Cedar Rapids in enjoying a wonderful run of wrestling tournaments, wrapping today with the finals of the NCAA Division II Championships at the U.S. Cellular Center.
This is the third weekend in a row wrestling has grabbed the spotlight. The state high school dual tournament was first, followed by the NCAA Division III and now the NCAA II.
Folks often ask was is the different between D-III and D-II and the difference between D-II and D-I.
In short, not much.
There are very talented wrestlers at all levels and at these championships in particular. There is some boring matches, some thrilling matches and a lot of very good matches.
The thing I've noticed most between D-I and D-III is reversals. There are a lot more reversals in D-III, simply because of the positions the wrestlers put themselves in.
On the other had, D-I wrestlers often wrestle too tight, especially at the national tournament. That leads to boring wrestling.
Most of the guys at the D-II tournament put on great performances. There were a lot of flurries, a lot of pins and a lot of action.
This is my first D-II tournament and I can't wait until this meet returns to Cedar Rapids.