Coming into the 2023 Division I NCAA wrestling tournament, there was one main storyline that wrestling fans across the country were talking about. Spencer Lee and Yianni Diakamaholis trying to become the 5th and 6th collegiate wrestlers ever to win four straight NCAA championships within their eligibility in college wrestling. Both of these wrestlers had competed in this tournament three other times, and both never lost a match. They had each won national championships, their Freshman Sophomore and Junior seasons respectively. Both of these wrestlers were coming into this tournament subsequently trying to prove themselves among the all time greats. Spencer Lee the 3x reigning 125 pound champion was flying high coming into the tournament with a 50+ match win streak (Largest in NCAA) and a historic season of bonus point wins, where he practically pinned or tech falled everybody. As expected Lee cruised to the Semis with a pin in the rd of 32, a Tech Fall in the round of 16 (17-0), and an impressive (14-4) victory over Lock Havens Anthony Noto in the quarter final round. It was all set Lee was to face Purdue's Sophomore Matt Ramos in the semis. Lee had pinned Ramos previously this year and it seemed obvious to all wrestling fans that Lee was in for another easy semi finals victory. Ramos seemed confident though and came out quick with a 4 point move, a blast double leg straight to Lee's back. Lee would earn a rather quick escape before choosing top in the 2nd period and racking 4 quick back points to take the 5-4 lead. In the 3rd he would take Ramos down once again, to earn a 7-4 lead. That's when it happened, 12 seconds after Ramos cut the score to 7-5 with an escape, he went for a risky gator role on Lee, but to the shock of everyone in the crowd he got the 2 and stuck Lee to his back, everyone in the crowd was in awe as they realized Lee was gonna lose. With 1 second left on the clock the ref slapped the mat, and Spencer Lee became pinned. The 3x National champion Lee, who seemed a sure thing to win a 4th got pinned. It was arguably the biggest upset in college wrestling history. It was so heartbreaking, a viral clip of Lee's mom emerged later that showed her smashing her glasses into pieces. Lee would walk off the mat knowing he would have to wrestle in the consolation bracket the next morning, except he did not. Lee decided to drop out of the rest of the tournament, and end his career with a 6th place finish in his final NCAA tournament.
Now although this exact story took lots of shine from other wrestlers that did end up going on to win their own National championships, I'm not gonna let that happen. Here is a complete list of the 2023 NCAA National wrestling champions.
125 Pat Glory (Princeton) 1x champ
133 Vito Arujau (Cornell) 1x champ
141 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) 1x champ
149 Yianni Diakamaholis (Cornell) 4x champ
157 Austin O Connor (North Carolina) 2x champ
165 Keegan O Toole (Missouri) 2x champ
174 Carter Starocci (Penn St) 3x champ
184 Aaron Brooks (Penn St) 3x champ
197 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) 1x champ
285 Mason Parris (Michigan) 1x champ
Let’s recap the finals matches at each weight, at 125lbs Pat Glory of Princeton defeated Matt Ramos of Purdue 4-1 to earn himself his first National championship, and Princeton's first champ in over 70 years. At 133 pounds Cornell's Vito Arujau upset 2x National champion Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State 10-4 to win his first National championship. At 141 we saw Real Woods of Iowa face off against an unexpected school. We saw Andrew Alirez from a little known wrestling school, Northern Colorado. After a couple controversial reviewed calls Alirez would come out on top 6-4 and win his first National championship. At 149 we saw Yianni Diakamaholisś career come to a spectacular close, unlike Lee he did complete his run at 4 National titles. This win over Sammy Sasso of Ohio State makes him only the 5th wrestler ever to win 4 National titles.
Now I want to spend a little more time at 157 pounds, because many don't know but one of the title challengers was a local celebrity and phenom. Levi Haines of Penn State competed out of Biglerville High school, a school our school competes against in numerous sports. Levi committed to Penn State after his junior year of high school, and spent his senior year training with the team. He was redshirted to start the year, but a little while ago, Penn State yanked his redshirt and threw the true Freshman Haines into the fire. He responded incredibly, as the former Biglerville wrestler won the Big Ten championship as a true freshman. That is an incredible feat. After a wild run with crazy wins leading him to the finals over All Americans like Peyton Robb, and Bryce Andonian, he unfortunately fell to Austin O Connor 6-2 in the finals. David Taylor an Olympic gold medalist said that Sunday after losing the title on Saturday Haines was back in Happy Valley PA at David's club helping out young wrestlers. He just figured he could help. This story proves it doesn't matter where you come from, even a little school in rural PA. If you work hard enough you can accomplish your goals.
To continue our recap, we will move up to 165 pounds, where defending champ Keegan O'Toole would make it back to the finals. He had a new opponent this year. The champ of 2 years ago at 157 pounds David Carr had moved up a weight class and done it well. He had defeated O Toole twice this year already including pinning him in overtime in the Big 12 finals. Keegan wouldn't let that happen again though. He got an early lead and never looked back. He won his second National title and still has 2 years in his college career left. At 174 pounds we had a clear and dominant favorite. Carter Starocci of Penn State. He dominated his way through the tournament. He won 2 matches by fall, including in the finals where he stuck Mikey Labriola of Nebraska early to win his 3rd straight National title for the Nittany Lions. At 184 we saw much of the same a 2x National champion from Penn St going for their 3rd, this time it's Aron Brooks. Brooks was able to control the tournament with ease, never getting out of position or control in any of his matches. In the finals he defeated Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa to take home his 3rd title in a 7-2 decision. At 197 it got interesting, the defending champ Max Dean went out in the round of 16. This opened up the road for the #1 seed undefeated Nino Bonnocorsi of Pitt to make the finals and defeat Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State 5-3 on a clutch late takedown to win his first title as a Senior. At Heavyweight we finally saw Mason Parris of Michigan win his first National title with a boring yet solid win over Penn Stś Greg Kerkvliet to win his National championship.
The reign of dominance for your Penn St Nittany Lions continues in the sport of wrestling. Ever since hiring Coach Cael Sanderson, they have won 10 out of the last 12 team National titles. That is an insane unheard of amount of success. No other team in any other sport has been able to find continued success like the Nittany Lions. They pride themselves on their incredible loose mindset. Their guys don't get nervous on the biggest stages, and their coaches prepare them like no other staff in the country, to go along with the fact they have elite recruiting. And by the looks of their younger wrestlers it looks as if they are prepared to keep their success rolling for years to come.
That's a final recap of the NCAA wrestling championships, I will see you again next month with updates on the NBA and NHL playoff pictures as we close in on their playoff season.
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