http://takedownwrestle.com/wrestling-news/who-is-the-best-to-never-win-a-ncaa-division-i-title/
What other Hawkeyes should be on the list?
What other Hawkeyes should be on the list?
Who is the best to never win a NCAA DI title???
- Thread starter pin2winIA
- Start date
Certainly Mike DeAnna (3, 6, 2, 2)
Quite possibly Mike Mena (7, 3, 5, 2)
Maybe even Greg Randall (2, 5, 2)
Good call, Cal. I forget who wrestled him for the Hawks, but I vividly remember an Iowa-Okie State dual meet in Carver when he took our guy straight to his back and stuck him, hardly even breaking a sweat. Made it look effortless. He was very tough, indeed.
Interesting 4 time AA list below, so it's pretty easy to see which top wrestlers didn't win titles. I forgot about Mike Mann. Wow, Iowa State also had Hamilton, Jackson, Akin and Hinson with pretty good finishes but never winning a title.
http://d1collegewrestling.net/Honors_4xAA.html
http://d1collegewrestling.net/Honors_4xAA.html
Lewis went 5, 3, 5, 2 at the NCAA's from '01-'04. The guy WAS a beast
Mark Mueller.
Didn't watch the show, so I don't know which wrestlers were mentioned, but Mitchel Port just finished his career R12, 2, 3, 2.
Lennie Zalesky was very dominant, but split matches with two timer and several time world medalist Andre Metzger. Unfortunately ( ala Mike Mann) his wins were in Big dual meets-which were important back in the day- but losses in the NCAA finals. Lennie finished DNQ-4-2-2. Pretty sure he was cutting too much to make 134 as a red-shirt freshman, because I wrestled him the next year at 142 and he was huge ( and I was a cutting alot to make 134 lb). He also won the Iowa City Nationals at 132 lbs his h.s. senior summer. His record improved dramatically once he went up to 142, and he was a double leg takedown machine with an excellent trap-arm cheap tilt ( see Derek Moore-his protege from UC-Davis http://www.wrestlingstats.com/ncaa/pdf/brackets/NCAA 2007.pdf ) .
You know who almost made this list- non-Hawkeye? Dave Schultz, by a (mustache) hair.
another non-Hawkeye who "got robbed" in my humble opinion, was Craig Henning- Wisconsin vs Paulson. How can you be on your back and use an ankle twist to get out of jeopardy? Bad call in my opinion, bad call.
I think you are forgetting Scott Trizzino, a very strong young man who finished DNQ (not sure if he was even the starter that year), 3-2-2 at 142-150. His finals losses were to 2 timer Dan Hicks of Oregon State and 3 timer Nate Carr of that other school. His 3rd place loss was to Andy Rein, merely a one timer but Olympic Silver and Tblisi champ.
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I'll second Melchiore. Wrestled up at 134 both years at Iowa when he could've gone 126 (he competed in freestyle at 125.5). Penrith was at 126 in '88 (they were neck and neck), and Tom Brands was at 126 in '89 (Melchiore was better at that point although Brands was closing in fast).
I'll add two non-Hawks: Zeke Jones and Ken Chertow.
I'll add two non-Hawks: Zeke Jones and Ken Chertow.
I hate to mention him because I'll get sad and depressed, but Mike Zadick belongs on this list as well.
How could they miss Bob Fehrs from Michigan who lost three straight years in the finals to Mike Caruso fro Lehigh. 65,66, 67. Lost by total of 6 points over 3 years.
Montell Marion could be in the discussion he was a majorly blown call away from being a 3x Finalist (Semi's vs Russel 2011). I thought he wrestled Dake very tough, was in on him a lot, but thats the hard part, finishing on Dake.
Chad Zaputil.
Wrestled behind All-American Steve Martin as a Freshman, then went 2,2,2.
Lost 2 Finals to Jeff Prescott (14-0 1st time, when Prescott was the OW of the tournament , then closed the gap to 2-0, where he went TF, Maj., Maj. Maj. before Finals). He then lost his only match as a Senior in the Finals to also undefeated Sammie Henson 3-2 (whom he had beaten 12-1 in Semi's 2 years prior). This kid was awesome as an opener for Iowa in one of their most dominant team era's.
Wrestled behind All-American Steve Martin as a Freshman, then went 2,2,2.
Lost 2 Finals to Jeff Prescott (14-0 1st time, when Prescott was the OW of the tournament , then closed the gap to 2-0, where he went TF, Maj., Maj. Maj. before Finals). He then lost his only match as a Senior in the Finals to also undefeated Sammie Henson 3-2 (whom he had beaten 12-1 in Semi's 2 years prior). This kid was awesome as an opener for Iowa in one of their most dominant team era's.
He did take down Dake. He also escaped from him in the first period.[No such luck in period #2].
Ray Brinzer deserves a mention. The two years he wrestled at 177 he was sensational. If not for Randelman and Gutches . . .
Agree 100%. Zap was one of the most dynamic/dominating Hawks to never win a title. Always's loved Zap leading off the dual meets as you usually could count on a MD, TF, or Pin to get things rolling. Zap wrestled on one of the greatest Hawk teams ever. Zap was followed by Brands, Brands, Steiner, Steiner, Ryan, Reiland, and Chelsvig his jr/sr seasons. Just ripped my heart out to see him lose in the 1992 finals to Henson.
Was Montell even the best 41 on the team that year?
Montell wrestled very well in that match. Like many others would later find out, Dake was damn difficult to out-scramble, or score on period, but Montell had as good of a chance to take him out that day as anybody did afterward in his other Finals matches, IMO.
Lewnes is a good choice. Pretty sure he had the flu the year he went 0-2. Most of you probably remember, also, that he went the entire season without giving up a takedown the year Jay beat him (dominated him, in fact) in the finals. Man, was that a fun match to watch. Not very often that a guy comes into the finals with those kinds of accolades and gets absolutely taken apart. Especially following his massive comeback in the semis, that was one heck of a way for Jay to finish his career.
A non-Hawkeye who had a considerable career was Wisconsin's Mark Schmitz. He was runner-up to Jimmy Z at the NCAAs with a 6th place as well, but had collegiate wins over Nate Carr, Andre Metzger, Kevin Jackson, Royce Alger, Marty Kistler, Ken Gallagher and a freestyle win over Kenny Monday.
Trying to think a little more current. I am surprised that Tyler Graff did not make this list. 4x All American (5,5,3,2) losing to Ramos as Jr (semis) and Sr (finals). Sophomore year lost to Oliver (semis) and Freshman year lost to Ness (Semis). Logan Storley also deserves a mention, he never redshirted and was a 4x All American (6, 4, 3, 4). Was at weights where Ruth, Perry (x2) and Brown won an NCAA title. Robert Kokesh is another guy that I would put on the list 3x All American (R12, 3, 4, 3). Was at weights where Taylor, Perry (x2) and Brown won an NCAA title. James Green was a 4x All American as well (7,7,3,3) If it wasn't for Ness wrestling the tournament of his life or Martinez just being an absolute stud this guy would have an NCAA title to his name. Dylan Ness (2,4,2,6) and I still think he is the only guy that had a chance to be Martinez this year because of his big move ability. Lost in finals to Dieringer and Molinaro. 2 pretty good wrestlers. I think in about 9 months we could be talking about Nashon Garrett and Nico Megaludis on this list as well.
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