Takedown Report

Sanderson voted InterMat Coach of the Year for sixth time

Penn State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson has been named 2019 InterMat Coach of the Year, the amateur wrestling website announced Friday. It is the sixth time Sanderson has earned Coach of the Year honors in the award’s 14-year history. What’s more, it’s the fourth consecutive year for the 39-year-old Utah native to have received this honor … and it happens to be the fourth straight year Penn State has won the team title at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. 

Presented each year since 2006 to the best collegiate wrestling coach in all divisions, the award is based exclusively on the votes of writers and executives at InterMat prior to the announcement of other college wrestling awards. Each staff member is asked to select five coaches and rank them from first to fifth based on their performance for the season just completed. Point values are assigned to each placement, ranging from one point to a wrestler listed fifth on a voter’s ballot, up to nine points for a first-place vote.

Sanderson received half of the first-place votes from the InterMat staff, for a total of 49 points, to propel him to the top of the balloting for the fourth straight year. Close behind in the balloting was Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale who guided Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault to titles at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively … making them the school’s first-ever champs in the nearly 90-year history of the NCAA wrestling championships. Goodale received a total of 42 points, including one first-place vote, to put him in second place in this year’s balloting. Also receiving one first-place vote each: Iowa State’s Kevin Dresser (who place third overall, with 41 points), Minnesota’s Brandon Eggum (in fourth place, with 20 points), Tony Robie of Virginia Tech (in sixth place, tallying 15 points), and Lock Haven’s Scott Moore (coming in seventh, with 12 points).  Much has been made about a Penn State wrestling dynasty . Rest of the story at

March 30, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pecora is on verge of becoming college wrestling’s dual wins king

TDR Editorrr’s Notes ; A topic of great interest to us is the record and recognition of the college coaches and teams and their record of victories. We look forward to Coach Pecora setting a new record and hope to be there when it happens, possibly next season,…. or the next.
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The coach who next year could become college wrestling’s king of dual wins scored his biggest victory seven years ago. Pat Pecora took down cancer. That’s only part of the story. The longtime leader of the Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats started coughing up blood in 2012. It was months after his brother passed away following a battle with cancer. Pecora tried brushing off his symptoms. But his wife, Tracy, is a nurse and she insisted a trip to the doctor. “They found something in my upper lung,” Pecora said. They discovered cancer. Doctors removed the upper lobe of Pecora’s lung and released him from the hospital the next day with orders to rest at home. He was back in the wrestling room a day later. “I had to move, get on the stepper, something,” he said. Then Tracy Pecora walked in.

She came home and couldn’t find her husband. It didn’t take her long to find him. “She walked in, and I’m sure I had that look of a kid who’s just been caught playing hooky,” Pecora laughed. “She wasn’t happy.”  That illustration of zeal and dedication is just one snapshot in a four-decade mosaic that is Pecora’s incredible coaching career. The 65-year-old will wrap up his 43rd season this weekend when the Mountain Cats wrestle at the Division II NCAA Championships in Cleveland. Pecora’s tenure at Pitt-Johnstown began a response to a newspaper clipping when he was 22. Rest of the story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1551841188386&twSessionId=psyjvhdtip&postId=1374594132&mc_cid=00b365ee12&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

March 30, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

TDR Top 12 – 2019 preliminary 145 & 152 lbs.

TDR Editor’s Notes ; The following are the preliminary final top 12 list for the next two weight classes. We welcome input and corrections. We shall post two weight classes each day and then re-evaluate the rankings. The Big 4 Award winners will be announced after the 285 prelim is posted. Please e-mail martinkfleming@gmail.com to share your insights and views.
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March 30, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

MAC Announces Historic Wrestling Expansion

MAC ANNOUNCES SEVEN WRESTLING AFFILIATES FOR 2019 WRESTLING SEASON; 2019-20 WILL FEATURE 15 MAC WRESTLING MEMBERS – 2nd LARGEST IN NCAA DI WRESTLING
Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced today a historic membership expansion in the sport of wrestling as the MAC has added seven new affiliate members – Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Rider, George Mason and Cleveland State – to begin competing in the MAC with the 2019-20 wrestling season.

The addition of seven new affiliate members increases MAC wrestling membership to 15 total members. Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Rider, George Mason and Cleveland State all have joined the MAC from the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) making the MAC the second largest NCAA Division I Wrestling conference. MAC wrestling membership includes Buffalo, Central Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois and Ohio, along with current affiliate members Missouri (since 2013), Old Dominion (since 2013) and SIU Edwardsville (since 2018).  Rest of the story at https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/3/4/mac-announces-historic-wrestling-expansion.aspx?mc_cid=00b365ee12&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

March 30, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

TDR Top 12 – 2019 preliminary 132 & 138 lbs.

TDR Editor’s Notes ; The following are the preliminary final top 12 list for the next two weight classes. We welcome input and corrections. We shall continue posting two weight classes each day and then re-evaluate the rankings and will announce the big award winners. Please e-mail martinkfleming@gmail.com to share your insights and views.
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March 30, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | 1 Comment