THE OPEN MAT — In four of the last five seasons, the St. Cloud State Huskies have been the team to hoist the NCAA Division II team trophy, with Steve Costanzo’s squad winning the team title in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In winning those team titles, the Huskies put 26 All-Americans on the podium and had seven national finalists, with two National Champions at 125: Tim Prescott (2015) and Brett Velasquez (2016).
In total, the Huskies have sent 201 NCAA Division II qualifiers to Nationals in program history. St. Cloud has 136 NCAA Division II All-Americans, and six total NCAA Division II National Champions. In the last decade of DII wrestling, there is not a more dominant program, with SCSU finishing as runner up in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2017 in addition to the four team titles mentioned earlier.
“We focus on being a Life Champion,” Costanzo said. “At the end of the day when our wrestling careers are over, I would like our student-athletes to be respected and successful in their life endeavours. Our young men take great pride in wearing the black and red.”
