Penn State is back on top: NCAA Wrestling Championships recap plus Pick’em results

Another season in the books. And another year with Penn State on top. Five individual champions and a runaway team score left no doubt who the best team in wrestling was this year, and who it will be for years to come. The wrestling world has to figure out Cael Sanderson and crew. Depressing fact, Penn State's last 11 finalists have won. Less depressing, the last two to lose were Mark Hall and Vincenzo Joseph. Ha ha. Let’s get into the results.

Team scores:

1. Penn State Nittany Lions, 131.5
2. Michigan Wolverines, 95
3. Iowa Hawkeyes, 74

5. Nebraska Cornhuskers, 59.5; 6. Northwestern Wildcats, 57.5; 11. Minnesota Gophers, 48.5; 13. Ohio State, 44; 14. Wisconsin Badgers, 38.5; 20. Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 28.5; 25. Illinois Fighting Illini, 17.5; 30. Purdue Boilermakers, 10.5; 41. Michigan State, 4; 48. Maryland Terrapins, 2.5; 56. Indiana Hoosiers, 1

Individual results:

125: 1. Nick Suriano (MICH), 2. Pat Glory (PRIN), 3. Vito Arujau (COR), 4. Michael DeAugustino (NW), 5. Pat McKee (MINN), 6. Brandon Courtney (ASU), 7. Eric Barnett (WIS), 8. Brandon Kaylor (ORST)

133: 1. Roman Bravo-Young (PSU), 2. Daton Fix (OKST), 3. Austin DeSanto (IOWA), 4. Michael McGee (ASU), 5. Lucas Byrd (ILL), 6. Korbin Myers (VT), 7. Chris Cannon (NW), 8. Devan Turner (ORST), R12: Matt Ramos (PUR), Dylan Ragusin (MICH)

141: 1. Nick Lee (PSU), 2. Kizhan Clarke (UNC), 3. Sebastian Rivera (RUT), 4. Grant Willits (ORST), 5. Cole Matthews (PITT), 6. Real Woods (STAN), 7. Jakob Bergeland (MINN), 8. CJ Composto (PENN), R12: Chad Red (NEB), Stevan Micic (MICH)

149: 1. Yianni Diakomihalis (COR), 2. Ridge Lovett (NEB), 3. Bryce Andonian (VT), 4. Austin Gomez (WIS), 5. Sammy Sasso (OHST), 6. Jonathan Millner (APP), 7. Tariq Wilson (NCST), 8. Kyle Parco (ASU), R12: Yahya Thomas (NW), Max Murin (IOWA)

157: 1. Ryan Deakin (NW), 2. Quincy Monday (PRIN), 3. David Carr (ISU), 4. Peyton Robb (NEB), 5. Will Lewan (MICH), 6. Jacori Teemer (ASU), 7. Hunter Willits (ORST), 8. Austin O’Connor (UNC)

165: 1. Keegan O’Toole (MIZZ), 2. Shane Griffith (STAN), 3. Evan Wick (CP), 4. Cam Amine (MICH), 5. Alex Marinelli (IOWA), 6. Dean Hamiti (WIS), 7. Carson Kharchla (OHST), 8. Peyton Hall (WVU)

174: 1. Carter Starocci (PSU), 2. Mekhi Lewis (VT), 3. Hayden Hidlay (NCST), 4. Michael Kemerer (IOWA), 5. Logan Massa (MICH), 6. Dustin Plott (OKST), 7. Mikey Labriola (NEB), 8. Clay Lautt (UNC), R12: Ethan Smith (OHST)

184: 1. Aaron Brooks (PSU), 2. Myles Wilson (MICH), 3. Parker Keckeisen (UNI), 4. Bernie Truax (CP), 5. Trent Hidlay (NCST), 6. Kaleb Romero (OHST), 7. Marcus Coleman (ISU), 8. Jonathan Loew (COR), R12: Max Lyon (PUR), Zach Braunagel (ILL), Taylor Venz (NEB)

197: 1. Max Dean (PSU), 2. Jacob Warner (IOWA), 3. Stephen Buchanan (WYO), 4. Rocky Elam (MIZZ), 5. Yonger Bastida (ISU), 6. Gavin Hoffman (OHST), 7. Eric Schultz (NEB), 8. Greg Bulsak (RUT)

285: 1. Gable Steveson (MINN), 2. Cohlton Schultz (ASU), 3. Jordan Wood (LEH), 4. Greg Kerkvliet (PSU), 5. Mason Parris (MICH), 6. Lucas Davison (NW), 7. Tony Cassioppi (IOWA), 8. Christian Lance (NEB), R12: Tate Orndorff (OHST)

Pick'em results

Congratulations to Ocanady54, who won the contest with 376 points. That's 41 more points than last year's champion. We had 113 entries, which more than doubles last year's entries. Ocanady54 had 9 correct champions and 5 runners-up, scoring more than half of the 740 possible points. If you’re wondering how I did, I didn’t even spell my name right. Look for “Atiant”

125 pounds:

78 people correctly had Suriano winning it all, compared to 32 for Arujau and three for others. Glory was the third-most popular choice for second place, with only 24 getting it correct. Only 20 people had Vitali in third place, and nobody had DeAugustino in fourth.

133 pounds:

RBY was the most popular choice, but not by a ton. 60 people had him in first, with 45 picking Fix and 8 choosing someone else. Fix was a little more popular for second, with 63 of you getting it right. A whopping 88 had DeSanto repeating in third place. 36 had McGee in fourth, which was the second most-popular choice behind Korbin Myers.

141 pounds:

Nick Lee was the most popular choice, with 81 getting that correct. 18 had Eierman, and 14 had someone else. Understandably, nobody had Kizhan Clarke in second, and indeed, only 5 people had him all-Americaning at all. Only 28 had had SeaBass in third place, as more than half of you had him in the finals. None had Willits in four place, though we did have one Oregon State fan who had him winning it all.

149 pounds:

104 people had Yianni going to back-to-covid-cancellation-to-ivy-league-sitting-the-year-out-to-back, with 9 of you trying to be cute. 2 of you had Ridge Lovett correctly in second, and none had Andonian in third. 25 had Austin Gomez in fourth.

157 pounds:

31 had Deakin capturing that elusive title, with 77 predicting a repeat performance for David Carr. Only 4 had Quincy Monday finishing second, and another 4 had Carr in third. 2 had Peyton Robb in fourth.

165 pounds:

O'Toole was the second most-popular pick, with 35 nailing that one. Griffith was a much less-popular pick for second, with 12 getting that right. 13 people had Wick in third, and 7 had Amine in fourth.

174 pounds:

Starocci was the top pick, with 62 correctly guessing the top finisher. Mekhi Lewis was the most popular second place choice, with 49 responses. Hidlay was the most popular third-place choice, and also the most popular fourth, with Kemerer in second with 24 picks.

184 pounds:

78 of y’all got Aaron Brooks right. 25 had Amine, and ten had someone else. Naturally, Amine was the most popular second-place choice with 63, followed by Aaron Brooks with 25. Keckeisen was the third most-popular third-place choice, behind Hidlay and Amine with 15 selections. 11 got Truax in fourth place.

197 pounds:

Unsurprisingly, 72 had Max Dean in first, but only 5 had Jacob Warner in second. Buchanan was the most popular third-place choice with 27 votes, but only three had Rocky Elam in fourth.

285 pounds:

Two people did not choose Gable Steveson to win this weight. One is the Oregon State fan who chose all the Oregon State wrestlers to win and thus had Gas Tank Gary, and one had Cohlton Schultz for some reason. Schultz was the second-most selected second-place choice, with 23 picks, and only two people had Jordan Wood in third place.

Hopefully these results embed. Sorry you have to scroll super far to get to the comments. I’ve censored emails and full names, but you should still know if it’s you. If you think I’ve made a mistake, you’re probably right.