March 2021 was weird. The world was still shaking off the rust of a global lockdown, and the Enterprise Center in St. Louis felt both hollow and electric. No fans, or at least, not many. Just the echoing shouts of coaches and the rhythmic thud of bodies hitting the mat. People forget that the previous year’s tournament was just... gone. Cancelled. So when the 2021 NCAA wrestling champions finally climbed that podium, they weren’t just winning a trophy. They were reclaiming a lost year.
It was heavy.
Iowa won the team title. Honestly, it felt inevitable, but the way it happened was a grind. Spencer Lee was out there wrestling on basically no ACLs. Think about that. The guy is dominant, a literal wrecking ball at 125 pounds, and he’s doing it while his knees are essentially held together by tape and sheer willpower. He won his third straight title, but the post-match interview was what stuck. He wasn't celebrating. He was in pain, admitting he had "no ACLs." It was raw. It was the kind of grit that defines the sport but also makes you wince a little bit.
The year the Big Ten flexed
If you followed the 2021 season, you knew the Big Ten was a gauntlet. It’s always tough, sure, but 2021 was different. Seven of the ten individual 2021 NCAA wrestling champions came out of that conference. It was a bloodbath every single weekend leading up to the nationals.
Take Roman Bravo-Young at 133. RBY is lightning. Watching him move is like trying to catch a shadow in a dark room. He faced Daton Fix from Oklahoma State in the finals. That match was a tactical chess game that went into sudden victory. When RBY got that takedown, it wasn't just a win for Penn State; it was a signal that the Nittany Lion dynasty wasn't going anywhere, even if Iowa took the team trophy that year.
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Then you had Nick Lee at 141. Another Penn State guy. He had to go through Jaydin Eierman, a guy who had previously beaten him. The match went to overtime. Lee stayed composed, funky, and scrambled his way to a 4-2 win. It’s those moments—the tie-breakers, the heavy breathing in the center of the mat—that make the 2021 tournament stand out. It wasn't about blowouts. It was about who could survive the pressure of a shortened, high-stakes season.
David Taylor’s "Magic" legacy and the rise of Gable Steveson
You can't talk about the 2021 NCAA wrestling champions without mentioning the heavyweight division. Gable Steveson was a force of nature. He didn't just win; he put on a show.
He beat Mason Parris 8-4 in the final, which sounds close on paper, but if you watched it, Gable was always in control. He was a heavyweight moving like a 165-pounder. The backflip he did afterward became the image of the tournament. It was pure athleticism. This was the peak of Gable's collegiate career before he went off to win Olympic gold and eventually flirt with professional wrestling and the NFL. He made heavyweight wrestling "must-watch TV" again.
But let's look at the middleweights.
- David Carr from Iowa State took the 157-pound title. His dad was a legend, Nate Carr. Following in those footsteps is a nightmare, but David looked smooth. He beat Brandon狂 (Wait, let's get the name right) Jesse Dellavecchia. It was a clinic in positioning.
- Shane Griffith from Stanford. This is the story people usually miss. Stanford was literally trying to cut their wrestling program. Griffith was wrestling for a team that wasn't supposed to exist the following year. He wore a plain black singlet—no school logos. He won the 165-pound title as an underdog, not just on the mat, but against his own university’s administration. It was a "movie script" moment. The program was eventually saved, largely because of the noise Griffith made by winning.
The Iowa "Wall" and the points race
Iowa’s team title was a long time coming. Tom Brands has built a culture that is, frankly, exhausting to even think about. They push. They brawl. They don't give you space to breathe. While they only had one individual champion in Spencer Lee, their "All-American" count was the difference-maker.
They finished with 129 points. Penn State was second with 113.5.
It’s interesting because Penn State actually had more individual winners (four) than Iowa did. But Iowa had the depth. Jaydin Eierman, Michael Kemerer, Austin DeSanto—these guys were racking up points in the consolation brackets and the early rounds. It proves that in the NCAA tournament, the "backside" of the bracket is where team titles are won or lost. If you lose early and quit, your team loses. Iowa never quit.
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Breaking down the weights: Who stood where?
Sometimes people get confused about the 2021 lineup because so many guys took "COVID years" or transferred shortly after. Here is how the podium shook out for the 2021 NCAA wrestling champions:
- 125: Spencer Lee (Iowa) - Won on basically one leg.
- 133: Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) - The start of his absolute dominance.
- 141: Nick Lee (Penn State) - Proved that grit beats flash.
- 149: Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) - A massive win for the ACC. He beat Sammy Sasso in a nail-biter.
- 157: David Carr (Iowa State) - Keeping the family legacy alive and well.
- 165: Shane Griffith (Stanford) - The man who saved a program with a black singlet.
- 174: Carter Starocci (Penn State) - Just a freshman at the time. He beat Michael Kemerer in OT. It was the start of a legendary run.
- 184: Aaron Brooks (Penn State) - He looked like a veteran even back then. Dominant.
- 197: A.J. Ferrari (Oklahoma State) - Say what you want about his personality, but the kid could wrestle. He was a spark plug for the Cowboys.
- 285: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) - The backflip heard 'round the world.
Why 174 and 184 were the most important matches
If you’re a technical nerd about wrestling, the 174-pound final between Starocci and Kemerer was the peak of the night. Kemerer was the veteran. He was supposed to finally get his. Starocci was the young, hyper-aggressive kid from Penn State.
The match was tense.
It went to tiebreakers. Starocci managed to ride him out and escape, winning 3-1. That match swung the momentum of how we view "freshman" in this sport. It used to be that you waited your turn. Now? These kids come in ready to kill giants.
Aaron Brooks at 184 did something similar. He beat Trent Hidlay from NC State. It was a one-point match (3-2). One. Point. That’s the margin at this level. If Hidlay finishes one shot, the entire narrative of the tournament changes. But Brooks has this weird ability to stay heavy in his hips. You can't move him. It’s like trying to push a parked car.
The A.J. Ferrari phenomenon
You can't mention the 2021 NCAA wrestling champions without talking about the energy A.J. Ferrari brought to the 197-pound class. Love him or hate him, he was "box office." He beat Nino Bonaccorsi 4-2 in the final. Ferrari was only a freshman, and he celebrated like he’d just won the Super Bowl. It brought a certain "attitude" back to Oklahoma State wrestling. The sport needs villains and heroes, and Ferrari played both roles depending on who you asked. His win helped Oklahoma State secure a third-place team finish, keeping them relevant in the conversation with the Big Ten giants.
The impact of the "Empty Arena"
It’s worth noting how much the atmosphere affected the wrestling. Usually, the NCAA finals are deafening. In 2021, you could hear the wrestlers breathing. You could hear the skin slapping against the mat. Coaches’ instructions weren't just background noise; they were crystal clear.
Some wrestlers thrived in that. Others seemed to miss the "pop" of the crowd to get them through the third period when the lungs are burning. Austin O'Connor's win at 149 was a great example of this. He had to stay incredibly disciplined against Sammy Sasso. In a loud arena, maybe Sasso catches a late tilt or a scramble goes differently. In the quiet, O'Connor’s technical positioning was airtight.
What we can learn from the 2021 season
Honestly, looking back at the 2021 NCAA wrestling champions, the biggest takeaway is resilience. These athletes dealt with daily testing, isolation, and a weird schedule.
If you're a young wrestler looking at these results, don't just look at the names. Look at the paths.
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- Spencer Lee showed that mental toughness can overcome physical limitations.
- Shane Griffith showed that you can't let external distractions (like your program being cut) stop your internal goals.
- Carter Starocci showed that being "young" isn't an excuse to lose.
The 2021 tournament was a turning point. It transitioned us from the "old guard" of the 2010s into this new era of hyper-athletic, freestyle-oriented folkstyle wrestling. We started seeing more "funk," more creative scrambles, and a lot less "stalling for a 1-0 win."
Next Steps for Wrestling Fans:
If you want to truly appreciate the technical side of what happened in 2021, go back and watch the 133-pound final between Bravo-Young and Fix on a streaming service like ESPN+. Pay attention to RBY’s footwork in the final 30 seconds. It’s a masterclass in lateral movement.
Also, check out the team point breakdown if you're a coach. Studying how Iowa won without a massive slate of individual champions is the best way to understand how to build a winning dual or tournament team. It’s about the "bonus points" in the early rounds and the "blood round" survivors. That’s where the real glory is hidden.