Well little whipping boy UNI finishes with 3 All Americans. Sad to see Joey Lazor have to medical his last match due to a concussion he suffered in the previous win.
UNI finishes with another top 15 finish a head of *big boys* like Wisconsin, Michigan, NC State, Maryland, Pittsburg, Virginia, UNC, Oregon Sate and others. and just a half point behind Missouri, 1 point behind Illinois and 2 behind Iowa State. UNI beat Missouri and Iowa State this year in duals.
Even with the top 15 finish it was a semi disappointing result. Loder finished 1 round out of AA status for the third time in his 4 trips to the NCAAs. and not as many points as were expected...
However, things are looking bright for UNI. 4 of the 7 autos earned for UNI were underclassmen. Things will continue to get better - the Panther train isn't slowing down.
Great careers for Joey, Joe, and Ryan as well. Happy to see Joey and Joe go out as AA and Ryan have a good season. Great to see Joe got his act together after being dismissed from the team last season. Hard to see Graf stall him out like he did in the semis. Peters finished 6th but showed some great flashes for being a freshman. He got a TD on the kid from Illinois and showed he can scramble with the best of them. I expect he'll be a national champion by the time he is done.
I didn't expect a top 5 finish, but I did say a top 10-15 was realistic and it was and it was accomplished. Just 5 points from the top 10. That could have easily happened had one or two things gone differently.
Schwab will have the guys ready to go again next season!
2014 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships
Re: 2014 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships
Oddly enough...the schools with the most all American's
1. Penn State/Minnesota
2. Iowa
3. Oklahoma State
4. UNI
Ahead of big boy programs like Nebraska, Illinois, Mizzou, and Ohio State
Not too shabby
1. Penn State/Minnesota
2. Iowa
3. Oklahoma State
4. UNI
Ahead of big boy programs like Nebraska, Illinois, Mizzou, and Ohio State
Not too shabby