The biggest challenge we faced in assembling the All-Quarter Century Team might have been the dilemma we encountered at 165 pounds. 

More specifically, it was this: What should we do with Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Dake?

The two American wrestling icons won NCAA titles at multiple weights. We debeated whether to put Burroughs into the voting pool at 157, where he won his first national title. We also considered putting Dake into the mix at 157, where he had his most dominant NCAA tournament run. 

But Burroughs and Dake each won a Hodge Trophy as a senior at 165 — and that’s where our team elected to place them on the ballot for the Flowrestling All-Quarter Century Team presented by Defense Soap. 

With that, we have arguably the best collection of talent at one weight class from the past quarter century. 

Since 2001, 18 different wrestlers have won NCAA titles at 165 pounds, and 10 of them were multi-time national champions. Additionally, the Hodge Trophy winner came from the 165-pound class five times in the last 25 years, which matches heavyweight for the most in the past quarter century. 

All of this is another way of saying it was incredibly difficult to crack the top four in the first round of 165-pound voting for the All-Century Team. Here’s a look at some of the top performers who missed the cut:

Don Pritzlaff (Wisconsin) — Pritzlaff vaulted himself into a category of all-time great Badgers thanks to a pair of overtime wins in the NCAA finals each of his last two seasons at Wisconsin. He’s one of four Badgers to win multiple national titles. Pritzlaff finished his career as a four-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champ. He owned a 135-16 record and went 89-3 during his two title seasons. 

Joe Heskett (Iowa State) — For much of his freshman season at Iowa State, Cael Sanderson was not the undisputed #1 rookie for the Cyclones. That’s because Heskett — like Sanderson — entered the NCAA Championships undefeated and ranked #1 at 165 pounds. Heskett’s unbeaten run ended in the NCAA quarterfinals when he dropped a 2-2 tiebreaker against Arizona State’s Steve Blackford. It was the first of three career losses for Heskett at the NCAA Championships. All three of those defeats came in overtime, including two in the NCAA finals against Pritzlaff. Heskett captured an NCAA title as a senior to complete his career with a 143-10 record.  

Troy Letters (Lehigh) — Letters compiled a 97-4 record during his first three seasons at Lehigh and was on track to become the school’s third four-time All-American before a neck injury derailed his senior season. Placed second as a freshman, won an NCAA title as a sophomore and took third as a junior. 

Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State) — Hendricks was one of college wrestling’s most polarizing stars during his time with the Cowboys. He played a leading role on three national championship teams. He earned All-American honors as a freshman at 157 when he placed fifth in 2004. He moved up to 165 as a sophomore and reached the NCAA finals three times and won a pair of titles while posting a 90-6 record at the weight. Hendricks is one of 15 Cowboys to reach the NCAA podium four times and he ranks seventh on Oklahoma State’s all-time wins list with 126. 

Mark Perry (Iowa) — Made three finals appearances and won a pair of titles during his three seasons at 165 and also took third in one season at 174, where he won the Gorriaran Award with four falls at the 2006 NCAA Championships. Perry captured his first NCAA title with a third-period turn to stop Johny Hendricks’ bid for a third title while snapping a six-match losing streak in their series. He followed that up with another championship during an injury-abbreviated senior season.  

Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) — Joseph handed Isaiah Martinez two of his three career losses, both of which came in NCAA title bouts. As a freshman with the Nittany Lions, Joseph stunned the two-time NCAA champ from Illinois with a fall in the 2017 NCAA finals and then knocked off Martinez again the next year in the 165-pound title bout. Joseph had three cracks at the national tournament and reached the finals all three times with a runner-up finish as a junior in 2019. He finished his career with an 89-9 career record. 

Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) — O’Toole wrestled five seasons at Missouri and lost just five times during his time with the Tigers — and four of those defeats came against NCAA champions. He won two NCAA titles and placed third twice at 165 before moving up to 174 in his final season when he was an NCAA runner-up. He also won four conference titles, claimed the Gorriaran Award at the 2024 NCAA Championships and posted a 67.2 percent bonus-point rate at Missouri.  

Building The Quarter Century Team

We put together a list with every NCAA champion since 2001 — all 160 of the guys who combined to win the 240 individual national titles during that time frame — and the Flowrestling team pared it down to 40 (the top four at each weight) with a staff vote. Ultimately, we'll cut the list down to 10 with the help of a fan vote on social media. 

We’ve already revealed half of the All-Quarter Century Team. 

Now you can cast a vote for the top 165-pounder from the past quarter century. 

Who was the best 165-pound wrestler of the Quarter-Century?

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) July 7, 2025

(Finalists listed in chronological order)

Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) 

A meteoric rise to stardom took Burroughs from a 1-2 outing at his first college tournament — the 2006 Harold Nichols Open — to winning two NCAA titles and a Hodge Trophy. After a 16-13 true freshman season, he went 34-6 the next year and placed third in 2008 at 149 pounds — regarded as perhaps the toughest bracket in NCAA tournament history. He moved up to 157 as a junior and went 35-0 with 22 bonus-point wins. A knee injury forced him to take a medical hardship season in 2010, but he came back the following season at 165 and went 36-0 with 33 bonus-point victories as a senior. 

Kyle Dake (Cornell) 

Take Dake out of the equation and nobody in Division I wrestling has won NCAA titles at three different weights in the last 25 years, let alone four. Dake won his first title as a true freshman at 141. He claimed his second at 149 as a sophomore when he racked up 6 minutes, 17 seconds of riding time in the NCAA finals in an 8-1 win against Frank Molinaro. His most dominant NCAA run came at 157, where he opened the tournament with three straight pins before outscoring his next two opponents by a combined 8-1 count. Dake punctuated his historic fourth NCAA title in 2013 with his third victory of the season against reigning Hodge Trophy winner David Taylor. 

Dake compiled a 137-4 record at Cornell and ended his career on a 79-match winning streak. 

David Taylor (Penn State)

Taylor became one of college wrestling’s most prolific point-scorers during his time with the Nittany Lions. He scored bonus points in 91.2 of his matches at Penn State and compiled a 134-3 record, winning two NCAA titles, a pair of Hodge Trophies and making four NCAA finals appearances. Taylor wrestled 98 matches in three seasons at 165 and scored bonus points in 91 of those bouts. He mowed through the 165-pound bracket as a sophomore in 2012, scoring falls in his first four matches at the tournament before a 22-7 technical fall in the finals. As a senior, he went 34-0 with 32 bonus-point wins and notched three pins, a major decision and a 6-0 win in the finals. 

Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) 

Dieringer’s name is scattered all over Oklahoma State’s career record book. He’s second in career wins with 133. His 97.1 career winning percentage is fourth in school history. He finished his career with an 82-match win streak, which is the third-longest string for a Cowboy. He’s fifth in career pins with 45 and he’s one of Oklahoma State’s three Hodge Trophy winners. 

Dieringer went 67-4 in two seasons at 157 pounds, where he placed third as a freshman and won his first of three NCAA titles as a sophomore. Then he moved up to 165, where he went 33-0 as a junior and again as a senior and scored bonus points in 55 matches.