NCAA National Wrestling Championships finals you don’t want to miss

If you’ve followed NCAA wrestling long enough, you know the Division I National Championships are must-see TV.

Storylines write themselves, especially when it comes to the finals.

With that in mind, here are three you shouldn’t miss on March 21.

133 pounds: Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) vs. Ben Davino (Ohio State)

Davino has become the fan favorite of the tournament after winning the rubber match against world champion Marcus Blaze in the semifinals. Like the first two matches between the Penn State sensation and Davino, it went into ultimate tiebreaker. Like the Big Ten Tournament, Davino once again did just enough to win.

Forrest has been the talk of the tournament and lived up to his No. 1 seed despite being a high school senior at Bishop McCort, Pa., in December. Like Blaze, he’s a world champion and was the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the country before coming to Oklahoma State.

141 pounds: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State)

This one isn’t the lock it sounds like as Mendez goes for his third consecutive title. Vega knows how to shrink the mat and hasn’t given up a takedown all season.

Like Vega, Mendez doesn’t give up many points. Mendez and Lehigh’s Luke Stanich went to overtime before the Buckeye scored a takedown. Vega vs. Brock Hardy (Nebraska) was 5-3. Expect the national champion to give Mendez a great match.

184 pounds: Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. Max McEnelly (Minnesota)

Welsh and McEnelly met in the Big Ten Tournament, where Welsh pulled out a 2-1 win in the semifinals. The Minnesota standout almost beat five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci in the Big Ten last season, so he’s been known to be a gamer. The All-American won a U20 World title last summer and a U.S. Open title.

Welsh was a national runner-up for the Buckeyes last season before making the move to Happy Valley. The two-time Pennsylvania state and Ironman champ is the No. 1 seed coming in.

As we said, the storylines here write themselves.

Brad Bournival can be reached by email at bbournival@usatodayco.com and is on X at @bbournival.