Our introduction of the 149-pound finalists last week included some historical context. 

We shared some notes on the volatility at the top of the weight and explained how no other class had seen more turnover at the top during the past 25 years. 

One thing we didn’t mention last week: 157 pounds has been every bit as volatile during the last quarter century. 

Like 149, there have been 20 different NCAA champions since 2001. And like 149, it’s been a herculean task to win back-to-back titles at 157. 

Only three wrestlers have won multiple titles at 157 since the weight class was introduced in 1999 and just two have won consecutive titles. 

Don’t mistake that as a shortage of all-time greats here. Three wrestlers who won the Hodge Trophy at 165 also won titles at 157. And seven of the 20 national champs at 157 since 2001 also captured a title at another weight. 

Consequently, there was an abundance of high-caliber options for the Flowrestling All-Quarter Century Team presented by Defense Soap — even after Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake and Alex Dieringer were moved into the 165-pound balloting. 

Here are some of the top stars who just missed the final four cut at 157:

Austin O’Connor (North Carolina) — Compiled a 116-10 record across five seasons in the North Carolina lineup and reached the national podium four times. He placed third as a freshman and won a title at 149 as a sophomore. He moved up to 157 as a junior and battled back after an opening-round loss at the NCAA Championships by winning four straight consolation matches on a torn ACL before bowing out of the tournament with an eighth-place finish. As a senior, he went 23-0 with 16 bonus-point victories on his way to becoming the second multi-time NCAA champ in Tar Heel history. 

David Carr (Iowa State) — Carr runs with elite company in the Iowa State history books. His .960 winning percentage ranks behind only Cael Sanderson, Dan Gable and Tim Krieger. Carr wrestled in 67 dual meets with the Cyclones and won all 67 of his dual matches. He captured two titles — one at 157 and another at 165, where he went through NCAA champs Keegan O’Toole and Mitchell Mesenbrink — reached the finals three times and also placed third. He also won four Big 12 titles. 

Bubba Jenkins (Penn State/Arizona State) — Jenkins notched nine wins at the NCAA Championships during his two podium runs. Three were against eventual national champs and two others were against past or future finalists. He placed second in 2008 at 149 pounds at a weight that has been considered perhaps the greatest bracket in NCAA tournament history. As a senior at Arizona State, he handed David Taylor his first career loss, pinning the future two-time Hodge Trophy winner in the 2011 title bout at 157 pounds. 

Levi Haines (Penn State) — Enters his senior season as a three-time All-American who has finished second, first and third in his three trips to the NCAA Championships. Haines owns a 73-4 career record with the Nittany Lions and three of those defeats have come against NCAA champions. 

Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) — Compiled a 50-1 record across his final three seasons at Northwestern, where he reached the NCAA podium three times and captured a national title as a senior in 2022. Deakin also won three Big Ten titles. 

Building The Quarter Century Team

We put together a list with every NCAA champion since 2001 — all 160 of the guys who combined to win the 240 individual national titles during that time frame — and the Flowrestling team pared it down to 40 (the top four at each weight) with a staff vote. Ultimately, we'll cut the list down to 10 with the help of a fan vote on social media. 

Iowa’s Spencer Lee (125), Ohio State’s Logan Stieber (133), Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis (141) and Penn State’s Zain Retherford (149) have claimed first-team spots. 

Now you can cast a vote for the top 157-pounder from the past quarter century. 

Who was the best 157-pound wrestler of the Quarter-Century?

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) June 30, 2025

(Listed in chronological order) 

T.J. Williams (Iowa)

Williams stands atop Iowa’s all-time winning percentage chart after compiling a 98-1 record in three seasons with the Hawkeyes. After spending a season in the junior college ranks, Williams went undefeated as a sophomore en route to the 149-pound title in 1999. He entered the 2000 NCAA Championships undefeated before getting knocked off in overtime in the NCAA semifinals by Boise State’s Larry Quisel. Williams bounced back to take third. A year later, he captured his second title by downing Nebraska’s Bryan Snyder 3-2 in a tiebreaker for the 157-pound title.  

Ryan Bertin (Michigan) 

Though he never won a Big Ten title — he was a three-time conference runner-up — Bertin navigated his way to the top of the NCAA podium twice and earned All-America honors four times with the Wolverines. Bertin posted a 117-19 record at Michigan, highlighted by his 31-1 senior season. He claimed national titles in 2003 and 2005 and also placed sixth as a freshman in 2002 and third as a junior in 2004.   

Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) 

The most decorated wrestler in Illinois history won four Big Ten titles, reached the NCAA finals four times, won a pair of titles and finished his career with a 116-3 record. Martinez turned in one of the best debut performances in NCAA history in 2015 when he capped a 35-0 freshman season with a major decision win in the national finals. His college unbeaten run came to an end midway through his sophomore season when he got pinned by Penn State’s Jason Nolf, but Martinez bounced back to beat Nolf in the Big Ten and NCAA finals that season. Martinez moved up to 165 for his final two seasons and posted a 49-2 record with both defeats coming in the NCAA finals. 

Jason Nolf (Penn State) 

Two razor-thin defeats against Martinez and an injury default loss stood as the only setbacks for Nolf in 120 college matches. Nolf stunned the college wrestling world and established himself as an instant title threat when he handed Martinez his first career loss with a fall in their 2016 dual meeting. Martinez bounced back to win by tiebreaker in the Big Ten finals and again in the NCAA finals when he scored a takedown in the closing seconds to win a 6-5 decision. It turned out to be Nolf’s only loss in 20 career matches at the NCAA Championships, where he scored bonus points in 15 bouts with three pins, eight technical falls and four major decisions. Nolf finished his career with an 87.5 percent bonus-point rate.