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Iowa State’s David Carr and UNI’s Parker Keckeisen win NCAA wrestling championships
Iowa’s Drake Ayala is runner-up at 125 pounds; Cyclones take 4th in team race by 1 1/2 points over Hawkeyes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One might say that Iowa State’s David Carr and Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen also provided redemption for their wrestling programs when they won national championships Saturday night at the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
Back in 2019-20, special things were happening in both the Iowa State and Northern Iowa wrestling programs.
The Cyclones featured a redshirt freshman named David Carr who earned a No. 1 seed in that winter’s national tournament.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were one year removed from seeing Drew Foster win a national championship at 184 pounds and had another top-ranked 184-pounder, Taylor Lujan in the 2020 nationals. They also had a true freshman at 184 pounds that season in former Wisconsin prep Keckeisen.
Of course, much of that planned success for both programs did not happen when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 nationals in Minneapolis and prevented Lujan, then a senior, from repeating what Foster started. Meanwhile, Carr had to wait one year to win a national championship at the 2021 nationals in St. Louis, in a nearly-empty arena because of the pandemic.
That was not the case Saturday night, when Carr took a 7-2 lead, then held off Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, 9-8, in the 165-pound final before 15,900 fans at T-Mobile Center. This happened one night after Carr beat Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole, a two-time NCAA champ who beat the Cyclone in last year’s final.
Carr, who also settled for third place in 2022, could not help but compare the difference between his two championships.
“It was crazy,” recalled Carr, the son of Nate Carr, a three-time NCAA champ for Iowa State. “I looked out there and it was empty. Now I look up and I don't know what the attendance is, but it was so loud and I'm just so grateful.”
Two matches later, it was Keckeisen who delivered Northern Iowa’s 23rd all-time individual championship when he dominated Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott, 14-5 at 184 pounds. It also helped remind UNI fans and Keckeisen how good the Panthers have been at 184 the past six years. Keckeisen finished second in 2023 and third in both 2021 and 2022.
“When Drew won it, it almost secured my thought process about coming to UNI,” said Keckeisen, who has plans to use his extra year of eligibility next winter. “It was like, dang, you can win here. I was planning on winning here. Seeing Drew do that then was super, super cool. And I remember watching him win. Super cool. I'm, like, dang, that's awesome.”
Both Carr’s and Keckeisen’s success helped remind their coaches the historical significance of their championships.
“Parker doesn’t take it lightly that he’s going to uphold that weight class,” UNI Coach Doug Schwab said. “He believes that he has a responsibility to move this forward.
“Back in 2019, we needed a big-time recruit and David took a chance on Iowa State,” said Cyclones coach Kevin Dresser, who also recalls how tough of a rebuilding job ISU faced. “I think the first couple duals he came to watch as a high school senior, I don’t think we beat anybody.
“We knew he was going to be good and he was so much about team and wanted the team to win a Big 12 championship.”
That’s what happened two weeks ago when the Cyclones won the conference championship and his victory in Kansas City helped ISU finish 1/2 points ahead of Iowa (68 1/2-67) for fourth place in the team race.
Penn State not only won a third straight team championship but set NCAA records for points (172 1/2) and scoring margin (100) over second-place Cornell, which tallied 72 1/2 points in this year’s three-day tournament. Michigan was third with 71 points.
The Hawkeye also featured a finalist in 125-pound Drake Ayala, but the sophomore lost 7-2 to Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa.
“It’s too early to get analytical,” said Iowa Coach Tom Brands, who did feature four All-Americans in this tournament. “(Ayala) is dealing with a lot right now. That’s what competitors do. He’s an extraordinary competitor. We will move forward from here.”
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