2021 NCAA Div. I Championship Notes – 165 pounds

The following are notes about the 165-pound weight class at the 2021 NCAA Division I

Championships that will take place March 18-20 in St. Louis.

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Head-to-head Matchups of WIN’s Top-10 Ranked Wrestlers

• #8 Shane Griffith (Stanford) dec. #1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) 3-1 sv – If this is indeed the final season of Stanford wrestling, the Cardinal sophomore upset the top-ranked Hawkeye with a takedown 16 seconds left in sudden victory. This marked the second straight NCAAs that Marinelli lost in the quarterfinal as the No. 1 seed.
• #5 Zach Hartman (Bucknell) won by medical forfeit #4 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) — Hartman collected his school’s ninth all-time All-American honor when Lewis, the 2019 NCAA champion, was unable to wrestle. The Hokie suffered the shoulder injury earlier this season and barely made it out of Thursday’s second round
• #3 Jake Wentzel (Pitt) dec. #6 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri), 9-6 — After surrendering a takedown to the Tiger freshman in the first period, the Panther stormed back with two takedowns of his own for the victory. Wentzel’s second takedown also led to a cradle and two-point nearfall that gave him a 5-3 lead.  O’Toole fought back with a late reversal and stalling point against the Panther.
• #7 Ethan Smith (Ohio State) major dec. #2 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State), 13-4 — The Buckeye saw the Sun Devil take a 4-2 lead after one period off a pair of takedowns before Smith rallied with a pair of reversals in the second period before Smith put it away with a takedown and four-point nearfall in the third period. Valencia appeared to be injured during the match.

• Virginia Tech’s 2019 NCAA champ Mekhi Lewis held on to beat Navy’s Tanner Skidgel, 3-2, despite having to take a full injury timeout to deal with the left shoulder injury that has hampered the Hokie sophomore this season.
• Stanford’s Shane Griffith rallied from a 4-0 deficit — after North Dakota State’s Luke Weber scored a takedown and two-point nearfall in the first 44 seconds — and beat the Bison, 7-5. The Cardinal sophomore battled back by scoring a takedown in the first period to cut margin to 4-3 before adding a second—period escape, another takedown with 47 seconds left and finally a riding time point.
• Arizona State’s No. 2 seed Anthony Valencia scored a power double with seven seconds left in sudden victory to give the Sun Devil a 6-4 victory over Northern Illinois’ Izzak Olejnick. Valencia trailed 3-2 after two periods.