Be honest, Drew Foster wasn’t the guy we thought would be standing on top of the podium at 184 this year. Even Drew didn’t think so, as he explains in his post tournament interview, he thought that football was the route for him to take after high school. 

Well good thing for us, and ultimately the UNI Panther train, he chose the headgear of the helmet. But if you take a look at his career, Foster wasn’t the recruit that coaches were throwing money at, but a wise Doug Schwab saw the diamond in the rough and turned him into an NCAA champion. 

As a redshirt freshman he took his lumps and ended up with a 15-19 record. That very next year he moved up to 174 and became an All-American with a seventh place finish. However, he came up short of making the podium the following season. 

Then came his biggest breakthrough. 

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Foster came in as the #6-seed and left as the top dog. After taking out Christian LaFragola and very tough freshman Lou Deprez in the first two rounds he claimed his third win of the season over Zack Zavatsky in the quarters.

Then in the semis he cooled off a red hot Chip Ness, who was fresh off a pair of tough wins over, Sammy Colbray and second-seeded Shakur Rasheed, to punch his ticket to the finals. That’s where he came in as a bit of an underdog against Max Dean, who beat him during the year, 6-5. But on the big stage it was Foster’s time to shine as he defeated Dean 6-4 to win the 184-pound title.

Foster takes out Zavatsky in the quarters.

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Foster cools off a red hot Chip Ness in the semis.

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Foster gets revenge on Max Dean to win the title.

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