March in Pittsburgh is usually grey, but inside PPG Paints Arena in March 2019, things were electric. Honestly, if you weren't there, it’s hard to describe the specific brand of tension that hung over the mats. We went into the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships thinking we knew exactly what was going to happen. Bo Nickal and Jason Nolf were supposed to just walk through everyone to lead Penn State to another trophy. That part happened. But the way it happened, and the absolute chaos that erupted in the lightweights and the heavyweights, basically changed the trajectory of the sport for the next five years.
It wasn't just a tournament; it was a coronation and a funeral for a dozen different narratives all at once.
The Penn State Dynasty and the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships
Look, Cael Sanderson has built a machine. We know this. But 2019 was different because it felt like the end of an era. You had three seniors—Bo Nickal, Jason Nolf, and Anthony Cassar—who weren't just winning; they were destroying people. Penn State finished with 137.5 team points. Ohio State was in second with 96.5. That’s not a gap; that’s a canyon.
Nickal and Nolf were the heart of it. They finished their careers as three-time champions. But the real story that nobody saw coming at the start of the season was Anthony Cassar at heavyweight. He wasn't even the "guy" at the beginning of the year. Nick Nevills was the returning All-American. Cassar moved up, beat out Nevills, and then went on this tear that culminated in him taking down Gable Steveson in the semifinals and then Derek White in the finals.
It was a masterclass in peak performance.
The Freshman Who Broke the Bracket
While the Nittany Lions were doing their thing, the 133-pound weight class was essentially a crime scene. Nick Suriano and Daton Fix. That was the rivalry everyone wanted. They had met earlier in the season in a match that lasted forever due to a literal "hands to the face" call that people are still arguing about in message boards today.
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The final was grueling. It went to second sudden victory. Suriano eventually secured the takedown to win Rutgers' first-ever national title. Then, about twenty minutes later, Anthony Ashnault won another one for Rutgers at 149 pounds. Just like that, a program that had been an afterthought for decades had two individual champions in the same night.
Why 133 Was the Toughest Class in History
If you look back at the 133-pound bracket from the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships, it’s actually terrifying. You had Suriano, Fix, Stevan Micic, Luke Pletcher, and Austin DeSanto. Almost every single guy in the top six of that weight class has since gone on to win a world medal or an NCAA title of their own. It was a meat grinder.
Micic, wrestling for Michigan, was coming off an injury and still looked like a wizard on his feet. Fix was a tactical genius. Suriano, though? He was just meaner. He wrestled with a chip on his shoulder that seemed to fuel his gas tank. He didn't just want to win; he wanted to break people.
The Moments That Nobody Talked About (But Should Have)
Everyone remembers the finals. But the back-side of the bracket—the "blood round"—is where the real soul of the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships lived.
Take 165 pounds. Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) was going for his third title. He ran into Mekhi Lewis from Virginia Tech. Lewis was a freshman. He wasn't supposed to be there. He hadn't even been a top-five seed. But Lewis put on a clinic, using a beautiful low-level attack to neutralize Joseph’s power. It was one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, yet because Penn State won the team title anyway, people sometimes gloss over how incredible Lewis’s run actually was.
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Then you had the 174-pound class. Zahid Valencia from Arizona State was a freak of nature. He had lost to Mark Hall (Penn State) earlier, but in the finals, he looked untouchable. The speed differential was jarring. It reminded everyone that while the Big Ten usually dominates, the Pac-12 (at the time) still had individual superstars who could wreck a bracket.
Statistically Speaking: The Numbers That Matter
People love to talk about the "Big Three" programs, but 2019 showed some interesting shifts in the landscape.
- Total All-Americans by Conference: The Big Ten had 35. The Big 12 had 15. The ACC had 10.
- The Bonus Point Factor: Penn State didn't just win; they hunted for pins. In the championship rounds alone, they scored significantly more bonus points than Ohio State and Oklahoma State combined.
- The Attendance: 18,950 people packed the arena for the finals. Wrestling isn't a "niche" sport when you're in a city like Pittsburgh.
What Most People Get Wrong About 2019
There is this prevailing myth that the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships were "boring" because Penn State ran away with the team title. That’s total nonsense.
If you ignore the team score and look at the individual stories, 2019 was one of the most volatile years we've seen. Spencer Lee won his second title at 125, but he did it with a torn ACL (or at least, he was heavily compromised). He was essentially wrestling on one leg and still managing to out-scramble the best guys in the country.
Also, the heavyweight division underwent a total transformation. For years, heavyweight was "the boring weight." In 2019, you had Gable Steveson as a true freshman doing backflips. You had Cassar who moved like a middleweight. Suddenly, the big guys were the most athletic people in the building.
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The Long-Term Impact on the Sport
You can't talk about wrestling today without looking back at this specific tournament. It was the launching pad for the current international dominance of USA Wrestling.
Bo Nickal moved into MMA and is now a massive star in the UFC. Gable Steveson went on to win Olympic Gold in one of the most dramatic finishes in sports history. Nick Suriano and Daton Fix continued their rivalry across different weight classes and even different schools.
The 2019 tournament was the bridge between the "old school" style of grinding out 2-1 matches and the new "unlimited gas tank" style where guys are shooting 50 times a match.
Lessons for Coaches and Athletes
If you're a wrestler looking at the 2019 footage, pay attention to the hand fighting at 133 and 141. Yianni Diakomihalis winning his second title at 141 was a lesson in "funk." He stayed in positions where other wrestlers would have conceded the takedown. His win over Joey McKenna was a tactical chess match that showed that flexibility and scrambling are just as important as a double-leg takedown.
How to Apply These Insights Today
Wrestling has changed, but the blueprints laid down in 2019 are still valid. If you're looking to understand why certain teams dominate or how to analyze a bracket, here is the reality:
- Bonus Points Win Titles: Don't just settle for the win. Penn State proved that pinning your way through the early rounds creates a lead that is mathematically impossible to overcome.
- Peak at the Right Time: Anthony Cassar wasn't the favorite in November. He was the champion in March. Training cycles matter more than early-season rankings.
- The "Blood Round" is Where Legends are Made: If you're betting or building a fantasy bracket, look at the guys who lose early but have the cardio to wrestle back for third. They often provide more team points than a runner-up.
- Watch the Replays: Go back and watch the 165-pound final between Mekhi Lewis and Vincenzo Joseph. Study how Lewis used distance to keep Joseph from getting to his ties. It’s a perfect example of game-planning against a superior power-wrestler.
The 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships weren't just about the trophies. They were about the shift in how the sport is wrestled—faster, more athletic, and way more aggressive. Whether you're a casual fan or a coach, that Saturday night in Pittsburgh remains the gold standard for modern collegiate wrestling.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge:
- Review the full 2019 brackets on the NCAA official database to see the path of current MMA stars.
- Watch the technical breakdown of Yianni Diakomihalis’s scrambling techniques from the 141-pound final.
- Compare the 2019 heavyweight results to current rankings to see how the "athletic heavyweight" trend has persisted.