Iowa State wrestler David Carr has earned Iowa State’s Gary Thompson Male Athlete of the Year Award.

Carr is coming off of a dream season in which he finished with a record of 20-0, topped off with a 157-pound Division One national championship. With the success came a lot of recognition for the redshirt sophomore wrestler.

David Carr won the Big 12 Wrestler of the Year award along with finishing in third place in Dan Hodge trophy voting, which is the award given to the nation’s best wrestler. He was also an NCAA All-American in 2021 and a Big 12 Champion.

One of the things that truly makes Carr special is the work he has put in for his academics while performing as one of the best wrestlers in the nation. He has been a Second Team Academic All-Big 12 for two consecutive seasons.

Carr has always been a team-first guy, redshirting in his first season with Iowa State despite coming in as the number two recruit in the nation.

“If I redshirt, it’s still good for the team because I’m going to wrestle the starters,” Carr said in 2018. “I’m going to help out and be a good training partner and push them. If they need to work out at 4 a.m., I’ll be there, I don’t really care. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just trying to help out the team.”

After demonstrating the team is most important to him, Carr has shown he is still hungry to be one of the top wrestlers in the nation.