Girls wrestling poised for explosive growth with Kent County (Mich.) Championships providing a preview of new girls state tourney
GRAND RAPIDS – History was made at this year’s Kent County Wrestling Championships. For the first time in the history of the premier high school wresting event in Kent County, female wrestlers competed against each other in their own separate division.
While girls have wrestled at the Kent County in the past, this year’s event was the first where high school girls had their own division at the tournament. More history is on the horizon for girls wrestling this season with girls wrestling poised for an explosion in the state on the high school level.
Forest Hills Central, host of this year’s Kent County Wrestling Championships, is one of the schools at the forefront of the growth of girls high school wrestling. Central has a total of eight girls on the roster this year with seven actively competing. Two of the Rangers wrestlers capped the day winning championships. Hannah Becker won the 103-112-pound weight class while Rachel Schenk won the 112-119-pound title.
A junior at Central, Becker has been wrestling for one month. Becker is enjoying the opportunity to compete in the sport against girls from other high schools and was thrilled when she found out Central would have a girls’ wrestling team this year. Rest of the story at https://www.mlive.com/sports/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/12/girls_wrestling_poised_for_exp.html?mc_cid=e084b00877&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Wrestling-program expansion brings New Jersey girls to the mat
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP — Karina Santiago had never wrestled before in her life.
The opportunity hadn’t presented itself.
But when the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association announced earlier this year it would sanction a state tournament for individual girl wrestlers, the Barnegat High School senior did not think twice about taking up the sport.
“I think having girls on a wrestling team is a good asset to have, not only for our school but for other schools in general,” said Santiago, 17. “It can give the idea to other girls to face their biggest fears and not be scared to go out and try something that others say you can’t do.”
New Jersey is the 12th state and the first in the Northeast to sanction girls wrestling. During a recent practice, Santiago, who is one of four girls on the Barnegat wrestling team, pushed up her sandy-blond hair underneath the standard headgear and confidently jogged on the mat, just like any other member of the team. She understands that wrestling is not always seen as a girls sport, but that is a reason she wanted to compete on the mat.
She wanted to try a sport that requires the same amount of grit and strength from boys and girls. “A lot of males underestimate girls that do wrestling,” she said. “I thought that I could join wrestling to not only make a better impact on myself, but also prove to all the boys in wrestling that girls can do it.” In 2017-18, 16,562 girls wrestled at 2,351 schools across the country, according to an annual participation survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations. California had the most girl wrestlers with 5,286 a decade after it approved the sport.
“The girls never had the opportunity. Now they do,” said Princeton University wrestling coach Chris Ayres, who worked with state high school officials to develop the girls wrestling program. “It’s going to grow every year. There’s just a demand. Once you get this thing started, it doesn’t go backward.” Rest of the story at https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/local/highschool/wrestling/wrestling-program-expansion-brings-new-jersey-girls-to-the-mat/article_ab0a9052-b8af-56b2-afa9-1bdebd7b3423.html?mc_cid=e084b00877&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
#7 @PackWrestle Wins Four of Final Five Matches and Downs #11 Nebraska
The Pack won on criteria, as the dual ended 17-17 and the Pack scored more total points (58-53)
RALEIGH, N.C. – Falling behind 14-3 after the first five bouts, NC State won four of the final five matches and scored an 18-17 comeback over #11 Nebraska in Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday.
Going into the final bout down 17-12, NC State’s #4 R-So. Tariq Wilson needed the technical fall to even the team score, and he scored the 18-2 win.
The dual ended with a team score of 17-17, but after criteria which was total points scored (58-53), the Pack got the extra team point for the win.
The dual started at 141 pounds, with Nebraska winning four of the first five bouts before the intermission to take a 14-3 lead. The dual started with a Nebraska 3-2 win, as 2017 All-American scored the bout’s lone takedown and got a 3-2 win over #13 Jamal Morris. The Pack scored its first win of the day by #4 Justin Oliver at 149 pounds. Oliver scored a takedown in all three periods and added the ride time point for an 8-2 win. Nebraska won three straight, first with a decision at 157 pounds as #5 Tyler Berger scored a 5-2 win over #4 Hayden Hidlay. The Cornhuskers then scored back-to-back major decisions with wins at 165 and 174 pounds. NC State stormed out of the intermission winning four of the final five bouts. The stretch started with a pair of top-10 upsets. Rest of the story at https://gopack.com/news/2018/12/16/wrestling-7-packwrestle-wins-four-of-final-five-matches-and-downs-11-nebraska.aspx?mc_cid=e084b00877&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Nebraska recovers from slow start to beat UNC
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The No. 11 Nebraska wrestling team responded to some early adversity in its dual against the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night at Carmichael Arena. The Huskers avenged last year’s 22-14 loss to the Tar Heels in Lincoln by taking a 22-15 victory on the road. NU trailed 13-3 after four matches before taking five out of the final six bouts to win the dual. The Huskers immediately started out in a hole as they had to take a forfeit at the 125-pound spot. No. 11 Zeke Moisey failed to make weigh-ins, giving the Tar Heels an early 6-0 lead.
Tucker Sjomeling improved to 11-3 (3-1 in duals) on the year with a 7-3 victory by decision over UNC’s James Szymanski to put NU on the board and reduce the deficit to 6-3. The redshirt freshman earned one takedown in each period and added an additional point for riding time. Chad Red Jr., coming off a 6-0 performance at last weekend’s Doane Open, suffered a 5-1 defeat to A.C. Headlee, avenging last year’s loss to Red in Lincoln. The Tar Heels team lead blossomed to 13-3 after No. 6 Austin O’Connor defeated Collin Purinton 16-5 in a major decision. Needing a spark, the Huskers turned to their senior two-time All-American (Tyler Berger). The Prineville, Ore., native stormed out of the gates with three takedowns in the first period and never looked back. The veteran Husker defeated UNC’s Sawyer Davidson in a major decision, 16-5. The victory brought the UNC lead to 13-7 heading into intermission. With the win by Berger, he hit 100 career wins, making him just the 28th Husker in school history to achieve that feat. Berger is nine wins way from 15th place on the all-time wins list and 28 wins away from being in the top five. Rest of the story at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/20952
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 