NATIONAL CHAMPS
KANSAS CITY — David Carr and Parker Keckeisen finished the wrestling season on top of the podium, claiming NCAA championships here Saturday night.
Carr earned his second title for Iowa State, while Keckeisen his first competing for Northern Iowa.
Penn State, who clinched a third straight team championship on Friday, finished with a tournament-record 172.5 points as Levi Haines, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet all won individual titles.
Cornell was runners-up followed by Michigan, the Cyclones and Iowa rounding out the Top-5. The Panthers placed 14th overall.
Carr, who won it all as a freshman and was a runner-up last year, scored a thrilling 9-8 decision over previously unbeaten Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State at 165 pounds. After taking a 3-1 lead after the first, Carr was hit with two stall calls in the second.
With 29 seconds left in the period, though, he locked in another three-point takedown to go up 4-2. In the third, another stall call went against Carr with Mesenbrink getting an escape and a takedown.
As the match went under a minute, Carr escaped and earned the winning point via riding time for the title to become the 17th Cyclone to win at least two titles. He plans to continue his pursuit of a spot on the Olympic team, just like his dad, Nate, who was a bronze medalist and three-time NCAA champion.
Carr is the first five-time All-American in program history and the 12th to finish four times on the podium at nationals. His 21 career NCAA wins are a new school record.
“It’s hard to put into words (what Iowa State means to me),” Carr said. “When I first got here, the goal was to win a national title and help bring the team back.
“To see how many All-Americans we had, that’s as big a part of my legacy; even more than just the titles.”
Keckeisen, the top seed at 184 pounds, finished off his season a perfect 31-0 with a 14-5 major decision over Dustin Plott from Oklahoma State. The UNI standout, who had finished third twice and was a runner-up last year, earned bonus points in all his matches at nationals with three major decisions and two technical falls.
“Me and (assistant coach Lee Roper) sat down,” Keckeisen said. “We set a goal to try and bonus everyone. That eased my mind.
“It is just proof that when you write stuff down, you can achieve it.”
In four seasons as a Panther, Keckeisen is 79-5 with 41 wins involving bonus points. All five of his losses have come via decision. He plans to return to UNI next year and compete for a second title.
Two first-period takedowns gave him control early as Keckeisen added two more takedowns in the third to become the first UNI undefeated D1 national champion since Bill Dotson in 1963.
Anthony Echemendia, Evan Frost and Casey Swiderski joined Carr on the podium, earning All-American status for the Cyclones.
Echemendia finished fifth at 141 pounds, Frost was sixth at 133 and Swiderski seventh at 149.
After falling to Iowa’s Real Woods, Echemendia was awarded a medical forfeit vs. Lachlan McNeil of North Carolina for fifth. Swiderski scored 13 first-period points in his win over Quinn Kinner of Rider, 19-8.
Frost fell to Lehigh’s Ryan Crookham and Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin, who were both seeded in the Top-5.
For Penn State and head coach Cael Sanderson, Brooks and Starocci became the first teammates to win four NCAA titles and just the sixth and seventh to ever win four. The Nittany Lions also became the first team to win by triple digits in tournament history.