By Joshua Portillo

The 2023 NJCAA Men's Wrestling Championships came to a close on March 4 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with Western Wyoming earning the team title. Below are five takeaways from the tournament.

Western Wyoming won with depth in wide-open team race

The team race heading into the NJCAA Men's Wrestling Championships was a tossup between Western Wyoming and about six different NJCAA men's wrestling programs, including Clackamas, Iowa Central, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Iowa Western, North Idaho and Pratt, among others. Eight All-Americans -- the most of any program -- helped seal the team title for Western Wyoming. The Mustangs were led by NJCAA finalist Darion Johnson at 184 pounds. Five other wrestlers placed in the top five. Cody Phelps (133) placed third, while Bridger Ricks (125), Joe Mecham (141), Chris Lopez (149) and Christian Smoot (174) all finished fourth. Iowa Western and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M had the second-most All-Americans with five.

Carl Albert's Long, Iowa Central's Sarbo both deserved OW

Carl Albert's Thaddeus Long and Iowa Central's Matt Sarbo were both No. 3 seeds and surpassed expectations. They didn't just win, they dominated everyone in their way. Long garnered a whopping four pins, including one in the national finals over No. 1 Jason Henschel of Pratt, plus a 14-2 major decision on his way to winning the title at 133 pounds. Sarbo may have turned in an even more impressive performance, getting a technical fall and four pins, including in the nationals finals over No. 1 Dylan Brown of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

Long's closest match was a 14-2 major decision, while Sarbo's was a technical fall. In addition, the two wrestlers combined for eight pins. Sounds like some OWs to me. Neither were in The Open Mat's pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings before the tournament but certainly deserve to be now. One last intriguing note on Long: He was Carl Albert's first-ever men's NJCAA wrestling champion. Lexi Miller became Carl Albert's first-ever women's NJCAA wrestling champion that same night. Both were at the second-smallest weight classes in their divisions, 133 pounds and 109 pounds.

Super match for the ages at 125 pounds

A returning NJCAA finalist faced off against the returning NJCAA third-place finisher when Jakason Burks of Iowa Western took on Jett Strickenberger of Northwest Kansas Tech at 125 pounds. Coming into the tournament, Burks was the No. 1 P4P wrestler and No. 1 at 125 pounds. The best of the best. Strickenberger was No. 3 P4P and No. 2 at 125 pounds behind Burks. Right on each other's tails, both wrestlers dominated all season. You don't often see two in the same weight class so high in the P4P, but these two were too good.

After trading takedowns and reversals throughout their super bout, the match was sent into overtime and eventually tiebreakers. When the dust settled, there was a 6-6 score on the board, but 11 seconds of riding time in favor of Strickenberger, giving him a 7-6 win on riding time. Strickenberger got the gutsy win to take the 125-pound NJCAA championship. Both men were perfect all season and gave it their all for the title, and both laid it on the line. Strickenberger finishes as a two-time NJCAA placer and national champion. Burks finishes as a two-time NJCAA finalist as he gears his move to NCAA Division II wrestling powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney. Hats off to both competitors for the memorable matchup.

Pratt performed profoundly

The NJCAA men's wrestling team race was as wild as we expected. Pratt performed its best at the right time for a gritty finish to get second in the team race. The Beavers were the only team to place four wrestlers in the top three of their respective weight classes. Pratt was propelled by 10 national qualifiers and two NJCAA finalists: Jason Henschel (133) and Easton Taylor (141). Henschel was on point all season, ranked No. 1 heading into nationals and No. 14 P4P. Taylor was more of a surprise, a freshman coming in not ranked in the top eight. His wild run included two majors, a 2-1 win over No. 3 Joe Mecham of Western Wyoming in the quarterfinals, and a major upset over No. 2 Boburjon Birdiyorov of Northwest 6-2.

Pratt also utilized third-place finishers Cayleb Atkins at 165 pounds and Devon Dawson at 285 pounds. Dawson was No. 1 all season at 285 pounds and No. 6 P4P. Atkins was ranked sixth all season and wrestled as well as he could, especially as a freshman, losing only to eventual champ Steele Starren of Clackamas on his way to third place. Pratt's other placer was 174-pounder Christian Robinson, who placed fifth from a No. 12 ranking. Other qualifiers for Pratt who helped their fight were Kaden Spragis (125), Gabe Maki (149), Samajay Alboyd (157), blood-rounder Blake Jouret (184) and Kaden Glass (197). Pratt also won the South Central District team title this season.

Lowest-seeded national champion Schrader has incredible run at heavyweight

Kale Schrader didn't care about seeds or rankings. The Northeastern Oklahoma A&M heavyweight was never ranked in the top five by The Open Mat this season and took a couple losses earlier in the season, but proved it was all part of the plan after surging to the national title. Schrader wasn't a wrestler that should have been slept on. His losses were all close, losing three overtime bouts and another by a point. Schrader is gritty and it showed at nationals. After getting a pin in his opening bout, he won a battle in tiebreakers against Dean Setticase (Cowley) just to stay alive and make the quarterfinals.

Next, Schrader faced the only wrestler who beat him in the NJCAA this season, Cody Pinkerton of Northwest. Schrader advanced by getting a pin 20 seconds into the second period. Then came the national semifinals against No. 1 Devon Dawson of Pratt. Schrader threw everything he could at him, including a takedown, reversal, back points, and even an escape to win a 9-6 battle to advance to the national finals. Dawson wound up pinning or teching everyone on his way to third place. There was no better way to finish for Schrader as he earned a huge pin for the NJCAA big-man belt when he stuck No. 3 Kawaun Deboe of Indian Hills with just three seconds left in the first period. Impressive performance.