Seth Gross became South Dakota State’s first national champion in any sport in the Division I era, winning the 133-pound title at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland in March.
A junior from Apple Valley, Minnesota, the top-seeded Gross defeated second-seeded Stevan Micic of Michigan, 13-8. In his second consecutive national title appearance, Gross jumped out to a 6-0 lead as he registered a takedown midway through the first period and later turned Micic for a four-point near-fall.
Gross ended the season with a 29-1 overall record and upped his career mark to 89-17 in three years at State. He became the first Jackrabbit wrestler to win a national title at any level since Paul Konechne won the last of his two consecutive NCAA Division II championships at 141 pounds in 2001.
SDSU led all Big 12 Conference schools in the team race by finishing 12th. David Kocer (seventh at 174 pounds) and Luke Zilverberg (eighth at 157 pounds) also earned All-America honors.
