photo courtesy of Thomas Breach; SCSU athletics
I finally arrived back in Jamestown, North Dakota, at midnight last night. It was the end of a five-day, two thousand-mile road trip. I spent more time with Division II programs over that span than I have with my own family since Christmas break. I traveled through the ice and then a rainstorm and was graciously given just a written warning for speeding on my drive home in Fargo, North Dakota. After an entire day of driving to reflect on the happenings in St Louis and if you like 90% of Division II men’s wrestling fandom were unable to attend, I will break down what you missed. And what you did not miss. And what you should be glad you missed.
The Good
Jackie Paquette is no longer the NCAA Division II Wrestling Committee Chair, but if you follow Division II, you know that this championship will always be hers. No one fights harder for the athletes and the programs or invests more of their own time and passion than the University of Indianapolis director of wrestling operations. She delivered again, fulfilling a promise made a year ago that “we will wrestle again.” Thank you.
The team race! Did you follow along? Despite there being no scoring controversy, this should be the greatest story coming out of this tournament. Headed into the championship finals, the University of Nebraska-Kearney held a slim 2.5 point lead. But it seemed that there was no way it could stand up to a St. Cloud State wrestling team that had four finalists. A champion for the Huskies would earn them a minimum of four team points and guarantee another team championship for head coach Steve Costanzo. More than that, four other teams were battling for the third and fourth place team trophies that all had finalists. Six teams entered the finals having no real idea where they might finish in the team race and it was glorious. The storyline could not have been written better by Netflix. And it came down to the final matches for each of those teams, adding to the drama. West Liberty won two of their three finals matches and held a slim lead over Lindenwood for third until the 174-pound finals. Then the Lions roared into third and were hunting their highest even Division II finish.
West Liberty had one more crack at it, but fell short. They had to wait until after the 197-pound finals before knowing that they would bring home fourth and secure their own trophy and highest tournament finish. McKendree fell a half a point shy of the top-four. A bonus-point win at any weight for the Bearcats during the tournament was the difference between them and The Hilltop. Central Oklahoma crowned an NCAA champion at 184 pounds but finished sixth, six and a half points out of the trophy race. While all of this is happening, St. Cloud State lost all three of their finals matches and still remained 2.5 points behind Nebraska-Kearney. And then we reach heavyweight.
Kameron Teacher became a three-time finalist in this tournament and a four-time All-American. His run to the title was unsurprising given his talent and seeding, but given his 2019 run that saw him fall short, you still had a bit of doubt if he could make it back. The former Notre Dame College Falcon sat out 2020 after transferring to St. Cloud State and joining the always loaded Huskies lineup. In 2021 he was perfect, entering the national championship undefeated and not really tested. But the pressure was there. As he stepped on the mat for the final bout of the evening, it came down to his performance. A win, and the Huskies would be crowned NCAA Division II Men’s Wrestling National Champions. A win, and Kameron Teacher would secure his first individual crown at this tournament. A win, and once again, the Kearney Lopers would watch St. Cloud State hoist the first-place trophy. Someone call Disney+ because I have a pitch for them. The match did not disappoint; heck, it was 5-5 after the first period. There was a moment where Weston Hunt (Colorado School of Mines) had Teacher on his back for a second and the whole world seemed to hold its breath. Once the dust settled, Kam Teacher fought his heart out and put the entire weight of the St. Cloud State program on his shoulders and won. It was incredible. It was a great finish. It was an amazing tournament.
We got a first-timer here! This tournament was full of first-times. Fairmont State, a program so young they do not even have a Twitter account for the wrestling team, kept writing their team history, sending Lukas Martin into the finals and then seeing him win 12-5 to become a national champion. Queens College of Charlotte had an athlete, Noah Curreri, become the first All-American in the program’s history. Southwest Minnesota State University had their first semifinalist since current program All-American Cade Steffen’s dad accomplished the feat. They finished with two All-Americans in an excellent season for the Mustangs. JoJo Gonzalez from American International became an All-American for head coach Rich Hasenfus in a crazy story, his high school coach earned those honors for the Yellow Jackets program as well. Want another coach-athlete story? Isaiah Royal won the 141-pound national title for Newberry; want to know who else was a national champion for the Wolves? Current head coach Cy Wainwright.
This national tournament happened. It was wrestled. These athletes were given their chance to shine. That is the best from this tournament.
The Bad
Seeding could not have gone worse at a couple of weights. It makes for a great tournament, but dang, it looks terrible. Listen, a bracket is never going to finish first through eighth like it was drawn up, but when anarchy takes place at weight after weight, you have to wonder about tweaking the matrix for seeding.
Returning national finalists had a bit of a rough tournament. Only one returning national champion was able to repeat, Tyler Warner of West Liberty. Only three of the seven returning national finalists were able to make it back to wrestle on the finals stage. A returning national champion and a returning national finalist both missed the podium altogether. The Division II national tournament is one of the toughest places to simply return to and defending a national title was dang near an impossible feat in 2021.
There was a lot of uncertainty and confusion surrounding the championships. The late announcement of a site and even later announcement of the Super Regional qualification process was brutal. The athletes deserve better communication, even if it was just more of, “you will know when we know.” Heck, this young man had to wait until only three days before the start of the tournament to even know if he would be allowed in to cover it. Keep in mind that from a media standpoint, it was me and, I believe, a St Louis newspaper. There were no Intermat, Track, or Flo representatives that I was ever aware of covering the athletes. Big shout out to Andy Hamilton from TrackWrestling though, I saw the time you took to do a couple of write-ups and thank you. You are incredible. But it’s almost worse than bad that, that was it. We need to do better. These are NCAA athletes. Get on board. You can cover Division I, II, III, NJCAA, NAIA, Women’s wrestling and everything in between. It is not just some sort of zero-sum game.
Can a brother get a sandwich? I am not asking for a sitdown meal when I am covering these events, but could I have warranted one of the volunteer lunch kits? I had to choose between running out and grabbing something to eat or just joining these athletes cutting weight with a hunger strike. Thank god I am a parent and I always have snacks. Big shout out to Haribo; your gummy bears are the best. I know I am a spoiled brat. I get that way when I am hangry.
The Ugly
The venue was a disservice to the athletes, coaches, programs fans, media, and everyone else involved in putting this tournament on. It came down to heavyweight and less than 200 people saw it, with maybe half of them the fans allowed to attend? There were 1,500 fans at the Super Regional V tournament! In the St Louis area, there were venues available no less, that we’re willing to host a larger tournament and still abide by the Covid rules. I know none of the kids or coaches will complain, so I am doing it for them. This was ugly. There were no stands, just chairs spaced out side-by-side. The “media” tables, instead of being set off to one of the sides where they could see three mats were down at the end only able to see two mats clearly. Heck, they were ground level as well; how much would it have taken to set them up on a platform so that I could see the other end? I love St Louis as a host site. Hell, make it St Louis every year. But we could have and should have done better. I know for a fact that there were better sites available that would still have been safe for athletes and fans. We can be happy we had a national tournament, but that does not mean we should have settled for this. And do not give me a “time constraint” argument. This should never have had to be a last-second decision with coaches begging for communication and answers the whole time. I want to hope that this was a one-time type thing, but in my mind, it continues to speak to an NCAA Division II organization that does not care about the sport the way it should. They need to look at programs like Lindenwood, directors of operations like Jackie Pacquette, university presidents like Queens, and parents like Regino Portillo to see the passion that they should try to mirror. Be better.
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