Adams' Historic Season Cut Short by Pandemic
One of the most overlooked stories resulting from the cancellation of all NCAA winter championships is the end of Noah Adams’ historic wrestling season.
The Coal City, WV native had his bid to become West Virginia’s first national champion since Greg Jones cut short, just after staying undefeated with a dominating run through the Big 12 tournament. Along the way, he capped off the third undefeated regular season in school history and ran all the way to the second ranking at 197 pounds nationally.
Unfortunately, Adams will be unable to complete one of the best single season performances Mountaineer wrestling has ever seen. He looked like a favorite for an NCAA title match, being seeded second in the national tournament at his weight, sitting behind only Ohio State senior and three-time Big 10 champion, Kollin Moore.
In addition to his stellar conference performance, Adams was named one of eight finalists for the Hodge Trophy, college wrestling’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. A win there would make him the first Mountaineer to ever claim the Hodge and at least make up for some of the glory lost by having no NCAA championships.
Despite having no chance to win a national title, Noah Adams can undisputedly claim one of the best seasons ever by a West Virginia University wrestler. Most impressively, this will not be his last time around, being only a sophomore.
With the top-ranked Moore set to graduate, Adams looks like the early favorite to open the 2020-21 season as the number one ranked wrestler at 197 pounds. There is not much improvement that can be made on such a dominant season, but having the opportunity to win that elusive NCAA championship gives him something else to battle for in the coming years.