Charlie Falck
- Weight class: 125
- Age: 22
- Hometown:
Strawberry Point - Season record: 35-7
- Year:
Junior
Charlie Falck was less than a minute from reaching the NCAA finals. But by the time the first championship match started, the Iowa junior was already looking ahead to next season.
Falck’s year came to a close with three consecutive losses and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships — an ending unrepresentative of the type of season the Iowa 125-pounder assembled.
“I feel I’m better than that,” he said. “I want to prove it and I didn’t, and now I have to wait another year until I get that chance again.”
Falck finished the season with a 35-7 record. He was the only wrestler to beat NCAA champion Angel Escobedo of Indiana this year. He posted his second straight victory against 2007 champion Paul Donahoe of Nebraska. He notched seven wins against fellow All-Americans.
He just didn’t get it done at the end.
Falck was leading Escobedo until he got body-locked to his back for a takedown and two quick near-fall points with 52 seconds remaining in the national semifinals. The move lifted Escobedo to a 4-1 win and dropped Falck on a path through the wrestlebacks.
Falck proved throughout the year that he was one of the top wrestlers in the country. He developed into a reliable catalyst for the Hawkeyes, often leading off meets with victories that spurred Iowa to one of its best dual seasons in school history. He went 21-1 in dual competition.
Falck lost just twice in the regular season — once by fall to Illinois’ Gabe Flores at the Midlands in a match Falck was leading 9-2 and the other to NCAA runner-up Jayson Ness of Minnesota.
“The best I’ve seen him wrestle, period, was at the Midlands,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said in January. “He has a high pace, but it seems to drop off a little bit at the end of matches or the last two and a half to three minutes. We need to keep him active and offensive for the entire match. He needs to keep giving himself opportunities.”
— Andy Hamilton