Alex Dieringer Wins the Hodge

Oklahoma State's 165 lb champion won his third National Championship and wins his first Hodge Trophy, wrestling's version of the Heisman. 

Dieringer gave up one takedown this season and for the second year in a row it just was a pure eventuality that he won the NCAA title and the first one of the three was a score of 13-4 in the finals. He leaves college with a 133-4 record, one loss in the last three years, and a 3rd place finish as a freshman with a career NCAA record of 19-1. 

After Gwiazdowski (NC State) fell to Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) in the NCAA final, there really shouldn't have been a discussion. Zain Retherford (Penn State) did get some votes and finished 2nd after a very dominant season, but Dieringer should have been the unanimous choice. This season saw four wrestlers finish undefeated. Two years ago, Logan Steiber and Ed Ruth dropped matches during the season and people started to wonder if the days of parity would take over. Yet last year the studs took over with Dieringer, Gwiazdowski, Imar, and Steiber (winning the Hodge) with dominant undefeated seasons. This year Dieringer was joined by Retherford, Nahshon Garrett (Cornell), and Snyder boasting unblemished records. None could give the collegiate resume Dieringer finished with any sort of serious serious competition and the right choice was made.