UNI Wrestling Crowns 1st National Champ Since 2000

Thursday, March 21

Pittsburgh, Penn. - PPG Paints Arena

University of Northern Iowa

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Mark Lundy

UNI Wrestling Crowns 1st National Champ Since 2000

3/23/2019 9:51:00 PM | Wrestling

No. 13 UNI wrestling at 2019 NCAA Division I Championships
Attendance:

Session 1: 17,949
Session 2: 17,957
Session 3: 18,013
Session 4: 18,100
Session 5: 18,436
Session 6: 18,950
TOTAL: 109,405

PDF OF BRACKETS

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Drew Foster became UNI wrestling's first Division I National Wrestling champion in nearly two decades, defeating No. 6 Max Dean of Cornell, 6-4.

UNI's last champion was Tony Davis, who won in 2000 at 149 pounds. Until this year, UNI hadn't had a finalist since 2005.

Foster became UNI's 25^th two-time All-American. He earned his first All-America honors when he took seventh at 184 pounds in 2017.

Foster made the podium by knocking off Virginia Tech's No. 3 Zack Zavatsky in the quarterfinals. It was the fourth time in Foster's career that he had beaten Zavatsky. He added two more top-15 wins by beating No. 14 Chip Ness of North Carolina in the semifinals and No. 12 Lou Deprez (Binghamton) in the second round.

Bryce Steiert fought off an early attack by Alex Marinelli but eventually was taken down. Marinelli turned Steiert for two nearfall points before Steiert could get on the board with a reversal in the first period.

Steiert earned a final escape but eventually fell to Marinelli, 9-3. Steiert helped earn bonus points for UNI earlier in the tournament with a major decision and fall. Ranked and seeded 11^th in the championships, he knocked off Michigan's No. 6 Logan Massa en route to an eighth-place finish.

It is the first All-America honors for the junior from Waverly, Iowa. This was Steiert's third trip to the NCAA championships.

The team finished in 13^th place with 40.5 points, the highest finish under head coach Doug Schwab's tenure at UNI.

UNI's two All-Americans is the most for the program since 2017 when Foster earned his first honor.

Other notes:

Fourteen UNI wrestlers have combined for 22 titles.
UNI's last champion was Tony Davis in 2000 at 149 pounds.
The last time UNI had a wrestler in the semifinals was 2005 with Sean Stender at 197 pounds.
Drew Foster and Bryce Steiert bring UNI's All-America medal count to 125.
Under Schwab as head coach, UNI has earned 11 All-America titles.
Foster finished his career with 95 career wins.

Team finishes under Doug Schwab's tenure: