Best college wrestlers but worst freestyler?

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

Criteria:

Must be a multiple time NCAA champ.

Must have actually competed in freestyle events after college.

Must not have made a World Team.

 

Who comes to mind?

[KTG119 820]

bored so I'll play. 

Pretty sure Pat Smith never made a world team. 

[Broomstick 75]

Ed Ruth

[AZ_wrestling 119]

4 minutes ago, Broomstick said:

Ed Ruth

Didn’t he make the team in 2014?

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

19 minutes ago, AZ_wrestling said:

Didn’t he make the team in 2014?

Yep

[wildcatfan1992 47]

Heil?

McDonough?

Edited August 30, 2019 by wildcatfan1992

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

No idea how they did in freestyle but throwing out 3 more names:

Gabe Dean

Jesse Delgado

Tony Nelson

[Konquest 155]

Mark Ironside.

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

Quentin Wright

[ExBSUfan 59]

Jake Rosholt.

Edited August 30, 2019 by ExBSUfan

[wrestlingnerd 3,003]

34 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

No idea how they did in freestyle but throwing out 3 more names:

Gabe Dean

Jesse Delgado

Tony Nelson

Dean had a junior world bronze. That alone disqualifies him from this list. 

[Dr. Novak 147]

11 minutes ago, ExBSUfan said:

Jake Rosholt

Poor guy got absolutely hammered in MMA.  

[PSUMike 445]

57 minutes ago, Dr. Novak said:

Poor guy got absolutely hammered in MMA.  

He was tough but liked to block punches with his face. Generally not the best strategy...

[TripNSweep 762]

Greg Jones.  I think he placed 7th at the open one year but he wasn't a freestyle guy, which is a shame because he was a very talented wrestler.  

[Housebuye 2,437]

5 minutes ago, TripNSweep said:

Greg Jones.  I think he placed 7th at the open one year but he wasn't a freestyle guy, which is a shame because he was a very talented wrestler.  

Yeah but that had more to do with him not liking freestyle. He had the talent and style to do fine, he just didn’t commit to it. 

Heil had very few quality wins in freestyle. For a 2 time champ that is rare. He trained freestyle for a lot of his youth too. Just didn’t have the style for it. Amazing folkstyler though. 

I don’t like the Tony Nelson pick. He was always right there with our world teamer and I believe made multiple national teams. 

Compared to expectations? Maybe Ruth? He made a team but never seemed to take it seriously and moved on quickly. I still think he could’ve been a world champ, kind of doing what Taylor is doing. He never made it to that level though. Took Taylor awhile too. 

[TripNSweep 762]

3 minutes ago, Housebuye said:

Yeah but that had more to do with him not liking freestyle. He had the talent and style to do fine, he just didn’t commit to it. 

Heil had very few quality wins in freestyle. For a 2 time champ that is rare. He trained freestyle for a lot of his youth too. Just didn’t have the style for it. Amazing folkstyler though. 

I don’t like the Tony Nelson pick. He was always right there with our world teamer and I believe made multiple national teams. 

Compared to expectations? Maybe Ruth? He made a team but never seemed to take it seriously and moved on quickly. I still think he could’ve been a world champ, kind of doing what Taylor is doing. He never made it to that level though. Took Taylor awhile too. 

He wasn't suited for it and didn't like it much, but he did at least try.  Had he stayed with it he might have done pretty well, but I don't think he had the desire to keep wrestling.  Kind of like Lesnar, except Lesnar knew what was waiting for him if he had gone that route and wanted no part of it and never even bothered to try.  Jones at least went for it for a year.  

[wrestlingphish 1,029]

2 hours ago, wildcatfan1992 said:

McDonough?

Senior National Team member, World University medalist (beat Nahshon to make the team).

[MDogg 273]

Lots of guys named Mark are college stars at Iowa and Oklahoma State but never make a US world team:

Mark Ironside

Mark Perry

Mark Branch

Mark Muñoz*

*Munoz only had one title but I blame that on Oklahoma State making him wrestle 2-3 weights below his natural weight class for part of his college career.

If you were to tweak the question a little you’d get a different answer from me.  “Who was the best ncaa wrestler to never wrestle at the world or Olympic championships?” 

My answer to that question would be Mark Churella. He doesn’t technically qualify under the initial criteria because he made the 1980 Olympic team but never wrestled because of the boycott. He’s chronically underrated when people talk about the all time greats because he wrestled in the 70s and there’s no film available online (that I know of). One of - if not the - best pinners in NCAA history.

[jchapman 1,330]

37 minutes ago, MDogg said:

Lots of guys named Mark are college stars at Iowa and Oklahoma State but never make a US world team:

Mark Ironside

Mark Perry

Mark Branch

Mark Muñoz*

*Munoz only had one title but I blame that on Oklahoma State making him wrestle 2-3 weights below his natural weight class for part of his college career.

If you were to tweak the question a little you’d get a different answer from me.  “Who was the best ncaa wrestler to never wrestle at the world or Olympic championships?” 

My answer to that question would be Mark Churella. He doesn’t technically qualify under the initial criteria because he made the 1980 Olympic team but never wrestled because of the boycott. He’s chronically underrated when people talk about the all time greats because he wrestled in the 70s and there’s no film available online (that I know of). One of - if not the - best pinners in NCAA history.

Churella made the 1980 team?  

[qc8223 327]

Dean Heil has been pretty pedestrian so far. He's never had anywhere near the freestyle success compared to his folkstyle results, going back to high school.

[qc8223 327]

2 hours ago, wrestlingphish said:

Senior National Team member, World University medalist (beat Nahshon to make the team).

McDonough was really starting to come into his own in freestyle before blowing out his knee. I think injuries pretty much ruined his senior level career. He took a while to get started following his shoulder and neck injuries that kept him from winning his 3rd title and then the knee injury ended his career for good.

[jchapman 1,330]

34 minutes ago, qc8223 said:

McDonough was really starting to come into his own in freestyle before blowing out his knee. I think injuries pretty much ruined his senior level career. He took a while to get started following his shoulder and neck injuries that kept him from winning his 3rd title and then the knee injury ended his career for good.

The ridiculous lack of game plan against Robles kept him from his third title.  The shoulder/neck kept him from his 4th AA

[MDogg 273]

4 hours ago, jchapman said:

Churella made the 1980 team?  

That’s what the internet tells me and the internet has never lied.

I can’t tell if you’re being obnoxiously Socratic or if that’s a genuine question...but I’m guessing the former. 

[MSU158 2,009]

2 hours ago, jchapman said:

The ridiculous lack of game plan against Robles kept him from his third title.  The shoulder/neck kept him from his 4th AA

Robles kept him from winning his 3rd. Game plan or not, he was NOT beating Robles that season. Terrible matchup. I don’t see any way McD was going to generate any offense in neutral and he was going to get turned and did. 

[jchapman 1,330]

13 minutes ago, MDogg said:

That’s what the internet tells me and the internet has never lied.

I can’t tell if you’re being obnoxiously Socratic or if that’s a genuine question...but I’m guessing the former. 

I can't tell if you are obnoxiously trolling or genuinely clueless.