It was finally over.

At approximately 12:12 a.m. Mountain Time on Monday, March 22, my 19-day journey through the wrestling heartland wrapped up. And when I say wrestling “heartland,” I’m referring specifically to geography, not any quote by a current Penn State coach. So press conference quotes notwithstanding, here’s some things by the numbers.

I drove approximately 2,300 miles, and my trusty Trailblazer eclipsed the 40,000-mile mark somewhere in the middle of Kansas. In all, there were over 1,100 bouts contested across three NCAA championship events. Kyle Klingman and I manned the NCAA.com webcast for roughly 25 hours of competition and I spent 11 glorious days in Omaha.

In recapping all the action, I want to focus on Omaha as the site for the NCAA Division I Championships, because it was the first time the Qwest Center and the city of Omaha had hosted the tournament.

I drove from Colorado, so my issues in travel were limited. Those flying in, as in, those who flew in and had gotten their flight arrangements early enough to land at tiny Eppley Field (tiny considering the size of the city), had a short drive to get to the venue. There were a handful of hotels within walking distance to the Qwest Center, including my own digs at the Courtyard, which was the official media hotel of the championships.

Anything’s better than where I stayed for the Division II championships, a run down dive of a hotel called the Carol Hotel. Apparently, when Clarion dumped it, the new owners just re-arranged some letters, painted over the “sun” logo and kept all the same letterhead. Takedown Radio’s Caleb Nemmers started to get worried when I told the world via Facebook how bad the place was. Nemmers had to stay there for a night or two.

No, there weren’t any crack pipes or anything, but it was just a hole. Don’t stay there. It’s cheap … and you get what you pay for. The Courtyard … ah, nice for the five hours of sleep a night I was reluctant to get.

I thought the intimacy of the Qwest Center was an immediate plus. Granted, my seats were down at the press table AND up in the sixth floor press box. My sight lines from way up top, just above a large section of Iowa State fans, were pretty good. I didn’t have to squint too hard to see the clocks, although the green numbers on the outer mats were tough to see at times.

I wasn’t privy to complaints about seat size, because I was standing much of the tournament. But I do know it can be annoying if your knees are always jacked against hard plastic for hours on end. I can’t comment there, because I didn’t experience it. I thought the facility itself was good. I think sellouts are good for the sport of wrestling, but maybe a thousand more seats could have made this a real winner.

Speaking of winners, Omaha’s support for the event was a real plus. The Omaha World Herald covered the event better than any local paper I’d seen in the last nine years. St. Louis does a fantastic job hosting the event, but if you’re in STL and not there for wrestling, you wouldn’t know it was going on too much if you read the papers. Omaha – you couldn’t miss it. So a big shout out to the World Herald for their coverage – and especially the sports front picture with Iowa’s Jay Borschel after his semifinal victory over Chris Henrich. That picture captured the entire spirit of the sport of wrestling. The exhilarating victory coupled with a beaten opponent.

The press areas were wide, and there was none of this “schootching” in constantly to let other reporters by. Laurie Cannon at the NCAA, now in her third year in the middle of this wrestling thing, was super helpful and super easy to work with. She deserves a tip of the proverbial cap.

What about the competition? Well, you read enough about that all weekend.

The Old Market area was cool, although I think a lot of fans were let down by the early last call … and subsequent 1 a.m. shutdown. I’m sure the “establishments” in Iowa welcomed the rush of traffic over the bridge around … 12:55.

There was some good food down there, although I lost eight pounds on the trip, no thanks to some less than stellar vittles later in the tournament. I know a few other members of the media spent some of their days near some porcelain.

Spaghetti Works was solid, as was Rock Bottom. Their Prime Rib sandwich and tables with taps made St. Patrick’s Day pretty solid. As did Jake Herbert’s green tuxedo t-shirt, which said, I like to be formal, but I’m kinda Irish too.

A lot of things to really take in from the tournament, but Omaha, in my opinion, was a solid place to have this event. I would like to get more prophetic and descriptive, but I’m packing for another flight – Oklahoma City this weekend for girls folkstyle nationals. Webcast on TheMat.com!