it’s pretty slick. If you’re hixenbaugh here, go on the third period of your choice. What are you taking ? Kyoko can be pretty good on
Top and, when he gets the legs. And he’s very dangerous. But I always feel like bottom is a good choice here. I think so too , given his compact size and nature. And I really haven’t seen Hixenbaugh get wrote out a lot this year, I think, I mean,
It would be a tough, tall task. Not impossible for Kyoko, but I think it’s something that he has to be wary of taking the down position here in the third period. All right. One period of action left here in the 133 pound national finals. And Hixenbaugh is going to get a
Quick escape here. So he’s going to increase his lead to 4 to 1. And judging by the score, looks almost identical to the Midwest classic bout we talked about earlier for two. Coaches really got to put two shots together. Gabe’s defense is head to head. Defense is pretty solid and he’s
Not able to clear that head or hands. So I mean he’s really got to get him to step and react in order to get to a leg attack. Yeah, it looks like he’s picking up his fakes and his his half attacks trying to feel something here. But we’re nearing on on
Just about a minute left here. So he’s going to have to get something going okay. 125 another leg attack attempt by by Hixenbaugh. There Back to that single 125 American one minute left here. We will not wait for you. And you don’t in Hixenbaugh gets behind here. Well, now I
Think we’re still in. I’m not going to lie to you. They were in the cylinder. I don’t know what you saw, Josh, but it looked like. Yeah, he’s going to throw the brick. And I don’t blame coach OMB. Yeah, I’m thinking I saw the same thing. We got a pretty good angle right
Here. But maybe the refs saw them slide out for maybe half a second. But we’re going to we’re going to get a look at the replay here and see what’s going on. I’m not normally going to disagree with replay, but yeah I mean we’re right here. If you
Can see on the mat he’s still in. He’s still in. Oh it’s so close. It is. It looks like a hair follicle. I can’t see the referee’s left legs in the way. It’s kind of difficult to see but we’re going to go back to the table here. They’re going to
Look it over with our independent reviewer in the back. Yeah. Let’s see that again. This could ice the match for Hixenbaugh. Oh this ref might be in the way to up. He did pop. Oh I couldn’t really tell by the hair. The refs might have some good eyes here.
Actually, he might have been wrong. Well thank God they have two of them, right? Yeah And you know, they’re taking a look at it. So They’re in the telephone right now, doing the review process. You can see in the bottom of your screen, for those of you at home, the NCAA has
What we call an independent reviewer, third party reviewer, where they have a historically a retired official or, an evaluator in the back who can basically watch them from different angles. For those of you watching at home on Flo and ncaa.com. And so they’re trying to make sure the angles in the
Back aren’t going to be a little bit better than what we have here on the stream and at the head table. So still conversing here at the table. It’ll be interesting to see here because usually when these up we have looks like we have a decision here. All right. Let’s see
What’s shaking. Guilford no takedown. Wow. Okay. Well we were wrong. For those of you watching at home, the officials were spot on. Yeah. I mean, you got to think. It’s tough to tell in the moment, too. I mean, at home, you can kind of rewind it, slow it down a little bit, but
It’s tough to tell in the moment. I don’t think the Montevallo coaches are crazy for trying to challenge that. You got one qualifier here and you haven’t been saving that for everything possible. So I don’t blame them either for saving it for an opportunity like that. Both guys got a little breather
Here. 32nd flurry coming. 125 once again, last call. 125 American last call. Richmond Gordon back to that. Two on one rush in here. Fighting head position and circling and driving in. Kyoko 316 earlier. We’re going to see how he clears out of that. If he doesn’t, if he ties him up again. Kyoko’s
Progressing forward here. Hicks and boss. That head hand defense is impeccable. All right, we got short time here. 10s Hixenbaugh. Looks like he’s going to take out the returning champ. We have a stall call here. First stall warning for Hixenbaugh. And that’s it, folks. It looks like Gabe Hixenbaugh is going to be
Montevallo’s first ever NCAA champion in any sport. And what an exciting time for the Falcons and Alabama. Montevallo, Alabama. Excited for them. Excited for their first year program coached by Daniel OMB and Michael Land. I mean, you’re talking about a historic run for this institution. You know, Hixenbaugh was an NCAA
Qualifier, Division one level. And essentially after that point in time, he graduated his degree and decided, I know I want to wrestle some more. So I’m going to go Division two at Montevallo University. And I’m going I’m going to Trine a chance to win a Division two national championship. And there he is
Hugging his mom and his dad and his grandma. Looks like over there an exciting time for the Falcons. And he’s out there with coach OMB. And Josh Portillo is going to ask him some questions here and see what he’s got to say about this experience. On the national title. Talk about,
You know, you were the first ever national qualifier for Montevallo. You’re the first ever All American. And now you’re the first ever national champion in any program for Montevallo history. So talk about what that means to you, man. I’m just honored, to be given this opportunity. You
Know, I’ve waited a long time to wrestle in front of all my support, back home. And, you know, Montevallo holds a special part in our place in my heart. And you know, I’m just blessed to have represent the university. So Yeah. Awesome. And talk about the people that
You went over and hugged right after your championship victory. Yeah, that was my parents and my girlfriend. They’ve helped me through so much for, I mean, forever since I’ve known each of them. So, you know, it was I just had to do it. Awesome. Well, you’re a history maker for
The Montevallo program. Congrats on your national championship and enjoy your celebration. Thank you. That’s exciting stuff there. 433 pounds. And for Gabe Hixson up next here at 141 pounds in the red corner, we will have Nick James from Nebraska-kearney and then Zach Donovan from Tiffin University . And here we are showing
Showcases some of the placers at the 125 pound weight class. You know, Christian Mayhugh. We talked to him earlier. Obviously, winning that national championship for McKendree. Then you had Jackson Rothman from Augustana and third place, James Joplin from Lander. Guy transferred from NC state’s two time All-American, now the
Division two level. And then you have Isaiah James Adams State, who had a pretty historic run from Super Region six. Then talk about, the kid from your alma mater. Yeah. Zac Rada, I mean, I’m no longer the last All-American at 125 for Nebraska-kearney. So he had a really impressive year. A lot of
People would say he kind of came out of nowhere this year, but he’s just a freshman, and he’s already fifth in the nation, so I’m excited to see what he can do. Moving on. And then we talked about Shane Corgan earlier, beating Rothman earlier at the regional tournament. Obviously, you know the second
Seed, he had a little bit of a bumpy start earlier, but finishing sixth. And then Trevor and Gray from Pittsburgh-Johnstown and Manuel Lehigh, Davenport University’s first All-American. Yeah. How about that. And here we are at 141 pounds. I alluded to prior to that commercial break. And red corner we got Nick James. We
Just talking about the Lopers. You know your school, you’re a Loper product. Nick James Derek Kearney kid hometown kid from Kearney Nebraska. Got to be excited. If you’re a Loper fan or anywhere in the central Nebraska area to chime in to support the institution and the kid who’s from that town. And
Then I think out of the green corner, returning national champ . I mean, Zach Donathan talk about a guy who’s been here before, who’s had a lot of success, you know, he’s very tough to beat, very long, very strong. Mason Ohio product, you know, excited to see what he can
Do and what he can bring to this 101 pound title bout. And it’s nice here too, that we get to see a little bit of inside information about these athletes when we hear their come out songs, the style of music they like. And, you know, earlier we had dancing Queen by ABBA, and
Then we had Rocky and now we’re getting a little bit of trap music, so it’s a little bit of everything. A little bit of everything. Here comes Donovan. Talk about a guy that a man on a mission, he’s only lost. One Division two match ever was the Christian small of Lake Erie a
Couple years ago at the NCAA regional in 2023. And he redeemed that that, loss of small last year in the finals and this year at the NCAA regional. Yeah, I’m really excited about this matchup, I know both of these guys pretty personally. I grew up wrestling Zach Donovan and Ohio, so it’s
Exciting to see him here. He’s actually there coached by, Tony Guerra and Nate Hagen. Tony Guerra was my high school coach when I was in Ohio. And Nate or Nate Hagen was my teammate as well. So it’s pretty cool to see them in the coach’s corner and supporting Zach Donovan. But
Then I was also teammates with Nick James. So a lot of conflicting interest there for you and, not to date myself, but Tony and I were in the same national tournament in 2007, so, yeah, I’ve known Tony for quite a long time as well. Yeah, Tony Garrett was a two time national
Champ himself. So Zach Donovan is looking to match his coach here. University of Findlay product. Yep. That’s right. Both guys are kind of at a distance here. Just kind of reaching and trying to feel each other out. Yeah Mike James is a really heavy hand fighter. He’s going
To look for a lot of snaps and to kind of beat you up in the hand fight. And what I remember is Donovan is very slick and very good re attacks likes the outside tie, the elbow pass and the over tie. So it’ll be interesting to see how he can
Use that length to avoid the snaps. And Ham fights from Nick James. Yeah his length is definitely a factor. Zach Donovan is definitely a pinner. Last year at the national tournament, he won the Gordon award for most falls in the least amount of time. And I remember his first three pins on
The way to the finals were on about 30s or a minute. So he knows how to pin. I know he likes cradles, so we’ll see if he can find something on Nick James here. Well, I would hope with that body, body style and shape at 141 pounds that the
Cradles would be in his arsenal, definitely. Nick James definitely has an amazing double leg in his arsenal. Super powerful with it, but he’s also got a high flying moves as well. He can go upper body and he can put you on your head, that’s for sure. Right time and Nebraska
Kearney’s still involved here in the team race. They do have an outside shot at second place, potentially, but they do need some things to go their way, you know, being at five points behind Lander University, they’re going to need some falls. Nice body lock attempt here by Donovan and Donovan
Donovan got a three point takedown okay. That could have been a lot worse for Nick James, again I told you Donovan is very dangerous. You saw him try to attack the head there. But Nick James is a really good job of just giving up the takedown. But yeah. Cardy’s five points behind
In the team race for second place. So hands down they need to win this match. And Lander universe through here. They’re behind. They’ll have two national finalists later on in David Hunsberger at 165 and then at heavyweight and one Edmonds. Yep, yep. So they’ll have two chances and Kearney has a chance
Right here to win a title. And the other thing to think about too is, you know, bonus points would help. You know Nick James catches any any type of, tech fall major decision a pin would be great to, you know. Three two. So period’s going to end 3 to 1 Zach Donovan returning
National champion with the lead right now look at this body lock here I mean nice little peek. There he comes up right to that body lock James is going double overs. And you can tell he almost tries to stay in it too long. You know you hate that
Form. But to be at this high caliber and especially at a high risk move like that. Yeah. Well, Nick James is kind of that guy. He likes to play with fire. He’s got a lot of big moves to it has hurt him here and there. But, sometimes you got to play with
Fire a little bit. And Nick James starts down trying to get an escape here. Advantage time now at 20s. There for Donovan of Tiffin University. What helped with Donovan on that body lock is his height. He’s got a height advantage on Nick James and now you’re exactly right. I mean,
Especially you saw James try to clamp down and go almost to a double over’s or a salto type maneuver. And that position sometimes he couldn’t quite get there. 349 another takedown here by Donovan. Now back in that top position he lets him up here six three with 33 seconds. Advantage
Time one Montana State James six three okay okay. I mean realistically every shot that Donovan has taken, he has gotten in deep on and scored. And you know if you’re Coach Guerrero over here you’re almost tell him hey get another get another. Right James is leaning very
Heavy here. I mean do you think snap you chop. Maybe a Post here to really counteract that lean, yeah. I’m thinking, he’s going to want to keep trying to snap him. Nick James is, really good with his hand fighting. He’s got to keep trying to beat him up
And maybe throwing in some more fakes here. Nick and I feel like , you know, we talked about styles and matchups earlier. We talked about Nick James, and you were talking about his hand fighting capabilities and really trying to get to that double leg. And Donovan’s length seems
To be a problem for him. Yeah definitely. He’s got to get past those those long arms. Donovan’s doing a good job of getting his hands in between on the fight and also trying to get his head between it. I mean, it’s almost like, you know, he needs to get
To a hook or he needs to get to a Russian tie. He needs to bring him in closer. Just because the length is a problem, enough to really get enough leverage to be able to push, pull or bang and create that definitely he’s he’s got to find a way to get to some
Type of tie to clear those hands. Nice leg attack there by Donovan there at the end of the period. It’s going to be Green’s choice. Let’s see what Donovan does. Donovan’s going to take down. Here’s that first takedown to that body lock here. Again. He stays in it too long. And
That height’s an advantage here. And here’s the second one. Outside ankle. Nice little pick there. Climbs up well. Goes right to that tight waist into a short half. Right to his feet Donovan. Nice mat. Return attempt by James. And he’s just going to let him go. And it’s
Seven three. That’s a one point game. Thomas (Maine) That flurry you got a flurry. All right. So Nick’s going to need a little more than a takedown here. He’s down by four points. Right in. Still having a hard time clearing those hands. His head hands defense is great too. So
That length is obviously being a factor. And maybe a misdirection you know, or putting two shots together. Yeah I might want to try to fake one way attack the other. The thing with the double legs is usually it’s a straight on shot. And I feel like we got
To get a slight angle here. But for now, Donovan’s looking poised for his second national title. Donovan actually started his career at Ellsworth Junior College. Yeah, he is an Elmhurst community college product. You’re right there. And then he actually took a couple of years off, kind of disappeared for a
Little bit and came back. And now he’s fighting for his second national title. 45 seconds left here. A lot of half shots. Attempt by James still still not able to penetrate very well. There he goes. Oh deep. Oh man. That was a great attempt there. Couldn’t get those hands quite
Locked. Now an over under. He’s going double overs here I think James you know what. He’s at the point of the match 30s. He’s going to go big or go home. Yeah. Again he’s either going to need two takedowns or something to his back which Nick James is
Never out of the match for that. But all Donovan’s really got to do is defend. He’s not going to get focused on that single attempt there by Donovan 15 seconds here tries a little waist throw action there. Can Nick James come up with anything here I don’t think Donovan tries
A mixer goes for a mixer. He’s going to go down swinging. But Zach Donovan’s going to pick up some back points as we close out this match. And your two time NCAA champion from Tiffin University Zach Donovan man just an incredible story right. Talk about a guy who took time off.
And here he is winning his second title. Look at him. He’s elated with emotions. Yeah definitely. Both wrestlers fluttered with the emotions right now, you know, we saw them take a very similar pose. And I think it’s very poetic with wrestling, you know, similar emotions in a way, but ones
Obviously relief for a title and one’s a obviously disappointment. But Zach Donovan, two time NCAA Division two national champion, turned it over the side. He’s got a couple questions. So Zach Donovan is going to join our host Zach two time national champion. Anything different from the second one
And to the first one. No not really the same thing. Nervous excitement. It’s just wrestling. That’s all it is. Every day is another wrestling match. Coach Coach Tony over here is a two time champ. You’re a two time champ. Talk about what’s your relationships like with Coach Tony? I love Coach Garrett, man.
He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. How long? Road. And he gave me a chance. And now we’re here two times later. Congratulations, Zach. Go celebrate. Alrighty. So let’s check out this replay again. We had that nice body lock takedown where he kind of picnic James
Off his feet. Then there was that slick ankle pick again. Took Nick James kind of right off his feet. And here you see his opponent kind of going for it at the end. But Zach Donovan two time national champion. Yeah. Up next here 149 pound weight class. We got a dark
Horse and Thompson and Jacob Ely from Pittsburgh-Johnstown . All right. Welcome back. Those of you following at home instead of Macomb and Flow wrestling. Up next, 149 pound weight class. We have Jacob Ely from Pittsburgh at Johnstown, a guy who’s been around, he’s he’s a very seasoned veteran. 29 and two
Record coming into this tournament. And then we have a relatively unknown right. We’re talking about a guy here who comes in unseeded. And Cody Thompson from Colorado School of Mines upsets the eight seed first round in A53 decision. Then he upsets the guy who upset the number one seed in Christian
Small with a deep battle. 1311, and then finds a way to beat returning national champ 141 pounds Seth Brower in the semis. And so it’s just an exciting story. I had a chance to talk with Austin DeVoe beforehand and the coach and he said, I said, any interesting facts about,
Cody Thompson? He said, you know what? The one thing is interesting. He’s allergic to barley. So I thought that was an interesting fact about anything you could tell me. He’s like, he’s allergic to barley. So I’m I’m assuming that he’s probably a seltzer man. If I was to give
Or take. Yeah. And here comes Jacob Ely and talk about a guy. He’s been around a while and he’s done really great things. Hopewell High School product. I mean, he has been around the block several times for up for Papakura and excited to see what he brings. And, Tyler Reinhardt
Coach there up has a history Drake program of producing some of the best middleweights and at least in super region one and Division two. Yeah. Historic program. And I mean, he’s had a really solid career for him. This is his fourth time asking Pitt-johnstown. And he’s in the national finals now. And here
Comes the dark horse. We talked about earlier, Cody Thompson engineering major, Colorado School of Mines. The only degree they have is engineering, but they have 17 different types of engineering. And so it’s exciting for them. And he might be the he’s they might be the second finalist in school
History. I’m not entirely sure. I know mines has had at heavyweight in the past, but, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do here, especially since he’s on fire, upsetting a lot of these wrestlers here in the 149 pound bracket. Yeah, I mean, if you want to root for an underdog
, here’s your guy, barley or not. Right All right. Hands are being shaken and we are underway here in the 149 pound National Division two finals. Right off the gate there, Thompson’s in deep. I noticed Thompson shoots a lot. He’s got a very long frame, so might be a little bit
Easier for him to get to a leg, but he’s definitely going to be taking a lot of shots in this match. Jacob Ely working a front headlock right now. Nice shrug there. He might get behind. Oh he’s a little he did like a little shoulder shrug like a
Peek out almost or a drag. I couldn’t really see it from my angle, but here they are in a wizard position. He’s going to try to hook that ankle and get underneath and elevate it. Ref’s got to watch that knee. Yeah, I was going to say that was getting a little nasty. Stockton
So they’re going to reset their 30s into the match and it’s a redshirt sophomore. There you go. He’s pushed by Austin Malone, Jake Camino and Dakota Howard. Cody is 25 and two on the season. Ely here. You could tell he looks like he might have a tanning bed. Membership Kudos
To him. I know a lot of wrestlers like to tan. Can help, reduce skin infections, which obviously we know can be problematic in our sport. But Thompson’s in the mountains of Western now. Nice single leg shot again here. Yep. He’s in on another lock here. He’s going to
Try to bring it to his feet. He’s almost got to stand up and get to that sewing machine position. Like run the pipe or baazigar. He shrugs it and nothing yet. We got a flurry too. Wow. Now Ely’s in his own shot. Yes he is. Watch that knee
. That’s that knee. Thompson is kind of. Ooh I tell you what, my knees couldn’t do that. Yeah, a little scary. Little scary. But wow, what an exchange we got here. Now it’s looking like Ely Thompson trying to get to a knee though. Thompson get to his knees here. He’s in a much
Better position than being on his butt. Yeah Thompson needs to keep that far ankle though. He’s keeping that right ankle of Ely loses it and he’s going to inevitably give up the takedown. Three point takedown. So Thompson oh and Ely’s got him on his back. He’s got him on his
Back Ely can get the fall here in this quick Bowie State Carlow Jacob Ely. Thompson’s fighting tough and he’s close here. He’s got 55 seconds. Plenty of time. He’s got time for it. Nice recovery here by Thompson John Jay. Tough position to be in. You put on your back and n-c-double-a finals. Yeah.
Showed a lot of perseverance and resistance there by not cashing it in. But nice little switch to get an escape by Cody Thompson and 7 to 1. But wow. Huge exchange by Ely to finish that takedown here. He kind of pulled Thompson back. Planted him right
On his back. And he was he was inches away from getting the fall there. He was almost dead to rights. Oh yeah. Hands up. I thought I was gonna have to go out there and get ready to interview him. Listen, I would have filled in for you. I would
Have had your back and get you a time out there. Could it happen quick? Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t be upset if there was a fun pin in one of these matches for Ely. With the 7 to 1 lead as the first period ends, he tossed the disc. It looks like it’s going
To be Green’s choice. Mines. Thompson looks over to the corner. He tells him to defer. So a little replay here. Thompson was inches away from a takedown there himself. Really funks his way out of it. Thompson. You see his knee almost dislocating right there. I mean, he has got the gun to
His knees. I mean so far we’ve seen in this NCAA championship. Yeah that was nasty. That was nasty. That’s one more for Jacob Ely. All right. So now it’s going to be 8 to 1 for Ely. And I got a feeling Thompson’s going to go back to that single. He’s
Gotten in on it twice. And he just took a little half shot there very similar setup to the first two. Louisville out. Really got to work that post and circle up to his feet. He’s looking for that drug drag or that, shrug there from that front headlock defense position.
Nice, Thompson every second. So I mean, Thompson was losing in his semifinals match against Seth Brower. And they entered a scramble and Thompson came out on top of it. Picked up some back points. And then he proceeded to ride Bruder out for Brower out for the next minute.
So Thompson’s got a gas tank in him. He’s not going to stop fighting yet, even though he’s down by seven. He’s just one seven points away from tying it up. Going Bodylock here, 5050. See if out. It worked out. It Making here you can tell the couple setups that Thompson has tried.
Ely has responded well too. There you go. Stanford job Purdy. Here. Get one job talking from experience here. And I know you’ve been on the stage and I’ve been on the stage, too. There’s no better feeling than wrestling on the stage in the NCAA finals. Just the reverberation of the stage, the
Lights, the sounds, the noises, the fans up. Nice takedown attempt here. Nothing yet. Nothing yet. Three point takedown here by Ely. Slick go behind to Jacob Ely. He’s going to take an 11 to 1 lead. Control but short time left here in the second. Bowling Green stalling. Wow They’re going to call
Stalling on. Yeah it’s a subjective right I mean he’s still in that lat grab position. Yeah I mean let’s look at that takedown again. Looks like a leg attack attempt here by Thompson. And, you know obviously Ely does a great job of down blocking getting to that front head and
Hitting a go behind. So nothing these last two seconds, you know , Pecora and, Coach Reinhardt over there upset about that, stall call. There’s that. Go behind there. Little short handed drag there. Thompson stayed too long there on his knees fighting. Third period here. Thompson going down. Riding times around 45 seconds.
Thompson is up to his feet. He’s walking the hips out and we got an escape here. It looks like it’s 11 three here. 50s advantage time you know eight point differential here. Thompson’s going to need a big move to make something happen. Please report immediately to the Wilson. Thiel to your thumb
Block. Mercer Thompson is going to have to create some action here to match that level. Try to find a lock and maybe create a scramble to catch Ely on his back. Brooklyn nice content back to that single. Let’s see if he goes elbow down. Or is he going
To split the middle and go Iranian? He cracks him to a hip up, up. We might have three here on the edge. He needs to pull him in. That’s three. Yep. He’s still in. Yep I think that, they want to challenge that. And Parker’s grabbing the brick.
He’s thinking about it. He is. I mean, it’s one minute left. You got a five point lead? Yeah but you never know what could happen. I know, I know, it’s a tough situation, right? It looks like the officials might take a look at it. They are talking it
Over. Fair enough. And one of them shaking his head, I think that, I think that he’s going to, maybe contemplate his decision on that call. Yeah, they want to get it right. So they’re going to check it out. Let’s take another look at it again here. Josh So he pops his
Head here. He gets a crackdown and he tries to switch over. And looks like Thompson does get to that leg there. And then. But he pulls it away. And okay right here does not look great. But watch him drive to it double off and he falls to a hip. Or he
Actually turns and bails. I take that back right here. Look at that. No, Whizzer, no nothing. And so he has both ankles. Wow. Yeah My instinct is that it’s a takedown. But let’s let’s see it again, man. He whizzers and then he lets go with the wizard and he’s right there. Right behind
Him there with both legs in. Hopefully they don’t take too long here. Because they are slowing it down there. I don’t know if they would consider reaction time and if they get like half a second to technically react. And that’s one of the beautiful things about our sport. Right. Subjectivity Yeah. Yeah. So
We’ll see what the refs decide here. But there’s gonna be a minute left in the action. The call stands. Ely’s still going to have an 11 to 6 lead. Let’s take a look at this again. Here it is again. He pops that head. He tries to switch over here.
Right here. Looks like looks like three. And then Ely clears that leg and goes back to that short whizzer there. And then he bails on it. It’s almost like he might have thought he was out of bounds. He just lets go of it here and he has both legs class
And he is clearly behind him. Let’s see. Oh wow. They reversing the call. Wow I mean Thompson’s gonna be ready to rock and roll here. They got to fix the score. They got to fix the riding time real quick. So he’s going to have a minute to get something going here. He’s
Gonna need lots of points here. So I think he’s going to go back to that single. We’ve seen him on three times so far, but he’s going to need something to his back. Oh look at that adjustment there. Just that little peek from that single. Yeah that was gorgeous. Huge adjustment. Now
He’s going to need some back points. That’s where that takedown is going to come back to haunt him. On the edge there I mean he got that takedown. You’re talking 11 nine match here with 35 seconds. Yeah yeah that is true. But 30s left now. It’s 12 six. Keep moving your
Feet. Centre Centre. Remember Ely’s been warned. Stalked on the edge in the top position. All righty. So, 18 seconds here. Thompson’s going to have to go for broke here. He looks like the kind that will. There he goes. Right for that 5050. That over under position. He’s had an
Amazing run so far. But Jacob Ely first time in the national finals. He’s a four time All American. Four three. And there it is. Pat Pecora over there. Elated. Look at that man. The all time winningest coach in NCAA wrestling history in all three divisions. Another NCAA champion for Pat Pecora. Excited
For that program. Excited for coach Pat Parker and Tyler. Those guys have done phenomenal work and they have a long history of having individuals in those middleweights, especially from that southeastern Pennsylvania area, that are just very competitive and high level of wrestling. Josh Portillo, my co-host, is fixing to walk out
Here and interview Ely. And here’s that that adjustment here , little Granby action there. He pops his head, comes to that single right to his back here. Near-fall was the difference here folks. One. Alrighty, we’re here with National champion Jacob Ely. You’re a four time All American. This was your
First time in the national finals. Now you’re a first time national champion. Talk about what it took to make those adjustments this year. Oh, you have you have no idea. So much extra time put in just when you think you’re doing enough, you’re not. You could always do more. You can always reach
Higher. It’s what Coach Pecora says. Just always reach higher and higher. That’s why I did this year. I got the job done. Yeah. And I noticed you shared a hug with your coaches and Coach Pecora. Talk about your relationship with him and what that’s meant to you. Oh, it’s
Meant the world. He’s a second father to me. Helped me so much in wrestling. But honestly, I think he might have helped me more in life, which is what you’re looking for in a coach. And he’s the best. Awesome. Well, congrats on your national title and enjoy your celebration
Tonight. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Up next we have 157 pound weight class. We have returning NCAA champ Nick Novak from Saint Cloud State and Gabe Johnson of Central Oklahoma stay tuned. Fans. Up next, 157 pound weight class. Nick Novak, returning NCAA champ from Saint Cloud State. And Gabe
Johnson of Central Oklahoma. It’s going to be exciting out here at the halfway point of our 2024 NCAA finals. Quick look, fans at the road to get here. Here in Arcadia, we had a great, fun filled, action packed two days of wrestling. Currently, Central Oklahoma is in first place. They pretty much locked
Up the team championship. However, Lander University of Tampa Marquette in second place here. A couple bouts are left here. Nebraska-kearney is going to finish third and then McKendree in fourth place. What’s going on? We’ve been looking at. Here’s a video over here at 157 pounds coming out of
The red corner, Nick Novak of Saint Cloud State. You know, I’m bipartisan here. Josh, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m sorry. I’m Partizan. I went to Saint Cloud State for grad school. I worked for Steve Costanza. So I know what this program is like. I know what the capabilities of
The athletes that he recruits. So I’m excited to see, you know what Nick Novak is going to do, becoming one of the few multiple time national champs in school history, hundred percent. I mean, Nick Novak’s been perfect the last two years, and by perfect, I mean perfect. He went
27 and zero last year on his way to a national title. And he’s 20 and zero so far this year, trying to get his second national title in a row. Yeah. And you know and he’s had a pretty good road to get here being the one seed and kind of
Really gone unscathed. He had a tight match with Bailey Gimber earlier, but, you know, unlike the guy coming out of the green corner now, the three seed Gabe Johnson, you know, he beat Drew Widener as the sixth seed in the quarters and then upset the number two seed, undefeated Jack
Haskin of Lake Erie. And the semifinals and Bronco Nation. And for those of you that aren’t Edmond Oklahoma is not far down the road and they have packed Hartman Arena, their Bronco chance, their UCO signs coach, Todd Staley. He’s done a phenomenal job winning back to back national championships at
UCO. Yeah, I mean this is going to be a super fun one. I mean, we’ve got two powerhouse teams here. Saint Cloud, they were the national champions in 2021. Central Oklahoma national champions in 2023 as well as this year. So, two of the best teams and two of the best guys
In the nation at 157, going down here, they’ve shaking hands and action has begun. And our officials tonight are Titus Godbout and Carlos Manuel, both guys actually from South Carolina. Here we are. Here Looks like Novak’s coming more direct here. Both guys like that quad pod or that four point
Stance. I definitely feel like this is going to be a calculated match here. Might be a little lower scoring, but whoever gets that one takedown, three time match and, Novak is really good on top too. So that’s something to watch out with him. New Prague Minnesota, Novak has a
Brother who’s a freshman at Wyoming. He qualified for Division one this year, so he’s going to be back in Kansas probably, I imagine, this weekend here. So it would be great for the Novak family to be able to bring home some NCAA hardware here in the state of Kansas. Definitely got to
Respect a family of brothers. And how much having those brothers impacted how good Nick was. You got a brother to yourself, right? Yep. That’s right. I got a twin brother and, he wrestled for Grandview. He was pretty successful there, but, so we went to different schools as well. So I wonder if
It’s tricky for Nick and his brother at Wyoming. But I’m sure they make it work. Well, I like you, too. I have a twin brother. His name is Ty, and we both wrestled 215 in heavyweight, so I know exactly what you’re talking about. So Novak’s going to look for those little shuck
Bys, slide by type things, he’s hit a lot of those all tournaments and really slick wrestling. Going to try to sneak behind for a takedown. 130 here. Left in the first period, 157 pound championship out. Nice leg attack attempt there by Johnson. He’s in deep. He tries to double
Off here. He’s trying to hip in. Novak’s doing a great job of catching that wrist and that wizard I mean he switched it from a head outside attack to a single leg which a single leg I think is a lot harder to finish than if Gabe Johnson were to be
Able to finish that double leg. But now we’re in kind of this, it’s more of a scrambling position, but Johnson’s going to get the finish here now. He got three Titus. Yeah, huge finish on the edge of the mat and the Centre Oklahoma fans are loving it. I mean, you got the
Returning champ here on the ropes in the first period. Yeah here we go. I mean, if there’s a guy that could beat the returning champ, it helps, if you’re on UCO because they have arguably one of the best cards in here. I mean, if you can hear them through the mics, I mean,
They are. They are loud. They’ve been loud all week. They’ve been a rowdy bunch. They have been a rowdy bunch. Yep. And it’s kind of funny because you have Augustana Lander and, UCO are both yellow and, gold and are yellow gold and the blue accents, so like, it’s hard when
They wear the same shirts to tell there’s one large fan base or there’s several small fan bases. That is true. That is true. One point escape there with 23 seconds. Advantage time for Johnson. Since these last 30 play out, Johnson can get on the legs again. He really worked his
Way through that finish. It was really methodical. It wasn’t a quick finish. And you know a lot of people might have, let go on the leg there. But Novak’s got super stiff defense. So you’ve got to be willing to go the long hard to get the finish. That’s what Gabe Johnson did. Yeah.
We’re going to take a look at that here in a second. I mean you think about him adjustment he made from that head outside shot and then the tree top finish right I mean you have I prefer take mine across the body. And he took his same side
If I remember. See same side here. So it’s like it’s tough to club and kick. And he got that back leg hooked and was able to double off. Yeah I mean he got that leg right between both of his legs. And Novak couldn’t really scoot away. So let’s see
That one more time here. Scoops it right under him sits right on it. Novak just can’t slide away quick enough Johnson takes down here. Novak’s on top here. Looks like he’s going cradle or side here. Dove to a double. And I mentioned Novak’s good on top. And there’s a reversal. And
There’s a reversal. It looks like he fell off the side there trying too hard on that forward pressure. Yeah. It looked like it could have just been one I mean I knew Novak he’s going to try to ride Johnson. But Johnson did a really good job of getting
To his feet. He almost got the warrant. And Novak was trying to ride him in instead. Sort of slips off. But Johnson sort of just flips right into him. Picks up a huge reversal. It’s 5 to 1 now. Gabe Johnson after that reversal looked over. Novak looked in the corner and he
Shook his head. And you can tell he’s calm, cool and collected right now. And that’s what you want in this position, right? I mean, you’re down by four now. You’re down by three. And, the things exactly haven’t gone your way. But as you I know, the three point takedown roll, one
Takedown brings him back in this bout. Yeah. And I mean, here’s the deal. The reversal really wasn’t that big of a deal. If you consider Novak just got an escape. So it was kind of like a it was a one point trade off anyways. So Novak still only one
Takedown out of this. You know he still has choice. Yeah that’s right, that’s right. He’s coming left. He’s coming. So action on the edge right here. And Novak’s going to drive him off. Yeah. And I’ll tell you what Titus was the official during that Joplin, Jackson Augustana (South Dakota)
Match earlier. And he is not afraid to call stall calls. He calls it by the book. Yeah. He’s not afraid for sure. And, naturally, UCO not a big fan of that, considering, Gabe Johnson’s got the takedown so far, but we attack attempt by Novak Johnson looks incredibly focused right now. This could be
The best I’ve ever seen him wrestling. He’s backing in the legs again. Got to get that leg down. He picks him up, slams him and he might get some back here. No no nearfall close though. Close You’re spot on there. You spoke just a tad bit too soon.
Talking about the best he’s ever looked. And he sure answered your prayer there. Yeah I mean, maybe he heard me, but Gabe Johnson is on fire right now. He’s going to try to pick him up again. Oh. So Novak goes for a Rowan almost even gets a back point. Things are getting.
Things are getting active. Coach James picking up the break. I think he thought about throwing it there. I mean, that was definitely could have been two swipes. But you’re up by six right now. He finishes his period on top here at the end of this period. We’re going to take
A glance at that replay there of that beautiful takedown. There Wyoming a huge ride out to end the period. Two Novak’s choice here he is in that. Southern Nazarene position. He pops his head, he hips in and nice flair to a double. So close to a near-fall set there. Check that
Out. That was, that was high amplitude for sure. Here it is again. Look at that hip in and the explosive power there by Johnson. That might just be the move of the finals so far. Here he is Novak taking down. And you know Gabe Johnson’s got the returning national champion who
Has not lost in two years on the verge of defeat. For those of you can hear that, uco’s, chanting something. I think they were chanting Rufio. I couldn’t tell maybe he’s a hook reference or a big hook fan, but maybe. Maybe. But Gabe Johnson impressing on top right now.
Two. Yeah, Gabe Johnson’s had a dominating tournament. He’s won 8 to 2. Tech fall in the quarters and 11 to 3 over the two seed. So again this is the best game Johnson probably ever wrestled. Not that he wasn’t bad before but it’s a great time to be wrestling your best. He was
An All American last year. He got seventh and qualified once before that. But really looking on fire here and he’s got just over a minute left to seal the deal here. And these two have wrestled twice before National Duals and, Novak won both of them very close matches, though.
Looks like Johnson’s made some adjustments. Well, yeah. Under a minute left, Novak’s going to look for some underhook action here. Taking Johnson to the edge. Johnson does have that stall warning. And as I mentioned that there’s another stall call. So it’s going to be 8 to 4. Now he needs to shoot
Him off again. Here to get another stall call. Why not right there. Oh three oh. We might have some big this is big. 35 seconds. Now, the Ronnie time’s going to come in clutch here. Right? You have 31 seconds over the minute running time. Do you try to ride him, or do you
Just cut him and take him down again? You kind of can’t ride him. I mean, you got to cut him here. Yep. You have to cut him. Yeah. So Johnson’s going to get the riding time point. It’s going to be when he skate. Makes it 9 to 7. The riding time point
That he’s going to get is going to make it basically 10 to 7. So Novak’s going to need to take down to send it to overtime. And he’s got two stall calls. Yeah. That’s that’s he has got to wrestle here. I mean he backs up Titus will hit him again I know
I mean he’s going to follow the rules to a T and Gabe’s got to engage 20s left. It’s going to come down to the wire. Novak into the shot. Novak here. He’s got to get that elbow down and chase the corner. Step in and drive. 12 seconds here Novak
Trying to build up Johnson stuffing the head. He’s keeping that head stuffed. And now he’s cross facing keeps he keeps his hips away. And Gabe Johnson wow you’re new NCAA champ at 157 pounds Gabe Johnson of Central Oklahoma. Holy cow. Takes out the returning national champion undefeated Johnson. Gabe Johnson, national champion for
Central Oklahoma. And while I mean you got to kind of be inspired by Central Oklahoma’s, fan base like I’m looking right at him and there’s a ton of them . You can see them in the grass. You can see them. Congratulations. You wrestled Novak a couple times already,
And they both have been close and haven’t potentially gone back. That really was the move of the match. I think. And, you know, Novak tried to crawl back really strong, but you never want to take losses. But but, as long as you learn and grow, Gabe Johnson, he’s your national
Champion coach, told me earlier in the season, you’re going to get the one that counts. So I remember that stayed the course. That’s exactly what you did. UCO is going to take home a team title and you got your own title. Talk about what that feels like. It’s amazing man. I
Can’t really describe it. You dream of this and man, I’m I’m proud. I love our fans, love our coaches, man. We’re not done yet. Let’s go. Congratulations Gabe. Go celebrate buddy. All right. And up next, at 165 pounds, we’re going to have David Hunsberger of Lander taking on Chase Lunzman of Upper
Iowa, 149 pounds. And here we are at 165 pounds. Right in the red corner. Coming out first, David Hunsberger, Lander University. Just a sophomore man. He’s had a phenomenal year. He had a tight bout earlier in the semifinals. Hunter jump in the team race to right. That’s a marquee matchup
Earlier. But he’s able to squeak out a great victory. And in the green corner tonight we have the returning N-c-double-a champion 165 pounds and Chase Lunzman of Upper Iowa. And these two wrestled right National Duals earlier this year. I mean, you’re talking about two guys that have faced off before that
Know each other very well, right? My friend? Yep. They faced, a couple of times. But, this is the national finals and Lunzman has been here before, so Hunsberger has gotten the win before, but, again runs into returning champion. Yeah. Lander University, coached by Lehigh and Chris Frazier, who just got
The, head coaching gig at, New Mexico Highlands University. And then, Upper Iowa. Heath. Graham. Heath Graham and, coach Broghammer Karl Broghammer some exciting stuff here. I fully expect a bout that’s going to be a lot of hand fighting, a lot of staying in good positions. And I’m going to my prediction is
Going to be six four corner. Yeah. But it’s going to be something like that a couple of takedowns here. But I know Lunzman had a high scoring, national finals last year. He won 9 to 7 over Hunter Mullin. So, he’s got the ability to put up points, but and so does
Hunsberger. So and both these guys aren’t unbeatable, right? I mean, they both have came in with losses. Lunzman has got five losses. It appears on his season record for him. And Huntzbergers got one. And so I mean they have been beaten at some point this year and obviously have made adjustments
To get to this point. And so only one victor will rule tonight. Yeah, I mean, it’s such a tough level. Like pretty much everybody takes some losses sometimes. I mean, you just saw one of the only undefeated people in the tournament losing in the national finals. So our officials look like they’re
Ready to get this bout started. Lunzman will be green and Hunsberger will be red. All right, here we go. Nice leg attack attempt. There Misdirection by Lunzman chasing that lunzman getting active up there. He’s not looking to really just hold. He’s trying to find an angle right away. To the
Head. Stalemate. Here. But Hunsberger came out pulling the trigger. Tried to get to a low angle shot early there. The first 15 seconds of the bout. Goes by. I’ve seen the hand. Franklin, Principia and Logan Hall. He’s 32 and one on the season, two time national qualifier and two time All
American with a fourth place finish. Fourth place finish last year for David Hunsberger as a freshman. His sophomore this year. Lunzman, on the other hand, a little bit older actually. He’s going to go out of bounds. Nice knee tap there. And he almost capitalized there with some ear falls, some
Exposure there on the edge. But Lunzman his foot hit the floor. And the rule book states that if any part of the body hits the floor off the mat, it’s blown dead. Hunsberger trying to shock Lunzman right off the whistle, but Lunzman is ready for it. He’s 26 and five on the season,
Four time National Award winner and real time All American this year. National champion. It looks like Lunzman wants to score on the defensive here. A lot of snaps, a lot of passes. He’s doing a great job defensively, but, Hunsberger is being very aggressive offensively, taking lots of shots and really forcing the
Pace here. So we’re halfway through the first period over tie shock attempt to a double to a body lock here from. He’s got his hands locked. He does. He’s got a step in front of get his hips in. He might have an arm trap to Lunzman has got to
Circle here and watch his stall call on the edge because he did kind of back to the edge. Now he’s digging that hook and the lock breaks. Lunzman having that hook in there actually kind of saved him. It could be dangerous if, hunsberger trapped that arm to his body. But now Lunzman is
Using the hook, and he’s kind of walking Hunsberger on the edge, and they’re going to call a stalemate there. Yeah, it’s tough right there. Right? I mean, you want to be force and wrestle there and a neutral position to call a stalemate that’s not on the mat is not a
Call that I would like to make. It’s interesting. I think edge of the mat wrestling is a very impactful moment in matches, you know, you can get you can feel a lot of people pressuring in because they don’t want to get shot out of bounds because of the stall call. So generally, I
Feel like we can see action on the edge of the mat, but instead we get a stalemate. There Oh, he tries a trip there. Lunzman does nothing yet. Lunzman is doing a great job being defensive. Three point takedown for Hunsberger. He tried a big move there and he
Looked like he lost his footing. I really wanted to take a look at that replay here in a second, but, like he lost his footing and Hunsberger capitalized there. Yeah, gotta count here. It looks like for stalling on Hunsberger one escape. So Simmons got a guy Steinke. He’s
Going to keep on Hunsberger try to wear him down, but, yeah, Lunzman kind of put himself in a precarious position. Gives up the takedown. So Hunsberger is going to take a 3 to 1 lead after the first period. All right. We have a disc flip here and see what will be chosen.
Green’s choice. Lunzman looks at his coach, Graham grim says go down and he will go down right away. So in that replay, you see Hunsberger almost had that toss near out of bounds, but not quite. It’s like his footing. He just didn’t get set all the way. Yeah, yeah. So interesting.
First takedown, but you still got a lot of action here. Quad pods up two on one and he turns and cuts away three two here 19 seconds advantage. Time there for Hunsberger. Yeah I mean you live and die by the sword right? With big moves like that, you
Know, and some people have made a career a lot of good wrestlers that have. But, sometimes those big moves, if your footing is not right, you slip the wrong pitch and pull tight momentum. You can really get and put yourself in a very bad position. Owen Hunsberger on a single leg.
Now Lunzman fighting hard with this Whizzer. He’s going to try to get Ahold of that wrist. Now he’s going cradle. Does he have Pittsburgh? He’s got a cradle. Nothing yet. Oh, and Lunzman he kind of, shows out of it. Wow. You saw that stall call there? Yeah, I mean, I agree, 100,
Right? He gets locked in a cradle here on the edge, and Lunzman knows the rules, so he’s like, if I’m off the mat, he’s got to blow it dead. And he stuck his leg out and the ref saw it. The ref’s going to ding him for stalling. Yeah, he might
Have made it a little bit obvious because he kind of lived there and then stuck it out, but, he did. He looked over and goes, oh, there’s the out of bounds. Yeah, but hey, this is a tight match. Still, it’s 3 to 2. Go for that. Stockhausen come back to bite Lunzman. For
Buffalo, that’s pressure. Pressure Now Americans one, two, three, seven Americans pressure on Barry LeTourneau secondary. Look up chasing that hook. Can he step over and throw a leg? This would be huge. Linesman’s got to get that ankle. He stay on here. Steve Hunsberger reaches out. Lunzman is going to
Want to pull him in now. Let’s see if Hunsberger sticks his foot out here. He’s not going to notice how he’s staying in wrestling here. Yeah, yeah. You can’t come. You can’t call him for stolen there. I mean, he tried to keep his knee in the
Mat and it kind of slid off. We had a really good angle of it right here. The same position 32nd different part here. And you can tell the difference between the two wrestlers. And yeah, I totally get how Upper Iowa might have wanted to stall there, but Lunzman is going to
Keep attacking with his Underhooks here. He’s been close to a couple of takedowns, and you can tell Hunsberger doesn’t want to be here. Right? Oh, we got a red stall call here. Stand back. Center. Let’s go. He’s back to that stalemate position. From that underhook position. I mean, I feel like Lunzman is
Doing a great job of jacking him up and driving in, and Huntzbergers got an elbow inside and clear that hook or circle away from it the short time here. Wow. Great double leg attempt by Hunsberger with seven seconds left on the clock. Yeah. Hunsberger darts his way to a
Double leg right there and it’s going to be 6 to 2 heading into the third and Huntzbergers choice. Oh wow. Lunzman takes neutral. He’s going to let him up. Look at this takedown again. This double was beautiful. There John Jay seven two here 27 seconds. Advantage time. So it’ll be interesting if
Hunsberger stays on the offense. Well he had that hook. He’s got to chase that almost lowers level and really try to throw that buy and get to that ankle. Linesman’s got some big moves in his pocket. So I mean he’s threatening with this underhook rip over right down that
Underhook side down. I’ll tell you what this official’s been calling some pretty quick stalemates today. All Americans. Leachman for. Rutgers taking lots of shots here. Go behind attempt by Lunzman over tie. He’s trying to shuck it by. Looks like to a rushing pass. Nice shot. Attempt there by Hunsberger back on that double
Good sprawl by Lunzman. He’s keeping that head stuff. Trying to push that head down and push the hips away. Campbell century a minute. We’ll see if Lunzman can pull something out here. He’s going to have to reach into his bag of tricks. Less than a minute to a single. Here. Can he
Finish this? He’s looking close. He does. Three point takedown there. Okay, so he’s cutting. They’re telling the cutting. Hunsberger was kind of trying to hold Lunzman in with his own legs. Takedown ties it here folks. Goes Are you watching at home? Eight five 40s left here. Remember? Both guys have been
Warned for stalling, so they cannot disengage here. They have got to wrestle. It’s going to be tense. 30s Lunzman has the ability to sneak a quick one. He’s keeping the pressure on. He’s on a single file. He’s close. He’s close on the edge. Here. We might have it. Oh, we
Might be. Holy cow, that was close. We are close here. They’re almost. They’re going to throw out a brick. I was going to say I feel like the refs either have to look at that. Heath Graham just throws his hands up. He goes, you know what I want three. Yeah three. Wow
That I mean let’s take a look at that here shot attempt quick go behind here. He’s on the leg. He might double off I mean he’s on his butt. There he is on his butt folks. And he does have across the hip and his feet are inbounds. So how fast can
Reaction time be right. And that’s subjective right. We talked about that earlier. That’s the question. That’s the question. So I mean we are seeing a more slowed down version. But man in fighting for national titles. And this is as close as it gets now it is worthy to note if Lunzman does
Get this takedown it’s going to be tied, but he’s going to have to ride out for 18 seconds if he wants to send it to overtime. And if there’s no takedown, he’s still got to go. Yeah, it’s gonna be very interesting to see what happens here too. I mean, I
Would prefer, you know, go out like a gladiator, right. They tie it here eight, eight, you know, 18 seconds. It’s obviously win or go home at that point in that top, bottom position. But, it’ll be interesting to see what the officials see here when they talk to the independent reviewer.
Official soon to be mullet over here on the phone, conversing with each other. Hunsberger is pacing, ready to go and. Let’s take one more look at this instant replay here. He tries a pancake. Looks like he tries to whip that underhook over, and then he snaps him forward and
Huntzberger takes a shot and he sidesteps, goes that go behind, catches that leg and doubles off. Look at that left hand there across the thigh. That’s what they’re looking at right now in replay. And the officials have got off the phone here. We’re going to have a call here
In the center of the mat. What have we got. What have we got? He hands the brick back. Oh No takedown. Takedown No takedown. 18 seconds here, folks. Let’s see what happens. Linesman’s coming straight at him. Linesman’s coming hard. Lunzman is coming hard and Hunsberger is running. Holding ground now on
The edge. And in Lunzman is selling out here. He’s going all out. Eight, six. It should be eight, six, six seconds left. And I said six four before this man, I was close. Yeah, yeah. Pretty close. Wow. And there it is. David Hunsberger going to be the national champion at 165
Pounds and the second national champ for Lander University in school history. David Hunsberger fourth as a freshman, first as a sophomore and two years left. Exciting stuff for the fifth to six year program out of South Carolina. Coached by RC Lehigh, Hunsberger will have a chance to
Win two more titles here, and my co-host Josh Portillo is going to go out there and interview him. Nice backflip there. By Hunsberger. Thanks guys. Thank you. David and Josh has a couple questions for newest national champ. All right. That was a crazy backflip. Congrats on the national title. You were fourth
As a freshman last year. National champ as a sophomore this year. Talk about the jumps. You had to make from your freshman year. Yeah man. It’s just the little things. You know , staying conditioned keeping keeping the what you got going. You know last year was tough.
Came fourth and I wanted it this year. So I went and got it. Yeah congratulations. So Lander they’re going to finish as national runner ups. You guys are jumping levels every year. Talk about your program and what that means to you. Yeah man we’re a new program. We’re down
In South Carolina. No one cares about us. But I’ll tell you what. They’re going to care about us right now. They care about us for the next couple of years when we’re winning titles. So awesome, I love it. Congrats and enjoy your celebration. Thank you. Look at this replay
Attempt here. Nice whip over there on the Edge by Hans Hunsberger. Nice runs the pipe there. Good double leg attempt. Pops the head and doubles off there. Defeats the returning national champ. What a scrappy bout there beforehand I thought six for eight six and Hunsberger hushes the crowd. Fantastic
Effort there by the true sophomore from Burns High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In sixth place from UNC. Up next, 174 pounds. We got a team. Hasn’t been back in a while. Grand Valley State Josh Kenny and Anthony Devine from central Oklahoma. Stay tuned folks, all American Devin five.
All right. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, here at 174 pound weight class, coming out of the red corner, a individual for Grand Valley State University, Josh Kenny, Grand Valley State had a historic wrestling program, and they cut it some time in the 90s. And thank the Lord for some investment. They
Brought that program back. Kenny is the first finalist in this 1988 and the first All-American since 1992. Coach Joey Simko and Nick Mason, as they call him curly, doing a great job. Resurgence of that program up there in Grand Rapids, Michigan, excited to see someone new and new programs. We’ve had two new
Programs that have a resurgence. I guess you can’t really call them new, but they’re new to me, all right. And they both have finalists. So it just shows you how much Division two wrestling is really growing. Yeah, gotta love it. I mean, it’s kind of like you’re rooting for
Underdogs with these first year programs. It’s so easy to root for them to, to get to see history. I mean, we get to see Josh Kenny become potentially the first national champion in the resurgence of grand Valley State and walking out of the green corner to 50 cent Anthony
Devine from UCO, he’s had a remarkable tournament. He’s the sixth seed and comes in here and right out the gate upsets, the number three seed Cole Hernandez and then finds a way to capitalize as Trey Sizemore from UIndy in the semifinals. And, this bracket has really been wide open. I mean, Scott, Joel,
The one seed from UNC Pembroke got upset and the top half and Josh Kenny upset the guy that upset him. So they both have put in the work to be here. And it’ll be exciting to see if UCO can potentially bring home another national champion as an individual at the 174 pound
Weight class. So here we go. Action is going to get started, again, this 174 pound weight class was absolutely insane. The one and the two, the one, the two and the three all lost in the or the one and the two lost in the quarterfinals. You know,
The 1 to 2 and the three. Yeah. I mean, Davin beat the three seed. Yeah. And that’s what I mean. This this was straight chaos on the first two days starting in the quarterfinals. Really Gotta love it. I mean, how many people would have guessed these two in the
National finals? I’m sure Grand Valley State fans knew Kenny had the potential to do it. You know, and I know Centre Oklahoma believes in their guys again. They got the national title locked up. So you could say this is just for fun, but they’re trying to walk away with however
Many individual champions as well to go with the team title. Kenny’s a Walker, Michigan native, local product there, so not far from Grand Valley State. And, Anthony is a Edmond, Oklahoma, so he’s a hometown boy, kind of like Nick James from Kearney earlier at the 141 pound weight class. Yeah. He’s
Fine. Looks quick and long. Looks like he wants to chase angles and get to those corners. Kind of opposing body styles. Here he is 23 and four this season. Divine is more longer. And Lankier and Kenny’s a little bit shorter. But arguably more built. I had a chance to see,
Kenny at the Midwest Classic this year, and, he put on a show , upset some really good guys, made the finals there. And so, I mean, he’s a very seasoned individual and deserve the right to be here in this N-c-double-a Championship. Race here. So halfway through the first and
Nothing quite coming. A lot of clearing ties. It’s like Kenny doesn’t want to be in a collar. He keeps doing a great job of passing those elbows and he wants to stay outside. It looks like. Yeah, I’ll give this this slight edge to central Oklahoma for kind of controlling the
Center of the mat a little bit better. As I say that, Kenny hops back in the center. Right, right. But the refs do kind of look at, you know, who’s staying in the blue, that little blue circle in the middle and who’s kind of going out of it. And
Right now again it’s typically Devin pushing Kenny out of it. 40s here left in this first period of this 174 pound bout. Yeah. So Anthony Devin is really interesting with him. He started his freshman year at take a guess. 149 and throughout his career he’s moved to 157 165.
And now he’s at 174. And he’s even wrestled a little bit at 184 as well. Yeah. And UCO, I mean, right down the road they have, a lot of their products come from northeast Oklahoma. Coach Joe Renfroe, historically in the state of Oklahoma, I mean, outside of really Oklahoma
State, Oklahoma kind of fallen off, and no disrespect to them in Norman, but UCO has really planted himself as a very viable option. Arguably the best non division one option in the country. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing with Oklahoma State is a lot of times too, they don’t
Recruit some of the best Oklahoma guys, but it’s central Oklahoma that’s consistently getting a lot of the best Oklahoma guys in the bottom position. No Shaw so Josh Kenny being a Michigan guy, I mean, he’s in his home state as well. Grand Valley State being in Michigan. So we’re going to
Start this second period of action 0 to 0. So Kenny being stingy standing in the legs and big mat return nothing. Yet. He did try to hit a low shoulder there. He almost had Divina. It’s like he’s got his side in there. Oh, he looks dangerous with this. He might get some
Back points here. He does have some. Josh, Katie’s looking at some back points right here. He’s going to take A40 lead. So no pin but that’s huge. Humongous. For. Moga. Yeah talk about a transition here I mean from that mat return to a short leg series to a nice Turk. That
Was a huge move. Huge mat return . Oh, and he’s going back for more. He is nothing yet. Anthony’s doing a good job. There’s about a minute left now. Josh. Kenny really showing how tough he is on top. I’ll tell you, it’s a difference maker. I mean, sometimes if it’s your
Style, you can be not as good in neutral. Not saying Josh Kenny is not good at neutral, but if you can be super good on top, it’s a game changer. Like right now he’s riding out Devin crowd wants a stall called there against Central Oklahoma and you
Know he’s got to build a base and he’s not sucking in here building a base here. So 30s here I imagine they’re going to hit him. The ref’s yelling and the workout broke up. And I think he knows if he hits them. The UCO crowd up. There he goes.
There it is. And he’s getting more back points. Wow. Holy cow. Josh Kenny Barry’s back again with that Turk catching the toe there. Taking the head like a football going again. I don’t know if it got the. Holy cow. Josh Kenny picks up the phone. Wow. And the first national
Champ for Grand Valley State University since 1988. The resurgence of their wrestling program. Fantastic stuff there on top by Kenny. You’re talking about just a great move with a bow and arrow. Bentley Turk here catches him and pins him. I mean, phenomenal wrestling here. Way to bring back a program and
Start off with a shebang and be able to do that. And my co-host Josh Portillos headed out there to talk to your new NCAA champion, hundred and 74 pounds relations. Josh, we got another chance to talk to you about your newest national championship. Grand Valley State. All right,
We’re here with Josh Kenny. You kind of just went off on top. Talk about what just happened, man. All I know is if I get the legs in on anybody, it’s done. And you guys just saw that. So quit playing. Awesome. I love it. So first national champion
In the resurgence of the Grand Valley State program. Talk about what that means for you and being a huge part of their progress moving forward. Dude, it’s so awesome to be part of this first year program, man. We’re not a first year program. We proved what we could do this
Year. Next year we’re coming back even better. I just want to thank President Philly Gary Becker, AD and president of GV. Man. Anchor up I love it. Congrats Josh. Thank you so much . Hey 165 again great. Their bow and arrow by Kenny I mean fantastic job in the top
Position I mean and actually the first one tonight that we’ve actually seen fantastic top wrestling I mean historically today a lot of action on your feet a lot of scrambling. And he’s really done a great job of anchoring himself during that top position. Like he said in that interview, he can turn
Anybody and gets a leg end. Up next, 184 pounds turning national champ John McGuire of West Liberty University and newcomer Matt Waynesburg for cuts down. Stay tuned, we’ll be back . All right, folks, we’re back here. Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas in 2024. NCAA Division two championships. We
Have 184 pounds coming up here. We have last year’s most dominant NCAA wrestler, Tim McGarry from West Liberty coming up, talk about a guy who just puts points on the board and just flat out wrestles for seven minutes. He’s undefeated, majored his way through the tournament so far, except for
The semifinals, where he beat Warwick for Wisconsin-Parkside and a very convincingly decision. And then on the other side of the bracket, you have Matt Waynesburg, from University of Pittsburgh at Kutztown or Kutztown, depending on where you’re from and how you pronounce it. A guy who is a seasoned veteran there from that
Super region, one. It’s exciting to see what he can do here against one of the nation’s or arguably division two’s best wrestler. I mean, yeah, both of these guys have been absolutely dominating the field at the national tournament so far, Matt Waynesburg has gone tech 15 to 3
And 11 to 1. So he ain’t playing around. West Liberty championship. And here he comes out of the red corner. Ty McGarry, talk about a guy here. I mean, he can wrestle in every position. He’s tough to take down. He is tough to score on, and relatively any position top
Or bottom. I mean, he just does a fantastic job. And it’ll be interesting to see what he can do tonight with a seasoned guy, especially after, you know, 6 or 7 hours of eating and drinking and not really being down to weight, probably about a buck 90 out there right now. Yeah I’m
Curious what some of these, heavier guys are weighing in at, but they’ve had pretty much all, all day to not worry about weight, and they don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the year. Now So ideally they’re feeling good. But you know, hopefully they didn’t eat too
Much either. Tom McGarry, coached by, Danny Irwin and, Mike Carpenter. And in the green corner, we talked about Waynesburg earlier and coming out. Sit down with the sickness. Ooh okay. It’s a nice little mix up because most of our guys have been going old school or some more new school music. He’s
Taking it back to 2001. Reminds me of my JV football playing days. Yeah. And I mean, this is a classic song too, but, the other ones were a little bit calmer, I feel like. But how can you not get hyped to this song? So let’s see if Matt Weinberg
Can bring the energy here. He was fourth in the nation last year, so trying to jump up a level here gives you a good firm handshake to his coach. He cuts town. He’s ready to party. Cuts down is another one of those schools we had University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown earlier.
You know the part of that system of the Pennsylvania state, colleges and so, they have a lot of satellite campuses throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Definitely. And so Kutztown, they had four national qualifiers. They had one other All-American in Bailey Gilmore, and Waynesburg is in on a shot
To start the match. He’s already got a single leg, but Maguire’s got some really solid defense. He’s going to try to keep that right ankle as far as far away from him as possible, but almost hitting the split there. Yeah, but if you’re Weinberg you got to bring him in. You don’t want
The action to go out of bounds. But McGary might dive in. Oh he looked like he was going to for a second there. Gary almost doesn’t want to turn away because it could give him his ankle, but now he’s wrestling into a crackdown position. He’s in trouble here. He’s got a
Scoop and they slide out of bounds. Nice attack from Waynesburg to start the match though. If they were a little bit more in bounds, could have played around a little bit more. But three time national qualifier Kutztown, coached by Robert Fisher, was interesting enough. He’s actually one of the
Few Division two coaches that coaches two sports, and the other one’s not wrestling. It’s women’s golf. Golf. Okay, you want to talk about something interesting, right? You’re you got a wrestling NCAA finals, and, you know, when he gets back, he’s going to be on the links. Some days I wish I was
Him. Yeah, I mean, that’s an interesting mix. Golf and wrestling. I mean, you know, you got the brute sport and then a sport that takes pretty much all I mean, precision technique too. Yes. And. Assist by Ziad Haddad, NCAA champ for Coach Fisher at University of Kutztown. Looking
Yeah, again, Ty McGuire was your national champion last year. Waynesburg fourth in that bracket. So yeah, about halfway through the first period here, last Millsaps West Liberty had two All-Americans, 141 pounder, Kaitlyn Grace, they qualified six and then Ty McGary, obviously here in the finals. One minute here left in this 184
Pound bout. All Americans, 174 all Americans, please. Nice leg attack attempt here by Waynesburg Mcgarry’s got to do something here. I think a couple more attempts. If he’s not taking a shot, I can definitely see our official Evan Burchette Atlanta, Georgia to hit him with a stall call out there. Stop!
Matthew. No. Relax No. Relax All right. Stalemate on the edge. Still no points yet in the 184 pound national finals. There’s that stall call. I told you. And now he’s got a shot. Back to that shot. Beautiful. Re-attack there by McGary. He’s got to pick a side here. Real attacks
Are huge. They’re what win titles. But yeah he’s going to want to try to isolate one side here. And he does. He’s got both of the legs locked here. But he might want to even try to focus on one leg and just trying to hook one. He’s trying to keep
Those heels away and keep that chest lock. That’s almost dangerous. Yet he’s got to get those knees up. Get those knees up. If you’re Waynesburg and he drives in, he rolls through. Nothing yet, now we got nearfall. Nope. Nothing No nearfall. So no nearfall. But the takedown from McGeary and
Head coach Danny Irwin is going to throw a brick. Yeah, he’s throwing a brick. It looks like he wanted nearfall I think. What do you think yeah, yeah I think that’s got to be the question there, we’ll be able to check out a replay in a second here,
But, let’s see. Because you got to see when they get the take control. And then one, two. Oh I mean, he the mechanics of the official where there were two swipes, but the issue is going to be where they fully extended. You know, a lot of people forget
About that. They see that motion of the hand. And if the arm is not fully extended, the ref’s not going to count that as a two complete cycles of nearfall. He’s got to technically be a full swipe. Not a half a swipe, but it looked like he almost did
Swipe full. The other camera angle is a little bit better. We’ll get our replay guy to switch back to that other one here, and I do almost want to see it full time, but you can you can judge it based off of the swipes of the ref’s arms. I
Guess. So let’s let’s see here on the phone right now, both athletes in their corner getting some instruction for their coaches. Hopefully they’re catching their breath. Yeah that would be a good time to kind of breathe a little bit. They’ll come back and there’ll be two two minute periods of action
Unless it’s tied. Then we could potentially be heading to overtime. Well, the interesting thing is that Fleury was fantastic and it didn’t happen like the last 25 seconds. And, you know, McGary, like, I said earlier, man, he took that shot and got hit for stalling. And he was like, he responded right
Away. He has the capability of scoring when he wants to. It’s just a matter of if he will do it. Yeah, it’s always interesting when you see that, but I feel like I’ve seen that a decent amount. Somebody gets called for stalling, but then they go for a re-attack of some
Sort. But a lot of people are learning that it’s not a terrible style to have. Like, yes, you want to be offensive, but one of the best times to catch somebody, when they’re not expecting it is to take that re-attack attack right when they’ve just attacked. And are,
Not in a safe position. Yep. West Liberty conglomerate climbed the hill, coming all the way up. No. Near fall. Okay, so, yeah, there’s going to be no near fall for Ty McGeary. West Liberty still has got a challenge left, so you’re going to get to keep it. But it’s
Going to be Mcgeary’s choice. He’s going to defer to Waynesburg, and Waynesburg is choosing down Mcgary’s tough on top two. I mean, it’s interesting to see what Waynesburg does off the whistle here. First move is going to be huge. Just kind of gets wide and he’s going chop and attack kind
Of going more of a patient route here. Sometimes if you rush too quick you could get flattened out and then you’re really in trouble. So Waynesburg kind of taking his time Troy Bowdoin up going big boy here. Oh Spikes him, yes, but no near fall. Wow. It’s crazy how, you can do
Something as cool as that, but get zero points. It’s funny you say that. I was sitting next to the Wichita Sports Commission visit Wichita earlier, and somebody said you didn’t get points for that. And I said, well, I had to explain the mechanics of wrestling. Yeah, gotta gotta hold in there. If he
Would have held him on his back for a little bit more, maybe some points, but still pretty cool. Slam by time of year. Fantastic hit powered explosive. Come on. So they’re nearing out of bounds here. Waynesburg back to his feet. But McGuire going to take him out here. If you’re
Waynesburg here you almost got to think right. He’s going to crotch lift. And I know a lot of people like to fight that top hand on the throat, because it’s almost choking in some ways. But the bottom hand, the one that’s in the crotch, is the one that lifts. That’s always the thing.
You got to fight the bottom hand. Yeah, it’s definitely debatable amongst the coaches, but I feel like that bottom hand is the one that keeps your leg in, you know? But, you got to at least try to fight one hand sometimes if you try to fight that bottom hand, you might
Leave yourself open to get tilted. So you got to be a little bit strategic about it. But if somebody’s good on top, they’re going to try to find your wrist any way that they can. Waynesburg building a base here, coming up here one minute here, left in the second period.
So we’ve seen this a couple times, yeah. McGuire is owning this this car ride. And now he’s got Waynesburg flattened. Yeah, the West Lib conglomerate is screaming, stalling here. Well, Weinberg’s doing a great job suddenly building a base. I know he’s not getting up to his feet,
And he’s doing a good job of sealing back to a good mat. Return by McGary. Another big one. Oh, Weinberg’s looking for a standing Petersen here. I think he’s frustrated. He’s throwing the kitchen sink at him here. Yeah, yeah, I don’t necessarily oppose it. You know he’s going for it. He’s trying
To be creative. It is. Just Rowan up. 10s here. Left in the period and Gary’s doing a great job of driving over that elbow and not allowing Weinberg to base up. Interesting to see what we got. A stalemate here. Looks like by official Evan Burchette. We’ll see what happens here with
The, the, decision here in the third period. Your time. Aguirre, what are you picking? Josh I feel like in other matches he’s chosen top, but it might be kind of bold here in the national finals, but, he could try to go bottom, but Weinberg’s no slouch on top
Either. Oh, and almost a late tilt here, but instead, the period will run out three zero McGeary. Still, he’s taken down here in the third period. Coach Irwin is just not happy with the near fall. Every time Evans swiping, he’s just expecting points, I think. And. All right. Looks like McGuire is going
Down. And Weinberg’s going optional. Start here okay. So he doesn’t even give himself a chance to get the turn up. Nice. He’s going to that front head. He’s going big move here. He might be going mixer or chin whip. What do you think he’s doing? Looks like he’s thinking
About a mixer, but, he’s still on top right now. Wow So they’re going to call. Let’s see that right. Yeah. They called it for stalling there in that front headlock position. And then he let McGary go. So it’s four nothing. Yeah yeah. Remember they both have been warned for
Stalling here. So to see what happens in the second stall call there. Wow He didn’t necessarily surf all the way back in. You put the ref in the spot there. He’s kind of got to call you. Yeah. But I mean the action kind of led him to the edge right. It
Did. They kind of ended up right there. And again that’s how it can be kind of subjective. Beautiful high crotch attempt there by McGeary. He’s hooking that bottom ankle. Going to step over there. He’s trying to hook a leg here Waynesburg is to keep it from stepping through. And
There goes McGary to climb through. He’s going to try to put him in danger. I think. Or sit through. What do you think? Yeah. It looks like he’s close to danger. But Waynesburg being really scrambly here. It’s being a leech and there’s danger zone. And he’s going to get another
Takedown to go up 8 to 0 with under a minute left. Ty McGeary looking for his second national title. Maybe his second most dominant award. Maybe Maybe I mean major decision 28 zero on the year 79% bonus rate. You’re pretty quick with a calculator aren’t you? But already almost
30s left here. Weinberg’s got to make something happen. Maybe try rolling around a little bit. 30s right. Kitchen sinks. Got to come out here. But a huge mat return from McGeary, man. He’s good with those. I’ve seen a lot of those this weekend. You got to thank our host institution,
Newman University, just located down the street in Wichita, for hosting us and doing a fantastic job with Visit Wichita and hosting here for the 2024 NCAA Division two Wrestling Championships. 12 seconds left here. Second stall call. Was that should have been a point on the board, I’m not mistaken.
Yeah. Green got it. Yeah, it should be a two. Yeah I mean we have a scoring error, it sounds like. But either way, Tom Mcgarry’s win his second national championship. Yeah. Time McGeary third and 2022 first in 2023. And now first again in 2024. He is a two time national champion. He joins
Kolia, who’s a two time national champion for West Liberty as well, at 125 pounds. And yeah, we’re getting a time of Year chant going right now. So here we, here we are, McGeary is going to shake the other coach’s hands, and we’re going to get the interview. Side take us away
With our newest national champion tie. Congratulations. Second national championship. Does it feel any different than the first one? It feels better. You know, I it’s hard to explain, really. All the nerves that go into this weekend, you know, it’s never a given. Everybody’s out here wanting to
Win as bad as I am. But it just comes down to heart. And right there, I just stuck to my positions and just all the glory to God. That’s awesome. Let’s talk about tonight. What are your plans after winning your second national championship? Have some fun. I guess. Climb the hill. Congratulations, Ty.
Let me know. 174 pounds. All American. All right. So we’re going to check out the replay here again McGeary had that big slam. He got this takedown that ice did towards the end of the match. And Waynesburg tried to go for some things, but Ty McGeary, two time national champion, Winthrop Wisconsin-Parkside All-American
Brody Hamm our up next 197 pounds. We have got a reoccurring NCAA championship bout. We’ve seen this three times between Derek Blubaugh UIndy and Dalton Abbey of UCO. Coming right up. State all American seven. And coming out of the red corner here at 197 pounds, your Bloomington, Indiana product. Derek Blubaugh, 197 pounds.
Coached by Jason Warthen and Nick Crum, this bout is a reoccurring bout, as a wrestling aficionado, especially specifically for Division two, I have seen this match several times. This will be the third time they’ve wrestled in NCAA finals, both times out of the green corner. Dalton Abney, from Central Oklahoma, the Tulsa,
Oklahoma product has became victorious. And so, you’d expect A54, three two match. Both guys are very good in position, very explosive and powerful at some times. Yeah, 100. This is going to be a good one. You know, they faced lots of times. But this is the trilogy. Regarding the national finals appearances. You
Know, one of the beautiful things too. And you can attest to this, having been a former wrestler like myself, you wrestle somebody several times, right? And you’re talking about the margin of error is incrementally. I mean, it’s subjective. I mean, it’s so small. Yeah, yeah. 100. You
Know, it’s hard to beat the same guy twice, let alone 7 or 8 times. You know, everybody in college wrestling as good as it is. And they’ve got coaches that are trying to make adjustments. So I’m really curious to see what coaches or what the Indianapolis coaches and what adjustments that they’ve made
For this match. Well, here we go. And both guys here, one of two seeds. This is one of the few bouts we’ve actually had the bracket play out exactly how it should have played out. Dalton Abney undefeated again, majoring his way through the tournament so far. And same with Derek
Blubaugh. He’s got two losses. And those are two, he’s coached by the guy. He’s wrestling, Dalton Abney and Brian Brian. So Abney had a shot right away, kind of like an ankle pick. But he’s following it to a single now looking to get a quick takedown. He’s got the ankle but
Blue bars bases up here. Yep okay. They’re going to call through now. Throw the brick. Yep. There it is coach Jason Worthen tossing the brick. Here we go. We already got some drama. Yeah. And here watch it again here. And he comes up. He reaches. He catches that foot.
And right here when he turns and bails he’s you know he’s pushing on the head. He’s got both ankles and he’s got both feet here. Yeah. Like I think that’s true. Right. But or three three. Sorry. Still, gotta remember. That’s okay. It’s easy thing to yell because two you’re like,
Ooh within three. Obviously it doesn’t sound the same. Not at all. Not at all. But Dalton Avenue looking for the three point take down here. Central Oklahoma looking for two more national champions to finish out their night. They’ve got Dalton Avenue here. He’s again a two time national champion already.
And then they’ve got Sean Streck who is a national champion last year as well. Going for it five times. Yeah. And you know we talked about that earlier. I mean for those of you at home that don’t know the coaches have challenges based off of number of wrestlers. They qualify it.
And, you know, UIndy and Central Oklahoma like most institutions. Would you have guys in the finals, you save them for later and you can’t take them home. And so Jason may or may not agree. Coach Worthen over there from UIndy, but he has to try, right. Because he doesn’t know
What the view looks like, that they have in the back. For the third party reviewer, my thing is they held off calling two for a while and then they called it and arguably the worst timing for it. So I think that might be some of the frustrations from Coach Worthen. But, yeah, we’ll
See what the refs are thinking here. Once again, they’re on the telephone. You see them the bottom of your screen. Yeah, it’ll be interesting because this could play out big here early for this takedown. Oh, huge. I mean, you know, they’ve faced so many times before, it’s
So hard to score points on each other. So, it could be a one takedown match. Who knows? And this could be the only one, you know, in this arena. Hartman arena, visit Wichita. They hired a full time DJ, and he is back there fist bumping and glow
Sticks. And so I would hate to be on the phone like a referee. Carlos Manuel, right now, trying to imagine to hear something as intricate as this important takedown. And you also have Darude sandstorm playing in the background. Yeah One of the refs here, just kind of listening to
The other side of the line. So somebody else is actually going to be looking at the call independently, and they’re going to tell him what to do. Here. Getting impatient here. These wrestlers Pace and ready to go. They’ve been waiting all day for this bout. And here they are
Now, having to wait some more. And Carlos is hanging the phone up here and we have a decision. Okay here we go. It looks like he’s going to hand the brick back to UIndy. Wow. No takedown. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So we got it right in time and we got to get
The clock set. Yep. Zero zero. Fantastic. Now we’re ready to rock and roll. Carlos Yeah. Okay. Okay. So yeah Abney had to take down. But they waved it off. You know that’s one that might I might want to look at the rulebook a little bit more too, because I mean Abney did
Have both ankles, but, nonetheless, no takedown. We’re not at a zero. Well, if we want to be that specific, let’s talk about Logan Stieber, Jordan Oliver. Yeah, yeah. Both ankles. He’s nothing. We know that now. You know? And the sport of wrestling has evolved so much and become more user friendly
And more, non wrestling fans spectator friendly. Yeah. Definitely But hopefully these guys can, open up on some more leg attacks again. Abney you saw he got to that slick ankle pick attack and almost finished off with the single leg. Both guys aggressive in the hand fight here. Oh nothing. So again both
Of these guys very consistent. You know it’s hard to make the finals once let alone three times in a row. We see it all the time past finalists not making it. There was a finals this year that Owen Blubaugh almost went to go behind him, and that wasn’t on the leg.
Beautiful, the attack there by wall. He’s trying to get Abney’s feet off the ground here, and he’s going to either try to isolate a leg or expose Abney’s back, which he’s got one leg. Now is he going to try to straighten and hook it or. Oh my goodness, he might have neutral
Danger here. Oh my. Nothing yet. Nothing yet. Abney’s being tough here, readjusting there on that single. It’s all that he went from inside grip. Both hands outside grip. Now he’s back on the head. Inside single here. Blue ball with the hips though. Wow. Interesting exchange. He’s got to drive the head under and
Get that low single. Always got to get that elbow down. It’s going to hope for a stalemate I think here Louisville was close to having Abney pinned and blue bars doing a good job of disrupting Abney’s base right here. Abney does build it right back up, but drag go behind
Here. He’s trying to fly behind and the hand is down. Nothing. Nothing. That’s three. And Durgabar did pick up the takedown here. 28 seconds here. Left Short time here. Bubba’s got to keep him down. Oh he’s going bow and arrow. He’s got to push his butt back in here. If
You’re Abney on bottom got a swipe here. He’s going to give him five seconds before he hits him for the stall. Call 10s here. Left in the period. He’s going to finish on top I mean oh we got a blow whistle there on the edge eight seconds here. So
Derek Eubank and he’s a little slow to get back up here. I mean he had a flurry. It looked like it was a little gassed I think. But I think he’s looking for blood. Get him going. What’s he pointing out there I don’t know. Yeah. He’s got some, some knee
Pads on. You never know what injuries people have to. I mean, these guys are both. They’ve both got many seasons of wrestling. And this is Bubba’s fifth season. This is Abney’s sixth season. They’ve got 11 years of wrestling between them. So they both got to be hurting a little bit. Short time here.
Five seconds Green Bay attempt, but Abney doesn’t clear his legs and Bubba’s going to finish on top. Here let’s watch this again folks. Nice adjustment here. Go behind attempt there. He tries to clear that leg. Not quite cross pick there. Beautiful job. Yeah that was a ball that was
Smart. That was a really good view. You know the ref wasn’t giving the takedown even though Abney hands down. But yeah. Mom’s excited back there. We saw her jumping up and down on the instant replay. Love it. Gotta love the passionate, passionate, parents and takes down here riding times at 32 seconds.
Start the second period and he’s tried putting up blue balls. Doing a great job with the mat. Returns here. For your feet, grab my man Dominican New York Morgan State 84. Back pressure up. Decent mat. Return there by Bubba. He’s still in and we’re out now, trying to keep a toe in
There, but. UCLA coaches are bantering a little bit at the refs, but Abney is going to return down. He’s got a lot to banter about, right? I mean blue is wrestling fantastic right now. Yeah, 100. Let’s go blue ball. He’s going to keep trying to ride out. He’s looking good
On top of the chops and kind of switching through different breakdowns. Who tries a chance up there on that changeover attempt by Abney. Abney tried to kind of sit out right there and Bubba almost caught him back to it. What a good breakdown here. Bubba is just wrestling hard on
Top. Yeah, he keeps going to the tight waist chop, his right, arms wrapped tight around him. And wow, they’re going to call stalling on Dalton Abney. The returning national champ I mean he is he’s building a base but his head’s in the mat. Yeah. You know and that’s he’s an
Indicator of someone that’s not trying to explode up. Well, if I’m Abney, I want to kind of get a new start here near an out of bounds. Yeah, but 40s left here. Stonehill Quincy Rollins UIndy Cedarville Tuskegee. These guys wrestled in the subregion finals. Two weeks ago, with Abney winning five nothing. And
Blue Boy is up three nothing right now with almost two minutes of riding time with 30s here left in the period. Yeah, I’m really curious to see if Blue Black can finish the period here with the right out. You know, that riding time is really ticking up. So it stays over a
Minute. He’s going to have an extra point at the end of regulation. And I mean, he’s really wearing out in the outfield. That top pressure and keeping him down. Yeah I mean I don’t think Abney necessarily is like not trying. I mean, he clearly wants to get out. But
He’s just keeping the different breakdowns going. And the car stalling there for Abney kind of going out of bounds. Where he can’t hear you. You see golden vomit right now. He looked very worried over there for having a guy in the finals here. Yeah. So 15. Let’s see Bradley we get
One. To two seconds here. Tripod up. Good break down by Bubba. And that’ll be the end of the second period here. Wabash taken down okay. Yeah. That was an immediate choice for him. So what’s Abney’s plan here? You’re avenue. What are you thinking right now? I think you got to
Ride him a little bit and see if he can turn it. And if you don’t, you’re gonna have to cut him and take him down and turn him. No he’s gonna let him go. Oh, and there it is. Yeah, he makes the choice to let him up right away and gets work. He’s
Going to take downs. Yeah, he’s going to need a couple. He’s going to need a couple. Two takedowns to put him right back in contention here with riding time is technically five. Nothing at a minute and 29 seconds. He will have riding time locked up. If you’re watching the clock tick down.
Let’s go. Good hand fighting there. Trying to create some openings here and riding time’s officially locked up for blue ball, so he will get that point. Alrighty. So again Abney he’s going to need a couple here. He’s going for him. But I wonder if he’s got something that he
Could take Abney to his back with. Blue ball was just a great job of hand finding and not getting overextended for all Americans. Last call to the awards area for Rice or Toledo. One minute. We can hear you. We can hear. Well, we’re getting some. We can’t hear you, chance
Stall. Call there for Blue Boar. 45 seconds. I mean, a takedown. Another stall call could could make this tighter. But that Dalton his hand fighting. It’s great. That’s the first leg attack he’s had in this third period. He’s doing a great job of hand fighting moving forward.
But he’s got to get to a leg attack here. 30s Now. Here we go. 20s is Derek Blubaugh going to do it? They’re going to hit Blue Bag in here. But he’s doing a great job of trying to stay there. It is. So it’s going to be four one right now. 10s Looks
Like we have a champion at 197 pounds. Derek Blubaugh is going to get it done. These guys have wrestled so many times and Blubaugh has not won any of them. And here he is winning the one that matters the most. Stopping a two time national champ of being a three time
National champ coach Jason Warthen, Nick Cromer. He laid it over there. I’m happy for them. Great program at University of Indianapolis. And he’s coming out to the theme song from Guardians of the Galaxy as his celebration. My co-host Josh Portillo is going to get out there and ask Derek some
Questions here. Then we’re going to take a look at that instant replay and see the high points of scoring here in this 197 pound bout. Hey Josh, talk to our newest national champ for us. All right. Blue boar second in 2022. Second in 2023. And now third time’s the charm. You’re a
National champion. How did you do it? I waited a really long time. Patience and hanging out with the crew like the one sitting up there and the one sitting down here. Yeah you had a super inspirational run. Here are some specific people that you want to give a shout out to
That inspires you to this title? I wish I had an essay on me. Every single person sitting up there my mom, my dad, my beautiful girlfriend right there , Mr. Vassar Rider coming in this year. Royce got me here to college. I can sit here all day, even my dog who painted Berry,
He’s. He’s great. Gets out of bed, I love it. And how are you going to celebrate tonight? Just pray and be thankful. All right. Well congrats on the national title, Derek. Thank you. And here we are folks. We’ll take a look at this replay here from a high high hand fighting scoring
Right. Look at that cross pick attempt by Blue Boar there. Beautiful attack. Good mat returns and just relentless pressure in the top position. Got Blue Boar to wear him down a little bit. And I think he was able to capitalize. And Penn State-Abington had to take neutral in the third period,
Which I think he probably wouldn’t hav he avtae ken. He wt have cut him, you know, and he didn’t expect to get rolled out for two minutes either. American Barry. Yeah, again, that was a super fun one, just super inspirational. Like you lose to the same guy two years in a row
In the national finals, and you’re faced with a task like that. But Derek Blue Bard wins the trilogy, and we’re coming to the last bout tonight. 285 100 homes of Lander and Sean Streck of UCO stay tuned . All right. Welcome back, folks. And probably my favorite weight
Class. And I am a little biased because I was a heavyweight, but, 285 pounds. Man. We have returning national champ and Juan Edmond Holmes here from Lander University. And, I’ve known I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Juan or aka as his nickname. They call him Debo if
You’re a Friday fan, but, he had a great run at this tournament here. You know, the number one seed got upset in the first round, and Juan did exactly what he was supposed to do, and he got to the finals by upsetting the guy that upset the guy. And
So excited to see him wrestle tonight against Sean Streck of UCO, they’ve wrestled before last year, the I believe in the quarterfinals of Nash tournament and actually had some high flying action. Shrek did come up with the upper hand, but Juan Edmond did throw him to his back and got takedown and nearfall.
So And the takedown requirements a little bit different back then. But you know Sean Strack you’re talking Purdue transfer big ten placer D1 qualifier here. Returning national champ, two time All-American. It is a tall task. Yeah you know strikes arguably one of the best wrestlers in this field. You
Know he came in the three seed and heavyweight was an interesting weight class. He he took a loss at the regional tournament. But he avenged that loss in the quarterfinals to Ryan Hermann. Yeah. And then that was a that was a crazy match at regionals. I mean he
Was up winning in the last second there. He got a seven point move to lose 1110, but, you know, to your point exactly. You know, Holmes is a Goose Creek, South Carolina product, and, Streck is a merrillville, Indiana product. So a lot of Indiana’s representation here tonight in the finals. Yeah. But
As you mentioned, mentioned, Juan Edmond Holmes, I think he’s super fun to watch. He’s explosive. He’s got some big moves in his pocket. He’s got some throws. So let’s see what he can muster up for strike. Both guys this is their last go round here the NCAA tournament.
And they want to go out with a bang. And I can say I don’t blame him. Yeah I mean there’s nothing quite like wrestling your last match ever. You know, I was always told when I was younger wrestle it like it’s your last match ever, even if it
Wasn’t. But now here we are. Last match ever. Let’s see who can get the national title. A three time national. Nice duck. Oh Holmes. Okay, one. Okay, Debo . I’ve seen Juan do that a thousand times, and he is smooth with it. Wow. Asubry University. Central Oklahoma is tossing the
Brick. Well, I think they got a stall call there on, red two. Wow Interesting. Look at this. I think they’re thinking beyond reaction. He squares and he ducks through and under here. There’s a hand touch, and he comes right up. And so I think they’re saying it’s beyond reaction time here. And so,
That’s what they’re going to look at right here. Yeah. It’ll be interesting to see here what happens here. And I mean he obviously did not mat return here. And the stall call there could be instrumental later. You know, you hate to say that, but, you know, they’re standing up
Here in the rear standing position for too long, and the official made the correct call. Yeah. And like I said earlier, you got these challenges. And UCO obviously it’s the last bout and they probably got 1 or 2. And why not save them? Why not use them. Yeah, that’s kind of
What I was thinking too. It’s not going to really hurt them to challenge this. They might as well. And you know, they don’t want Debo to get momentum rolling because then let’s look at it one more time. I mean look smooth little transition. He fakes right. Gets him stepping
And Russian shrug and ducks all the way through and under. Beautiful. But that hand touch boom. Right up. And so the hand touch was a rule a few years ago. And they’ve gone back to this reaction time. And so that’s the part where the subjectivity and you and I, we
Call it a takedown, doesn’t mean the independent review in the back, it’s going to take the same. Yeah. So we’ll see what they say. But regardless Debo super slick. That was super slick. I want to look at that one again and again myself just to learn the technique behind
It. And I’m a 125 pounder looking for technique to 285. So what you’re saying is that you need heavyweights to teach you little guys how to do moves. Yep. 100. No. For what it’s worth, I usually feel like 125 Hunter and 285 pounders actually have some type of bond. Like
They usually get to get along with each other, like in high school. My best friends are heavyweights, and then in college, one of my best friends was, Lee Harrington, who was a multiple time All-American for Kearney. But we got an answer here. Three takedown stands. But yeah, to your point, I think
It’s because the heavyweights sneak the little guy snacks. Yeah, yeah, that’s probably what it is. All right. Takedown stands here. So Schreck’s going down here. Stall call does stand. And let’s hope that doesn’t come back into play there for Lander Schreck’s up to his feet. But either way, this
Could returned by one Edmond Holmes. And I’ve seen those those before, so strike’s going to get an escape. But, so my brother and I, we have a wrestling page called Portillo Bros. Wrestling, and we get clips. Clips sent in all the time. And we’ve had Debo sends in a couple times because he’s
Got some big slams and now he’s looking for a leg pass. But yeah, but, he’s got to come up and he’s not coming down there. And Schreck’s doing a great job of pushing forward and trying to get that leg back. And now he’s going leg pass. Debo is just
Holding on here. Yeah he’s passing on this side. We got we got heavyweight scrambles here. You were just saying you wanted to be a heavyweight. Remember that. Yeah. Yeah. We have the best times right? We have the best snacks and the best moves. Yeah. And I mean, Sean Strack showing his scrambling abilities
To get out of there, but but Debo one Edmond homes showing his, scrambling ability too, because he was almost dead to rights at first and then held it off for a while. But regardless, Street gonna take the 4 to 3 lead here with just about a minute left to go in the first
Period. Yeah, and that shot he took was beautiful. And the leg pass is awesome too. And the flurry, I mean, it just shows you how far wrestling has evolved. I mean, you think about early 2000 and scrambling relatively being new and then the progressiveness of scrambling and now how it’s crossed. It’s cross-dimensional
With all the weight classes. Yeah, 100. I mean, that was high level heavyweight wrestling. Can’t get out of here. And I want to go back and watch a couple of those exchanges again. Sean’s getting that wrist in the back and he’s sticking that right hand up the backside. There’s what I call snowplow,
It’s just a way of trying to keep that head down. Second stall call here, but I don’t know if Dan has one point there. Yep, yep. So that stall call, I said the first period is going to come back into play there because Debo has got to base up
Here. He cannot lay on that belly. Yeah. So let’s see. Short time wow wow I mean he the rule book stays down right parallel. But he’s going left right left right. And, I just think obviously they want to see some improvement in the position. Yeah for sure. Tough call to
Make. But so there’s been three stall calls in the first period already. And I mean there’s been some action. Yeah And I think there’s been really good action. But just that top bottom debacle . But all right first period ends five Greens choice of strike. Green looks and takes
Down. Look at that. Look at this leg pass here Shauna is a great job of pushing off with that right foot. Catching that ankle passing it through sitting into his butt. And he brings his knees together, puts weight on that foot. And he got the height there like the Keene State
Winning the scramble there. Used to try to get height clocks not going here. Now goes one point escape here. Six three right now. Right time advantage 102 for strike. Yep Let’s go. Yeah. So we mentioned strike had a really solid career. You know D1 qualifier Purdue and then he was
16 2022 the champ last year Juan Edmond Holmes. He made the blood round in 2022 for Limestone before he transferred last year to be a part of the Lander team. That’s really picking up some steam. And last year he got sixth. So he’s an All American, last year he’s already done
Better than he did last year. But, going to have to look for a takedown soon and try to tie things up. Yeah. And Juan was a state champion high school a Goose Creek High School 190, 189 and 195. So you talk about you see it a lot with heavyweights
And they make that transition from an upper weight like 170 to 1 89 to 195 into heavyweight. And they learn how to wrestle and in lighter weight class. Yeah, 100. I mean, you see that? I mean, these guys are both scrambling. They’re both, you know, they’re being offensive. They’re throwing duck unders in.
Fun to watch, fun to watch. These kind of simmered a little bit on some action. But front headlock there. Thought he had a good bite on it from Holmes. You want to get on him right here. Get on him while he’s on the edge. Kind of put a little bit
Of pressure on him to stay in, and you can start looking for some more attacks, depending on how they pressure back into you. For 20s here left in the period. And if I’m Strack, I’m kind of being patient right here too. I’m saying you got to come to
Me. I got the lead. Yeah. Because he’s already got two stall calls. So even though Schreck’s got one, he doesn’t really need to be the aggressor here because Juan’s probably going to take down here to make this A64 match with an escape, but he might take neutral. It’s
Really going to be hard to see what he picks here. Yeah but at this point, two minutes left. I don’t know how many more attack opportunities Debo has and strikes really just got to stop one of them. And if he takes him down, could ice the match. And I
Told you he’s gonna take neutral. Yeah. I had a feeling. I mean, take down ties it and races riding time. Exactly So I do think that’s a good call. And, you know, he’s going to have to ride him out. So we’ll see if, Streit can escape after
The takedown, but I want to see one get back to that duck under. But he’s going to have to tie up for that is the thing. I don’t think, Schreck is going to do that. Yeah, he’s staying on this tie. See that Debo is probably going to try to have to open
Something up here from space. There See a level change in a fake. I mean, this is where strike’s going to get tough. I mean, you see, as soon as, Holmes is connected, he’s moving his hands, trying to snap. Navy So whenever he feels something he doesn’t like, he kind of
Clears out of it. Otherwise he’s going to have his hands on him to kind of try to slow him down. It’s amazing to see we’ve had several Division one transfers here in the finals tonight and the impact they’ve made at this level. Yeah Good to see it. Makes you wonder if they should
Have been at a D1 program in the first place, or just followed their heart in the first place, but I know I went to a D1 program too to start and sometimes there’s that temptation to be D1, but I know so many people who are happy that they made a transfer to a
School that they actually fit in a little bit better and score that they actually have a good relationships with. Oh, actually, beat that too. That’s a story for another time. But yeah, I get it. Division two is highly competitive and you can compete at this level and have a
Lot of success. 30s here left in the period. 30s what’s Debo got? He’s going to go fake and level change. He’s got to take a shot here. Schreck is waiting. He’s anticipating it. See? Right there, shot from space and yep, he gets to go behind. Nothing out of bounds here, so no
Takedown. But I was kind of thinking that’s what Strecker was going to wait for. One. Really hard, committed shot from Juan. And he’s going to try to get a go behind on him. Almost sneaks away with it. But 15 seconds left here with stalling. That’s one point. Chance that’s
Going to be here. Goes for the duck again. But yeah looks like he’s going to be a two timer here. Division two. So UCO finishing his team champions in one more national champion with Sean Streck. He takes a lap of victory a victory lap for Sean Streck. He’s hugging his coaches
. Last year at the Championship he actually proposed to his wife right after the team won the title. So hope that’s been going well for him. And yeah, he’s going to finish out a two time national champion. Congrats to Sean Streich. All right. We’ll tune in here for the interview
With him. And then we’ll cut to a replay. For Elon Lehigh Mount Olive strike’s going to say hi to the fans here quickly. Here we are. And your national champion Sean Strack. All right, Sean, second national championship team championship for UCO. Talk about what that feels like. Unbelievable Well, I
Don’t care about the individual. I care about the teammates. All that was all for them. They get me going. They’re the ones that keep me going strong. And last thing, Sean, you know, transferring from Division one school to Division two level. Talk about that. Talk about what that experience has been like at
UCO for you. Wrestling’s wrestling. And all I know is UCO wrestling is one of the toughest wrestling places I’ve ever been. So it don’t matter what division. UCO is as tough as nails, so congratulations Sean. Celebrating style buddy. Thank you. Okay so awesome interview there. But we started the match
All American Widener grand Valley State. Wow And Schreiner Loyola Maryland. Yeah that’s a that’s a. Yeah that’s a rep for UCO. There You got Dalton Abney and Derek Blubaugh here at 197 heading out the awards I mean it’s a great Division two tournament I mean it’s what we
Expected right UCO we knew was going to be tough to beat. Lander gave them a good run on day one. And then McKendree surprised some people. I think they finished fourth. And I think a lot of people really weren’t sure what they had. They did qualify a lot of guys, but
They had a lot of upsets. Yeah, 100. The team racers are really fun to watch. You know, UCO again goes back to back with their team titles. But Lander got the highest finish they’ve ever gotten with second. And I’m excited to see over the years new teams keep developing. You
Know, Grand Valley State had a resurgence of their program. And you know they had their first national champion tonight. Montevallo from, with Gabe Hixenbaugh. They had their first national champion for the night. So it was a historic night for sure. In Park City, Kansas. No. Yeah. It was. And, you know,
We’re gonna be back next year. We’re going to be in Indianapolis for a festival year, which will be exciting you Festival years, for those of you that don’t know, track and field, swimming and diving, wrestling at the same place and so hopefully we’ll come back to Wichita and have another good
Time here in a couple years. Yeah. So, a quick little run through of the National champions at 125, Christian Meyerhoff from McKendree beat two time national finalist Shane Jackson Roman at 133. Gabe Hixenbaugh first ever national champ for Montevallo, taking out the returning champ, Gavin Kioko, at 141. Zach Donovan
Doubling up with his titles. Then we moved to 149. Jacob Ely, after being a four time All American, makes the finals for the first time and wins his first title. Build championship. Calzino And then at 157, we had Gabe Johnson for Central Oklahoma with one of the biggest
Upsets of the night, taking out Nick Novak, who was a returning national champion. Yeah, and in 165, you know, you had, David Huntsberger come in and win that Lander second championship, which was fantastic. And then, 174, the pin of the night from Kenny from, Grand Valley State. Phenomenal for that program. And
Then at 184, McGary doing what we thought he always could do. 97 Derek blue Bob setting two time champ Dalton Abney and the heavyweight Sean Streck doing what he does. Yeah. Heavyweight recap here. Obviously You know, the Maryville kid had a great regional beating. The champ Shrek. But Shrek does what Shrek
Does. You know, he showed up and wrestled his best tournament yet. You, Mary, he had an All-American there, at heavyweight Luke Tweeden. And then Augustana (South Dakota) had one Notre Dame college kind of a sad story there at fourth, the schools closing. But Lauren Parks, man, he had a tournament
And he upset the number one seed in the wrestlebacks to make it to this day, in the left hand side, you have, Vance from up who’s just phenomenal. I mean, he’s had a lot of success. Was the two seed. And, and then you have Cru Howard, right? Relatively new guy for Kearney,
But, had a really good tournament finishing third. Yeah. So, you know, a couple interesting stories here. Lauren Park is going to be the last ever All-American for the Notre Dame wrestling program. So shout out to him for that. And then Zach Peterson had a really interesting story. He was your
Sixth place finisher but started the year at 97. And, they also Augustana (South Dakota) has an All-American in 97 with, Max Ramberg. So he had to bump up a weight class and still punched his way through, beat the one seed the first round. And yeah, just a super fun bracket here.
Yeah. And you’re talking about, Augustana kid, Peterson he came into the tournament with six and seven record. Yeah. Talk about having a tournament of your life. Talk about the one day I’m like, you know what? Today I’m going to have a good day. Yeah, but, you know, heavyweight was
Kind of like that. There’s a lot of guys that could have came through. But at the end of the day, these are your eight All-Americans. Yeah. No for sure. And that, you know, obviously I’m, very biased, but it’s the best weight class there is. Yeah, maybe there’s pros and
Cons of 285 versus 185. But the thing with the 285 weight class is it’s truly developing like every single year, heavyweights are getting even more athletic. They’re getting more creative with their technique. I mean, we saw it with the finals match. There’s lots of fun scrambling going on so these heavyweights
Can scrap for sure. Yeah. No. And you’re right. And I remember when I was a kid the evolution of it. Right. Guys like Tommy Rollins coming through and learning how to hit leg passes and things like that. And And let’s hear it one more time for our All-Americans and 200. Yeah.
Upcoming We got future pro wrestling shows. For those of you paying attention at home this weekend, coming up in Kansas City, we got the D1 wrestling championships. And I suggest you find somewhere comfy on Thursday at lunchtime and you could probably become feral watching wrestling all weekend.
I know I am. I don’t know about you, Josh, but, I’m looking forward to it. And you have the high school nationals in Virginia Beach coming up in the late of April or the first week of April, which is always historically a great chances for kids to go out there and earn an
Opportunity to compete at the collegiate level. After that, US Wrestling Open championships, April 24th to the 28th. And then we have the US Marine Corps Challenge, obviously, junior national champs out there at Fargo, the what’s that? July 12th to the 20th, which will be freestyle and Greco of both,
Juniors and cadets and women. Yeah. Lots of fun events coming up. We’ve got d1’s coming up, and then we get into we kind of get into freestyle season. Now that a lot of the collegiate competitions are coming up. So it’s going to be some fun action in the next couple of weeks.
Yeah. No, you’re 100% correct. And this is the best time of year. People say March Madness, I’m March Madness all day. Oh yeah, March madness best time of the year. Yeah, they got to drop the D and pick up the T. Yep yep. It is. It is true. We’re
Getting ready for some team awards here, just a quick recap here. Looking at the teams and the finishes here. Yeah, it’s been a great tournament. It’s been a great tournament so far. We’re excited for the future of wrestling. There it is at 125 Mayhugh coming out on top there against Jackson Augustana (South
Dakota) and then Donovan doing what Donovan does. Nick Novak with a beautiful inside triple on the edge. The Huntzberger back on that beautiful double Waynesburg and such to the crowd. And then he pulled out that crazy backflip as well. And then Josh Kenny went absolutely crazy on top. Ends up getting
The pin for the national title. McGeary getting his second N-c-double-a title. Blue boar beating the two time national champ, was a nice mat return from DeVault, but Sean Streck got the victory. A heavyweight three second national title. So again, lots of fun action and. Up next team awards here .
And here in fourth place, you have McKendree University, coached by James Kisken. What a tournament they had. You know, relatively, they were skirts of the top ten all year. And they showed up this weekend and had a significant amount of upsets. How many All-Americans do they have? They had five
All-Americans. They were led by national champ Christian Mejia at 125, and then they also had two third placers in Roman Schulke at 41 and Logan Kevin at 197. And then to top it off, Corey Peterson got fourth for them at 165. And then Ryan Ripplinger getting seventh at 133. That’s awesome. That’s
Fantastic for that program and for Coach Kisken. Yep. And you know, it took a lot more than just those All-Americans. But McKendree is a very tough team all around. Yeah. And to think how far the institution has came being an Naia school relatively not long ago and then making the
Transition to Division two and being relatively competitive for the Bearcats. Yeah, super competitive for sure. They have been for a couple of times, you know I know they’re always fighting for a top five trophy in the national team duals too. So they’re going to have their moment there with their fourth
Place trophy. And let’s talk about the third place team as they make their way off the stage here. And the University of Nebraska at Kearney, you know , one of those another schools. We talked about the PsaC schools earlier, but Nebraska’s got those two, you know, like Chadron State and Nebraska at
Omaha and Nebraska at Lincoln. And so, taking the third place, their coach by Dalton Jensen. How many All-Americans do they have? And a half points. So they ended up with five All-Americans. And you know, this is my alma mater. So it’s pretty cool to see them doing well again. You know they were
National champions in 2022, last year, maybe a little bit of a rebuild year. And now we’re back in third place in the nation, we were led by two seniors, two veterans. Nick James at 141, punched his way to the national finals, and then Billy Higgins, you know, these guys are my
Teammates and can’t speak more highly of them. But Billy Higgins finishes out his career with a third place medal, and he went off on the bonus points, too. He had four bonus points for the team, so he definitely helped them get into third place over McKendree and then also in
Third was the crew Howard at heavyweight and Jackson Kinsella got fourth at 197. I’m excited for the both of them. 97 in heavyweight because they still got two years left, each after this. And, I think they both could have a really good chance to be in the finals and maybe
Even champs after that. And then their last All-American can’t forget the 125 pound guy, Zach Arata, coming through with a fifth place finish. So he replaces me as the last 125 All-American for Kearney. That’s awesome. That’s fantastic. Yeah. Lopes gotta love Nebraska Kearney. Congrats on the third place team finish. Talk about
Historic program. You know hey hey hey hey hey. Testing testing . Yep. And, now we’re going to head into our second place team. Nash runner up, Lander University. They were here last year. Obviously Lander University, coached by RC Lehigh and Chris Frazier. Historically, they’ve done fantastic. I mean,
And a short amount of time and, you know, we’re excited for the future of that program. But they got a couple seniors, so they lose some guys, but, they do return some individuals, you know, Joplin returns, lust returns, peace returns. Hunsberger, obviously, but they do lose, Brower Giacobetti and Edmond home. So three
All-Americans. So interesting to see how they reload and get ready for, the 2025 season. Yeah, 100. This is a super fun team, they’re jumping levels every single year, you know, they got second this year behind central Oklahoma. But I know central Oklahoma loses a couple of athletes. So, hey, maybe
Lander could be fighting for a team title next year. It’s a good possibility. I mean, when you return a returning champ, a guy who took third and another guy who took two times took sixth. And you have several qualifiers returning two. It’s a very good possibility. Yeah. You
Know, I think it’s safe to say, though, Lander is going to join school as kind of like Central Oklahoma, Saint Cloud and Nebraska-kearney, you know, I know they don’t have any team titles yet, but they’re putting their name up there in the mix to be top five year after year
At this point. You see a lot of spectators coming down to the floor tonight getting ready to take pictures with their loved ones and their friends and family and it’s an awesome time for the sport of wrestling. And I mean Division two in general. You know. But next up, we’re
Waiting on the National champions, the Broncos of UCO, coached by Todd Steidel, 24 NCAA Division two. They have arguably won the most championships in Division two wrestling history. I mean, Uno, I would say before them and then, arguably now it’s central Oklahoma. I mean, I can remember growing up as a kid and
Knowing about the Broncos and knowing that they were a very historic program. Let’s recap what, what they’ve done so far this season or this tournament. So, yeah, they they’ve had a lot of All-Americans. They had seven total, they had a couple people in the finals. They walked away
With two champs. Well, thank you all for tuning in on NCAA.com and Flow wrestling I’m site Wainwright. Josh Portillo we hope to see you all next year in 2025. An indie following up with some more great wrestling and supporting Division two. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time.
15 Comments
Be prepared and on time interview with the associated press uiL sequin texas
Congrats to all the all americans . Great season to all wrestled involved in the tournament. Didnt realize how good zack donovan was on his feet congrats 2 time nat champ no easy feat!!
Disappointed by Cayden Herschel’s tournament… losing out in 3 matches
Rohman needs to get the correct size of shoes……
Attendance is pretty low
Whoever wins gets to come back for a shot at the Division 1 championship.
First of all they should have the D2 champs wrestle D3 and the winner of that faces D1 for an overall national champion
Also montevallo been around for 127 years and they just got their first national champion. Wow. Congrats though
Spoiler shield 🛡 ===============
There is a rule against this because a D2 wrestler was so dominant several years ago.
James just didn't have the style to win..
I'm Nick James b*tch!
WHAT HAPPENED TO CAYDEN? He only had to win one more match to be able to wrestle in the Nationals, right?
Someone tell me, my Grandson kept asking "where's Cayden?"
Please don't criticize Cayden! I posted a comment asking what happened, can anyone explain to me? My grandson kept crying!
Awesome to see this. Pumped for Donathan from Tiffin and Blubaugh from Indianapolis!