On Saturday night, Black champions proved their greatness once again at the 2022 D1 NCAA Wrestling Championships, and what better place to do it than in the city of Motown.
Last year’s event featured five Black wrestling champions, including Minnesota’s eventual Olympic gold medalist, Gable Steveson.
It also featured a trio of champions from Penn State University, which finished second overall.
This year those same champions defended their titles and helped Penn State capture the overall team crown.
The Nittany Lions’ Roman Bravo-Young was a back-to-back champion at 133 lbs. He was joined by his teammates, Carter Starocci (174 lbs) and Aaron Brooks (184 lbs), who also defended their 2021 titles.
Then came the heavyweight, Minnesota’s Gable Steveson.
Steveson won the 285 lbs. NCAA title last year and then traveled to Tokyo with dreams of Olympic gold. In the finals, things looked bleak for the NCAA champ, as he was losing 8-5 and time was running out.
With 10 seconds remaining, he scored two quick points. Then, with only .4 seconds remaining, he scored two points for a takedown and won Olympic gold in thrilling fashion, 9-8, as time expired.
After the Olympics, Gable signed a multi-year NIL deal with the WWE which allowed him to return to school. That was essential because he had one more task to accomplish.
Defend his NCAA title.
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