Wrestling has two separate rankings (and two distinct types of matches, if you will)- duals and tournaments. The ranking you most likely saw (#2/#3) was the dual ranking. We did have an undefeated dual season so that was quite an accomplishment and something we should still be proud of. However, duals and tournaments are inherently very different as duals match your 10 wrestlers against one other team’s 10 wrestlers while a tournament is wrestling against a larger field.

In the case of the NCAA tournament, you’ve
got the 33 best wrestlers at each weight. At that point, after the 1st match at the most you are down to extremely tough opponents. For example, Sam Latona faced (and defeated) the wrestler who ended up placing 3rd at 125 lbs in just his 2nd round match- and that was with the ostensible advantage of being seeded #2. Anyway, the difference between our finish and top 10 was 8.5 points. A healthy Mekhi Lewis would have almost certainly covered that (instead he gutted out a win against a top 10 level opponent in agonizing pain before having to withdraw from the tournament). Also Korbin Myers did make the semifinals where he lost to the eventual national champion at 133 lbs. Though once again, a healthy Mekhi Lewis would be extremely likely to have make the semifinals. Ultimately, we had 5 wrestlers with a realistic shot to earn All-American honors. Three of those guys earned it while Lewis had to withdraw due to injury and Andonian fell 1 match short. The margin for error at this level is unbelievably slim in most matches and our guys fought like hell even if it didn’t show up on the team score.