Kyle Dake will represent the United States at the Olympics at the 74kg weight class this August in Tokyo. Leading up to the Olympic Games, we’ll be exploring what colleges contribute the most World/Olympic team members and medals by weight class. In this article, we’ll analyze the last 30 years of results at 74kg from worlds and Olympics to see what college produces the best 74kg wrestlers.

Check out 57kg U here

The Jordan Burroughs Factor

Thanks to Jordan Burroughs making 9 straight world teams from 2011-2019, Nebraska has been on top at 74kg since 1990. It’s remarkable 1 wrestler can make the difference when for 30 years worth of results, but that’s how dominant Jordan Burroughs has been at 74kg. Going into 2010, Iowa was in a clear lead with 6 team members at 74kg. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were tied for second at three teams each. What's also notable in the data below is only Iowa and Iowa State had world team members across various decades.

Take a look at every college that had a 74kg World/Olympic Team Member since 1990:

The Wrestlers Behind The Numbers

As already mentioned, Jordan Burroughs made 9 straight teams from 2011-2019 at 74kg. Burroughs alone put Nebraska in the top spot. Also, Iowa, Oklahoma St. and Oklahoma all received their world/Olympic team members from one wrestler. Joe Williams (Iowa) made 5 straight teams from 2001-2005, and 1 team in 1999. Going back further, Kenny Monday (Oklahoma St.) and Dave Schultz (Oklahoma) traded spots on the world team from 1991-1996. Iowa State is the only university that had multiple representatives at 74kg in the 30 year span with Joe Heskett (2007) and Travis Paulson (2010).

Take a look at the rest of the wrestlers to represent Team USA at 74kg:

• Rob Koll (North Carolina) - 1990
• Dan St. John (Arizona St.) - 1997
• Steve Marianetti (Illinois) - 1998
• Brandon Slay (Penn) - 2000
• Donny Prittzlaff (Wisconsin) - 2006
• Ben Askren (Missouri) - 2008
• Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota) - 2009

Medals

Since 1990 Team USA has brought home 15 medals from the 74kg weight class. Of those 15, they won 6 golds, 3 silvers and 6 bronze medals. Once again, Jordan Burroughs is the difference maker here with his 8 total medals - 5 golds and 3 bronze. The graphs below show how much Jordan Burroughs set Nebraska apart from the rest of the group and how that brought unparalleled success from the last decade compared to the first two.

Medals by College at 74kg since 1990:

Medals by decade at 74kg since 1990

After Burroughs, Team USA had 5 other wrestlers take home medals from the World Championships and Olympic Games. 

All medalists for Team USA at 74kg from 1990-2021:

• Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) - 5 Golds, 3 Bronze
• Brandon Slay (Penn) - 1 Gold
• Kenny Monday (Oklahoma St.) - 2 Silvers
• Dave Schultz (Oklahoma) - 1 Silver
• Joe Williams (Iowa) - 2 Bronze
• Donny Pritzlaff (Wisconsin) - 1 bronze

Kyle Dake In Tokyo

Kyle Dake will look to continue the success Team USA has experienced at 74kg. Dake is also Cornell's first Olympic wrestler since David Auble at the 1964 Olympics (coincidentally also held in Tokyo). Should Dake medal, he'll be the first Cornell wrestler to do so in over 100 years. Charles Ackerly is the only former Cornell wrestler to medal at the Olympics when he won gold at the 1920 games!

Check out where Kyle Dake stacks up in the Olympian Rankings at 74kg here and see a full preview of this year's 74kg Olympic field here.

*74kg was a weight from 1990-1996 and 2002-present. For this article, we referenced the present weight class, 74kg, but used data from past similar weight class - 76kg (1997-2001).