1981 NCAA Championships
Champions, team standings, and brackets for all 10 weights.
The 1981 NCAA championships had 10 weights and 491 bouts. Iowa won the team title with 129.75 points; Oklahoma was second with 100.25. Iowa had two of the 10 individual champions.
Most falls in the least time: Jerry Kelly, Oklahoma State · 4 falls in 20:14
Individual champions
| Weight | Champion | Program | Title bout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 118 | Gene Mills (1) · 2nd titleSyracuse (NY) | Syracuse (NY) | Fall 6:35 over John Hartupee (10), Central Michigan |
| 126 | Dan Cuestas (2)California-Bakersfield | California-Bakersfield | Dec 7–5 over Dave Cooke (8), North Carolina |
| 134 | Jim Gibbons (6)Iowa State | Iowa State | MD 16–8 over Darryl Burley (1), Lehigh (PA) |
| 142 | Andre Metzger (2)Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Dec 10–6 over Lennie Zalesky (1), Iowa |
| 150 | Nate Carr Sr. (1)Iowa State | Iowa State | Dec 10–5 over Scott Trizzino (2), Iowa |
| 158 | Ricky Stewart (2) · 2nd titleOklahoma State | Oklahoma State | Fall 4:56 over Dave Schultz (1), Oklahoma |
| 167 | Mark Schultz (3)Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Dec 10–4 over Mike DeAnna (1), Iowa |
| 177 | Ed Banach (2)Iowa | Iowa | Fall 4:15 over Charlie Heller (4), Clarion (PA) |
| 190 | Tom Martucci (8)New Jersey (TCNJ) | New Jersey (TCNJ) | Dec 4–3 over Tony Mantella, Temple (PA) |
| Unlimited | Lou Banach (3)Iowa | Iowa | Fall 5:45 over Bruce Baumgartner (1), Indiana State |
Team standings
Scoring details →Published standings · Source: NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Records Book, All-Time Team Results, 1981
Head coach for the 1981 tournament, from the coaching record; a dash where none is established yet.
| Rank | Program | Head coach | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa | Dan Gable | 129.75 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | Stan Abel | 100.25 |
| 3 | Iowa State | Harold Nichols | 84.75 |
| 4 | Oklahoma State | Tommy Chesbro | 68.5 |
| 5 | Lehigh (PA) | Thad Turner | 38 |
| 6 | Penn State | Rich Lorenzo | 31.75 |
| 7 | Syracuse (NY) | Ed Carlin | 30.5 |
| 8 | Central Michigan | Charles Sherwood | 28.75 |
| 9 | Auburn (AL) | Tom Milkovich | 25.75 |
| 10 | Oregon State | Dale Thomas | 25.25 |
| 11 | Arizona State | Bobby Douglas | 24.5 |
| 12 | Northern Iowa | Chuck Patten | 22.25 |
| 13 | North Carolina | Bill Lam | 22 |
| T14 | Indiana State | Fran McCann | 20.75 |
| T14 | Kent State (OH) | Ron Gray | 20.75 |
| 16 | Clarion (PA) | Bob Bubb | 19.5 |
| 17 | Temple (PA) | Jerry Villecco | 16.75 |
| T18 | Kentucky | Fletcher Carr | 16.5 |
| T18 | Minnesota | Wally Johnson | 16.5 |
| 20 | North Carolina State | Bob Guzzo | 15.75 |
Show all 67 teams
50 more programs that entered but are not in the published standings
* Calculated from the bouts under the 1981 scoring rules.
Cite this page: “1981 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships”, March Matness, NCAA Division I championship record, release affad6e7. https://www.marchmatness.app/tournaments/1981/