Iowa State wrestler David Carr wins Junior freestyle world championship

David Carr joined the Iowa State wrestling program with the hopes that he would help bring the program back into the national spotlight. On Wednesday, the redshirt freshman began that journey by doing something no other Cyclone wrestler has ever done.

Carr won a gold medal at the 2019 Junior men’s freestyle world championships on Wednesday in Tallinn, Estonia. He defeated Japan’s Jintaro Motoyama, 5-4, in the finals at 74 kilograms (163 pounds).

“I’ve been telling myself I could do it all summer,” Carr said afterward. “I’ve dreamed about it. I wrote my goals down every day.”

In doing so, the Ohio native became Iowa State’s first-ever Junior freestyle world champ, and second-ever Junior world medalist, joining Zach Thompson, a two-time All-American and NCAA finalist who won a world silver medal in 1998. It is also Carr's second age-level world medal, adding to his Cadet world bronze from 2016.

Carr is also the fourth-straight American wrestler to win a Junior world title at 74 kilos. Last year, Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis stormed to a gold medal in Slovakia. The two years before that, Penn State’s Mark Hall went back-to-back, winning in Finland in 2017 and France in 2016.

That’s good company worth keeping. Lewis followed last year’s world gold by winning a 2019 NCAA title in Pittsburgh. Hall sandwiched a national championship between his two world crowns, and has also made the NCAA finals each of the last two years.

No pressure, kid. (He plans on wrestling at 157 pounds in 2019-20, for those curious.)

Throughout the week, Carr dominated one of the tournament's toughest weights. He went 4-0 and outscored his opponents by a combined 33-11. Along the way, he picked off two returning Junior world medalists, and a past age-level world medalist in Motoyama.

► MORE: Iowa State's David Carr is ready to write his own Cyclone wrestling story

Carr opened the tournament on Tuesday morning with a 4-0 victory over Russia’s David Betanov, a 2018 Junior world bronze medalist. Two takedowns and some savvy defense paved the way to the quarterfinals.

There, Carr wrestled Iran’s Mohammad Nokhodilarimi. After surrendering a first-period takedown, Carr scored one of his own and ran four-straight leg laces for a 10-2 lead. A handful of step-outs and cautions brought Nokhodilarimi within 12-7, but Carr tacked on one final takedown for a 14-7 win to advance to the semifinals.

That’s where Carr produced perhaps his most impressive performance of the tournament. He faced Azerbaijan’s Khadzhimer Gadzhiyev, a 2018 Junior world champion at 70 kilos who bumped up to 74. Carr scored on a low-single and scored on four-straight leg laces for a 10-0 technical fall in 43 seconds.

“I watched a lot of film on him. He’s a tough guy. He’s a world champ,” Carr said. “As soon as I got to the single leg, like in my quarters, I was already rolling as soon as he fell.

“Luckily, I grabbed the leg tight, squeezed as hard as I could, and he went.”

That set up Wednesday’s finals matchup against Motoyama, yet another world-class wrestler in Carr’s path. Motoyama competed at last year's Junior worlds, and was a 2015 Cadet world silver medalist. He had outscored his four opponents 44-13 en route to his matchup against Carr.

A slow-moving first period ended with Carr taking a 2-1 lead on a late takedown. In the second, the referees put Carr on the shot-clock, and he responded by backing Motoyama to the edge and running through him for another takedown and a 4-1 lead. Motoyama then took a few minutes of injury time, favoring his right ankle.

“You’re in control David,” Kevin Jackson, the former Iowa State coach who’s now a developmental coach for USA Wrestling, screamed mat side. “He has to wrestle you now.”

Motoyama gave it his best effort, scoring a takedown and a push-out point in the final minute to knot the match at 4-4. Carr had the match won on criteria — two takedowns against one takedown and two push-outs — but a failed challenge at the gun gave him one final point and an outright victory.

As such, Carr whipped out an American flag and paraded around the mat in celebration. He had longed envisioned that moment, even practicing inside the Harold Nichols Wrestling Room in Ames — partly as a joke, but with a hint of seriousness, too, picturing himself becoming the best in the world.

“I wrestled hard and wrestled smart,” Carr said, summarizing his week. “Hopefully that’ll carry over to wrestling for the Cyclones. Just need to keep getting better.”

In the days and weeks leading up to the Junior world championships, Carr spent every morning writing down his goals in a notebook he keeps next to his bed. After reading his Bible, he would write “JR World Champ David Carr” five times.

“When I write things down,” he said then, “I picture myself doing them.”

On Wednesday, it became a reality. He can add Junior world champion to his already-impressive and still-growing résumé — another gigantic step toward what Carr hopes to be a fruitful wrestling career with Iowa State and beyond.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

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David Carr's Path To Junior World Gold

Round 1: 4-0 over David Betanov (Russia)

Quarterfinals: 14-7 over Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran)

Semifinals: 10-0 TF over Khadzhimer Gadzhiyev (Azerbaijan)

Finals: 5-4 over Jintaro Motoyama (Japan)