The NCAA Championships wrapped up over a week ago, which has afforded myself and the inimitable Andy Hamilton enough time to compile a substantial list of stats, stories, facts, and findings from the tournament that may have escaped your attention. Some statistical information from the Mat Talk Online 2024 NCAA Wrestling Guide was used in this report. 

We've got a lot of them, an even hundo, so we're going to break them up into four more easily digestible articles. If you think we missed anything, or have anything for the corrections departments, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Part I - Part II - Part III

7 Facts About Penn State at the 2024 NCAAs

1) The Nittany Lions led the field with six pins in Kansas City. Two of those pins came in matches that were tied in the third period and another in overtime. 

2) Penn State had an All-American at every weight except 125 and 133, where Braeden Davis and Aaron Nagao respectively finished in the round of 12, one match shy of earning All-American honors.

3) Mesenbrink’s runner-up finish was Penn State’s first All-American honor at 165 since 2019 when Vincenzo Joseph finished in second. 

4). The longest All-American drought for the Nittany Lions at any weight class is at 125, where Penn State hasn’t placed since Nico Megaludis won the title in 2016. 

5) Penn State’s most successful weight class during the Sanderson era continues to be 174 pounds, where the Nittany Lions have had an All-American every year since 2011. 

6) Starocci became the eighth wrestler seeded outside the top eight to win a title since 1979. 

7) Tyler Kasak became the ninth wrestler since 1996 to drop an opening-round match and come back to place third. 

Watch Kasak's third-place bout: 

4 Facts About Missouri at the 2024 NCAAs

1) Missouri’s three All-Americans this season pushed the Tigers’ total to 68 during head coach Brian Smith’s 26 seasons. 

2) Multiple Tigers have reached the podium in 11 straight national tournaments. 

3) Mizzou qualified 10 wrestlers for the NCAA Championships for the second straight season. 

4) The Tigers have averaged 9.3 competitors during their last 13 trips to the NCAA Championships. 

4 Facts About Northern Iowa at the 2024 NCAAs

1) Parker Keckeisen won the 184-pound title, becoming the 15th UNI All-American during head coach Doug Schwab’s current tenure and second NCAA champ of the Schwab era, following in the footsteps of fellow 184-pounder Drew Foster, who won a title in 2019. 

2) It’s also worth noting that Northern Iowa’s Taylor Lujan was the top-seeded 184-pounder for the canceled 2020 NCAA Championships. 

3) Keckeisen became the first undefeated D1 champ for the Panthers since Bill Dotson in 1963. 

4) UNI has had an All-American at the last eight NCAA Championships. This year the Panthers also had three bloodrounders. 

Watch Keckeisen's finals bout in its entirety: 

3 Facts About Nebraska at the 2024 NCAAs

1) Nebraska had five All-Americans this season, marking the second time in three years that half the Husker lineup has reached the medal round. 

2) Despite having 95 qualifiers and 39 All-Americans in the interim, Nebraska hasn’t had an NCAA champ since Jordan Burroughs climbed to the top of the podium in 2011. 

3) Nebraska went 4-2 in the bloodround in 2024. That added two more to its NCAA-leading 33 round of 12 finishes over the last 20 NCAA tournaments, five more than second-place Oklahoma State. 

3 Facts About Lehigh at the 2024 NCAAs

1) Lehigh had three medalists this year, extending its string of All-Americans to 13 straight tournaments. 

2) Ryan Crookham’s third-place finish marked the third year in a row a Mountain Hawk has finished with a third-place medal at the NCAAs. Crookham also tied for the highest finish by a Lehigh wrestler since Darian Cruz won a title in 2017.

3) With Crookham and fellow freshman Luke Stanich, who placed fifth at 125, Lehigh became one of four programs with multiple freshmen All-Americans. Penn State (Tyler Kasak and Mitchell Mesenbrink), Ohio State (Rocco Welsh and Nick Feldman) and Little Rock (Nasir Bailey and Stephen Little) were the other three programs with two freshmen AAs.

Watch highlights of Crookham's third-place bout, where he defeated Nasir Bailey for the second time in the tournament: 

4 Facts About Wrestlers From Iowa, Oregon, Washington, Maine and Alabama at the 2024 NCAAs

1) Iowa produced four All-Americans for the second year in a row. There was just one Iowan on the podium at the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Championships. 

2) The Pacific Northwest continues to struggle, as both Oregon and Washington failed to produced an All-American for the second year in a row. Prior to 2023, the last time that happened was 2008. 

3) Kelvin Griffin of Lehigh was the first national qualifier from the state of Maine since a very long time.

4) Alabama had three qualifiers for the first time in history (probably). Sam Latona, Isaiah Powe and Will Miller all won a match at the 2024 NCAAs and all have at least one more year of eligibility. Alabama on the rise!