Falls

Wins by fall at the NCAA championships, 1928–2026.

YearWeight

Bracket

Round

5,279 wins by fall · 1928–2026

5,279wins by fall

3,062wrestlers

218programs

Championship 3,450 · Consolation 1,495 · Placement bouts 187 · 1936 and 1948 147

These championships used numbered rounds instead of a bracket, so their falls count only under All.

Wrestlers

Most career wins by fall. Wrestlers tied at the cutoff are all listed. Showing 26 of 3,062 wrestlers.

Wrestlers with the most wins by fall
Rank	Wrestler	School	Years	Falls
T1	Dan Gable	Iowa State	1968–1970	13
T1	Gary Albright	Nebraska	1982–1986	13
T3	Dan Hodge	Oklahoma	1955–1957	11
T3	David Taylor	Penn State	2012–2014	11
T5	Ed Banach	Iowa	1980–1983	10
T5	Gene Mills	Syracuse (NY)	1977–1981	10
T5	Larry Owings	Washington (WA)	1969–1972	10
T5	Mark Churella	Michigan	1976–1979	10
T9	Howard Harris	Oregon State	1977–1980	9
T9	Wade Schalles	Clarion (PA)	1971–1973	9
T9	Wyatt Hendrickson	Air Force (CO), Oklahoma State	2021–2025	9
T12	Brad Hansen	Brigham Young (UT)	1976–1979	8
T12	Bruce Kinseth	Iowa	1977–1979	8
T12	Corey Olson	Nebraska	1990–1993	8
T12	Dallas Herbst	Wisconsin	2006–2009	8
T12	Eddie Eichelberger	Lehigh (PA)	1954–1956	8
T12	Harold Smith	Kentucky	1977–1980	8
T12	Jess Lewis	Oregon State	1968–1970	8
T12	Kenny Monday	Oklahoma State	1981–1984	8
T12	Larry Bielenberg	Oregon State	1974–1977	8
T12	Mark Perry	Iowa	2005–2008	8
T12	Mike Rodriguez	Michigan	1955–1957	8
T12	Randy Lewis	Iowa	1978–1981	8
T12	Sylvester Terkay	North Carolina State	1990–1993	8
T12	Tab Thacker	North Carolina State	1982–1984	8
T12	Wayne Martin	Oklahoma	1934–1936	8

Programs

Wins by fall credited to the school each winner wrestled for. Showing 25 of 218 programs.

Programs with the most wins by fall
Rank	Program	Wrestlers	Falls
1	Oklahoma State	163	353
2	Iowa	119	269
3	Iowa State	116	249
4	Oklahoma	114	234
5	Penn State	96	186
6	Minnesota	85	161
7	Michigan	80	154
8	Lehigh (PA)	82	145
9	Oregon State	61	126
10	Nebraska	64	125
11	Michigan State	61	123
12	Northern Iowa	73	121
13	Ohio State	58	103
14	Arizona State	59	95
15	Illinois	64	94
16	Missouri	45	90
17	Wisconsin	54	85
18	Indiana (IN)	48	80
19	Cornell (NY)	45	79
20	Navy (MD)	44	77
21	Pittsburgh (PA)	48	69
22	Edinboro (PA)	30	56
T23	North Carolina State	27	53
T23	Northwestern (IL)	31	53
25	Clarion (PA)	25	49

Fastest falls

Shortest recorded times first. 47 wins by fall in this view have no recorded time and are not listed.

The fastest wins by fall
Rank	Time	Wrestler	School	Opponent	Year	Weight	Round
1	0:09	Clarence Richardson	Louisiana State	Scott Mansur	1983	177 lb	Round of 32
2	0:10	Anthony Perrotti	Rutgers (NJ)	Roger 'RJ' Pena	2014	157 lb	Consolation round 2
T3	0:11	Ryan Flaherty	Wisconsin	Joe Phillips	2005	197 lb	Consolation round 1
T3	0:11	Pete Yates	Virginia Tech	James Brundage	2012	165 lb	Consolation round 1
5	0:12	Reece Humphrey	Ohio State	Jim Conroy	2009	133 lb	Round of 32
6	0:13	Wayne Catan	Tennessee	Tom Kolopus	1983	177 lb	Consolation round 3
T7	0:14	Pete Horst	Old Dominion (VA)	Ron Pieper	1991	134 lb	Round of 32
T7	0:14	Troy Nickerson	Cornell (NY)	Joey Fio	2009	125 lb	Quarterfinal
T9	0:16	Hardie Lewis	Oklahoma	Foy Stout	1932	145 lb	Round of 16
T9	0:16	Don Brown	Oregon	John 'Jay' Greiner	1980	177 lb	Round of 32
T11	0:17	Chris Pendleton	Oklahoma State	Shane Webster	2003	174 lb	Consolation semifinal
T11	0:17	Jake Herbert	Northwestern (IL)	Doug Umbehauer	2006	174 lb	Round of 32
T11	0:17	Trevor Perry	Indiana (IN)	Hunter Meys	2009	174 lb	Round of 32
T14	0:18	Bob Kopecky	Oklahoma State	Sean Wallace	1985	190 lb	Consolation round 3
T14	0:18	JJ McGrew	Notre Dame (IN)	Mark Frushone	1992	177 lb	Round of 32
T14	0:18	Jason Davids	Minnesota	Steve Caruso	1995	134 lb	Consolation round 2
T14	0:18	Alan Gelogaev	Oklahoma State	Benjamin Apland	2013	285 lb	Round of 32
T14	0:18	MIke McMullan	Northwestern (IL)	Adam Chalfant	2014	285 lb	Consolation semifinal
T19	0:19	Earl McCready	Oklahoma State	Ralph Freese	1928	Unlimited	Final
T19	0:19	Terrance Clendenin	Lehigh (PA)	Vic Moreno	2003	125 lb	Round of 32
T19	0:19	Patrick Simpson	Army (NY)	Joe Caramanica	2006	149 lb	Opening round
T22	0:20	Karl Kitt	Southwestern Oklahoma	Joe Kalpin	1936	145 lb	Round 4
T22	0:20	Mike Morales	West Virginia	Jameson Oster	2015	141 lb	Consolation round 2
T24	0:21	Tom Pickard	Iowa State	Jim Reilly III	1980	158 lb	Consolation round 5
T24	0:21	Bruce Wallace	Bloomsburg (PA)	John Burdek	1986	190 lb	Consolation round 2
T24	0:21	Wade Zimmerman	Fresno State (CA)	Edward 'EC' Muelhaupt	1989	158 lb	Consolation round 2
T24	0:21	Rich Powers	Northern Iowa	Kyle Scrimgeour	1990	177 lb	Consolation round 2
T24	0:21	Nahshon Garrett	Cornell (NY)	Cody Brewer	2016	133 lb	Semifinal

By round

Where in the tournament the falls happened.

Championship 3,450

Wins by fall in Championship
Round	Falls
Opening round	180
Round of 32	1,536
Round of 16	986
Quarterfinal	492
Semifinal	174
Final	82

Consolation 1,495

Wins by fall in Consolation
Round	Falls
Consolation opening round	37
Consolation round 1	296
Consolation round 2	389
Consolation round 3	253
Consolation round 4	193
Consolation round 5	171
Consolation semifinal	156

Placement bouts 187

Wins by fall in Placement bouts
Round	Falls
2nd-place bout	10
3rd-place bout	74
5th-place bout	55
7th-place bout	48

1936 and 1948 (numbered rounds) 147

Wins by fall in 1936 and 1948 (numbered rounds)
Round	Falls
Round 1	44
Round 2	43
Round 3	26
Round 4	20
Round 5	10
Round 6	3
Round 7	1

Each win by fall is credited to the winner and to the school the winner wrestled for that year. Career totals span eras: falls were more common in some decades, and the number of rounds and wrestlers in a bracket changed over time. Technical falls are not counted. What counts as a fall