I know quite a bit of time has passed since Nationals took place, but sometimes life gets in the way.  I had jotted some notes to myself about the results and I thought I would still share them now that I have been able to focus on it.  So here are my five observations from Nationals:

1. 1.  Five of the ten champions were senior one-timers.  In an age where it seems everyone is 3x this or 4x that it was great to see some really outstanding and unique wrestlers who have faced multiple disappointments finally break through in their last shot at it.  A few were seemingly always knocking at the door but just weren’t able to get over the finish line.  Here I am thinking of Lovett, Hamiti, and Hendrickson.  And the other two were guys who were multiple All-Americans but seemed to elevate their game in their senior year and got over the hump.  In this group I put Byrd and Buchanan.  (Since I wrote this it turns out that Byrd, unbelievably, seems to have another year of eligibility, even though he was classified as a senior.)
      
      
   2. It was observed quite a bit before the tournament that four different weights had two defending champions.  And yet in two of those neither of the defending champs won!  At 174 it was Hamiti, an exciting wrestler who seems to have really benefited from his one year at Oklahoma State and maybe it’s no coincidence that it was an ankle pick that proved to be the decisive move as he beat both Levi Haines and Kegan O’Toole.  And of course at heavyweight Hendrickson, who has just gotten better and better every year who took out Kirkvliet and Steveson.
      
      
   3. As usual there was great geographic diversity among the states our champions hailed from.  Eight different states were represented by the champs with only Illinois (Byrd and Hamiti) and Wisconsin (Mesenbrink and Buchanan) having more than one.  There was a heavy representation in the heart of the Midwest though that usually is a little more spread out.  And it shows that having varsity wrestling as a sanctioned sport in 49 states matters – talent is everywhere.
      
      
   4. Penn State had quite an interesting tournament.  You could say Friday, which is Moving Day at Nationals, was Black Friday for the Nittany Lions.  With an absolutely loaded roster and a history of absolutely killing it in the quarters and semis, this year PSU took three losses in the quarters including two number one seeds going down in Lilledahl and Kasak.  And they took four more losses on Friday night including two #2’s (Bartlett and Haines) and two #3’s (Van Ness and Kirkvliet).  Only three made the finals when they could have not unreasonably hoped for an astonishing nine.
      
      So what was the end result of this catastrophe?  Did they finish off the podium?  Maybe squeak in for a fourth?  Well, no.  With five of their seven non-finalists storming back for third, PSU cruised to a title and broke the team scoring record they set last year.  Must be tough being them.
      
      
   5. I’m a big fan of Steely Dan and a great song off their classic debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill is Change of the Guard.  And the 2025 tournament will finally see the last of the “COVID kids,” those who were granted an extra year of eligibility, pass from the scene.  For me, it is past time.  No one should ever have been allowed to wrestle in five NCAA tournaments.  But it happened and now it’s done.
      
      These guys who seem like they have been around forever, because they have, will now move on with their lives.  And make room for the next group of stars.  And make no mistake about it, the talent level of the incoming athletes is astonishingly good.  The U20 World Team this year and last is a bunch of hammers.  The irony here is that several of them it already seems like we have been watching them at the senior level for a few years now, so that when they finally finish up five or six years from now, we’ll probably be saying it is time for them to move along and make room for the next group.  But that is the Great Circle of Wrestling Life isn’t it?

See you in Cleveland!!