David Carr

David Aaron Carr (born March 28, 1999) is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 165 pounds. In freestyle, Carr is a U20 World Champion and U17 World bronze medalist.

In folkstyle, he was a two-time NCAA Division I National champion and three-time finalist, as well as a four-time Big 12 Conference champion out of the Iowa State University.

Career

Carr was a five-time state champion, one time in Kentucky as an eight grader and four times in Ohio. While wrestling in high school in Ohio, he won twice at Dayton Christian High School and twice at Perry High School. He also earned a bronze medal at the 2016 U17 World Championships. The top-recruit at his weight class, Carr received the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award for the class of 2018, in memory of Dave Schultz.

Carr arrived to ISU to wrestle as a Cyclone at 157 pounds after committing in October 2017.

While redshirting, Carr compiled a 23–1 record wrestling unattached at open tournaments. He claimed titles at four of the five tournaments he competed in and third place at the tournament in which he lost.

Carr had an outstanding freshman season competing as a Cyclone, compiling an 18–1 record overall and an unbeaten 9–0 at dual meets. His lone loss at the Cliff Keen Invitational to second-ranked Ryan Deakin. He became the fifth Cyclone freshman to claim a Big 12 Conference title, with notable wins over the #18 and #7-ranked wrestlers in the country. Carr was scheduled to compete at the NCAA championships as the third seed, however, the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the season, he was named a first-team NCAA Division I All-American due to his performance through the season.

In October 2020, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to winter athletes due to the previous season being cut short. Carr competed as a sophomore, and compiled a 12–0 record with three falls, four technical falls, three majors and two decisions during regular season. He claimed his second straight Big 12 title and his first NCAA championship at 157 pounds.

2021-22

Carr competed at 157 pounds for the Cyclones and compiled a 26-1 record including 13-0 in dual meet competition. He finished with four major decisions, six tech falls and five falls. Carr won his 3rd straight Big 12 title at 157 pounds. He suffered a 2nd round loss at the 2022 NCAA Championships, but wrestled back to a 3rd place finish earning All-American honors for the 3rd consecutive year.

2022-23

Carr moved up to 165 pounds from 157 pounds in 2022. He finished the regular season undefeated with a 10-0 dual record including a win over the returning 165 pound NCAA Champion, U20 and U23 World Champion Keegan O'Toole. Carr won his 4th consecutive Big 12 title with a second win over O'Toole. He finished the year with a 27-1 record including wins over Quincy Monday and former national champion Shane Griffith. Carr lost to Missouri's O'Toole in the NCAA finals, taking a 2nd place trophy back to Ames.

2023-24

In 2024, Carr wrestled his senior season looking to avenge last year's NCAA finals loss. He wrestled to a 27-2 record with a 65% bonus rate. He finished 3rd at the Cliff Keen Invitational and 2nd at the Big 12 Championship. He helped lead the Cyclones to their first Big 12 team title since 2010. Carr entered the 2024 NCAA Championships as a #4 seed, the lowest of his career. He beat the #1 seed O'Toole in the semi finals, taking a 3-2 series lead on O'Toole. In the finals, he beat the #2 seed, U20 World Champion, Mitchell Messenbrink 9-8 to claim his 2nd National Championship. He finished his collegiate career as a two-time NCAA Champion, four-time Big 12 Champion, and a five-time NCAA All-American with a 125-6 career record.

After the 2023–24 season, Carr was named by the Big 12 as the men's recipient of the Bob Bowlsby Award, described by the conference as its "most prestigious individual accolade." The award, voted on by Big 12 athletic directors, is presented to the men's and women's athletes deemed "the absolute best in the Big 12 for their leadership and excellence, on and off the field of competition."

Freestyle career

Carr was a standout youth-level freestyle wrestler and his eligibility to compete at this level expired in early 2020. As a cadet, he was a World bronze-medalist, a US National champion and a two-time National finalist. As a junior, he became the 19' World Champion and was also a US Open and Fargo National champion.

Carr made his senior debut as an 18-year old at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. He won his first two bouts in a row with a notable win over four-time NCAA Division I All-American Dylan Ness before being thrown to the consolation bracket by the accomplished Olympian Frank Molinaro in a very close 8-9 decision. He then faced another DI All-American in Sammy Sasso, whom he also lost to on points.

Carr then went on to compete at the Granma y Cerro Pelado International. He once again defeated two opponents in a row with a victory over an NCAA Division I All-American in Anthony Collica. He was then defeated by four-time All-American Brandon Sorensen and three-timer Lavion Mayes, but still competed for the bronze-medal against Franklin Maren, whom he defeated to claim the medal.

Carr competed at the US National Championships (where he was the fifth seed) on October 10–11, making his senior debut at 74 kilograms. After a four-match winning streak (including a victory over Dan Hodge Trophy finalist Ryan Deakin), he was defeated three times in a row by the defending US National title holder Logan Massa, three-time All-American and U23 World Team Member Hayden Hidlay and Deakin, respectively, placing sixth.

Personal life

Carr is the son of Olympic medalist and former Iowa State Cyclone Nate Carr. Carr is a Christian.

Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
2022 Poland Open at 74 kg
Win	18–10	Zelimkhan Tohuzov	TF 11–0	July 20, 2022	2022 Poland Open	Warsaw, Poland
Win	17–10	Giorgi Sulava	TF 10–0
Win	16–10	Shengsong Xia	TF 12–1
Win	15–10	Menghejigan Menghejigan	TF 13–2
2022 US World Team Trials at 74 kg
Win	14–10	Joey Lavallee	TF 16–6	June 3, 2022	2022 Final X: Stillwater	Stillwater, Oklahoma
Win	13–10	Thomas Gantt	TF 10–0	May 21–22, 2022	2022 US World Team Trials	Coralville, Iowa
Win	12–10	Josh Shields	9–4
Loss	11–10	Jason Nolf	Fall
Win	11–9	Collin Purinton	15–6
2020 US Olympic Team Trials DNP at 74 kg
Loss	10–9	Thomas Gantt	1–7	April 2–3, 2021	2020 US Olympic Team Trials	Fort Worth, Texas
Loss	10–8	Jason Nolf	TF 0–10
Win	10–7	Logan Massa	8–0
2020 US Nationals 6th at 74 kg
Loss	9–7	Ryan Deakin	2–5	October 10–11, 2020	2020 US Senior Nationals	Coralville, Iowa
Loss	9–6	Hayden Hidlay	5–10
Loss	9–5	Logan Massa	0–4
Win	9–4	Ryan Deakin	6–5
Win	8–4	Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer	TF 12–1
Win	7–4	Jacob Wright	TF 10–0
Win	6–4	Andy Hurla	TF 10–0
2019 Granma y Cerro Pelado at 70 kg
Win	5–4	Franklin Maren		February 15–23, 2019	2019 Granma y Cerro Pelado International	Havana, Cuba
Loss	4–4	Lavion Mayes
Loss	4–3	Brandon Sorensen
Win	4–2	Anthony Collica
Win	3–2	Justin DeAngelis
2019 Dave Schultz M. International DNP at 70 kg
Loss	2–2	Sammy Sasso	2–7	January 24–26, 2019	2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Loss	2–1	Frank Molinaro	8–9
Win	2–0	Dylan Ness	7–1
Win	1–0	Justin Deangelis	11–2

NCAA record

NCAA Division I Record
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event
2021 NCAA Championships at 157 lbs
Win	38–1	Jesse Dellavecchia	4–0	March 18–20, 2021	2021 NCAA Division I National Championships
Win	37–1	Hayden Hidlay	6–4
Win	36–1	Brayton Lee	4–2
Win	35–1	Will Lewan	MD 10–2
Win	34–1	Markus Hartman	MD 16–2
2021 Big 12 Conference at 157 lbs
Win	33–1	Jared Franek	6–1	March 6–7, 2021	2021 Big 12 Conference Championships
Win	32–1	Cade DeVos	8–2
Win	31–1	Parker Simington	Fall
Win	30–1	Derek Holschlag	TF 19–2	February 14, 2021	Iowa State - Northern Iowa Dual
Win	29–1	Hunter Balk	Fall		Arizona State - Iowa State Dual
Win	28–1	Cade DeVos	MD 10–2	February 7, 2021	Iowa State - South Dakota State Dual
Win	27–1	Jared Franek	MD 16–5		Iowa State - North Dakota State Dual
Win	26–1	Wyatt Sheets	8–4	January 30, 2021	Oklahoma State - Iowa State Dual
Win	25–1	Ronnie Gentile	TF 25–9		Lindenwood (Mo) - Iowa State Dual
Win	24–1	Nolan Miller-Johnston	Fall		Iowa Central Community College - Iowa State Dual
Win	23–1	Justin Thomas	4–0	January 24, 2021	Oklahoma - Iowa State Dual
Win	22–1	Jarrett Jacques	MD 14–1	January 17, 2021	Missouri - Iowa State Dual
Win	21–1	Jacob Wasser	Fall	January 10, 2021	Nebraska-Kearney - Iowa State Dual
Win	20–1	Daniel Ruiz	TF 22–4		Loras - Iowa State Dual
Win	19–1	David Hollingsworth	TF 17–0	January 3, 2021	Wartburg - Iowa State Dual
Start of 2020-2021 Season (sophomore year)
End of 2019-2020 Season (freshman year)
2020 Big 12 Conference at 157 lbs
Win	18–1	Wyatt Sheets	6–4	March 7–8, 2020	2020 Big 12 Championships
Win	17–1	Justin Thomas	4–1
Win	16–1	Dewey Krueger	11–5
2020 Last Chance Open at 157 lbs
Win	15–1	Eric Owens	Fall	February 22, 2020	2020 Last Chance Open
Win	14–1	Wyatt Sheets	MD 14–6	January 26, 2020	Oklahoma State - Iowa State Dual
Win	13–1	Colten Carlson	MD 16–5	January 17, 2020	Iowa State - South Dakota State Dual
Win	12–1	Jacori Teemer	4–1	January 11, 2020	Iowa State - Arizona State Dual
Win	11–1	Hunter Ladnier	MD 17–6		Iowa State - Harvard Dual
Win	10–1	Matthew Dallara	MD 18–5		Campbell - Iowa State Dual
Win	9–1	Jerry Rubio	Fall	January 9, 2020	Iowa State - Utah Valley Dual
Win	8–1	Tyler Shilson	TF 21–6	December 14, 2019	Chattanooga - Iowa State Dual
2019 Cliff Keen Invitational at 157 lbs
Win	7–1	Kendall Coleman	4–0	December 6–7, 2019	2019 Cliff Keen Invitational
Win	6–1	Jacob Wright	MD 9–0
Loss	5–1	Ryan Deakin	3–9
Win	5–0	Justin Thomas	6–5
Win	4–0	Avery Shay	8–2
Win	3–0	Jared Franek	11–4
Win	2–0	Kaleb Young	6–1	November 24, 2019	Iowa - Iowa State Dual
Win	1–0	Jaden Fisher	TF 18–3	November 17, 2019	Bucknell - Iowa State Dual
Start of 2019-2020 Season (freshman year)

Stats

Season	Year	School	Rank	Weigh Class	Record	Win	Bonus
2021	Sophomore	Iowa State University	#3	157	15–0	100.00%	73.33%
2020	Freshman		#4 (DNQ)		18–1	94.74%	47.37%
Career					33–1	97.06%	60.60%