Shoe Heat at the NCAAs

The WB1s worn by Johnny Sebastian of Northwestern at the NCAA Championships

I have to say, a few weeks out of the NCAA tournament season, I was a little disappointed in this years shoe game.  At the Division III NCAA tournament that I competed in, shoe heat was everywhere.  Olympic Inflicts, Original Inflicts, Rulons, Kolats, you name it.  But at the Division I tournament only a few shoes in particular stood out to me.

Flowrestling posted a series of pictures of shoes found in St. Louis, which can be found at Flowrestling's Facebook page, and I wasn't impressed.  A few pair of Nike Freeks and Hypersweeps were pictured, but at this point you aren't impressing anyone with those.

But in the first round when the 165lb weight class hit, things got a little more interesting.  Cody Burcher from Ohio State stepped on the mat with Olympic Inflicts, and shortly after Johnny Sebastian from Northwestern took the mat in the Wrestle Boutique 1's. Wrestle Boutique is a new brand of shoes and gear that releases extremely limited quantities of their products causing them to more than double in value the second stock runs out.

I still wasn't satisfied.  A tournament that big has to have more heat than that.  Luckily, Jacob Kasper from Duke saved the day when he stepped on the mat in his semifinals match, which was against  reigning Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Snyder, in a pair of mint condition 1988 West German Combat Speeds.  I have always believed that these are the Holy Grail of wrestling shoes.  I've actually only ever seen one pair of these shoes worn in a match because most people don't want to risk ruining a $1000+ pair of shoes over a blown sole.

So that's about it.  Only three pairs of shoes at the 2017 NCAA DI Championship caught my eye.  I'd say I am disappointed, but Jacob Kasper, a known Flickr boy who had worn a different pair of shoes for every match of the 2016-17 season, saved the day.

Jacob Kasper of Duke wearing a $1000+ pair of 1988 West German Combat Speeds at the 2017 NCAA Championships in St. Louis.