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The man who shocked the NCAA wrestling world two seasons ago by defeating three-time NCAA champion Ed Ruth of Penn State in the Southern Scuffle finals, Gabe Dean of Cornell, con- tinued to grow his legacy last year by capturing his first NCAA title at 184 pounds.
Dean is now a two-time NCAA All-American, having finished in third place as a freshman before winning it all last year. He ended the season on a 28-match win streak and capped off his season by defeating Lehigh’s Nathaniel Brown 6-2 in the NCAA finals.
“[NCAA’s are] a surreal atmosphere to wrestle in. I guess I have no other words to describe it but incredible,” Dean said. “I wrestled good, but I definitely got caught up in the NCAA tour- nament. It’s like a marathon. Could I have wrestled better? Yes, but wins are wins and it’s just great to walk out as a national champion.” Two 2014 NCAA champions are looking to regain a spot atop the NCAA podium this year after falling short of defending their titles in 2015.
J’den Cox of Missouri and Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern both won the NCAA title in 2014 as freshmen. Both men failed to repeat as NCAA champions last year. However, both made All- American status for the second straight season and ended the year on winning notes. Entering the 2015 NCAA Championships Cox held the
nation’s longest winning streak at 56 matches in a row. He was defeated in the NCAA semifinals by eventual NCAA runner-up and 2015 World champion Kyle Snyder of Ohio State. Ultimately, Cox would take home the fifth place prize at 197 pounds. “You come out on the bottom sometimes. You can’t always control it. If that’s the reason you [wrestle], just to win all the time, then you’re already failing. I’m very proud of my season. I just had a bad tournament. I feel like I could have done more. I’ve got to figure out how to change that,” said Cox. In similar fashion, Tsirtsis posted a remarkable 34-1 record entering the NCAA Championships, but would falter in the semi- finals, losing to No. 3 seed David Habat of Edinboro 3-2. Tsirtsis went on to defeat Big Ten rival Brandon Sorensen of Iowa 3-1 to secure third place at 149 pounds.
“I think that added pressure caused me to be a defensive wrestler. I was trying to become a Cael Sanderson, a Kyle Dake, a Pat Smith, where ultimately that shouldn’t have been my focus. It should have been improving my wrestling and that would have taken care of itself. That’s behind me now and I get to focus on improving my wrestling,” said Tsirtsis. Seven of the eight past NCAA champions are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA at their respective weight classes by Flowrestling. Of the eight champions, J’den Cox is the only one not atop his weight category. Cox entered the season ranked No. 2 at 197 pounds behind top-ranked Morgan McIntosh of Penn State. The remaining No. 1 ranked wrestlers entering the 2015-16 college campaign are Evan Henderson of North Carolina at 141 pounds and Bo Jordan of Ohio State at 174 pounds. Several wrestlers, including Henderson, are coming off red- shirt and expected to make a large impact on the weight class races this season.
Henderson has placed fourth and sixth at the NCAA Championships at 141 pounds throughout his Tar Heel career. His biggest win to date came in the 2014 NCAA quarterfinals where he upended eventual two-time NCAA finalist and No. 1 seed Mitchell Port of Edinboro 5-3. Henderson also posted solid freestyle results during his red- shirt year, finishing in second place at the Bill Farrell
Cody Brewer of Oklahoma won the NCAA title as a junior and looks to repeat this year. Austin Bernard photo.
International and making good runs at the Dave Schultz Memorial International and U.S. Open. NCAA team title contender Penn State returns a pair of All- Americans to its lineup with Nico Megaludis returning at 125 pounds and Zain Retherford making the jump to 149 pounds as he comes back for the Nittany Lions. Megaludis is a three-time NCAA All-American and two-time
NCAA finalist for Penn State. He appears to be the top chal- lenger to defending champion Tomasello for the 125-pound title. Retherford finished in fifth place at the NCAA Championships two years ago as a true freshman at 141 pounds. He was the last wrestler to defeat four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber of Ohio State in college.
Retherford also competed heavily on the freestyle circuit dur- ing redshirt. He took fourth place at the Dave Schultz Memorial International and was runner-up at both the UWW Junior Nationals and UWW Junior World Team Trials to two-time Junior World medalist Aaron Pico. With 2016 being an Olympic year, several All-American cal- iber wrestlers have opted to take an Olympic redshirt this sea- son, headlined by 2015 World champion Kyle Snyder of Ohio State who finished in second place at the NCAA Championships last year as a true freshman.
Others who have declared intentions to use an Olympic Redshirt for 2016 include Jesse Thielke of Wisconsin, Anthony Valencia of Arizona State, Connor Medbery of Wisconsin, and Kevin Beazley of Old Dominion. As always, expect the unexpected as 67 All-Americans return, and numerous freshmen enter the fold, to fight for the title of NCAA champion.
USA Wrestler 7
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