Another thing I'll remember about Levi's time at PSU: every time he got his hand raised, he had this big sh**-eating grin like he got away with something.
Levi Haines Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter Psalm 1 guy
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I thought Dake beat him in the pre-season all star match - quite certain actually
I love watching Mitchell but for some reason and I dont know why Levi is my favorite wrestler on the team. It may be because he so good and I've never seen some one that good that trips over his own feet during a match and still beats the snot out of them. It puts a smile on my face.
True. I guess I don't view that kind of format as a dual in the traditional sense, but good point nonetheless.
They are my version of Zain and Nolf and Barr is now the new Bo. I wouldn't have put Barr up with those two quite yet, but he is getting better and better at an unreal rate. Most programs are lucky to get one guy of this caliber to watch every decade and PSU often has three or four going at the same time.
Ed Ruth won every single BIG dual and 4 BIG titles so he never lost to a BIG wrestler.
Butttttt he pushed a guy off a stage once...
Here's the entire list of BIG wrestlers who never lost to a BIG opponent:
Iowa:
Ed Banach ('80-’83), although he did have a tie with Steve Frazier from Michigan.
T.J. Williams (‘99-’01), although he was only a three-time champion.
Michigan State:
Tom Milkovich ('70-'73)
Penn State:
Ed Ruth, Penn State (‘11-‘14)
David Taylor, Penn State (‘11-‘14)
Criminy- the match count for Jim Martin, yowza
By the time Bo Bassett takes a college mat as a collegian, Levi will most likely have become a three time finalist and one time 3rd place finisher and finished his collegiate career. Levi is two years older. I know it's a little repetitive, but it's just mind-boggling.
They were teammates on the Cadet World Team in 2021.
I originally noticed his loss to Letts of Maryland in 2010, but didn't realize it was in a tournament. I also didn't realize that Maryland didn't join B1G until 2014.
Levi still has the BIG and NCAA tournaments to go. If I were to add him now, I could also add Mitchell Mesenbrink and Marcus Blaze. They've yet to lose to any BIG wrestlers.
Did Zain ever lose a dual match? I don’t think he did either. 3 losses:
Stieber B1G Chamionship
Stieber NCAA semis
Port 3/4 match
What am I missing?
I learned my lesson with my original post. Either do your research before you post or preface your statement with something similar to, "Off the top of my head and without looking it up", etc. : ) Then again, maybe it was my diuretic pill kicking in that day and I was just in a rush to submit my post? Speaking of that, I need to quickly post this because . . .
The measure of the man is far more important than the measure of the wrestler, which is short-lived by comparison. The records are great and all, and we were certainly entertained during Levi's years wrestling at Penn State, but he is a very, very good person, which will serve him well for a lifetime.
If Zain red-shirts as a true Freshman, could he have been an undefeated 4X champ? Pretty good possibility.
He probably does. PSU loses to Minnesota that year though.
It's crazy to think how much Cael has upped the ante
Points we scored to win (2nd in parentheses):
2011 - 107.5 (93.5)
2012 - 143 (117.5)
2013 - 123.5 (119.5)
2014 - 109.5 (104)
2016 - 123 (97.5)
2017 - 146.5 (110)
2018 - 141.5 (134.5)
2019 - 137.5 (96.5)
2022 - 131.5 (95)
2023 - 137.5 (82.5)
2024 - 172.5 (72.5)
2025 - 177 (117)
Some of those performances in the 2010s felt unreal yet we didn't break 150. This year, 150 would feel like a massive underperformance.
And we might still have lost without the help of Nick Gwiazdowski, my hero, forever in my
!Doing the math, we won by:
(listed by four-peat)
14, 25.5, 4, 5.5…(average 12.5)
25.5, 36.5, 7, 41…(average 27.5, despite a close call, other three averaged 34.3)
36.5, 55, 100, 60…(average 62.875)
Notice a trend!
Will be interesting to see and compare the next four years, with maturation of the OKST lineup.
To use a basketball analogy - going all Bill Simmons on everyone - Haines is the Big Fundamental, like Tim Duncan. Does everything on the mat right, with no extra fuss or superficiality. Just does his job in a quiet, but dominating, fashion.
Zain going undefeated in his final three seasons (95-0) was a phenomenal accomplishment. From my research, it appears that at the D1 level, he is the only one to have accomplished that feat since Cael. Lee Kemp also did not lose to any collegiate wrestlers his final three seasons. Yojiro Uetake had a perfect 58-0-0 collegiate wrestling record for Oklahoma State from 1964-1966. There have been several wrestlers in DII, DIII and NAIA who also accomplished this feat, the most notable being Carlton Haselrig, who wrestled for DII's Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He went undefeated from 1987-89, not only winning three DII titles but also three D1 titles. He won 122 consecutive matches. I did find a list of the longest collegiate wrestling win streaks which I will post here. I have also included an Intermat article on the "Greatest college wrestling streaks ever." For some reason Haselrig and Kemp are not on the list. My assumption is they are not listed because they lost to non-collegiate wrestlers during their streaks.
A Penn Stater should never not acknowledge Bill Koll who was a 3 time, undefeated national champ.Zain going undefeated in his final three seasons (95-0) was a phenomenal accomplishment. From my research, it appears that at the D1 level, he is the only one to have accomplished that feat since Cael. Lee Kemp also did not lose to any collegiate wrestlers his final three seasons. Yojiro Uetake had a perfect 58-0-0 collegiate wrestling record for Oklahoma State from 1964-1966. There have been several wrestlers in DII, DIII and NAIA who also accomplished this feat, the most notable being Carlton Haselrig, who wrestled for DII's Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He went undefeated from 1987-89, not only winning three DII titles but also three D1 titles. He won 122 consecutive matches. I did find a list of the longest collegiate wrestling win streaks which I will post here. I have also included an Intermat article on the "Greatest college wrestling streaks ever." For some reason Haselrig and Kemp are not on the list. My assumption is they are not listed because they lost to non-collegiate wrestlers during their streaks.
One thing is certain. Levi is the best #2 seed in B1G tourney history. 
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