Most NCAA championships are decided before the individual finals, with rare team races that come down to the wire. The following 10 were decided by two points or less. 

10. 1999 Division I NCAA championships

First place: Iowa - 100.5
Second place: Minnesota - 98.5
Spread: 2 points

The grand finale of the 1999 NCAA championships came down to two of the most famous heavyweights in college wrestling history: Stephen Neal of Cal-State Bakersfield and Brock Lesnar of Minnesota. 

Neal won the highly anticipated match, 3-2, over Lesnar, giving Iowa a two-point victory over Minnesota. Neal earned a freestyle World title later that year before snagging three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots. Lesnar became a successful professional wrestler before a short stint in the UFC. 

Minnesota head coach J Robinson would have to wait two more seasons until he won his elusive NCAA team title.

Typically, the second-place team analyzes the ways it could have won. Minnesota had several mishaps, but coaches and athletes from the team will likely mention two.

1. Iowa’s Wes Hand was chosen to attend the NCAA championships over Minnesota’s Chad Erikson, even though both placed eighth at the Big 10 championships. The top seven finishers from the Big 10s earned a berth to the NCAA tournament, with two wildcards selected by coaches. Hand scored 2.5 points at the NCAA championships, and Iowa won by 2 points. 

2. Penn State’s Clint Musser won a 2-1 tiebreaker over Minnesota’s Chad Kraft in the 157-pound semifinals. A coin flip decided which wrestler was given the choice of top or bottom in the 30-second tiebreaker. The coin appeared to flip in Kraft’s favor, but at the last second, it took an awkward bounce, and Musser was given his choice. He took down and got away. Musser placed second, and Kraft placed fifth. 

Doug Schwab (141) and T.J. Williams (149) won titles for the Hawkeyes. Minnesota’s Brandon Eggum dropped his match to Cael Sanderson at 184 pounds, while Tim Hartung defeated Iowa's Lee Fullhart, giving the Golden Gophers a chance at heavyweight.

Neal won his match over Lesnar, giving Iowa a two-point win.

9. 1999 Division III NCAA championships

First place: Wartburg - 117.5
Second place: Augsburg - 116
Spread: 1.5 points

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Augsburg in 1999. The Auggies won the previous three NCAA championships and were on the cusp of winning four in a row, had it not been for a complete meltdown. 

Augsburg led 112-109.5 entering the finals. The Auggies sent five to the finals compared to two for the Knights, with two head-to-head match-ups. 

Augsburg won both head-to-head matches by major decision earlier in the season. 

For Wartburg, those results didn't matter. 

Zac Weiglein beat Darin Bertram (125), and Ben Shane beat Josh Cagle (149), 7-5, to give Wartburg a 117.5-116 lead after Augsburg’s John Marchette won a title at 133 pounds. 

Augsburg had to win one of its next two, and the crown was theirs. Neither of those things happened. 

Josh Newman (St. John’s) beat Jim Peterson, 2-1 in overtime, at 174 pounds, and Upper Iowa's Ryan Birt sealed it for Wartburg, thanks to a 6-3 win over Nik Lewandowski at 184 pounds. 

Augsburg coach Jeff Swenson says that losing the title in 1999 still haunts him. His team won the next two titles, which could have meant a D3 record of six straight.

8. 1993 Division III NCAA championships

First place: Augsburg - 93
Second place: Wartburg - 92
Spread: 1 point

The 1999 NCAA championships were retribution after Augsburg defeated Wartburg by one point in 1993. Jim Miller was on the cusp of winning an NCAA championship in his second season as head coach.

Like the Auggies in 1999, the Knights built a nearly insurmountable lead but lost the title in the homestretch. 

Like Swenson, the loss still haunts Miller, even though both eventually won 10 NCAA team titles each before their respective retirements. 

What did Miller learn from his heartbreaking tournament? Every point counts. There were times during the tournament when a Wartburg wrestler could have scored bonus points -- but didn't.

Tom Hogan (150) and Lance Christenson (167) won titles for Wartburg, but each had seven-point wins in the semifinals. Had they garnered an additional point in their matches, then the Knights could have won the team title with two major decisions. 

Augsburg and Wartburg each sent three wrestlers to the finals, with the Auggies winning three and the Knights two. The championship was decided when Nick Fornicola (Augsburg) beat Zane Braggs (Wartburg), 5-4, at 118 pounds. 

7. 1946 Division I NCAA championships

First place: Oklahoma State - 25
Second place Northern Iowa - 24
Spread: 1 point

This was the first NCAA championship after a three-year hiatus due to World War II. The University of Northern Iowa (known as Iowa State Teachers College) had all the tools to win the 1946 tournament over traditional power Oklahoma State, winners of the previous six team titles.

The Cowboys offered to host the tournament at the last minute since colleges were still transitioning from the war. Only 17 programs from the Midwest participated, but the Panthers were primed to win. 

They probably should have, too. 

Leon Martin, a runner-up at the 1942 NCAA championships, was ruled ineligible after completing the regular season undefeated at 175 pounds. Although he had a year of eligibility, Martin was in graduate school and the NCAA only allowed undergraduates to compete.

Oklahoma State won by a point, even though the Panthers had three champions and the Cowboys had two. Northern Iowa also placed second to Oklahoma by a point in 1952. 

6. 1951 Division I NCAA championships

First place: Oklahoma - 22
Second place: Oklahoma State - 21
Spread: 1 point

The formula was simple for Oklahoma State to win a team title in 1951. The Cowboys had to win two more finals matches than the Sooners. Each team sent three to the finals, which was significant since there were only eight weight classes contested. 

Oklahoma State won two titles, and Oklahoma won one, but it wasn’t enough to overtake their in-state rival. 

5. 1965 Division I NCAA championships

First place: Iowa State - 87
Second place: Oklahoma State - 86
Spread: 1 point

Harold Nichols won his first NCAA team championship thanks to future Iowa State head coach Bobby Douglas getting injured during the tournament. Douglas was the prohibitive favorite to win the 137-pound title during his senior season at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys had a loaded team, but top-seeded Douglas was literally knocked out of the tournament during his opening-round win over Dan Devito of Southern Illinois-Carbondale. 

Douglas suffered a concussion and was taken to a local hospital. He thought he was in heaven since the nurses were all wearing white when he woke up. The Cowboy senior couldn’t continue, leaving the door open for Iowa State’s second-seeded Veryl Long to win. Douglas beat Long, 8-4, in the Big Eight tournament finals, so the points Douglas would likely have earned were the ultimate difference. 

Long eventually won the title, and so did Tom Peckham at 177 pounds. The Cyclones had a monster consolation round, leading to a team championship. Iowa State had five third-place finishers, a fourth-place finisher, and a fifth-place finisher for a total of nine All-Americans. 

4. 2008 Division II NCAA championships

First place: Nebraska-Kearney - 108.5
Second place: Minnesota State-Mankato - 108
Spread: 0.5 points

Of all the NCAA championships ever contested, the 2008 Division II tournament was likely the closest. Minnesota State-Mankato fell a mere half-second shy of potentially winning the title. 

The Lopers clung to a half-point lead (100.5-100) over the Mavericks with each team sending two wrestlers to the finals. The Lopers struck first with Brett Allgood winning a title at 133 pounds.

Nebraska Kearney 104.5, Minnesota State-Mankato 100

The Mavericks fired back with wins from Jason Rhoten (157) and Andy Pickar (165). Pickar won his match 8-2 and had Hudson Harrison (Mercyhurst) on his back for one and a half seconds as time expired. Another half-second meant two additional points, meaning a major decision and a bonus point for the Mavericks. Mankato didn't get the major, so they only secured four points for the title instead of five with a major decision. 

Minnesota State-Mankato 108, Nebraska-Kearney 104.5

The team title came down to the best heavyweight (all divisions) in the country winning his finals match against Central Oklahoma’s Dustin Finn. Future three-time World/Olympic bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev notched a 4-1 win for Nebraska-Kearney, securing the first title in program history.

Nebraska Kearney 108.5, Minnesota State-Mankato 108

3. 1978 NCAA championships

First place: Iowa - 94.5
Second place: Iowa State - 94
Spread: 0.5 points

Dan Gable says he doesn’t believe in luck, but he was extremely lucky to win the 1978 NCAA championships during his second season as Iowa head coach. Gable would have to take down Iowa State, led by his college coach, Harold Nichols. 

Iowa entered the finals with 94.5 points and two finalists (freshman Randy Lewis at 126 and junior Bruce Kinseth at 150) against three finalists for Iowa State (Mike Land at 126, Kelly Ward at 158, and Frank Santana at 190).

Lewis was defeated by Iowa State’s Mike Land, 13-5, narrowing Iowa’s lead to 94.5 to 94. Michigan’s Mark Churella pinned Kinseth, leaving Iowa State two opportunities to pick up the team title. 

All Gable could do was watch. 

Kelly Ward gave Wisconsin’s Lee Kemp all he could handle, but he lost 10-8 in a match that Kemp was favored to win. That meant the team title came down to the result of Santana vs. Wisconsin’s Ron Jeidy at 190 pounds. 

Santana, the returning NCAA champion, was seeded first over the second-seeded Jeidy. The Cyclone senior had won two previous meetings over Jeidy, but the result, as it turned out, was out of his hands. Santana blew out his ACL during the match, and while he tried to continue, Nichols threw in the towel to prevent Santana from further injury, giving Gable his first NCAA title as head coach by half a point. 

There was also a scoring error caught by Oklahoma State’s radio commentator J. Carl Guymon. Iowa State was erroneously given an extra team point, which, as it turned out, would have affected the outcome. 

This was the first of nine consecutive titles for the Hawkeyes under Gable. Iowa would win by an average of 38 points over the next eight seasons. 

2. 1979 Division III NCAA championships

First place: College of New Jersey - 77.75
Second place: SUNY-Brockport - 77.5
Spread: 0.25 points

SUNY-Brockport led the team race entering the finals, but the title slipped out of their hands when Mike Rossetti of TCNJ won the title at 126 pounds. The Golden Eagles sent two wrestlers to the finals but lost both matches. The Lions sent three to the finals but only secured a win from Rossetti. 

1. 1979 Division II NCAA championships

First place: Cal State-Bakersfield - 112.75
Second place: Eastern Illinois: 112.5
Spread: 0.25 points

Cal State-Bakersfield had serious firepower when they entered the finals of the 1979 Division II NCAA championships, with three wrestlers to Eastern Illinois' four. 

Joe Gonzales (118) and John Azevedo (126) of the Roadrunners reached the finals at the Division I tournament a few days later. 

Gonzales dropped his finals match to Gene Mills of Syracuse, 16-13, while Azevedo lost to Iowa’s Randy Lewis, 20-14. Both wrestlers won Division I titles for Cal State-Bakersfield the following year. 

On this day, however, a Division II team title was on the line. Gonzales won 22-14, Azevedo won 11-8, and teammate Tom Gongora secured the 142-pound title. 

Bob McGuinn (134) and Bob Holland (158) snagged wins in the finals, but the Panthers lost at 167 and 190 pounds.

Both the Division II and Division III NCAA championships were decided by ¼ of a point in 1979.