Iowa crowned two champions in Lincoln McIlravy and Terry Steiner, and the Hawkeyes turned the NCAA wrestling championship into a rout as they won their third straight national title Saturday.
The Hawkeyes, who only had a .25 point lead going into Friday's quarterfinals and semifinals, finished the three-day tournament with 123.75 points despite two wrestlers losing championship bouts. It was Iowa's 13th title in the past 18 years."The little things we do make a big difference," Iowa coach Dan Gable said. "When you make your own breaks, it makes it just that much better."
Runner-up Penn State, which lost three title bouts at 134 pounds, 150 and 158, scored 87.5 points. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Nebraska with 79.5 points, Arizona State 72.5, Ohio State 64, host Iowa State 58.25, North Carolina State 38.5, Fresno State 37.75, Minnesota 36.5 and Cornell 35.
Iowa lost the 118 championship bout when No. 1 seed Chad Zaputil dropped a 3-2 decision - his only loss of the year - to third-seeded and unbeaten Sam Henson of Clemson. It was Zaputil's third straight year at runner-up. At 190, the Hawkeyes' Joel Sharratt lost 7-5 to No. 1 seed Rex Holman of Ohio State.
Arizona State and Ohio State joined Iowa in crowning two champions. For the Sun Devils, Markus Mollica decisioned Penn State's Josh Robbins 6-4 at 158 and Ray Miller downed Missouri's Shaon Fry 6-2 at 167.
Ohio State's champions were defending title holder Kevin Randleman, who beat Nebraska's Corey Olson 5-2 at 177, and Holman.
"Both Corey and I put up a good fight. I thank God for being here and for neither of us getting hurt," Randleman said.
Other champions included: Nebraska's second-seeded Tony Purler, who upset top-seeded Shawn Charles of Arizona State 7-5 at 126; North Carolina's T.J. Jaworsky, who held off Penn State's Cary Kolat 6-4 at 134; and heavyweight Sylvester Terkay of North Carolina State, who pinned Michigan State's Don Whipp in 1:43.
Both Randleman and Holman were No. 1 seeds, as were Miller and Terkay.