Folks, we're down to one mat. Hard to believe that it'll all be over in a few hours. The last 5 sessions have been outstanding. The crowd has been electric. The anticipation is palpable. 

We just had a stirring rendition of the national anthem while the Parade of All-Americans -- all 80 of them -- were on the raised platform where the finals will take place. We're now ten minutes away from scheduled first whistle. 

Just a few minutes out and I don't see many empty seats. And the ones I do are slowly being filled as the last of the ticket holders filter in from downtown Cleveland and whatever St. Patricks Day festivities they engaged in. 

But first, before the finals, we will have dance cam. Good idea, as I think there are a decent number of spectators who are in rare dancing form at the moment. The beverages are flowing freely on the concourse is what I'm saying. 

Obligatory 'Enter Sandman' riff and we're ready to introduce our first match. Wow, the entire arena just gave a standing ovation to the idea that the matches are going to start. I mean like it's getting rowdy in here. 

Ozzy Osbourne just laughed and I hear the thunderous chords of "Crazy Train" so I guess we're going to start wrestling soon. 

Finals

125: #1 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) vs #3 Spencer Lee (Iowa)

Nick Suriano's walk out music is Eminem. Spencer Lee's? That's right, its the Pokemon theme song. No, I am not making that up. Please fact check me on that one. 

1st period: IT HAS BEGUN. Hand fighting after one minute but no scores. The go out of bounds and Suriano picks up an early stall call. Suriano gets to Lee's legs but just barely. They're back in neutral. Lee gets a single leg in short time, trying to switch to a double. Suriano fighting hard. But Lee converts just before time runs out. 2-0 Lee. 

2nd period: Lee starts underneath. Lee stands, gets hand control and his out. 3-0 Lee. Good attack from Suriano but Lee defends. Action slows down with 45 seconds to go in the period. Under 20 seconds. Clocks hits zero without any more attacks. 

3rd period: Suriano takes neutral. He's gonna need to quicken his pace if he's gonna climb out of this hole. Suriano on a leg but Spencer scrambles out of it. Suriano gets away with a singlet grab as he tries to defend. Lee wins the scramble and is up 5-0 now. 30 seconds to go, Lee in control. Suriano escapes with 3 seconds left and that'll do it. Lee in command the entire match. Suriano never got to his offense and Lee won the only scrambles they got in. Spencer Lee is a true freshman national champion for the Iowa Hawkeyes!

2018 125 Pound Placers

1st Spencer Lee (Iowa) DEC Nick Suriano (Rutgers), 5-1

3rd Nathan Tomasello (Ohio St.) DEC Ethan Lizak (Minnesota), 8-6 SV

5th Darian Cruz (Lehigh) DEC Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern), 7-4

7th Ronnie Bresser (Oregon St.) M FOR Zeke Moisey (West Virginia)

The 2017 Freestyle WORLD CHAMPION USA WRESTLING TEAM receives awards where normally the medal ceremony would be. The Quicken Loans Arena crowd gives them standing ovation and a U-S-A chant. 

133: #1 Seth Gross (South Dakota State) vs #2 Stevan Micic (Michigan)

Micic walks out to hip-hop song I don't recognize (sorry I'm not going to get all of these). Seth Gross walks out to a hip-hop I do recognize but I don't know the name of. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered tying all this?

1st period: Gross trying to become the first South Dakota State NCAA champ in school history. Micic trying to improve on his fourth place finish from last year. Micic in on a leg. Gross dives for one of Micic's and they are stalemated. Now Gross gets the leg first and he converts for the first score. 2-0 Gross. Gross' top game is smothering and Micic get's hit with a stall warning. Now a tilt for Gross but not for two swipes in a row. Gross rolls Micic over again and gets his four. It's 6-0 and time runs out.  

2nd period: Micic wisely chooses neutral. Micic on a single, switches to a double and gets his first points of the match. Gross escapes to make it 7-2. Another good attack by Micic but Gross gets the far leg and defends. Time runs out, Gross leads 7-2 with 1:27 of RT. 

3rd period: Gross chooses down and Micic stands him up and gives him a point. In a scramble and Micic pulls out and needs injury time as he grabs his elbow and whinces. Micic will soldier on but Gross gets choice so he picks down, gets stood up and gets another point to make it 9-2. Micic gets a takedown and release and it's 10-4 Gross. Less than a minute to go in the match and SDSU head coach Chris Bono begins to bounce around in the corner. Micic gets a takedown and release to cut it to 11-6 but unless he gets some back points he' going to run out of time. Another TD and escape makes it 12-8 but now the clock hits zero and Gross becomes the first D1 national champion in school history!

2018 133 Pound Placers

1st Seth Gross (South Dakota St.) DEC Stevan Micic (Michigan), 13-8

3rd Tariq Wilson (NC State) MD Luke Pletcher (Ohio St.), 17-8

5th Kaid Brock (Oklahoma St.) MD Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers), 10-1

7th Scott Parker (Lehigh) DEC Montorie Bridges (Wyoming), 5-2

141: #1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs #3 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)

Yianni walks out to the Black Keys. Meredith walks out to a hip-hop song I don't know, but the bass sounds excellent. 

1st period: Our second true freshman from Cornell of the finals will try to beat the #1 seeded senior from Wyoming. Meredith in on a shot but Yianni loves nothing more than to scramble out of such things. They are stalemated and the crowd applauds the actions. They trade shots and Meredith needs blood time. Actions resumes with less than a minute in the first period. Yianni beat Meredith earlier this year, in the CKLV semis. It was Meredith's only loss on the year. Yianni's one loss came at the hands of Jaydin Eierman in a dual. 

2nd period: Yianni choose neutral and gets a takedown right off the whistle. Meredith is out in 4 seconds and it's 2-1 Yianni. The two trade attacks but no scores. Still 2-1 Yianni. 

3rd period: Meredith chooses down. Meredith is out in 6 seconds to tie the score. Meredith has his head banged up but it does seem to be bothering him. He's in on a shot but Yianni's crazy gyro kicks in. Meredith muscles Yianni over and finally hooks the trail leg for two. Meredith takes the lead 4-2. he's riding with a minute left in the 3rd. Meredith is a world class rider but Yianni is a world class scrambler. He's out with 30 seconds to go. RT not a factor. They're in a scramble, Yianni locks up a cradle! Meredith is fighting but Yianni rocks him over, he gets two and two backs. Meredith can't escape. Yianni is a national champ! The second true freshman to win it all this year the first time that's happened since 19-tickity-two.

2018 141 Pound Placers

1st Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) DEC Bryce Meredith (Wyoming), 7-4

3rd Joey Mckenna (Ohio St.) DEC Jaydin Eierman (Missouri), 7-2

5th Nick Lee (Penn St.) DEC Kevin Jack (NC State), 9-7 SV

7th Chad Red (Nebraska) F Sa`derian Perry (Eastern Mich.), 7:00

149: #1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs #15 Ronnie Perry (Lock Haven)

Zain walks out to Johnny Cash. I don't recognize Perry's song so from now on, if I don't type anything, assume I'm old and not cool and don't recognize the song. 

1st period: Zain the slight favorite here. Perry is the #15 seed. Zain hasn't lost since the 2014 NCAAs. Zain gets the first takedown. He's riding tough but no legs go in so none of the brutal top work we've come to expect from Retherford. Perry escapes and its 2-1 Retherford. Zain fighting through Perry's head and hands defense and then it's an automatic finish. 4-1 Retherford and Perry picks up a stall warning. 

2nd period: Retherford chooses down. He leads 5-1. Retherford looking to extend his 90-something match win streak (that is an exact and precise number, I looked it up so please fact check me). Perry keeping his distance. Perry goes superduck, grabs a leg and trips. He appears to finish but Retherford somehow fights it off. Time runs out and no TD is awarded. Perry wants his coaches to throw the brick but it looks like Lock Haven is out of challenges. Retherford 5-1.

3rd period: Perry chooses down (that takes guts). The move pays off as Perry escapes. It's 5-2 but Retherford has RT locked up. 30 seconds to go. Perry on the attack and Retherford on the defense. Zain actually picks up a stall warning as time runs out. RT makes it 6-2 and Zain Retherford joins the rarified air of the three-time national champions!

2018 149 Pound Placers

1st Zain Retherford (Penn St.) DEC Ronald Perry (Lock Haven), 6-2

3rd Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) DEC Troy Heilmann (North Carolina), 3-2

5th Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) DEC Grant Leeth (Missouri), 4-0

7th Jason Tsirtis (Arizona St.) DEC Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma St.), 2-1

157: #1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs #2 Hayden Hidlay (NC State)

1st period: Nolf the junior, Hidlay the redshirt freshman. Hidlay is the undefeated #1 seed. Nolf the #3 seed but his only loss on the year (and in the last two years) came by way of an injury default. There were some questions abotu to how much that knee would be healed by now. It appears to be 100% judging by Nolf's performance the last three days. 

Heavy hands and Nolf is in on a single. He picks Hidlay up out of the air looking to trip. Hidlay defends for a bit before being brought down. It's 2-0 Nolf. Hidlay escapes, but Nolf uses his glitch-in-the-matrix speed to go beneath Hidlay's defenses for two more. 4-1 Nolf. 

2nd period: Nolf starts underneath and escapes to make it 4-1. Hidlay doing a better job defending Nolf's offense but he'll need to do more to close the gap in points. No scores the rest of the period. Still 5-1 Nolf. 

3rd period: Hidlay chooses down. Nolf rides for 40 seconds and gets RT to 1:31. Hidlay stands, turns and faces Nolf to make it 5-2 but time is running out for the Wolfpacker. Hidlay trying to dig an underhook he is so deadly with but Nolf parries away all his attacks with relative ease. No knee problem for Nolf. He wins his second NCAA title in three trips to the finals. Penn State goes two for two, just as they did in St. Louis. 

2018 157 Pound Placers

1st Jason Nolf (Penn St.) DEC Hayden Hidlay (NC State), 6-2

3rd Tyler Berger (Nebraska) DEF Michael Kemerer (Iowa)

5th Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) DEC Micah Jordan (Ohio St.), 6-3

7th Joshua Shields (Arizona St.) DEC Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota St.), 9-4

With Nolf's victory, Penn State regains the lead in the team race. It's 132.5 Penn State, 130.5 Ohio State. 

Now there's a bunch of dudes pounding on drums and garbage cans. Sounds pretty cool I guess. They're the Cavalier Cue Sticks? Sorry, Cavalier Q Stix. I looked them up. You can google them if you want to know what I'm talking about. 

All military service members in attendance get called out to a thunderous applause as Lee Greenwood wails on the speakers. 

165: #1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs #2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

Cenzo walks out to David Bowie's Rebel Rebel. IMar comes out to what sounds like Twenty-One Pilots but I'm not sure. 

1st period: Last year's final gets a rerun. Excellent hand fighting. IMar almost gets a foot as he drops down after a slide-by attempt. Still no scores after two and a half minutes of wrestling. Cenzo goes over under and whips IMar over. Shades of 2017, but IMar avoids back points and they go out of bounds for a fresh start. Less than 15 to go and Cenzo claws IMar back with legs in. He picks up two back points as time runs out. 4-0 Joseph. 

2nd period: IMar chooses down. He escapes to make it 4-1. An an unnecessary roughness call on IMar makes it 5-1. Crowd getting into it now. Cenzo so strong in every position, IMar is attacking but Cenzo's upper body is herculean. 

3rd period: Joseph chooses down. IMar is riding tough but he'll need to do more if he wants to mount a comeback. IMar cuts Cenzo with 1:40 left in regulation. It's 6-1 Joseph and Cenzo can just play defense with a minute left. 20 seconds. Joseph too solid. That's it, Cenzo does it again. Penn State goes three for three as deja vu sets in to the capacity crowd in the Quicken Loans Arena. 

2018 165 Pound Placers

1st Vincenzo Joseph (Penn St.) DEC Isaiah Martinez (Illinois), 6-1

3rd Evan Wick (Wisconsin) F Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven), 3:20

5th David Mcfadden (Virginia Tech) F Alex Marinelli (Iowa), 5:15

7th Jonathon Chavez (Cornell) DEC Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma St.), 10-5

Penn State's team point lead grows to 6.5 with two wrestlers left for both PSU and tOSU. 

174: #1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs #2 Mark Hall (Penn State)

Zahid walks out to Red Hot Chili Peppers. Staying true to California. Mark Hall comes out to the Led Zepplin. Very popular band for folks who grew up in Michigan/Minnesota. 

1st period: A rematch of the 2017 semifinals is underway. Hand fighting, Zahid in on a single leg, the go to the mat, Hall has a crotch lock, Zahid works his way behind and gets the first takedown. The go out of bounds with a 1:06 on the board, Valencia winning 2-0. Hall trying to stand but Valencia's height helps him stay in control. Valencia drops to a leg to keep Hall from walking out of bounds and Hall turns and grabs on to Valencia's leg.They stalemate and Hall is awarded an escape. Time expires and it's 2-1 Valencia.  

2nd period: Hall chooses down. Riding time gets to 1:05 and Hall is away. Valencia in on a freight train double. Hall tries to roll out of it and they get into an insane scramble. They're both diving back and forth. I wish I could describe it beyond it being insane. They restart and the crowd loves it. Some of the best wrestling we've seen all night. back on their feet now with 30 seconds to go. Valencia staying aggressive and Hall gets a stall, but thats' ass Valencia shoots in and slams Hall to the mat. It's two more for Valencia. Hall escapes right at the buzzer. 4-2 Valencia.

3rd period: Zahid chooses down. He escapes with 1:24 of RT still in the bank. 5-2. Arm drag slide by for Valencia that almost converts on the edge but not quite. Restart with 70 seconds to go, still 5-2. 42 seconds left after a stalemate. Marky goes mixer but he can't hold on. Valencia covers for 2 more to ice it. With RT it's an 8-2 victory for Zahid Valencia! Arizona State gets a champ and Penn State drops an rare NCAA finals match. 

2018 174 Pound Placers

1st Zahid Valencia (Arizona St.) DEC Mark Hall (Penn St.), 8-2

3rd Myles Amine (Michigan) DEC Daniel Lewis (Missouri), 4-2 SV

5th Bo Jordan (Ohio St.) M FOR Jordan Kutler (Lehigh), 0-0 0:00

7th David Kocer (South Dakota St.) DEC Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma St.), 7-2

Attendance Alert

This is now the most attended NCAA Championships in history. Session 6 attendance of 19,776. All session attendance of 113,743. Both new NCAA records! Well done Cleveland! You did the dang thing!

184: #1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs #2 Myles Martin (Ohio State)

The co-main event. We'll know if Penn State clinches or if Ohio State still has a chance for the team title after this match. 

1st period: Martin goes right Nickal, driving him off the mat. Fans want a stall call on Nickal but they don't get it. Nickal still keeping his distance. Now they lock in and out of collar ties. Martin goes freight train doubles. He takes Nickal to his back, looking for swipes. But Nickal slips in a head and arm and kicks Martin over. Martin is in trouble. Nickal gets the fall! We'll be seeing that highlight for a while! Penn State's fourth individual title clinches the team title. Penn State are your 2018 NCAA Champions!

2018 184 Pound Placers

1st Bo Nickal (Penn St.) F Myles Martin (Ohio St.), 2:28

3rd Emory Parker (Illinois) DEC Taylor Venz (Nebraska), 8-1

5th Domenic Abounader (Michigan) DEC Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 8-2

7th Chip Ness (North Carolina) DEC Maxwell Dean (Cornell), 6-3

Penn State fans are having a party in the Q right now. A well deserved party. 

The fate of the team title hung in the balance of that exchange. Had Martin won, a win of any kind by Snyder would give Ohio State the trophy. A win by Penn State there and it's out of reach for the Buckeyes. Thanks to Nickal's heroics, Penn State cannot be caught. 

197: #3 Jared Haught (Virginia Tech) vs #4 Michael Macchiavello (NC State)

Jared Haught walking to dueling banjos. That's a hard core West Virginian right there. 

1st period: A rematch of the ACC finals, which Haught narrowly won 6-4. Haught also won the dual 2-1. Haught looking snap down and Macch ducks under for a double. Haught drops some heavy hips and gets out of danger. 0-0 under a minute to go. First period ends scoreless. 

2nd period: Haught chooses down and is out in four seconds. Haught level changes and locks his hands around Macch's leg but then he's fed a big dose of hips and they wrestle back to neutral. Both stay aggressive but no scores, still Haught 1-0.

3rd period: It's Macch's turn to take bottom. Macch's out in eight seconds. 1-1. Macch trying go behinds from several different angles. They get to the edge and then Macch gets a leg. Haught avoiding the takedown and we get a stalemate. Less than a minute to go, score is tied. Haught in on a shot, but it's Macchiavello's Peruivan power that stops him and allows him to get the go behind. Less than 10 seconds to go. Macchiavello will hold on for the win. NC State gets their first champs since Nick Gwiazdowski!

2018 197 Pound Placers

1st Michael Macchiavello (NC State) DEC Jared Haught (Virginia Tech), 3-1

3rd Kyle Conel (Kent St.) DEC Kollin Moore (Ohio St.), 5-3

5th Jacob Holschlag (Uni) F Ben Darmstadt (Cornell), 2:35

7th Shakur Rasheed (Penn St.) MD William Miklus (Missouri), 11-3

285: #1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) vs #2 Adam Coon (Michigan)

It's the last match of the 2018 season. Hard to believe its come to this already. Also the last collegiate match of both Snyder and Coon's career. And they've really amped up the pyro for these entrances. I can feel the heat way up at the top of the second deck. 

1st period: Lots and lots of hand fighting and head snaps but no scores after one minute and 42 seconds of wrestling. Snyder gets a wound on his head attended to as it was bleeding then they get back to fierce hand fighting. The period ends with no scores. 

2nd period: Snyder starts on bottom and it out in seven seconds. Collar ties but not much else with 50 seconds left in the second. Snyder winning 1-0. That's how the period ends. 

3rd period: Coon's turn underneath. He's out in four seconds. Score is 1-1. Snyder level changes and gets under Coon's arms but Coon sags the hips and Snyder thinks better of it as the entire arena gasps. More blood time for Kyle and we're back in business with a minute to go in regulation. A drop step by Coon and go behind attempt by Snyder but no points. A shot by Coon and a lightening quick throw by and go behind by Snyder gives him a takedown. 3-1 Snyder. Coon escapes in short time. Snyder fends off Coon's final assault. Kyle Snyder is a three time NCAA champion! Snyder caps of a legendary college career and gives the many Ohio State fans here in Cleveland something to cheer about, despite having things not go their way in the team race. 

2018 285 Pound Placers

1st Kyle Snyder (Ohio St.) DEC Adam Coon (Michigan), 3-2

3rd Amar Dhesi (Oregon St.) F Jacob Kasper (Duke), 1:47

5th Samuel Stoll (Iowa) F Mike Hughes (Hofstra), 2:04

7th Nick Nevills (Penn St.) DEC Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 7-5

And you can put the 2018 NCAA Championships in the books. That was intense to say the least. Thanks to all of you, the greatest and most knowledgeable and most raddest wrestling fans in the world for following along. Apologies for the typos, unless you want to use them as a fun game of eye-spy, in which case you're welcome! 

Hope to see you again soon. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and congratulations to the Penn State Nittany Lions!