Takedown Report

Sesker Slant: Final thoughts on college season

By Craig Sesker For the Predicament
The 2019 NCAA Division I Championships are in the books and it was another successful event with sellout crowds and great competition. It was another exciting season with so many compelling story lines.

Here are my final thoughts on the college season:
What can you say about Iowa’s Spencer Lee? He had his share of doubters and detractors after losing three matches this season, but Lee showed he’s at his best on the big stage. The Cadet world champion and two-time Junior world champion delivered by earning his second straight NCAA title at 125 pounds. It will be interesting to see if he makes a run at the 2020 Olympic Team in freestyle.

David Taylor and Ed Ruth formed one of the best 1-2 punches during their fabulous careers at Penn State, but Bo Nickal and Jason Nolf were every bit as impressive during their careers for the Nittany Lions. Taylor and Ruth combined to lead PSU to four team titles while Nickal and Nolf also led Penn State to four gold trophies. No matter what team you cheer for, all of these guys wrestled an aggressive, entertaining style that was fun to watch. Nickal was my pick for the Hodge Trophy with Nolf coming in a close second. It was great to see Kevin Dresser’s Iowa State Cyclones bounce back with a strong season this year. He was named national coach of the year and ISU had two All-Americans after finishing second in the Big 12. This is just the beginning. The Cyclones are back and they will continue to improve.

Kudos to NAIA powerhouse Grand View. They keep winning national titles and they keep doing it in impressive fashion. It was a rough finish to the season for the Wartburg Knights, but the Knights will be back. You can count on that. Their program is too strong. One of the best stories that came out of the 2019 NCAAs was that of Northern Iowa senior Drew Foster. He never won a state title, wasn’t considered by many to be a Division I prospect and he nearly played college football. But Foster chose to wrestle at UNI, and made great strides for the Panthers under assistant coach Randy Pugh. Foster had been an All-American before, but virtually nobody was picking him to win a national title this year. Foster did an incredible job to cap his career with an NCAA title at 184 pounds. It was awesome to watch. Rest of the story at https://www.thepredicament.com/2019/03/sesker-slant-final-thoughts-on-college-season/?mc_cid=6106e1abe5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 5, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized