While it’s taken me a while to get over the final match of Isaiah Martinez’ career at Illinois, the loss shouldn’t overshadow yet another solid year for Illinois Fighting Illini wrestling in 2017-18.

The Championships in Context

College wrestling is a sport that, on the national team level, does not have much in the way of parity, and it’s always been like that. After all, this sport — perhaps more than any other —gives numerous opportunities for the very best to separate themselves from the rest. In any given year, there are only about five teams that can really compete for the national title.