Champs! Gannon Wins Regional Team Title, Sends Nine to Nationals With Seven Individual Champs
THE EVENT FACTS
Event: NCAA Super Regional One
GU Team Placement: 1st/12 Teams
GU Competitors Advancing to NCAA Championships: 9
EAST STROUDSBURG, PA- There was never a doubt. Right from the start of the NCAA DII Super Regional One meet, the Golden Knights dominated the field of competition and never looked back. GU took home the team regional crown with 175 total points, 46 more than second place.
In the process, each weight class was tremendous. Gannon earned seven individual regional titles and in the process clinched nine national qualifying bids.
“This was a special day”, said head coach Tom Boyd. “We set out to accomplish a goal, and we did just that. Our team was focused from the very beginning and didn’t relent. I’m proud of the way they fought for each other, supported each other, and gave everything they had in every period. This is a great start to what we hope will be a tremendously successful national championship season.”
This is the second team regional title in the last three seasons for the Golden Knights, who took the team lead just three bouts into the quarterfinal round and never gave up the team advantage.
THE TOP THREE TEAMS
1 – Gannon (175 points)
2 – Kutztown (129 points)
3 – UPJ (127.5 points) … more at … https://gannonsports.com/news/2026/2/28/mens-wrestling-mwrest-regional-recap.aspx
No program, no problem: Oakridge wrestler forges his own path to OFSAA
A London high school athlete will compete in provincial wrestling championships in a singlet that doesn’t bear his school’s logo.
No program, no problem: Oakridge wrestler forges his own path to OFSAA
A London high school athlete will compete in provincial wrestling championships in a singlet that doesn’t bear his school’s logo.
By Ryan Goodison Published Feb 24, 2026
A high school athlete from London will compete in the upcoming provincial wrestling championships, but will do so in a singlet that doesn’t bear his school’s logo.
Oakridge secondary school Grade 11 student Parker Zimmerman is heading to his second straight Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) event March 3-4 in Peterborough. The 83-kilogram weight-class wrestler made it there without a coach of his own at Oakridge.
For two years, Parker Zimmerman and teammates Cooper Gray, Michael Zimmerman, Jayden Kim and Henry Kim have been building something out of almost nothing. Four of them made the regional wrestling championship last week.
And from there, Parker Zimmerman earned a berth at the provincial finals. “It’s something we’ve sort of built on our own,” he said.
He was in Grade 9 when he wanted to try wrestling after coming from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background. But Oakridge didn’t have a program due to low interest, he said.
With no teachers experienced in wrestling, he reached out to Sir Frederick Banting secondary school coach Mark Puddicombe, who let him train with his team. The other Oakridge wrestlers began to join him soon after.
“The coaches are super welcoming,” Parker Zimmerman said. “It’s been great to be able to train and wrestle with them.”
The Oakridge athletes make the trip to Banting three to five times a week after school. The commute isn’t always easy. … more at … https://lfpress.com/sports/local-sports/no-program-no-problem-oakridge-wrestler-forges-his-own-path-to-ofsaa
2026 WCL | U SPORTS Invitational Championships heads to Lakehead University this weekend
OTTAWA / THUNDER BAY, ON – The 2026 WCL U SPORTS Invitational Championships are set for this weekend (Feb. 27-28) at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The event will feature approximately 200 of the best collegiate wrestlers from across the country, representing 17 universities in 20 weight classes (10 for women and 10 for men).
“We are thrilled to bring the WCL USPORTS Invitational Championships to Thunder Bay and to partner with the outstanding team at Lakehead University,” said Tamara Medwidsky, CEO of Wrestling Canada Lutte. “Lakehead has a strong tradition of hosting exceptional events, and we know they will create a first-class experience for the student-athletes, coaches and fans. This championship will showcase the very best collegiate wrestlers from across the country as they compete at the highest university level and look to take the next step in their wrestling careers. We are excited to see the energy and passion that Thunder Bay will bring to this national event.”
“We’re proud to bring the U SPORTS Invitational Championships back to Thunder Bay for the first time since 2012,” said Leah Ferguson, Chair, host committee. “With incredible support from the City and Tourism Thunder Bay, we’re ready to welcome the country’s top university wrestlers to our community. It’s a huge moment for our local wrestling scene, and we’re excited to showcase both elite competition and the spirit of Thunder Bay.”
The competition will feature a very talented field on both the women’s and men’s side, with numerous competitors having represented Canada on the international stage. For the women, 2024 World U23 silver medalist Serena Di Benedetto will be in action at 53kg. The McMaster product took top spot at the OUA Championships and will look to claim another national title. Competing at 56kg will be Calgary’s Gabi Cross. Cross won the Canada West Championship and is a two-time U23 Pan-Am Championships medalist (silver – 2025, bronze – 2024).
As for the men, names to watch will include Brock’s Javier … more at … https://wrestling.ca/2026-wcl-u-sports-invitational-championships-heads-to-lakehead-university-this-weekend/
The Year of Jax: Forrest’s Sunday Tech Fall the Latest Triumph in What Has Been a Crazy 12-Month Run
“I get moments where I’m like, ‘This is pretty crazy.’”
Published on February 23, 2026 By Marshall Scott
STILLWATER — Last March, Jax Forrest won his second Pennsylvania state title.
That’s a big feat for most high school wrestlers, but that might not be within the five coolest things Forrest has done on a wrestling mat over the past 12 months.
After starting this wrestling season in high school, Forrest enrolled at Oklahoma State at the start of this semester. It was unknown whether Forrest was in Stillwater to redshirt or if he’d be the Cowboys’ guy at 133 pounds.
That decision was finally made public on Sunday night when Forrest took to the mat to wrestle in OSU’s dual against Iowa, exceeding his available dates to redshirt. And then less than 10 minutes later, it was evident that was the correct choice as Forrest teched two-time national finalist Drake Ayala, sending Gallagher-Iba Arena into a frenzy.
These past 12 months have also seen Forrest become the youngest American Senior World Team member of all time, a Senior Pan-American gold medalist, a Senior U.S. Open champ, a U23 World Champ and just the seventh four-time Powerade champion in the event’s history.
The Chinese New Year was last week, marking the Year of the Fire Horse, but you could argue it’s the Year of Jax. “I get moments where I’m like, ‘This is pretty crazy,’” Forrest said. “But I think just trying to stay present. Obviously tonight (after the Iowa dual), I’ll be with my family, and I’ll be like, ‘That was awesome. If I wrestle like that, there’s no one who can stop me.’ But then it’s just getting back to work tomorrow, … more at … https://pistolsfiringblog.com/the-year-of-jax-forrests-sunday-tech-fall-the-latest-triumph-in-what-has-been-a-crazy-12-month-run/
More than 1000 Wrestlers in Saudi Arabia’s Biggest Competition
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (February 24) — Saudi Arabia organized its largest wrestling competition to date with more than 1000 wrestlers participating in the 10-day event.
The Saudi Wrestling Federation organized the event from February 8 to 17 with wrestling in Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women’s Wrestling. The age groups included U12, U17, U23 and senior level.
The tournament was also open to government and private clubs which surged the number of wrestlers participating. The clubs included wrestlers from different nationalities. According to the Saudi federation, 1,173 wrestlers participated with 1,034 male and 139 female wrestlers.
Over the 10 days, 1,491 matches were conducted using the official UWW Arena competition management system to ensure professional organization, transparency, and technical accuracy. “The number of registered wrestlers in the Kingdom has doubled in recent years,” Sherif HALAWA, UWW Certified Educator & Head of Sports Performance of the Saudi Wrestling Federation, said. “This development has already produced historic achievements, including Saudi Arabia’s first-ever Asian silver medal at the U20 Asian Championships.”
Saudi Arabia, which termed the event as National Championships, has made steady success recently. It has also managed to grow wrestling at grassroots, women’s participation, referee development, and high-performance pathways.
“The technical level of Saudi wrestlers has improved significantly in recent years,” Yusup ABDULSALAMOV, Senior Manager of High Performance at the Saudi Olympic Training Center, said. “There are promising talents capable of achieving strong international results in the near future. Saudi wrestling is clearly on the right path.” … more at … https://uww.org/article/more-1000-wrestlers-saudi-arabias-biggest-competition
Pair of Duke Wrestlers Etch Names in Guinness Book of World Records
By: Matthew Goninen, Duke Athletics Communications Student Assistant
DURHAM, N.C. – Last week, Dash Hort, a redshirt freshman on the Duke Wrestling team, prevailed as the winner of the Blue Devils’ world-record-setting basketball knockout game.
For Hort and his teammates, including runner-up Owen McGrory, participating in the world’s largest knockout game was not planned. They discussed attending for the first time at lunch earlier that day. “We weren’t doing that,” Hort said he decided when he first heard about it at trainer’s table. “We had an ECON 204 exam Thursday, so we had to study for that.” Ultimately, after some convincing from friends, the group of wrestlers decided to attend the event.
Early in the game, the line moved slowly. Hort and his friends contemplated leaving — “We knew what the odds of winning were. It was a sunk cost.” As the line, shrunk, however, Hort and has friends decided to wait it out and see if they could make a run at wining the competition. “At one point, we were three out of 100,” he said. “Then it goes down to 60 people left; that’s a five percent chance to win.”
“After about two hours, everyone remaining was able to fit on the court and we realized that winning was actually possible,” McGrory added. To prevent any close calls, Hort and his group stuck together. “It was pretty smooth sailing, especially towards the end,” Hort added. “At that point, everyone started getting hot. Everyone was hitting their shots.”
Ultimately, it came down to Hort and McGrory, with Hort knocking out his teammate to win. “I got Owen [McGrory] out at the end,” Hort said. “He shot and missed. I don’t know what was going through his head; he turned back like he was going to pass it to somebody. When I shot it, it felt good off the hand.”
Hort made the winning shot to win the competition. He would receive a $1,000 prize for his victory, which he says he will split with his friends. The event lasted from 6:30 p.m., to just after 10:00 p.m.
Hort, who has not played organized basketball since his time playing in youth recreational leagues, went on to say that making the Guinness Book of World Records was not something he anticipated. “It’s such a random thing that has no particular value, … more at … https://goduke.com/news/2026/2/25/wrestling-pair-of-duke-wrestlers-etch-names-in-guinness-book-of-world-records
Penn State Wrestling Was Even More Dominant Statistically This Season
The Nittany Lions, chasing their fifth straight NCAA title, won nearly 93 percent of their individual bouts in duals this season.
To senior Levi Haines, Penn State’s wrestling dominance is simple. “I think we just find a way to score more points than everybody else,” Haines said after the Nittany Lions completed their sixth straight undefeated season.
And this season, Penn State scored more points than everybody else in a stunningly higher gear. After winning the past four NCAA team championships, the Nittany Lions produced a regular season even more dominant than any of those.
That foreshadows another potentially record-setting Penn State postseason, which begins with the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on March 7-8 at the Bryce Jordan Center. It’s not whether Penn State will win its fifth straight NCAA team title; it’s whether the team will break its scoring record for a third consecutive season. “We have a special thing going here,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said earlier this season. How special? Here are the numbers.
RELATED: How Penn State remains dominant in the NIL era
Penn State Wrestling’s Five-Year Run … more at … https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/wrestling/penn-state-wrestling-was-even-more-dominant-statistically-this-season
Top 35 Division I ACTIVE Coaches
TDR Editor’s Notes; The following is an updated listing of active head coaches by wins while on the Division I level. Recently retired coaches are included to show some perspective to their coaching colleagues. We welcome input as we update the lists for other divisions and for All-Time coaches including all divisions.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Rob Koll (North Carolina/Stanford/Cornell) 357 +9
- Brian Smith (Missouri/Syracuse) 353 +12
- Tom Ryan (Ohio State/Hofstra) 353 +18
- Mark Manning (Nebraska/Northern Iowa) 341 +13
- Tom Brands (Iowa & Virginia Tech) 320 +12
- Jim Zalesky (Oregon State/Iowa) 278 now at D-II school
- Tim Flynn (West Virginia/Edinboro St.) 285 +11
- Cael Sanderson (Penn State, Iowa State) – 277 +15
- Pat Popolizio (North Carolina St., SUNY-Binghampton) – 273 +15
- Joel Greenlee (Ohio Univ.) 266 +6
- Kevin Dresser (Iowa State/Virginia Tech Univ.) 265 +12
- Roger Reina (Pennsylvania, Un. Of) 258 – retired in 2025
- Pat Santoro (Lehigh University, Maryland) 250 +11
- Scott Goodale (Rutgers University) – 249 +14
- Jim Andrassy (Kent State Univ.) 204 – retired in 2025
- Steve Garland (Virginia University) 203 +9
- Dan Wirnsberger (Bucknell, Bloomsburg) 191 +8
- John Stutzman (Buffalo SUNY, Bloomsburg) – 186 Inactive
- Chris Bono (Wisconsin/South Dakota/U.Tenn.Chatt.) 170 +12
- John Mark Bentley (Appalachian State) – 162 +10
- Jason Borelli (American/Stanford Univ.) – 158 +8
- Jay Weiss (Harvard Univ.) – – 157 +6
- Mark Branch (Wyoming Univ.) – 157 +8
- Doug Schwab (Northern Iowa) – 136 +11
- Zeke Jones (Ariz. St., Univ. Of Penn.) – 132 +5
- Roger Kish (Oklahoma/N. D. St.) – 131 +9
- Matt Azevedo (Drexel Un.) – 126 +13
- Mark Cody (Presbyterian, Oklahoma U., American U.) – 124 +0
- Ryan Ludwig (Northern Illinois) – 123 +9
- Scott Moore (Lock Haven) – 108 +13
- Chris Ayres (Princeton) – 106 +4
- Tony Ersland (Purdue) – 99 +9
- Brandom Eggum (Minnesota) – 95 +11
- John Hangey (Rider Un.) – 95 +12
- Tony Robie (Virginia Tech/SUNY-Bing.) – 91 +11
Men’s College Notebook: Oklahoma Cruises Over Iowa; NC State Wins Thriller in Raleigh
Forrest Takes Off the Redshirt in Style
All week, the Oklahoma State coaching staff was keeping a tight lip on if they would send out true freshman Jax Forrest against Iowa this weekend. If he were to wrestle, it would mean he burns the redshirt and will be in the postseason lineup.
Not only did he compete, but he made sure the nation knew he was coming for the national championship at 133 pounds less than two months after he graduated high school and enrolled a semester early.
Sporting a perfect 9-0 record and climbing up to #6 in the national rankings, he scored a top-10 win for the second straight weekend. Last weekend, it was fellow true freshman sensation Aaron Seidel from Virginia Tech; this weekend, it was two-time NCAA finalist Drake Ayala of Iowa.
Thanks to a takedown and four-point near fall from a cradle in the second period, Forrest breezed to a 19-3 tech fall win. It was the first time Ayala had surrendered bonus points this season.
Cowboys Cruise Over Iowa
Forrest dominated the headlines from the nationally televised dual on ESPN in front of a sellout crowd of 12,629 in Stillwater, but the Cowboys continued to make noise heading into the postseason as a team.
They avenged their lone loss of the season (18-16 to Iowa at the National Duals in November) by winning seven of the 10 bouts, with four going for bonus, and three of those were falls in the 32-11 win.
The win was the largest victory over Iowa since 1961, and it’s the most points the Cowboys have scored against the Hawkeyes.
Oklahoma State hurried out to a 17-5 lead … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2026/february/23/men-s-college-notebook-oklahoma-cruises-over-iowa-nc-state-wins-thriller-in-raleigh
National Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductees
Sun Devil Wrestling Head Coach Lee Roy Smith to be inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Coach Smith will be one of four distinguished members to be inducted into the class of 2026
STILLWATER, Okla. – The National Wrestling Hall of Fame announced on Thursday afternoon that former Sun Devil Wrestling Head Coach Lee Roy Smith will be inducted as a distinguished member of its 2026 Hall of Fame class. The Class of 2026 will be honored and officially inducted during the 49th Honors Weekend on June 5 and 6, 2026, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Ben Askren, Tervel Dlagnev, and Shannon Williams-Yancey, as distinguished members, will join Smith. Also joining the hall will be Meritorious Official honoree Zach Errett; Order of Merit recipient James L. Porter, MA, LAT, ATC; Medal of Courage recipient Patrick Morrissey; and Outstanding American honoree Retired United States Army Major General Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
“The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is honored to announce the Class of 2026, an illustrious group whose enduring contributions exemplify the foundational principles of our sport. Every Hall of Fame class is special, but this one is even more so as it includes Lee Roy Smith, who will be retiring next year after more than 20 years of superb leadership as executive director of the Hall of Fame,” said John Harris III, National Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors Chairman.
Smith becomes the third member of his family to be inducted as a Distinguished Member, joining brothers John Smith and Pat Smith, who were inducted in 1997 and 2006, respectively. The Smiths are the second family to have three Distinguished Members, joining the Peery family: father Rex Peery, inducted in the Charter Class of 1976, and brothers Ed Peery and Hugh Peery, both inducted in 1980. There are seven other sets of brothers who have been inducted as Distinguished Members: Ed Banach (1993) and Lou Banach (1994); Tom Brands (2001) and Terry Brands (2006); Stanley Henson (1978) and Josiah Henson (2006); Cliff Keen (1976) and … more at … https://thesundevils.com/news/2025/10/30/former-sun-devil-wrestling-head-coach-lee-roy-smith-to-be-inducted-into-national-wrestling-hall-of-fame
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 