Thread: NCAA Wrestling Championships.

It's one of my favorite ulyearly sporting events. One of the most hard fought championships there is.

Quite a bit of Colorado connections on this year's tourney. The biggest being Andrew Alirez out of Northern Colorado. Alirez was a 4 time state champ out of Greeley Central who was one of the top 4 recruits in the nation his senior year (all major wrestling sites had him ranked somewhere in the top 4 including one big one that had him as the #1 recruit that year) he decided to forgo all the big school offers and stay at home to attend NCU. He is seeded 2nd but ranked #1 in quite a few sites including Intermat which is probably the biggest wrestling ranking sites.

Cholton Schultz is a junior from Ponderosa who wrestles heavy weight for Arizona State. He is a returning all American and seeded 5th IIRC.

Mosha Schwartz is out of Ponderosa and he's a top ten seed.

Daniel Cardenas is a freshman from Pamona wrestling for Stanford. He won a Pac 12 championship as a freshman and has only lost one match all season, he's a 6th seed.

There's at least one of the Finesilver brothers still wrestling also. There was 3 brothers total that all wrestled in D1 all from Cherry Creek.

Also a shout-out to two wrestlers from Adams State who won D2 championships last weekend including Josiah Rider who was born in Rifle and went to HS in GJ. His dad was the last state champion at Rifle before I won mine. He was a much better wrestler than I was though, he lived and breathed that stuff. His son Josiah has now won back to back D2 natl championships. I suspect he'll transfer to a D1 school for his senior year and he'll be a sneaky dark horse type for the D1 tourney next year.

This explains why so many MMA fighters train grappling in Colorado.

Originally Posted by King87

This explains why so many MMA fighters train grappling in Colorado.

A lot of world class athletes take advantage of Colorado's unique high altitude training options.

And Andrew Alirez is your 2023 141 pound NCAA National Champion!!!!!!! So freaking happy for that young man.

I saw something about Spencer Lee on twitter yesterday. A vid of his mom having a meltdown after he was beaten went viral which was kind of funny.

Well, it was a mix of good and bad for College wrestlers with Colorado ties. We had 4 in the semis 1 Air Force wrestler and 3 kids who did their HS wrestling in Colorado. Unfortunately all 4 lost but that still means at least 4 All Americans with Colorado ties with a few more possible coming out of the early consolation matches. We were hurt a lot by Alirez taking an Olympic Red Shirt year, otherwise we'd have a 2 time Champ about to be crowned not only from Colorado but also wrestling for Northern Colorado (I love that kid BTW).

Still, a too 10 showing IMHO for our state. Colorado is easily a top 12 or so wrestling state, considering our population numbers when compared to the other states that would make that list, it's pretty impressive. Of all the sports I would argue wrestling is what we are best at producing top notch talent aside from the obvious winter sport athletes.

Keep up the good work Colorado grapplers.

Every collegiate athlete who wins a national championship at any sport has displayed hard work and tenacity. You don't accomplish something like that without those things (unless maybe you're playing with some monumental genetic advantage I'll let you figure out what I'm talking about) but as every wrestler knows the D1 wrestling title is a different beast entirely. I truly believe a D1 wrestling title is the hardest title to win in college sports. The grind that college wrestlers go through is akin to very high level military type shit. A Navy Seal would feel a Penn State Wrestling practice I guarantee you that. I wrestled in small level college wrestling and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Our easy days were 6.5 mile runs. It was crazy.

This picture so greatly shows what a D1 wrestling title is all about.


It is without a doubt my favorite annual sporting event. I have watched every one for decades now. It's my start of spring and the one awesome event in a time, for me that is bereft of any sports entertainment, I don't like BB and don't dare start watching Hockey because I won't stop and I don't need another sport sucking my free time.

This was a really good year for the tourney. Crowned a couple of 4 time Champs, a Herculean accomplishment that has been done a total of 7 times including the 2 this year. There was some great matches and "blood time" was the theme of the day. Quite a few pauses to clean up blood. It happens. Also, the young man who won the 197lb title, Aaron Brooks would whoop the ass of every single player in this years NFL draft, just saying.

The basis of a strong MMA career often begins in grappling of some kind.

Originally Posted by King87

The basis of a strong MMA career often begins in grappling of some kind.

Oh yeah, wrestlers make great UFC fighters.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

Oh yeah, wrestlers make great UFC fighters.

It's easier to pick up enough of the striking fundamentals and be solid on your feet than to learn how to grapple. What I love about MMA is that there's a meta to it; wrestlers used to dominate, then the strikers adapted, then the wrestlers adapted to that, etc. I'm simplifying it a bit, as most guys and gals have an all-around game to them.

I'll just stick this in here. There is a young man from Colorado we all need to get behind. Andrew Alirez won a national championship last year wrestling for Northern Colorado. He is a true Coloradan not one of these guys who call Colorado home because of the Olympic training center, he is born and raised Coloradan. He won 4 state titles while wrestling at Greeley Central and despite being one of the top recruits in the nation with his pick of schools he chose Northern Colorado to represent his state and stay close to home. He is one of my favorite home grown athletes ever. Kid is all heart and fire and he is one bad man. I really hope he makes the Olympic team, a tough task to be sure but he can do it. If you get a chance to watch throw some good vibes this young man's way.