Over this past weekend was the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Starting on Thursday, Mar. 20 and finishing up on Saturday, Mar. 22, the top wrestlers in the country met in Philadelphia, PA to find out who was the best. The Panthers had ten wrestlers qualify for the championships, and were looking for a top four team finish. The top four teams got a trophy, but UNI did not find the team success that they were looking for. The Panthers still had a solid ninth place finish in the team standings, Cael Happel finished in fifth place at 141 pounds and Parker Keickeisen finished second at 184.
Out of the ten wrestlers that the Panthers brought to the championships, only two of them ended up placing in their respective weight classes. The other wrestlers still earned some valuable team points for the Panthers, but Trever Anderson, Julian Farber, Colin Realbuto, Ryder Downey, Jack Thomsen, Jared Simma, Wyatt Voelker and Lance Runyon all failed to place.
Cael Happel came into the championships rated fairly high in the 141 pound weight class. He lived up to his seeding winning his first three matches of the tournament. Following the wins he dropped two in a row, before finishing out with a 7-2 decision win over Navy’s Josh Koderhandt. The win earned him fifth place in the weight class. His performance at the championships was enough to earn him All-American status.
The Panther that made it the farthest was the reigning national champion at 184 pounds, Parker Keckeisen. Keckeisen rolled through his first three matches of the tournament, before facing stiff competition in the match before the championship. In a close match with Minnesota’s Max McEnelly, Keckeisen pulled out the 4-1 victory. In the championship Keckeisen matched up with the top seed in the weight class, Penn State’s Carter Starocci. Starocci won four consecutive national championships at 174 pounds before moving up to 184. In Keckeisen’s last match of his dominant UNI career, he fell just short of winning his second championship. The match was tied 1-1 with about a minute to go, when Starocci scored a takedown on Keckeisen that gave him the 4-1 lead. Keckeisen would earn two more points before the match was over, but fell just short, 4-3.
Despite the tough loss, Keckeisen ended his career at UNI as one of the best wrestlers in school history. He finished with 133 career wins, the third most in UNI history, the highest winning percentage in school history, five-time Big 12 champion, five-time All-American and one time national champion.
