Top Wrestlers This Decade

[gostanford]

Since we're reaching the halfway point of the decade...
If you had to rank 5-10 of the top D1 guys so far this decade, who would they be? 
*Wrestler must have finished career after 2010, that is: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015..... 2020

Here would be my list of the top 5 with some results:
1. Kyle Dake Cornell (4X NCAA Champ 141-165 without any redshirt seasons) [HS C/O 2009]
Iowa and PSU fans probably dislike him just a bit..
Dake can make a case for being the GOAT...take a look at the guys he had to go through:
- 2013, 165: Defeated returning NCAA Champ and Hodge Trophy winner, David Taylor 
- 2012, 157: Defeated 4X AA (4th, 2nd, 1st, 5th) and 2013 NCAA Champ Derek St. John
- 2011, 149: Defeated 4X AA (8th, 5th, 2nd, 1st) and 2012 NCAA Champ Frank Molinaro
- 2010, 141: Defeated 3X AA (2nd, 4th, 2nd) Montell Marion

2. Logan Stieber Ohio State (3X NCAA Champ, 1 season to go) [HS C/O 2010]
- 2014, 141: Defeated 2X AA (5th, 2nd & 1 season to go) Devin Carter of Virginia Tech
- 2013, 133: Defeated 3X AA (3rd, 2nd, 1st) and 2014 NCAA Champ Tony Ramos of Iowa
- 2012, 133: Defeated 4X AA (4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st) and 2011 and 2013 NCAA Champ Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State

3. Ed Ruth Penn State (3X NCAA Champ, 4X AA (3, 1, 1, 1)) [HS C/O 2009]
Ruth would likely be another 4X NCAA Champ if he had not been injured in his QF match at the 2011 NCAA's
- 2014, 184: Defeated 2X AA (6th, 2nd) Jimmy Sheptock of Maryland
- 2013, 184: Defeated 3X AA (2nd, 4th, 2nd) Robert Hamlin of Lehigh
- 2012, 174: Defeated 3X AA (4th, 2nd, 2nd) Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford
- 2011, 174: Lost/FF'd in the middle of the match of the QF's against Nick Amuchastegui; defeated Mack Lewnes for 3rd

4. David Taylor Penn State (2X NCAA Champ, 4X AA (2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st)) [HS C/O 2009]
IMO, the 165 lb weightclass of 2012 was fairly weak without Andrew Howe and Tyler Caldwell
- 2014, 165: Defeated 4X AA (5th, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd) Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma State 
- 2013, 165: Lost to 4X NCAA Champ Kyle Dake in the finals
- 2012, 165: Defeated 2X AA (7th, 2nd) Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh
- 2011, 157: Lost to 2X AA (2nd, 1st) Bubba Jenkins *Jenkins likely would be a 3X AA if he was not injured in 2009, where he was 22-0.

5. Jordan Oliver Oklahoma Stae (2X NCAA Champ, 4X AA (4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st)) [HS C/O 2008]
Boise State fans have to hate Oliver.
- 2013, 149: Defeated 2X AA (3rd, 2nd) Jason Chamberlain of Boise State
- 2012, 133: Lost to 3X NCAA Champ Logan Stieber 
- 2011, 133: Defeated 2X AA (4th, 2nd) Andrew Hochstrasser of Boise State
- 2010, 133: Fell to Jayson Ness in the semi's and Franklin Gomez in the consolation finals to obtain 4th

*The top 4 on this list are going to be really tough to break into

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*Some other guys who would probably crack into a top 10 in no order:
- Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska (2X NCAA Champ, 3X AA (3rd, 1st, 1st)) [HS C/O 2006]
- Kellen Russell of Michigan (2X NCAA Champ, 3X AA (7th, 1st, 1st)) [HS C/O 2007]
- Jesse Delgado of Illinois (2X NCAA Champ, 3X AA (7th, 1st, 1st), still 1 season to go) [HS C/O 2010]
- Matt McDonough of Iowa (2X NCAA Champ, 3X AA (1st, 2nd, 1st)) [HS C/O 2008]
- Tony Nelson of Minnesota (2X NCAA Champ, 4X AA (7th, 1st, 1st, 2nd) [HS C/O 2009]
- Quentin Wright of Penn State (2X NCAA Champ, 4X AA (6th, 1st, 2nd, 1st) [HS C/O 2008]
- Chris Perry of Oklahoma State (2X NCAA Champ, 3X AA (3rd, 1st, 1st) [HS C/O 2009]

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*Some young bucks who might crack this list in due time:
- Alex Dieringer, Oklahoma State (1X NCAA Champ, 2X AA (3rd, 1st), 2 seasons to go)
- Nick Gwiadowzski, NC State (1X NCAA Champ, 2X AA (8th, 1st), 2 seasons to go)
- J'Den Cox, Missouri (1X NCAA Champ, 3 seasons to go)
- Jason Tsirtsis, Northwestern (1X NCAA Champ, 3 seasons to go)

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*Some Superfrosh/redshirts who also might crack this list in due time because I think they will be at least 2X NCAA Champs and 4X AAs:
- Zain Retherford, PSU (1X AA - 5th, 3 seasons to go)
- Isaiah Martinez, Illinois
- Bo Jordan, Ohio State  (we might see a Ben Askren/Chris Pendleton type of series between Jordan and Dieringer)
- Kyle Snyder, Ohio State (I won't be surprised to see Cox move up to Hwt...)

[Earl]

Love the idea....I have a feeling that you would enjoy the project that I'm working on.

As far as guys that meet your time limit that are not on there, Andrew Howe is probably the top 1x Champ of the rest.

[gostanford]

I would agree that Howe is the top 1x Champ so far this decade. I would also go on to say that Tyler Caldwell may be one of the top wrestlers of all time to never win an NCAA Title. He had some remarkable roadblocks in his path.
True Freshman campaign - 2010: Lost to Andrew Howe in the semi-finals and Amuchastegui in the conso finals to place 5th.
True Sophomore campaign - 2011: Upset defending Nat'l champ Howe in the semi-finals; lost to another defending Nat'l champ Jordan Burroughs in the finals to place 2nd.
RS Junior Campaign - 2013: Lost to Kyle Dake in the semis; and eventually placed 3rd only behind Dake and Taylor.
RS Senior Campaign- 2014: Lost to Taylor in the finals to place 2nd.
Outside of Amuchastegui who is a 3x AA and 2X NCAA Finalist in his own right (4th, 2nd, 2nd), Caldwell had losses to Howe, Burroughs, Dake, and Taylor in his 4 years at nationals.
Some collegiate accolades those 5 guys combine for are: a total of 15 AA's, 9 National titles, and 4 Hodge trophies (the most recent 4 Hodge winners too).

[Earl]

I've recently done a lot of research regarding the top guys not to win a title from 2000 on. I'd put Caldwell in the top 12 from 2000 on, I think he probably is #1 from 2011 to now.

[littlethadd]

You may want to specify Top NCAA wrestlers this decade, if not then you should probably include int wrestling